Newbie needing advice!

suz_87

I have been lurking around the threads for a while now and have finally taken the plunge and done a budget and it scared me! I'm looking for some advice on how to improve my finances and hopefully work our way to being debt free (well most of our debt is the OH's but thats not the point).

Can you have a look at my SOA and give me some advice and any other kind of guidance?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,140.47
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.95
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.61
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339.14
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.18
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.42
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.91
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240.68

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.42
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,140.47


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,883.72




Thanks

GeorgieFTB

suz_87 wrote: »

I have been lurking around the threads for a while now and have finally taken the plunge and done a budget and it scared me! I'm looking for some advice on how to improve my finances and hopefully work our way to being debt free (well most of our debt is the OH's but thats not the point).

Can you have a look at my SOA and give me some advice and any other kind of guidance?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,140.47
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 - can you drop a tarrif, this looks high, decent sim only deals can be £10
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 - I assume this is home phone and internet, this could be cheaper you can get deals for about £20
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.95 - it the account worth it? Do you use enough of the perks? If not switch
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.61
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339.14
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.18
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.00 - anyway to bring this down, car share, drive economically...
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.42
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.00 - this is high have you checked on comparision sites, use cashback sites etc
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 - should have something here
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.91
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240.68

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 - if not for emergencies the I would pay this into your debts
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.42 - packed lunches?
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,140.47


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,883.72




Thanks

At least you have money left over, if that doesn't sound right then you need a spending diary to see where you're numbers are wrong.

Hope that helps
Gx

[Deleted User]

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax) . . . . . . . 2,140.47 Any way to increase? Overtime? Second job?

Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 How many mobiles is this for? Even 2 this is quite high - do you really use all the minutes and texts you get in your bundle? If you are stuck in contract, see if you can drop a tariff or two - if/when out of contract look at SIM only and PAYG - there are some good £10pm deals
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00 This is high, even if it includes home phone - you should be able to get both for £20-£25 pm - if this also includes Pay for TV then look at freeview/freesat and cancel
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33 What does this cover, do you spend this every month? Try own brands, or buy extra when offers are on, try pound shop etc
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 Although these are both good, regularly check to ensure you remain on the cheapest tariff for your area (6-12 monthly)(Uswitch), and if switching is cheaper check one of the cashback sites (Quidco, topcashback, onepoll)
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 as above
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Don't you pay this? (ignore if you are in Sccotland as included in Ctax there)
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107.00 Do you pay this over the usual 10 months, see if you can switch to paying over 12 months - ask your council, this will reduce the monthly amount
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.95 Do you really use the features you get as part of the package to warrant paying this (£155.40 each year)? If you do, check that you wouldn't be able to get the same/similar for cheaper elsewhere.
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.61
Mortgage/Rent . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339.14
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.18
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . .. . . . . . . . 100.00 How many people is this for - you might be able to cut back a bit - meal plan, batch cook, shop with a list, drop brands (have a look around the old style board)

Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.00 Are all trips essential
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.42
Car Insurance . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112.00 At renewal shop around
Car Maintenance . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 don't you need something here?

Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00 you need to list what each of these are (How much in total is owed, minimum monthly payment, and the APR)
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.91 Again, how much is owed? When will this be fully repayed? What's the APR?)
Personal Loan Repayments. . .. . . . . . . . . . . 222.00 The same for this one too - (How much in total is owed? What's the APR and how many monthly payments left)
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240.68 (The same for this one too - How much in total is owed? What's the APR and how many monthly payments left)

Savings & Investments
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 If you pay this in every month how much is the balance, and what's the APR?

Entertainment

Cinema/Theatre Trips. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.08 What does this cover? Look ato see if there are offers/vouchers - if cinema, look at Orange Wednesdays
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 Again, what does this cover, can you get the same or similar for less - if DVD rental look at LoveFilm

Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 What does this cover? Can you do it yourself?
New Clothes . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 Buy essentials only until debt free - also, have a clear out of your wardrobe and put things you no longer wear on e-bay

Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Odds & Sods

Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.42 Make packed lunches it will work out much cheaper


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,140.47


Total monthly expenses. . . .. . . . . . . . . . 1,883.72

According to this SOA you have a surplus of £256.75 every month. Is this accurate? Do you have this at the end of every month? If so pay it towards the debt that's costing you the most in interest. If not, keep a spending diary to see where it goes noting down everything that you spend money on from a postage stamp to the mortgage and you'll soon find out where your extra expenditure is.

HTH

D9

Tixy

Hi suz. Think you've already had some good advice on areas you may be able to reduce your spending.

Regarding debts

suz_87 wrote: »

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.91
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240.68

Are these minimum payments for the credit cards? what is the apr on each debt? and what are the outstanding balance? If you have more than one card what are the balance, aprs and limits on each card.
Also do you have an outstanding overdraft and if so what is the APR on that and what is the usual balance just before payday?

Hannah_10

So your household is two adults and no kids, yes?

suz_87

Thanks for the advice already!

Sorry I should have said the household consists of 2 adults yes.

I already work 2 jobs and my OH is looking for new/second job at the moment.

The mobile phone tariffs we are stuck with just now but it is for 2 phones.

With regards to petrol/diesel most of this is for my car as I work out of town, the possibility of car share isn't really an option either as I have to have access to a car during the day for work purposes (which i do get mileage for but it just covers the miles I do)

The internet cost is for home phone, tv and internet, I am going to try to haggle this down a bit.

The bank account charge i totally agree with its my OH's account and hes stubborn! We don't use the benefits at all! I will keep trying with this!

Car insurance is high mainly due to the fact we are both only 23 and my OH has only been driving for 6 months so his insurance is ridiculous for now! Car maintenance is £0 as my dad owns a garage and daddy fixes everything!

Food costs we could probably drop we have just got into the habit of eating quick meals due to working arrangements.

The credit card payments are minimum payment on one card and overpaying on my card which normally has nothing on it but my fridgefreezer died last month and needed replaced.

Meals at work is only for my OH i tend to take lunch to work, he works weird hours often at short notice so he eats in their canteen to be fair he gets a decent meal for £1 in the canteen its actually probably less than this he spend.

Hannah_10

Does Daddy buy your tyres, top your iol up and pay your MOT? If so then that's ace. Otherwise you'll need a figure here.

suz_87

Actually yes! My car isn't old enough to need an MOT, he deals with everything else.

bargainbetty

Can I ask why you have two life insurances? One on the mortgage, which seems very high, and one separate? If you were sold that insurance with the mortgage, shop around, you'll probably save a fortune.

With regard to the account fee, go through all the benefits and work out if you can utilise any of them. If not, redo your budget, and make OH pay for it out of his fun money - you shouldn't have to contribute for something entirely wasteful.

Good luck

dancingfairy

As has already been said your biggest problem is the fact you are loosing 256 a month (or more? if you are getting more into debt). You should have this at the end of the month to pay off your debts quicker - if you're anything like most people you won't have a clue where it's going and will need a spending diary which will horrify you :eek: as to where it all goes without you even realising. Harness that and you can start to make great inroads into the debt.
Best of Luck
df