My soa: Feel like im drowning

moneysavermum_2

Please find below my soa. I am a single mother of 3 and work 30 hours. My youngest child is nearly 4 in oct and starts school next sept so i will be travelling less and not paying loads of childcare...my tax credit will then go down as at the moment i am paying loads a month on childcare and travel to nursery. aLSO THE NEVER ENDING DEMANDS OF CHILDREN SHOES, CLOTHING, XMAS AND FOOD. I hardly ever buy anything for myself but still we are skint.

[tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1113
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1220
Other income............................ 342
Total monthly income.................... 2675
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 497
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 421
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 113
Electricity............................. 35
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 573
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 22
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2477

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 190000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 12000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 202000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 98000....(497)......2.5
Secured Debt.................. 14000....(0)........8
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 10000....(421)......11.3
Total secured & HP debts...... 122000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
OVERDRAFT......................3000......20........19.7
CREDIT CARD BARCLAYS...........1364......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........4364......45........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,675
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,477
Available for debt repayments........... 198
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 45
Amount left after debt repayments....... 153
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 202,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -122,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,364
Net Assets.............................. 75,636
[/tt]

gratefulforhelp_2

Hi, I'm not an expert, but one will appear in a moment, I'm sure.

Are you on single person discount on council tax?

Have you been on the entitled to website to check you're getting all the benefits?

Are you using the free childcare vouchers for your youngest? You get pretty much half a week free at your youngest's age?

moneysavermum_2

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

Hi, I'm not an expert, but one will appear in a moment, I'm sure.

Are you on single person discount on council tax?

Have you been on the entitled to website to check you're getting all the benefits?

Are you using the free childcare vouchers for your youngest? You get pretty much half a week free at your youngest's age?

Thankyou for your reply.

I am on 25% discount for council tax

I donot use vouchers but do get 15 hours a week subsidised care. Its tricky as there are only a few places that do nursery and holiday care together. I am hoping i can survive till next september when the youngest starts school. Then take another good look at the situation as I will then only be paying holiday care for all 3 not huge bill and all the diesel too as its 30minutes each way four times a day.

My ex is not paying what he should be either and csa are doing a recalculation as we speak.

So at present feel i am not doing very well at all.

miggy

nje24 wrote: »

So at present feel i am not doing very well at all.

You are managing a household with three young children by yourself and holding down a job - that's a real acheivement in itself.
Do you have friends or relatives with slightly older children who are looking for someone to pass items on to? I know this isn't an option for everyone but it can save a lot of money particularly preschool and primary school age.
Do you have access to Netto, Lidl or Aldi - you can save by buying at least some of your food & cleaning products there. Also (I know it's classic advice and you may be doing it already) keep a spending diary to see exactly where money goes, cook from scratch (see Old Style board for fabulous tasty recipes!), go down a brand (eg. own brand instead of Heinz or Kelloggs), try not to buy items at eye level as the better bargains are placed higher or lower, try buying online discounted foods such as from Approved Foods.
HTH.

[Deleted User]

Your SOA looks very good - and you're still in + at the end of the month. If this is not the case, then you need to keep a spending diary to see where the extra is going.

If you need to cut anything - you may be able to get the grocery bill down a slight bit by visiting the Old Style board. And, holidays could be put on hold until you're better off financially. Also, ensure for presents that you only buy for the children, and pick bits and pieces up throughout the year while in sales and offers for Xmas and birthdays.

For clothing - it's difficult to remove/reduce if you've got 3 growing children, but only buy what you really need to.

Hope it goes well.

moneysavermum_2

Domino9 wrote: »

Your SOA looks very good - and you're still in + at the end of the month. If this is not the case, then you need to keep a spending diary to see where the extra is going.

If you need to cut anything - you may be able to get the grocery bill down a slight bit by visiting the Old Style board. And, holidays could be put on hold until you're better off financially. Also, ensure for presents that you only buy for the children, and pick bits and pieces up throughout the year while in sales and offers for Xmas and birthdays.

For clothing - it's difficult to remove/reduce if you've got 3 growing children, but only buy what you really need to.

Hope it goes well.

Thankyou for your message. I am trying to budget it all out per week but find i am constantly spending more than i allocate £100 a week groceries,diesel and clothes. Then theres always extra things shoes, xmas, holiday care...the list is endless and as i am already deeply in an overdraft I seem to be constantly in it.

So my wages go in, then tax credit, csa weekly and childbenefit middle of month and direct debits mainly beginning so always in an overdraft which is depressing.

Will try my best but after xmas I will look again. I dont want to sell up in this uncertain climate.

miggy

Remember pound shops for stocking fillers too - and my kids liked to gt 'vouchers' (handmade by me) to trade in for things like not having to do music practice for the day, or having stories read to them or baking with mum.

gratefulforhelp_2

miggy wrote: »

You are managing a household with three young children by yourself and holding down a job - that's a real acheivement in itself.

I second this. If you're getting your 15 hours free, thats what I meant about nursery/pre-school vouchers. What's happening with the CSA? Are there arrears to come? Keep chasing them.

Have a look at the "upping your income" board, and I second the advice to look at the grocery challenge on old-style.

Having been a working single parent, I know its pretty relentless at times.

gratefulforhelp_2

Hoping someone else will come along with suggestions...

niccatw

Would it help to open a new bank account without an overdraft facility (or a tiny one to cover you if you forget a D/D now and again?) just to separate the overdraft from your money. You might not be able to pay much off it right now, but it might make it easier to put any extra towards paying it off it it were a different account. You'd maybe have to ask the bank to lower it as you paid money off so as not to tempt yourself back into it!

stephbond89

Hello
Ok first off your in + at the end of your SOA which is a GREAT thing!!! It may not feel like it, but imagine if you had £100 to find at the end of the month for bills and your income didnt cover it lol!

Living in your overdraft is horrible, I know cause I have to do it too. One thing you could try is changing bank accounts to a new basic account where you cannot have an overdraft. Then offer to pay the bank what you can afford monthly towards your overdraft, just put say £10 a month in the bank account and request the bank stop interest etc as your having trouble paying, depending on your bank, they may be accomodating or may not, but well worth a try. This way you get out of the nasty mess of living off your overdraft, OR you could ask your bank for a decreasing overdraft to be set up. This is what I have, where each month my overdraft decreases by £32 (this was arranged by me, I told them what I could afford!), and so eventually I will have no overdraft on my account, but I wouldn't have had to pay it all off in one go. This is great, and I barely even notice it decreasing!!!

Ok, onto your SOA, it is a very good SOA I have to say, it doesn't seem money is squandered- maybe your grocery bill could come down a little bit by cutting back on any branded products, we went from spending £150 a month to spending £90 a month just by cutting back from branded pop and cereals things which aren't really any different. Dont go straight from say Kellogs to SmartPrice, but if you drop down by a brand each time, so go from Kellogs to "Discount Brand" then down to Asda Own and then Smartprice! We now get SmartPrice Bran flakes for my hubby who used to have to have Kellogs (so from almost £3 a bos to 70p a box!) and he said there is no difference at all. So maybe you could try this if you dont do it already.

As for your money seeming to just go, for a month make a budget sheet on the computer (using spreadsheet or somrthing like this) and record EVERY payment you make including bills, shopping, diesel etc. And then all the little things like £5 on a trip to the corner shop for treats for the kids, or £2.50 on a snack in work. As it may not seem like it, but these little thigns really do add up! And you could find your spending over £100 a month on basically rubbish. Maybe start putting £20 a month to one side for "treats" like sweets for the kids etc.

If you find your buying lots of unnecesary things which could wait, so maybe a game or DVD, or that top you "had to have", or one of the kiddies askign for that new toy, then you know where your money is going, and it is easy to cut back. Stop taking money out...!! This is what we did, we were spending £10 a day just on rubbish, if we went out to say Southport for the day, it would cost us £30 just in ice creams, drinks, coffee a snack. So we stopped taking any money other than change for parking, and £10 if we could spare it for snacks and treats and I'd leave my purse at home with my debit card in, and any ID (so I wasnt tempted into a bank to take money over the counter from my account!), this ended up saving us loads too!!! Especially in the case of kids! I dont have any kids (one on the way!), but whenever I look after my nieces and nephew, they cost me a small fortune in a can of pop here or a piece of rock there, so I take no money and instead take a bag with 2 drinks each in it, and some sandwiches for them to eat for lunch, then maybe £3 each for a ride or something like that! It also teaches the kids how to value money!

I dont doubt you already do this stuff, but they are just a few ideas of what you can do Your SOA isnt bad at all, and once your bills and groceries etc are bought you do seem to have quite a decent amount "left over", which must be going somewhere, so just record for a month where it all goes and it'll help show you where to cut back on things. We get £1300 a month and all of our wages go without me been able to even save for a haircut or new clothes which is horrible, but just by stopping buying a sandwich from the shop and instead making it myself before I leave home, it saves me a good few pound a month, not much but when added up it does make a difference

I hope this helps even if its only a little!!