Newbie SOA - fresh eyes with any ideas?

DebtDodger

Hello everyone,

I've followed this site and the posts for a while now and thought it finally time to jump in and join the community. I'm a 26yo single mum from Belfast, my son is 2 at the end of the month. I live at home with my mum & dad and younger (student) brother. My mum & dad have been in an IVA for a year now after finally facing their debts so I don't want to end up down the same path. I have a decent job as a Communciations Manager but - as my username suggests - I've "dodged" a lot of my debts for some time, namely the tax man and student loan which I kept deferring - and they've all caught up with me. I also have to take responsibility for having paid them all off about 2 years ago with a loan and istead of cutting everything up, I racked it up again

I've completed the SOA below and have a few notes to help you make sense of it. I'd love any advice people have about how I could better make use of the income I have and where I could save...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1860
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 240
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 179
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 77
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 500
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1662


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7000.....(179)......18
Total secured & HP debts...... 7000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Ulsterbank CC..................240.......10........15
Next Account...................480.......50........24
All Saints CC..................1400......40........17
HMRC...........................930.......50........0
Student Loan...................10000.....106.......0
Virgin CC......................2400......60........28
Total unsecured debts..........15450.....316.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,662
Available for debt repayments........... 438
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 316
Amount left after debt repayments....... 122

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -7,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,450
Net Assets.............................. -17,450

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Notes:
Car - I need to drive for work as it was stipulated when I applied. I use a car park outside the city centre and walk across the river so it costs me £2 per day.

Food - I give my mum £20 per week towards Che's food and toiletries and purchase my own lunches. I've now cut those down and spend only £8 per week stocking up (instead of £5 per day) and have given up my tin of red bull each day and use the free coffee in work to keep me awake

Childcare - I don't get vouchers despite being a single parent because my dad minds my son as he was retired early in life through injury, but I try to pay him enough to cover any job he might get and also to help my parents out with their IVA repayments. I just wouldn't be comfortable with strangers raising my child so I can't put him in a creche!

Hair - I used to get my hair cut twice a year at a cost of around £30-40. I now get it cut at my friend's house by her friend and it should only cost me £20.

HMRC - I've put down £50 repayments but they haven't told me yet what they're expecting so I'm not sure that I have any control over this and it might be more but I definately don't have the money to pay it off in full.

Extras - I pay the Sky+ in the house and only recently purchased it because I go out for a night out only once every 2 months or so and with a child dictating my routine, recording my favourite shows is the only entertainment I get! I also sat in the whole of Xmas last year which saved a lot of money and I will do it again this year! The entertainment figure is higher because I've included things like bringing Che swimming on Sundays or to the indoor play place as well as the chinese I buy myself when I'm sitting in depressed on a Saturday night!! I haven't had a holiday since before he was born so I didn't put anything in that column.

Credit - the Virgin and All Saints are both cancelled accounts which I can't rack up again. I've been paying them off min. payments for so long now and am getting nowhere as the interest on Virgin especially is so high so I need to make an effort to get ris of these. The Next account was used mostly for work clothes when my shape changed completely after having Che and buying him clothes. Now I'm only allowing myself 2 shops for him - Winter and Summer - £100 each including new shoes.

The thing is, I never seem to have much left at the end of the month? It's probably blindingly obvious but if people can offer any advice that would be great I have started to take cash out to do me the week and other tips that I've got from the boards but what I probably need to address is the over-shopping/spending I do to compensate myself for not having much of a social life. I've self-pitied for too long!

Many thanks in advance everyone...

Percy1983

I am not the best to comment on these but the main thing I noticce is you SOA says you have £122 at the end of the month yet you say you have very little left, it is probably worth keeping a spending diary to see where you money is going.

The others to stand out to me is Sky TV, Entertainment and clothes, as it is if your SOA is correct you can afford these so don't need to cut them down but if you can make cuts on here it will increase your surplus futher.

Past that you shold snowball you debts, basically pay you surplus at the end of each month off you highest interest rate debt, the more you pay off the debts the less interest you pay which then increases how much you can pay etc.

dancingfairy

Hi - I think the easiest areas to address are clothing and groceries - I'm not sure how the groceries added up to 200 from what you said and clothes - addmittedly your little one is probably costing you a lot in clothes but perhaps you could cut down for a while?
I suggest perhaps targetting Ulsterbank first as it is a nice small balance and should prove a good motivation for the rest and once it is clear you may be able to get a decent balance transfer on it to reduce some of the higher rate debts. Perhaps having a clear out for a carboot ebay would help you attack that one first?
Good Luck
df

RAS

DebtDodger wrote: »

I've completed the SOA below and have a few notes to help you make sense of it. I'd love any advice people have about how I could better make use of the income I have and where I could save...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4 - actualy this is for you and your sone - so onbe adult
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1860
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 240
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 179 - what is this?
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 - whis is you share of this (one third)
Electricity............................. 0 - what are these
Gas..................................... 0 = ditto
Oil..................................... 0 - ditto
Water rates............................. 0 - ditto
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35 - needs to be reduced and then go PAYG for a while
TV Licence.............................. 0 - £4
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36 - reduce and then get rid ASAP
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - for one adult and one child this is high. Most people reckon £60 per monbth person
Clothing................................ 100 - this is ludicrous. Join wwwfreegle.co.uk or freecycle and then use charity shops and e-bay. Knocker and ashoes at 310 per month.
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0 - surely you need thuis
Car Insurance........................... 77 - this is incredibly high - points?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - you need something here at least for tyres and oil
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 500 - this is ludicrous as well. If you used a proper child care provider you could claim for help. i doubt the HMRC would find this aceptable. If you must support your dad then nearer £300 if you cut the other high expenses.
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 - halve this or more
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50 ditto
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1662


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7000.....(179)......18
Total secured & HP debts...... 7000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Ulsterbank CC..................240.......10........15
Next Account...................480.......50........24 - this is nasty too.
All Saints CC..................1400......40........17
HMRC...........................930.......50........0 -absolute priority - bauiliff and bankruptcy are options
Student Loan...................10000.....106.......0
Virgin CC......................2400......60........28 - at this rate the debt will probably increase unless you pay over the odds
Total unsecured debts..........15450.....316.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,662
Available for debt repayments........... 438
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 316
Amount left after debt repayments....... 122

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -7,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,450
Net Assets.............................. -17,450

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Notes:
Car - I need to drive for work as it was stipulated when I applied. I use a car park outside the city centre and walk across the river so it costs me £2 per day.

Food - I give my mum £20 per week towards Che's food and toiletries and purchase my own lunches. I've now cut those down and spend only £8 per week stocking up (instead of £5 per day) and have given up my tin of red bull each day and use the free coffee in work to keep me awake

Childcare - I don't get vouchers despite being a single parent because my dad minds my son as he was retired early in life through injury, but I try to pay him enough to cover any job he might get and also to help my parents out with their IVA repayments. I just wouldn't be comfortable with strangers raising my child so I can't put him in a creche!

Hair - I used to get my hair cut twice a year at a cost of around £30-40. I now get it cut at my friend's house by her friend and it should only cost me £20.

HMRC - I've put down £50 repayments but they haven't told me yet what they're expecting so I'm not sure that I have any control over this and it might be more but I definately don't have the money to pay it off in full.

Extras - I pay the Sky+ in the house and only recently purchased it because I go out for a night out only once every 2 months or so and with a child dictating my routine, recording my favourite shows is the only entertainment I get! I also sat in the whole of Xmas last year which saved a lot of money and I will do it again this year! The entertainment figure is higher because I've included things like bringing Che swimming on Sundays or to the indoor play place as well as the chinese I buy myself when I'm sitting in depressed on a Saturday night!! I haven't had a holiday since before he was born so I didn't put anything in that column.

Credit - the Virgin and All Saints are both cancelled accounts which I can't rack up again. I've been paying them off min. payments for so long now and am getting nowhere as the interest on Virgin especially is so high so I need to make an effort to get ris of these. The Next account was used mostly for work clothes when my shape changed completely after having Che and buying him clothes. Now I'm only allowing myself 2 shops for him - Winter and Summer - £100 each including new shoes.

The thing is, I never seem to have much left at the end of the month? It's probably blindingly obvious but if people can offer any advice that would be great I have started to take cash out to do me the week and other tips that I've got from the boards but what I probably need to address is the over-shopping/spending I do to compensate myself for not having much of a social life. I've self-pitied for too long!

Many thanks in advance everyone...

You are living in cloud cuckoo land - You need to get the HRMC below £750 urgently as that is the limit below which they cannot make you bankrupt.

You are paying your parent £1000 per month toward room, board and child care which is as much or more than you would pay if you left home and you might well get some help towards those costs if you lived independently.

DebtDodger

Hi everyone,

I too was wondering wh ythe leftover was so much! I have completely missed out my smoking habit!! I buy 3 packets a week which is around £18 - approx. £80 a month. I have just recently stopped my anti-depressants following post natal depression and my counsellor suggested I wait a few months before putting myself through the stress of quitting but I do intend to do it.

The groceries are the £20 a week for my son's food, about £80 a month and then it was £5 per day for lunches (or £100 a month!) but I just last week give myself a kick up the you-know-what and scrapped that down to £8 per week but I included the old figure to see if that's where the money was going.

Thanks for the HMRC advice I had no idea! They have only just sent me a letter and sai that I was to wait for further correspondence about how I would repay them but I have managed to save £100 between last month and this month (perhaps by cutting my food bill!) in order to get ready for their contacting me.

Should I contact them first then do you think?

DebtDodger

RAS wrote: »

You are paying your parent £1000 per month toward room, board and child care which is as much or more than you would pay if you left home and you might well get some help towards those costs if you lived independently.

This makes complete sense but my reasons to stay are more about helping my parents (although they haven't put pressure on me to do this) but I figured that due to my salary I wouldn't really get much help? I do pay a lot for childcare but like I said, I don't want to put my child in a creche, it's a very personal decision and not a judgemental one at all. I think £300 is OK considering it covers all the other costs I would then be liable for like TV licence, heating, electricity etc. Do you guys not think so?

dancingfairy

Not too sure re HMRC - can you make the payment of the money you already have?
Perhaps your parents would let you lower the payments to them for a few months so you can get HMRC knocked on the head and maybe some of the others -as RAS has pointed out 800 a month to live at home is a lot plus buying yourown food and clothes for yourself and the little one.
df

PerfectPeaches

Hi Deby Dodger

I've made my comments against your SOA. Sorry to be so brutal but there is a lot where you can save and start getting your debts down. Honesty is the best policy in this situation!

But on a more positive note, well done for posting your SOA it is the first (and hardest) step.

Peaches

DebtDodger wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4 This needs to be for you unless you support everyone in the household
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1860
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0 Surely you get something for being a single parent
Other income............................ 240 What is this?
Total monthly income.................... 2100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 179
Rent.................................... 300
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35 Is this contract? Can you go on PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 36 Do you really need Sky+?
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This could be reduced if you use meal planners, its amazing how much you can save
Clothing................................ 100 Is this for you and your child?
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0 You have nothing in here, that isn't right.
Car Insurance........................... 77 This seems really high, try shopping around. Mine is £22 per month fully comp
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 Again, nothing added in here. There needs to be something.
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 500 This is too high especially as your father takes care of your child. This needs to be reduced, your already paying rent so your parents get £800 off you per month!
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Needs to be halved really
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50 This should be reduced which is not always easy with a child
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1662


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000 Can you not get a cheaper car?
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7000.....(179)......18
Total secured & HP debts...... 7000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Ulsterbank CC..................240.......10........15
Next Account...................480.......50........24
All Saints CC..................1400......40........17
HMRC...........................930.......50........0
Student Loan...................10000.....106.......0
Virgin CC......................2400......60........28
Total unsecured debts..........15450.....316.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,662
Available for debt repayments........... 438
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 316
Amount left after debt repayments....... 122

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -7,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,450
Net Assets.............................. -17,450

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

Notes:
Car - I need to drive for work as it was stipulated when I applied. I use a car park outside the city centre and walk across the river so it costs me £2 per day. Can you not get a cheaper car?

Food - I give my mum £20 per week towards Che's food and toiletries and purchase my own lunches. I've now cut those down and spend only £8 per week stocking up (instead of £5 per day) and have given up my tin of red bull each day and use the free coffee in work to keep me awake So apart from paying £300 per month in rent does that not include food?

Childcare - I don't get vouchers despite being a single parent because my dad minds my son as he was retired early in life through injury, but I try to pay him enough to cover any job he might get and also to help my parents out with their IVA repayments. I just wouldn't be comfortable with strangers raising my child so I can't put him in a creche! £500 per month is still far too high and I think you should speak to your parents about this, especially as your already paying £300 rent per month.

Hair - I used to get my hair cut twice a year at a cost of around £30-40. I now get it cut at my friend's house by her friend and it should only cost me £20.

HMRC - I've put down £50 repayments but they haven't told me yet what they're expecting so I'm not sure that I have any control over this and it might be more but I definately don't have the money to pay it off in full.

Extras - I pay the Sky+ in the house and only recently purchased it because I go out for a night out only once every 2 months or so and with a child dictating my routine, recording my favourite shows is the only entertainment I get! I also sat in the whole of Xmas last year which saved a lot of money and I will do it again this year! The entertainment figure is higher because I've included things like bringing Che swimming on Sundays or to the indoor play place as well as the chinese I buy myself when I'm sitting in depressed on a Saturday night!! I haven't had a holiday since before he was born so I didn't put anything in that column.

Credit - the Virgin and All Saints are both cancelled accounts which I can't rack up again. I've been paying them off min. payments for so long now and am getting nowhere as the interest on Virgin especially is so high so I need to make an effort to get ris of these. The Next account was used mostly for work clothes when my shape changed completely after having Che and buying him clothes. Now I'm only allowing myself 2 shops for him - Winter and Summer - £100 each including new shoes.

The thing is, I never seem to have much left at the end of the month? It's probably blindingly obvious but if people can offer any advice that would be great I have started to take cash out to do me the week and other tips that I've got from the boards but what I probably need to address is the over-shopping/spending I do to compensate myself for not having much of a social life. I've self-pitied for too long!

Many thanks in advance everyone...

KingElvis

The HMRC debt would worry me most,the rest could wait. I would go all guns to get this paid.

DebtDodger

Thank you perfect peaches that is really helpful notes! I'll answer the questions to see if it makes more sense?
The road tax is free because my dad gets it for his injury and I let him use my car when he has hospital appointments. But it's not guaranteed every year so if I have to pay next year it will be £170! - yet another reaosn to free up money.
I don't get any benefits because I earn £29k. I've included my £20 p/wk child benefit in the income bit (which is confusing I'm sorry, it was just an overall figure I'm used to budgeting from now!)
The other income is child maintenance from his dad. It said maintenance on the original form but doesn't seem to have listed iut as such here.
Yes my mobile is an 18 month contract and I don't use all my minutes at all but I don't think I can change this?
No I don't need Sky+ but it has definately helped me spend weekends sitting in (the last 5 infact!) so I have actually cut my entertainment money. But I suppose this cancels out rather than saves anything! Can you cancel Sky when it's a contract?
Yes the clothing budget is both me and Che and I'm using eBay again for myself. I used to be very good at it and then fell out of the habit for a year or so.
The entertainment I know needs cut, I haven't been very imaginative in ideas for getting him socialising with other kids, I will search the boards for this info! Birthday presents likewise, I can't afford to be generous anymore!
I only just bought my car in March on hp so I would guess I owe too much on it to get a cheaper one? It is so dear because I didn't have a deposit was desperate because I needed one for this new job!
Everyone is saying the child care is too high. Is it really? My friend works in a crech which is £800 per month for each child 8-6 so I thought it wasn't too bad. I'd only get £240 in vouchers anyway wouldn't I?

Many thanks everyone, this is really helping me re-work my thought processes on this!

DebtDodger

KingElvis wrote: »

The HMRC debt would worry me most,the rest could wait. I would go all guns to get this paid.

Thanks, this has been a really helpful outcome of my post because I waa following the snowball thing and targeting the high interest first but knowing this I will need to rework my new plans to target HMRC first!