Could you look at our SOA please?

OCD

We'd be very grateful if you could look at this SOA and advise where to save.

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.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1711
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1050
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2761

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 525
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 36
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 17
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 105
Road tax................................ 23.83
Car Insurance........................... 63.75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 29
Car parking............................. 6.4
Other travel............................ 70
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15.33
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 13.6
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 19
Entertainment........................... 70
Holiday................................. 120
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1504.33


Assets
Cash.................................... 0.01
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2400
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 2400.01

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

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


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,761
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,504.33
Available for debt repayments........... 1,256.67
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,256.67

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,400.01
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 2,400.01

Created using the SOA calculator at make sense of cards
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

I find is shocking and somewhat disheartening that our transport costs are so high. The amounts above are for the two of us living in one household. They are a combination of figures from my budget and my partners budget. My figures are accurate and based on actual past spending. My partner's figures are based on allowances made for items each month, and are probably over-estimates of monies spent.

Entertainment includes membership of a sports society, which I attend frequently and which I certainly get my money's worth compared to paying for each visit (34 pounds total).

Holiday costs seem high while I am going down the list. We have family who live abroad, who we budget for to visit every year (plane tickets, insurance, food etc. while there).

We would like to reduce costs in order to save money (as we are planning on starting a family soon) and to reduce wastage.

eyeopener2

You have a surpus of £1200 yet no cash or other assets.

Where does that go?

Tixy

Hi

To start with do you have the surplus of £1256 each month? if you do what do you do with it currently? Have you been saving it?

Your costs don't look to bad overall. What are the other travel costs? f this is one of your commutes? if so do you also need 2 cars?

Groceries could probably be reduced a bit if you felt the need but if you have a surplus of over £1000 a month then you probably don't need to make too many more cutbacks.

ellesbellesxxx

Hi!
Is the mobile phone 30 pounds for one phone or two? If two it's very good! If one, see if you can change tariff.
You could prob save money on grocery shopping... look at the tips on here! Vegetarian food saves lots of money - and is good for you too!
A lot of these figures do look good! I would suggest shopping around for car/contents insurance... do you use quidco or topcashback? Definitely worth doing!
Do you need to spend 19 on haircuts every month? I last for 3 months at a time... and my hair does not suffer.
You spend a lot on presents - could you cook for people instead? or make them something? most people I know appreciate the time you put in rather than material things.
Holidays yes seem to be the biggie but again, using a cashback site and comparison sites you could shave a lot of this!
Good luck!

tallyhoh

are 2 cars really necessary? no public transport or even taxis? Each car is costing approx £114.00 a month without the cost of the actual vehicle or any major repairs. My bus pass is £42.00. Thats not inclusive of the £70 other travel as not sure what this is for.

OCD

eyeopener2 wrote: »

You have a surpus of £1200 yet no cash or other assets.

Where does that go?

Wow. That was quick everyone! Some quick typers here.

Eyeopener: We have been saving our surplus cash for a few months now. I felt a little out of order posting an SOA with the aim of increasing savings on a debt-free wanabee forum. I have alot of respect for people who are addressing their SOA's to reduce their debt - it is pretty inspiring. I didn't think it was appropriate to post our savings total. But yes - we have been saving it.

OCD

Tixy wrote: »

Hi

To start with do you have the surplus of £1256 each month? if you do what do you do with it currently? Have you been saving it?

Your costs don't look to bad overall. What are the other travel costs? f this is one of your commutes? if so do you also need 2 cars?

Groceries could probably be reduced a bit if you felt the need but if you have a surplus of over £1000 a month then you probably don't need to make too many more cutbacks.

Tixy: Our travel costs ARE high!
They can be broken down as follows...
2 cars - one of which I use for work and getting to morning and evening sports. I cannot rely on public transport for this purpose. I spend around 80 pounds on petrol on average per month. My partner, she does use the bus, spending 60 pounds per month one her bus "oyster card"-style travel card.
Therefore, the "other travel" section of our SOA includes this £60 plus what we spend on our breakdown cover. She only really uses the other car when I am working away at the weekend, to visit family, and do the shopping. This really is striking me as an area that could be addressed to save money now.

We are considering moving closer to work, so that I could potentially cycle.

Groceries-wise, we are looking at the old-style board to get our grocery costs down.

Tixy

The tips and principals are pretty much the same whether you want to become debt free or stay debt free or start making savings.

The old-style is a great place to help with grocery spend- have you seen the monthly grocery challenge - some of the posters there are very inspiring.

Might be worth rethinking the second car, would a bicycle be of any use? would it be cheaper to use public transport for her to visit her family? If she is only doing miles equivalent to £25 worth of fuel then the other car running costs are certainly going to make each mile costly.

Good luck with the saving and with starting a family!!

OCD

ellesbellesxxx wrote: »

Hi!
Is the mobile phone 30 pounds for one phone or two? If two it's very good! If one, see if you can change tariff.
You could prob save money on grocery shopping... look at the tips on here! Vegetarian food saves lots of money - and is good for you too!
A lot of these figures do look good! I would suggest shopping around for car/contents insurance... do you use quidco or topcashback? Definitely worth doing!
Do you need to spend 19 on haircuts every month? I last for 3 months at a time... and my hair does not suffer.
You spend a lot on presents - could you cook for people instead? or make them something? most people I know appreciate the time you put in rather than material things.
Holidays yes seem to be the biggie but again, using a cashback site and comparison sites you could shave a lot of this!
Good luck!

Hi ellesbellesxxx! Thanks for your reply.

The 30 pounds is for two phones. One is on an O2 rolling contract, and the other on a T-mobile pay-as-you-go.

Our car insurance policies were the cheapest we could find via the price comparison method. Contents insurance is via our bank, and due for renewal mid-summer, when we will shop around for a better deal (I think this was also the cheapest at the time of last renewal).

Fantastic idea about the presents. We put this idea in place this year between some close family members. No presents, but inviting them round for a nice tea party. The idea could be extended by making food as gifts to give away to people who might still appreciate a gift instead of coming round (or who come round frequently anyway). A spiced nuts recipe I cam across last week springs to mind as an option!

We certainly do shop around for cheap flights. Really don't mind flying budget. 12 hours sleep and we're there. But two flights to the other side of the world add up - even with "Fly-Lo" travel.

Cashback sites are something we definitely need to use more. tbh I've only ever used it for car insurance and breakdown cover. You can use them for nearly anything including buying presents - so I guess that might all add up?

Haircuts breakdown as follows:
me: barbers = £7pm.
partners= £35per quarter= approx £12pm
Total=£19pm.

To be fair I usually go longer between haircuts, but usually give a pound or two's tip - so it's still about right.


We are really motivated to decrease our outgoings, for the reasons I put in the original post, but also because I would like to know we could survive on less if necessary. e.g. when we do have a family, and are surviving on a single wage, or if we have to go through a period without work.

Thanks again for the input.

Further advice and suggestions most appreciated.

OCD

tallyhoh wrote: »

are 2 cars really necessary? no public transport or even taxis? Each car is costing approx £114.00 a month without the cost of the actual vehicle or any major repairs. My bus pass is £42.00. Thats not inclusive of the £70 other travel as not sure what this is for.

Cheers for the reply.

I've posted a couple of things to clarify what we spend on transport.
You are right - this area does need looking at.
Thanks for the advice. We are discussing this now.

OCD

Tixy wrote: »

The tips and principals are pretty much the same whether you want to become debt free or stay debt free or start making savings.

The old-style is a great place to help with grocery spend- have you seen the monthly grocery challenge - some of the posters there are very inspiring.

Might be worth rethinking the second car, would a bicycle be of any use? would it be cheaper to use public transport for her to visit her family? If she is only doing miles equivalent to £25 worth of fuel then the other car running costs are certainly going to make each mile costly.

Good luck with the saving and with starting a family!!

Thank you. Very kind.