Newbie SOA - Thanks

LondonGirl252

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1683
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1683
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 553
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 48
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 8
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 4
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 6
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 99.1
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1308.1

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax C Card.................479.74....10.64.....0
Barclaycard....................1600.75...12........0
Halifax Overdraft..............700.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2780.49...22.64.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,683
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,308.1
Available for debt repayments........... 374.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 22.64
Amount left after debt repayments....... 352.26
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,780.49
Net Assets.............................. -2,780.49


The above is pretty much my overall situation, I rent a shared flat with two others and I only moved in a few months ago so I dont have an accurate view of all the bills etc yet so those figures are a guesstimate.
The credit cards repayments on here just asked for the minimum but I currently pay £100 a month on Barclaycard and £35 a month on Halifax but the Halifax interest free period is due to run out soon so I'll be getting charged on that.
My Overdraft charges are £1 a day im in it (usually 28 days a month )
There wasn't a chioce for eating out - after reading a discussion on here yesterday I worked my daily spend on brekky and lunch etc was circa £10.50 so over £200 a month, this is something I addressed as of this morning and today brought in breakfast and lunch

I'm mostly concerned about the amount of charges I'll soon be paying on the Halifax card and overdraft, I really want to clear these first but can never seem to free up any spare cash?

Thanks in advance for any replies and suggestions

R x

Mikeone

Hi Burnsey

The first things that leap out are the £60 on mobile, the £50 on clothes and the £99.1 on Other Travel. Can you reduce these? Switch to PAYG for the phone/cut the clothing budget. What type of transport is it?

d3mon4ngel

Burnsey wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1683
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1683
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 553
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 48
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 8
Mobile phone............................ 60 <-- very high - ring and ask about lowering tariff / switch to PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 4
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 6
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 <-- very high if just for yourself - me and OH budget £120 a month between us
Clothing................................ 50 <-- do you really need to be spending this much on clothes? can you make do with what you have for a while?
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 99.1 <-- I assume trains / buses? Can you get a season ticket for your route?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 <-- Can you cut this down for the time being? Make homemade gifts etc.
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200 <-- Definitely cut back here for a while!
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1308.1

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax C Card.................479.74....10.64.....0
Barclaycard....................1600.75...12........0
Halifax Overdraft..............700.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2780.49...22.64.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,683
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,308.1
Available for debt repayments........... 374.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 22.64
Amount left after debt repayments....... 352.26
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,780.49
Net Assets.............................. -2,780.49

It looks like you could save yourself well over £300 a month as I've highlighted above, but it would mean going without the luxuries for a while. If you are prepared to do that for a few months, you could get yourself out of your overdraft and away from the fees.

HTH

LondonGirl252

Hi guys!

Thanks so much for making the effort to reply.

You're suggestions are great:
Phone bill - Will ring tonight and see what they can do, when I upgraded to an Iphone a year ago they wouldnt let me keep my old contract that Id managed to get down to £20 for unlimited everyhing cos Id been with them so long and now I go over my texts + minutes each month.
Travel (99.10) - This is my monthly season ticket for the tube and buses (I live in London) it is the bare minium really as when I used PAYG I was paying £6 a day cos I jump on numerous tubes/buses each day between work and stables (luckily at least the horseriding is free these days! phew!) so the travel card worked out cheaper.

Groceries is very high you are right - I will limit myself to much less and try and cook in bulk then freeze to cut back.

Entertainment - Agree too high, Im just too damn easily led astray at 22 Will cut back for sure

Clothes - Will also cut back here, working near Oxford St is again too tempting at times. I was good today though, went down to the shops to accopmany friend and bought zilch!

Thanks again will definatley take on board your suggestions x

Tixy

Burnsey wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1683
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1683
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 553 this looks really high if its a third cost, any chance of you all moving to somewhere cheaper? or trying to negotiate with landlord to reduce (this usually only likely to work if you are in an area with lots of empty rental properties)
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 48
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 8
Mobile phone............................ 60 this is high, are you in contract? if so ask to reduce a tariff, if not find a cheaper deal, some almost unlimited £30deals around.
TV Licence.............................. 4
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 6
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 this needs reducing drastically, even with buying food for packups etc £100 should be do-able, maybe aim for £120 to start:)
Clothing................................ 50 maybe cut down for a bit, wear what you have or ebay what you don't wear.
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 99.1 is this a season ticket? is it the cheapest way of travelling?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200 could be reduced if you need to, or want to pay off debts quicker
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1308.1

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax C Card.................479.74....10.64.....0
Barclaycard....................1600.75...12........0
Halifax Overdraft..............700.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2780.49...22.64.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,683
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,308.1
Available for debt repayments........... 374.9
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 22.64 so you usually pay £165 on debts & overdraft costs?
Amount left after debt repayments....... 352.26 do you know where the £209 (after the extra payments) is being spent? if you don't then a spending diary is a good idea to track it down (and see if you can reduce)
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,780.49
Net Assets.............................. -2,780.49


The above is pretty much my overall situation, I rent a shared flat with two others and I only moved in a few months ago so I dont have an accurate view of all the bills etc yet so those figures are a guesstimate.
The credit cards repayments on here just asked for the minimum but I currently pay £100 a month on Barclaycard and £35 a month on Halifax but the Halifax interest free period is due to run out soon so I'll be getting charged on that.
My Overdraft charges are £1 a day im in it (usually 28 days a month )
There wasn't a chioce for eating out - after reading a discussion on here yesterday I worked my daily spend on brekky and lunch etc was circa £10.50 so over £200 a month, this is something I addressed as of this morning and today brought in breakfast and lunch

I'm mostly concerned about the amount of charges I'll soon be paying on the Halifax card and overdraft, I really want to clear these first but can never seem to free up any spare cash?

Thanks in advance for any replies and suggestions

R x

I think you should be able to make some changes to put more towards your debts and start eating into the overdraft quicker.
A few suggestions above.

EDIT - sorry see you have posted some answers already whilst I was typing.

gfplux

Don't forget for the future that you take your INCOME as the amount you can spend.
Not the other way round.
ie This is what I want to spend and therefore I must borrow/use C/C to fill the gap.
Too many people approach it the wrong way round

LondonGirl252

RE Tixy on the rent comment - This is actually very low for where I live (NW London) it's a third of a flatshare with two others, and the landlady is so lovely she hasnt put the rent up in years according to the others. When I was searching for my flat similar things were on the market for £700-800 pm! CRAZY:eek:! Luckily I found this through my friend. I could have possibly moved to a cheaper area but when I weighed up travelling costs getting to West Hampstead to see friends/family or if I moved further out of London the cost to travel back in equalled the saving in rent - if that makes sense! I guess I pay the price to live in London and I do live close to work so some days I walk in but I still pay travel costs because Im travelling to go horseriding each day too!

gfplux - Yes I think I have had that mentallity untill now, I am trying to change it, I dont know where I have learnt that borrowing is OK as my parents are very good with money and dont know anything about the c cards

Thanks for both of your replies most helpful :T