Here is my SOA

joesaunt

The only thing I have forgotten to add is the special cat food, which costs me £13 per month. (She is a sick cat) I have allowed £30 for clothig a month, but in reality I probably only spend that every two months, so this will allow for the cat food.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1 aged 17 just started a low paid job
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1224
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1224
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 (Maximum)
Clothing................................ 30 (and cat food)
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 7.5
Car Insurance........................... 13.6
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 19.5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 11
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 17.5
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1277.62

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds loan....................3385......119.2.....0 Not sure of
Lloyds CC......................886.......25........0 Not sure of
Asda CC........................2819.84...85........0%
Lloyds overdraft...............2191......30........0
Egg............................1082.51...27.9......19.9%
aa.............................2561.71...26........0%

ceejaydee23

how low paid is your daughters job? As even when i was just earning £50 a week(aged 16) my mum had £15 a week from me. Although my first pay was all mine lol for the 2 of you thats an awful high grocerry bill! I've restricted ours to £60 a week and thats for 2 adults and 2 small children! though they eat for england when they want to esp the toddler lol

joesaunt

Hi Ceejaydee

My son is earning enough to contribute £20 a week to me. He runs his own car and pays for all that needs and I don't want to make him skint! I was 17 once

I try each month to make the grocery bill less and hopefully now dear son is taking packed lunches to work instead of being at home eating everything he could lay his hands on, it will go down. I do batch cook etc etc after learning all about it from these boards. I used to spend about £300 between the two of us :eek:

Believe me children do eat for Britain whether they are 2 or 17.

RAS

Hi

have you added the £86 per week to your SOA?

Are you entitled to any benefits?

And unless he absolutely needs a car to get to work, I think you are teaching him the wrong priorities; you are going to get into more debt becasue he does not contribute properly to the household.

A lot of parents come here in debt when their child(ren) leave school and their income drops. One option would be a DRO but you will lose the car. That might tip you out of the £50 surplus income limit.

MFWannabe

joesaunt wrote: »

The only thing I have forgotten to add is the special cat food, which costs me £13 per month. (She is a sick cat) I have allowed £30 for clothig a month, but in reality I probably only spend that every two months, so this will allow for the cat food.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1 aged 17 just started a low paid job
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1224
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1224
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150 - Does this include single person discount; as your son is only 17?
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 (Maximum)
Clothing................................ 30 (and cat food)
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 7.5
Car Insurance........................... 13.6
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 19.5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 11 - What is this for?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 17.5 - This is very high; check out local colleges that do discounted cuts
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1277.62

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds loan....................3385......119.2.....0 Not sure of
Lloyds CC......................886.......25........0 Not sure of
Asda CC........................2819.84...85........0%
Lloyds overdraft...............2191......30........0
Egg............................1082.51...27.9......19.9%
aa.............................2561.71...26........0%

Hi
I've made some comments above where you could make some cutbacks. You need to edit your soa though as it has not included the end bit that gives total of debt and amount of money leftover

joesaunt

Right, I think I have copied it all this time, I have also included £86 from my son per month and altered the clothing.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1224
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 86
Total monthly income.................... 1310
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 65
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 30
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 7.5
Car Insurance........................... 13.6
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 19.5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 11
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 17.5
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1252.62

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds loan....................3385......119.3.....0 not sure
Lloyds CC......................886.......25........0 not sure
Asda CC........................2819.84...85........0%
AA CC..........................2561.71...26........0%
Egg CC.........................1082.51...27.9......19.9%
Lloyds overdraft...............2191......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........12926.06..313.2.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,310
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,252.62
Available for debt repayments........... 57.38
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 313.2
Amount short for making debt repayments. -255.82
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,926.06
Net Assets.............................. -9,426.06
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

The other insurance is for my son's fishing tackle. The policy runs out in June, I think he will take it over then, or cancel it. The company it is with will charge me £50 to change the DD at the minute, so not worth altering it for now.

I have Payplan calling me next week to discuss my options.

My son is 18 in the middle of April, so I will only get 2 weeks worth of council tax discount.

I have used the local college before for hair cuts, but unfortunately the hours they open late do not fit in with my work, I can alter my late night at work sometimes, but not all the time. I try to use the college for every second hair cut and this cost is factored in.

And RAS, as you said this is what happens when children grow up, I have lost my child benefit, working family/child tax credit and money from the CSA, totalling about £600 per month. The job my son was offered is a fantastic opportunity for him, although not paying him very much at the minute. He works in the opposite direction to me, but shares a lift in with his work colleague, they are going to do a week each with the driving. I am fairly reluctant to take too much money from him as I don't want him to end up in the same mess as me. I know he has to be responsible for helping out, but it isn't his fault I am in debt. (That came from my ex husband, but that is another long and boring story, believe me I learnt the hard way) I was hoping to pay at least one card off by the time the child benefit etc would have stopped at the end of August, but this job offer was far too good for him to turn down.

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the advice so far.

Joesaunt

ceejaydee23

JoesAunt, Due to the fact your son will be 18 fairly soon, Id possibly let him know that as the council tax bill will be going up you will be asking him for his portion of that. £600 a month is a massive chunk of money to just "lose" like that I really feel for you!

joesaunt

Hi Ceejaydee

It was a massive chunk and although I have been paying things off over the last few years and not accumulating any more debt it was a mssive shock to lose it. My son has said he will pay a bit more to help with the council tax, he is a good boy and won't see me struggle, I just hope he can be sensible with his money and not have any credit or debt to pay.

Thank again

d3mon4ngel

Just a point, but have you always claimed single person's discount on your council tax since you lived on your own? If you haven't and you contact the council, they may be able to backdate the difference. They did it with me, but that was only for about 6 months, so don't know how generous they would be if it was years unclaimed!

ceejaydee23

its kinda been the same for us really with me now not working and actually living with my partner, as he was living with parents before, So i had my income, and my CTC and WTC for my daughter, And then when we were transfered to a house, I moved my partner in with us just before our son was born! So the CTC/WTC dropped quite some! so the reigns should have been pulled tight, but with a baby on the way not easy! We were still coping paying minimum payments on everything, even when I was on maternity pay we were JUST coping, although still a fair bit of spending on CC's especially regarding christmas.

The big blow came when the Maternity pay ran out and we applied for benefits! Due to medication/hormoane inbalances i hadnt been concentrating or being "well" for a while, and hadnt noticed the mess ups the council when they wrote to us 3 months later to tell us, we then had to pay back alot of money, which is why i'm here! Its been a hard few months, but i'm now starting to see the fruits of my hard work! But also the errors of our ways of just how easy it was to say "stick it on the card"

Had to try and figure a way to create more money in the "short term" As lets be honest trying to find a job isnt the easiest thing in the world right now. Especially when you have kids, and dont want to be spending out what your earning on childcare (as right now that wont help anyone)