My new SOA - any thoughts, slowly getting better!

Jo_R_2

Okay, so here's my revised SOA... First posted one a few months ago so want to know where I can cut down more...

Incomings currently:
My wages (on maternity pay) £404
OH's wages £372
Tax credits and child benefit £900

TOTAL: £1676

Outgoings:
Rent £395 (shortly to go up to £465)
Nursery fees £332 (shortly to go down to £246)
Council tax £55 (shortly to go up to next band, need to check new amount)
Electricity (no gas) £55 (shortly to go to split gas/elec)
Water £20
Internet £12.49
Personal loan £154
PPI £6
Phone £5 plus calls so around £10 per month
Sofa finance £28.50 (last payment Dec. 2006!)
Mobile £20 payg, 2 x £10 for each of us
Shopping including household items £140 (brought down from £260 in Feb, hurrah!)
Bus fares for OH to uni and work £80
Car insurance £39
Petrol £40
Swimming £28
TV licence £10

TOTAL: £1296.99


Now, I've taken these from my spreadsheet, but there are some things not included which I need to monthly budget for. Eg contents insurance was paid annually last year so ideally should be monthly budgeting for that, also car maintenance, dentists, contact lenses, clothes/shoes, etc...

If have missed anything or have any thoughts, please comment! Eventually want to throw money at loan to pay off quicker...

Sorry if this is disjointed, typing one handed with baby on me!

gallygirl

There seems little scope for anything else - you've done really well!!!!

PPI???? needed????? unlikely to get cheaper I would have thought but understand Post Office do it cheap.

Swimming - what is this? Based on individual sessions - can you get a season ticket?

What are you doing with the extra income each month - paying off loan, saving some? Will you do the same with nursery fees & sofa money? You could be debt free fairly soon by the looks of things - have you worked out a new DFD?

Well done again :T :T :T

jcr16

i'm not an expert but looks like u know just what u are doing and are very organised. well done.

what are u doing with the money left over each month ? do u put it into a higher interest account. we have just opened one with natwest it has an interest of 4.05 % and u can save as little as £1 but u can withdraw at any time.

david_hellier

According to my calcs you have £93.93 (£46.96 each)per week to spend on anything else including food, clothes,going out etc to avoid overspending.

I suggest you both write £46 in a little book on a Monday and keep a note of what you spend. If you have any left, carry forward to the next week. Ignore your bank balance.

As far as cutbacks are concerned, do you need a car? As a keen swimmer myself I wouldn't dare get you to cut back on that!

The figures are as follows:


income weekly monthly
self 0.00 404.00
partner 0.00 372.00
benefits 900.00






total 0.00 1676.00
386.77 divided by 4.33

386.77 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 465.00
council tax 55.00
elec 55.00
gas
water 20.00
secured loans
TV licence 10.00
fines
nursery 246.00
internet 12.49
loan 154.00
ppi 6.00
phone 10.00
sofa 28.50
mobi 20.00
bus 80.00
car ins 39.00
petrol 40.00
swim 28.00











total 0.00 1268.99
292.84 divided by 4.33

292.84 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = 93.93 per week

tyllwyd

Since you posted an SOA a while ago, I guess there is a good reason why your nursery fees are so high and your joint income so low.

How long will your maternity pay last? What happens then - will you be going back to work? Will that improve the situation, or will you lose lots of tax credit?

Jo_R_2

I should point out that baby is only six weeks old and what looks like quite a bit of surplus has only actually kicked in this month - last month my salary was slightly more but counterbalanced in comparison by a lower amount of both tax credits and child benefit.

ali007 - PPI I need as I had postnatal depression with DD1 and had to take time off work, and this covers me in case I should get it again, but fingers crossed everything is looking good so far :j

jcr16 - we're wanting to throw extra cash at the loan in order to pay it off quicker, but would like to have something in reserve so would like to have something saved, which is another thing on my list to do.

david hellier - thanks for that! And LOL @ swimming, it's our new bonding thing with DD1 since DD2 has come along, she loves it! The car I need for work, I actually get expenses when I am there as well.

twllwyd - part of the tax credits is 80% of our childcare paid, so we're only paying 20%. We've carried over the days DD1 was at nursery when I was working into my maternity leave as we decided it was important for her to have continuity, which is two full days and a half day, but we're dropping the half day from next month, thus the drop in fees.

I am planning on taking six months' off, which means I will return at the start of the New Year, so I won't be having any unpaid leave. It won't affect the tax credits situation at all, our award comprises child tax credit, working tax credit and the childcare element and I have accounted for the drop in salary whilst on leave and the subsequent return to my usual salary come January.

The main area I think we need to work on is saving for annual expenses, and things like car repairs, new household items and things like that, so have been jigging my spreadsheet around to work with the figures.

CLAPTON

you haven't really missed anything as such but i dont understand why you haven't actaully included ' Eg contents insurance was paid annually last year so ideally should be monthly budgeting for that, also car maintenance, dentists, contact lenses, clothes/shoes, etc...'

these are real money no different from elect/gas/water etc ...if you spent it then include it ..if its yearly divide by 12 etc. otherwise you can't see whether you are actually spending less than your income or spending more can you?

include it all and repost

Jo_R_2

CLAPTON wrote:

you haven't really missed anything as such but i dont understand why you haven't actaully included ' Eg contents insurance was paid annually last year so ideally should be monthly budgeting for that, also car maintenance, dentists, contact lenses, clothes/shoes, etc...'

these are real money no different from elect/gas/water etc ...if you spent it then include it ..if its yearly divide by 12 etc. otherwise you can't see whether you are actually spending less than your income or spending more can you?

include it all and repost

You're right about including these things... The thing is we haven't bought clothes in donkey's ages (and I mean at least a year, everything has been given to us, nor paid for dentist, any car maintenance, and not paid for any new contact lenses since I cancelled my DD a few months ago which was why I didn't include them, having not paid for or budgeted for them. However I have found a cheaper contact lens supplier than I had previously, though haven't purchased any new ones yet, so they could go in. What I was wanting to do was see how much we were spending on everything else then plan round that for these kinds of items that I'm not accounting for already.

Spot on about including stuff we have paid for though, so in goes the contents insurance, kiddies shoes, MOT and car tax, contact lenses, can't think of anything else at the mo.

Incomings currently:
My wages (on maternity pay) £404
OH's wages £372
Tax credits and child benefit £900

TOTAL: £1676

Outgoings:

Annually:
Contents insurance £130/12 = £10.83 monthly
MOT £ can't remember how much they are!
Car tax £60.50 x 2 = £121/12 = £10.08 monthly (would be slightly cheaper if paid in one go)
Contact lenses £144/12 = £12 monthly (for both me and OH)
Children's shoes £50 for two pairs a year, /12 = £4.16 monthly

Monthly:
Rent £395 (shortly to go up to £465)
Nursery fees £332 (shortly to go down to £246)
Council tax £55 (shortly to go up to next band, need to check new amount)
Electricity (no gas) £55 (shortly to go to split gas/elec)
Water £20
Internet £12.49
Personal loan £154
PPI £6
Phone £5 plus calls so around £10 per month
Sofa finance £28.50 (last payment Dec. 2006!)
Mobile £20 payg, 2 x £10 for each of us
Shopping including household items £140 (brought down from £260 in Feb, hurrah!)
Bus fares for OH to uni and work £80
Car insurance £39
Petrol £40
Swimming £28
TV licence £10

TOTAL: £1296.99 + £37.07 = £1334.06 plus monthly MOT amount

CLAPTON

seems very good to me

just acouple of things then

spending diary is great for seeing what you spend

also each month keep a records of your savings...if you're right then on average your savings should increase by about 340 per month...check that they do.
good luck .

Jo_R_2

Cheers - just realised I forgot TV licence as OH has been paying for that but we're transferring the DD to my account so need to add that on...

Spending diary is great, especially for OH as he is terribly attracted to "stuff" he sees whether at the supermarket or in town and I think that just the thought of having to add stuff to a spending diary might put him off, though he has gotten better recently good man

Thanks :T