SOA rough draft...help?

djdido2

hi there


not very good at this type of thing so please bear with me!



ok here goes!.

MONTHLY INCOME:

Wages £1360
Child Benefit £ 116
Maintenance £ 120
Wtc/Ctc £ 550

TOTAL = £2146

I'm a self-employed lone parent with dd (10) and ds (3)!


MONTHLY OUTGOINGS:


Rent £425.00
Home Ins £ 25.00
C Tax £ 79.00
Water £30.00
Gas £35.00
Elec £45.00
Phone/Net £55.00
Mobile 40.00
Window Cl £ 5.00
Food £250.00
Smokes £ 50.00 :eek:
Car Ins £40.00
Car Tax £15.00
Petrol £80.00
School Meal £32.40
Tv Lic £11.00
Childcare £120.00
Treats/Kids £50.00
Clothing Etc £100.00

TOTAL £1487.40

DEBTS

Personal Loan (LLOYDS TSB)

Balance (£4912.25) APR 9.9% monthly repayment £183.87 (28 months remaining)

Business Loan (LLOYDS TSB)
Balance (£4405.72) APR 13.4% Interest rate 12% per annum. (58 months remaining)

WTC OVERPAYMENT (£2737.23) Repayments of £25 per month commencing 1st Dec 06.

TOTAL MONTHLY PAYMENTS £307.10

may have got calculations wrong so any help or feedback appreciated!:D

thankyou

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

amosworks

Hey there!!

Well with regards to your outgoings, you already know that smoking is very, very bad so I won't nag on about it. But just for kicks, factor in that £50 in to your debt repayments against your highest interest debt and run your projections for the year again. I bet you'll be much happier at the difference. Happy enough to give up cancer sticks I don't know - but at the end of the day you have two young children who I'm sure would much rather have you around to see their children when the times comes.

I'm a little shocked that you spend about £100 on "clothing etc" A MONTH!!!

wrote:

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.
-- Oscar Wilde

I know that kids go through clothes very quickly but there are ways and means to bring this figure right down. Firstly, I'm assuming that you don't already shop at charity shops? I am a brand !!!!! and shop exclusively at them, this week alone I've picked up a perfect Versace shirt for £2 and a nice Armani top for £3. Most charity shops have heaps of kids clothes, all it takes is the time to go rummaging. As for holes in trousers etc., maybe it's time to start patching up instead of buying new if you don't already do this? Hand-me-downs have some weird stigma in the consumerist world but I think it's a great idea. Don't be shy to ask people who have slightly older children for theirs. Then of course we have eBay, jumble sales, car boots, freecycle and many others which you can use to source all sorts of garments. I'm sure you can get that figure down to £100 a year if you give it a go.

I hope I don't seem judgemental when I question your sanity for paying £5 a month for a window cleaner. I am a little worried why that appears higher in your list than food and most your other non-essential outgoings. I don't read £5 a month, I read £60 a year. That could pay for over half of your new clothing budget if you did it yourself (assuming you can).

I guess with 2 kids and being self employed, you don't have lots of time on your hands to do things so take some of the easy routes, like a window cleaner and school meals, but sometimes a little organisation in your life to make a little extra time each week really can save you money. How about making packed lunches instead of paying for school meals? Maybe you qualify for free school meals anyway? Have you checked?

Anyway it's not like you're a total newbie so guess you know all this. I suppose I'm just trying to give you a kick up the backside

gettingitsorted

Ditch the windows Cleaner. Unless you live by a main road. If your in a rented house they aren't your windows you are paying to have cleaned. Another thought is getting the windows cleaner to come bi-monthly.

tyllwyd

Looking at your figures, you have income of £2146, and outgoings of (£1487 + £307 = £1794). So - in theory anyway - you have a surplus of £352 each month.

Do you know where this £350 is being spent? The first thing you need to do is to start a spending diary to work out exactly where your money is going. I can see on your budget that you have left out car MOT/repairs, so that is one thing to be saving up for.

djdido2

hi all

thanks for your comments and help.

yeah i do get through too much cash for clothes but as mentioned i'm on my own and running a small business so time is of the essence here. once i have moved house i will have more time on my hands to trawl the charity shops for clothing etc. dd is 10 and very high maintenance at the moment. lol. i know i could definitely cut this right down so when i have the time i will ebay all my daughters clothes that she has outgrown and make lists of shops to target for future "fashion" purposes.

as for the smoking bit. i really intend giving it 100% per cent and stopping completely as i hate it anyway. would be a nice challenge to see the money banked as savings instead of slowly killing myself. will join the no smoking thread on the big day to get help/support on this.

i live on a main road and the windows get dirty really quickly and i dt seem to have the time on my hands to do jobs like this. dont get any help whatsoever with my kids from ex so its just a vicious circle of kids, work, housework etc. (sorry to moan lol!)

will start a spending diary as of today. what an excellent idea! i often wonder where all my money goes. so i will know now.

probably missed a fair few bits and bats off my SOA anyway. spent all day on it yesterday and it took me ages.

keep em coming and thanks.
x
d