My SOA

losingpatience

Just after ideas where we can cut back

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1511
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1398
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2909

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 650
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 202.70000000000005
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 103
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 37
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.75
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 65
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 11
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 32.36
Other insurance......................... 31.86
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 35
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Personal Money ......................... 220
Wedding Savings......................... 400
Pet Supplies............................ 35
Gym..................................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2670.67


Assets
Cash.................................... 1200
House value (Gross)..................... 110000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 117200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 108000...(650)......4.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6942.....(202.7)....7.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 114942....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,909
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,670.67
Available for debt repayments........... 238.33
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 238.33

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 117,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -114,942
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 2,258

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Although we aren't in debt it's only the 16th and already we have no money left in the account ( well maybe £30 ish but that has to last us until the 31st )

We are overpaying on the mortgage by around £140 a month which I want to continue doing. The gym is for both of us and is the cheapest in the area, we can't drop this as my OH needs to go for health reasons. Included in the £200 groceries is fresh food for our guinea pigs which is about £8 - £10 per week so we can't really reduce this any further. We don't live on a bus route so £100 is the lowest we can go for petrol as well.

Marisco

Hi LP, if you really want to cut down then get rid of entertainment, personal money, Sky and holiday fund, that'll save you £485pm;)

taxi73

hi there....have you thought about doing a spending diary to see where all the extra money is going?

your water rates,mobile bill and sky plus landline look high..you can maybe save some there.

losingpatience

Thanks for the advice, when you add it together it really is alot!
Just to explain we each take £110 out of our pay packet as "our" money which goes on things like going out with friends, christmas/birthday presents for each other, games/clothes etc that we want to buy so clothes doesn't really come out of the "joint" budget which is why the figure is so low. I have reduced this as we used to take £150 each

Entertainment was a guess based on the fact we've been bowling twice this month and been out for a meal and we won't be doing anything else due to lack of funds. Total cost for this was £83.40 so I'm estimating we spend around £100 a month

Holiday fund will be going after October ( we've got a week booked at the lakes to pay for ) but with saving for the wedding we won't be able to afford a holiday.

Sky is a little on the high side as it includes the movies, HD and multi room but we do use and enjoy it.

dancingfairy

Luxuries = 400+ a month - including entertainment , personal spends, holiday, gym and sky - these could all be cut down if needs be.
Also electric and gas look a bit high.
Also approx 100 pounds a month is disappearing - your SOA shows a surplus of 238 - 140 mortgage overpayment and there is 100 pounds you don't know where it is going - try keepng a spending diary to identify this.
Also pet food seems to have been included twice.
Hp - to me that is a debt (You say you don't have debts).
Mobile - massive if 1, a bit high if for 2.
Good Luck
df
P.S reply a bit brief/forthright as first longer reply got eaten by computer.

losingpatience

As I said Gym I can't cut back on as £25 per person per month was the cheapest I could find ( it's a council run gym ) and my OH has to go to the gym due to health issues. The rest I will try to cut back on.

Gas and Electric are the cheapest I could get ( went through a comparison site and got cash back ). We don't use things excessively, use energy saving bulbs etc so not sure where we can save on this. It's probably the washing machine but even then it's only on once a day

Definitely going to try a spending diary though. I've missed out parking ( we have to go to the hospital alot ) so that might add up to a bit, but I honestly don't know where this money goes to! Going to keep a spending diary for the rest of the month.

Hmm also work lunches will add up to a fair bit, so will try putting a stop to that ( we do normally bring lunch in but if we forget it can easily be £3 each )

Sunnylooloo

Hi ya

Washing machine once a day for just two of you? is that really necessary??? There are two of us and I would say we do washing say twice a week of two or three loads. I have found making sure everything where possible is turned off from the switch. It really does help. Don't leave the TV on standby during the day or over night? Unplug things like kettle/toaster/microwave when not in use... It's not a lot but it does help.

Ugh re: Sky - I really know where you are coming from and how high it is. We have cut out the movies - as we found we hardly used them and it was cheaper to get DVD's when we wanted to watch a movie. Is it really necessary to have in multi room? Maybe get freeview box??

I think a spending diary does help.

Good luck and well done for posting up your SOA

LL

talana

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 202.70000000000005

Wow, very precise! How do you pay the 5 trillionths of 1p every month?

Joking aside, I realise you say you want to keep on overpaying the mortgage, but if it means you have £30 left to get you through half a month then there's not much point.

I think your options are stop the overpayments for a while or cut down on some of the luxuries/non-essentials. One or the other.

losingpatience

Our guinea pigs are bedded on fleece and because of the size of their cage it can take 2 - 3 loads to wash one batch of their stuff and they get cleaned out twice a week hence why we use the washing machine so much! Our clothes is maybe 3 loads a week.

The main things plugged in are behind the TV unit which I can't get to I *think* everything else is turned off at the wall but I'll check tonight.

Multi room is a luxury ( one is in the living room, the other our bedroom ) and it's because if my OH is playing on his games consoles I can watch TV and don't have to endure watching him play on that! We've only got it a month ago so are in a 12 month contract. We do use the movies and it was a substitute for having the cineworld passes which were costing us more. Also I think it's £3.50 ish to rent a movie so I thought this would work out cheaper instead of renting say a movie a week.

I know we have alot of luxuries that others may not have but I wanted to be honest when I posted my SOA

losingpatience

talana wrote: »

Wow, very precise! How do you pay the 5 trillionths of 1p every month?

Joking aside, I realise you say you want to keep on overpaying the mortgage, but if it means you have £30 left to get you through half a month then there's not much point.

I think your options are stop the overpayments for a while or cut down on some of the luxuries/non-essentials. One or the other.

I've no idea why it posted that like that lol we pay 202.72 a month but for some reason it put that!

Definitely going to cut down on the luxuries as I really don't want to have to cut back on the mortgage overpayments. I think the spending diary is going to be a real eye opener as to where I fritter away all this extra money!

Sunnylooloo

Ah i see about washing now - that is understandable. maybe when you do the guinea pigs use a cool wash - saves a little bit.

I noticed when I did start to unplug everything it did help (although Mr Looloo not so good!)

I cant remember how much the movies on sky were setting us back - but I know it wasn't worth carrying on with it for the amount of movies we watch (although I do have to endure the sports package! but he has to endure Living!)

I think you are being very honest and that is the best way to get the best advice