SOA advice

yan79

Hi.

I've been loitering around here for ages and finally bit the bullet and been brave enough to post my SOA_pale_

The reason for doing this is that my husband and I have recently got a joint bank account to help clear his (massive) overdraft.

In the past I've earned my wage, he's earned his and we've both put an equal amount into a joint account to pay the household bills and mortgage.
This was until I realised how big his overdraft really was (£3900) and also got fed up of paying more into the joint account when he actually earns more.
From last month I pay all my wages into the household bills and mortgage and we live off his weekly pay.

Anyway, we're trying for another baby and I'm desperate to be completely debt free as soon as possible.
Both of us are terrible with money and completely undisciplined when it comes to saving
By the looks of our SOA we look ok but we never have any money (although I haven't given our new banking ways a chance yet)
The biggest thing I want to get rid of is our loan to a family member.
The most difficult thing about this is my husbands fluctuation in his wage. It goes from £430 pw to around £510.
As I've said I'm completely useless when it comes to money and I would just love a bit of advice as to whether we should get a loan to help pay the debts or which debts should be concentrated on first etc.

Many Thanks

Yan


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3280

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 862
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 96
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 88
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 57.3
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 96
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 88.59
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 315
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 48.9
Other insurance......................... 5.04
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
account charge and interest on overdraft 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 2131.7


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(862)......6.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
visa...........................2000......43........NaN
capital one....................194.......11........NaN
littlewoods....................218.......10........NaN
family loan....................2400......100.......0
next...........................818.......79........NaN
Total unsecured debts..........5630......243.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,280
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,131.7
Available for debt repayments........... 1,148.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 243
Amount left after debt repayments....... 905.3

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,630
Net Assets.............................. -125,630

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

ilovecheese

Hi Yan79 and welcome

Is your SOA realistic? During the whole year you don't spend any money on presents, entertainment, clothes, haircuts or car maintenance?

Never buy a coffee/drink/snack when you are out, never buy a newspaper or magazine?

This might be the reason that you have no money at the end of the month?

Your best option would be a spending diary to see where all your money is going.

I am sure other members will also come by and give you some advice

cloudcuckooland_3

Hi there,

To concentrate on dealing with the worst debts you need to compare interest rates, paying the highest off first which you can work out at whatsthecost.com. This is called 'snowballing' and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how fast you can get these debts under control by prioritising them. Even I can get rid of mine in 5 years and I owe 27000K! (only if my income stays the same tho).

I notice you have a surplus of 905.3 every month - do you really have this, and if so what are you doing with it?
Your life assurance seems rather high.
Are you really spending 200.00 a month on groceries or are you just estimating?
As ilovecheese says it would be well worthwhile to fill in a daily spending diary.

I wish you all the best on your debt free journey!

yan79

cloudcuckooland wrote: »

Hi there,

To concentrate on dealing with the worst debts you need to compare interest rates, paying the highest off first which you can work out at whatsthecost.com. This is called 'snowballing' and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how fast you can get these debts under control by prioritising them. Even I can get rid of mine in 5 years and I owe 27000K! (only if my income stays the same tho).

I notice you have a surplus of 905.3 every month - do you really have this, and if so what are you doing with it?
Your life assurance seems rather high.
Are you really spending 200.00 a month on groceries or are you just estimating?
As ilovecheese says it would be well worthwhile to fill in a daily spending diary.

I wish you all the best on your debt free journey!

Hiya!

Thank you both for your replies.

I am estimating my grocery bill and it's probably more than this. The life assurance is due for renewal soon (I think), so I'm going to have a look at this as I'm sure we can get it cheaper elsewhere.

As for spending money of coffee, presents, haircuts etc...Yes, of course we have these but not very often to be honest and the last time I bought some clothes for us I can remember. The clothes I've bought for my son have been on the Next Directory (hence the £800 or so that we owe them)

The other thing I haven't put on there is my car maintenance, my husband is a mechanic and usually manages to repairs to the car at near minimum cost. Although it has just cost us £25 for a repair but this happens very rarely.

I'm not sure how much we spend on presents etc but it isn't a lot, maybe we could say about £20 a month just to average it out over the year?

We don't have nights out at the pictures, pubs etc and over the winter we haven't had any family days out either.

The spare cash must just get 'frittered' away and I think the suggestion of a spending diary seems like a good idea.

Again, thank you for your advice;)

Yan

curlytop12

Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 88
-BOTH QUITE HIGH-CHECK COMPARISON SITES AND USE CASHBACK SIT
Water rates............................. 57.3
-IS THIS METERED?SEEMS A LOT?
Telephone (land line)................... 25
-SEE INTERNET BELOW
Mobile phone............................ 96
-DROP TARIFFS,GO PAYG

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
-GO FREESAT OR DROP TO LOWER PACKAGE?

Internet Services....................... 10
GET COMBINED DEAL WITH YOUR LANDLINE-£20 ISH FOR ALL
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
VERY GOOD IF CORRECT
Clothing................................ 0
-NEVER?
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 0
-NEED TO BUDGET FOR THESE

Car maintenance (including MOT).........
-NEED TO BUDGET THESES IN



Other child related expenses............ 315

Other insurance......................... 5.04
-WHATS THIS FOR,ARE YOU SURE HOUSE INS DOESN'T DUPLICATE COVER?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
-NEVER?
Haircuts................................ 0
-NEVER?
Entertainment........................... 0
-NEVER?


Assets

House value (Gross).....................
-NEED VALUE HERE?

Car(s).................................. 0
-AND HERE
Total Assets............................ 0

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
visa...........................2000......43........
capital one....................194.......11........
littlewoods....................218.......10........
family loan....................2400......100.......0
next...........................818.......79........
-NEED APRS HERE PLEASE,AND CREDIT LIMITS


Amount left after debt repayments....... 905.3-THINK THE MISSING ITEMS FROM ABOVE NEED TO BE FACTORED IN HERE,AND MAYBE KEEP ALL RECIEPTS AND DO SPENDING DIARY FOR A MONTH TO GET TRUER PICTURE

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)...........-CARSX2 AND HOUSE


WELCOME!HOPE MY COMMENTS MAY HELP,GOOD LUCK,AT LEAST YOU HAVE A GREAT INCENTIVE-A NEW ADDITION.
GOOD LUCK:)

yan79

gem68 wrote: »

Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 88
-BOTH QUITE HIGH-CHECK COMPARISON SITES AND USE CASHBACK SIT
Water rates............................. 57.3
-IS THIS METERED?SEEMS A LOT?
Telephone (land line)................... 25
-SEE INTERNET BELOW
Mobile phone............................ 96
-DROP TARIFFS,GO PAYG

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
-GO FREESAT OR DROP TO LOWER PACKAGE?

Internet Services....................... 10
GET COMBINED DEAL WITH YOUR LANDLINE-£20 ISH FOR ALL
Groceries etc. ......................... 20
VERY GOOD IF CORRECT
Clothing................................ 0
-NEVER?
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 0
-NEED TO BUDGET FOR THESE

Car maintenance (including MOT).........
-NEED TO BUDGET THESES IN



Other child related expenses............ 315

Other insurance......................... 5.04
-WHATS THIS FOR,ARE YOU SURE HOUSE INS DOESN'T DUPLICATE COVER?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
-NEVER?
Haircuts................................ 0
-NEVER?
Entertainment........................... 0
-NEVER?


Assets

House value (Gross).....................
-NEED VALUE HERE?

Car(s).................................. 0
-AND HERE
Total Assets............................ 0

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
visa...........................2000......43........
capital one....................194.......11........
littlewoods....................218.......10........
family loan....................2400......100.......0
next...........................818.......79........
-NEED APRS HERE PLEASE,AND CREDIT LIMITS


Amount left after debt repayments....... 905.3-THINK THE MISSING ITEMS FROM ABOVE NEED TO BE FACTORED IN HERE,AND MAYBE KEEP ALL RECIEPTS AND DO SPENDING DIARY FOR A MONTH TO GET TRUER PICTURE

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)...........-CARSX2 AND HOUSE


WELCOME!HOPE MY COMMENTS MAY HELP,GOOD LUCK,AT LEAST YOU HAVE A GREAT INCENTIVE-A NEW ADDITION.
GOOD LUCK:)

Hiya!

Thank you for your reply

My gas and electric are accurate meter readings and they are this much while I pay off debts incurred over the winter period. I am definitely paying the lowest amount possible as I called them last week.

Water is based on water rates payed over 8 months. We are currently waiting for a meter to be fitted on Friday.

TV, internet and phone are all in one package with Virgin Media. We are fixed into a 1 year contract with them, think there's about 8 months left.

Mobile phone tariffs are both 2 year contracts, both of which we are about a year in to.

Groceries are definitely wrong. I spend about £250 per month more than likely.

The other insurance (£5.04) is water and sewerage insurance.

The £315 per month is £72 per week CSA payments to my husbands ex-wife.

My house value (at a guess) is about 150k
Our cars are worth approx 1k (for both, not each)

The credit limits for our next accounts are 2k (per person)
Visa card (2500)
Capital One £200
Littlewoods £1000

I don't know the APR's but I can find out...

Yan

MummyEm

My husbands wage also fluctuates so I base all our budgetting on the smallest amount he gets. If he get more one month, I transfer the difference straight into a seperate savings account. This stops us spending it, and has slowly been building up to a nice savings sum.

Regarding your spending, I definately think a spending diary is the way to go. It's surprising how quickly things add up.

You could also try a spending budget for each of you per week. withdraw some money each week that has to cover everything you buy that week - fuel, food, treats, presents etc. any leftover can go towards an extra debt payment. This makes you think a lot mre about what you are spending and my make you think twice about that bar of choc, magazine etc.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

and welcome - I'll put some comments below, and hopefully some of them will be of use to you.

D9

yan79 wrote: »

Hi.

I've been loitering around here for ages and finally bit the bullet and been brave enough to post my SOA_pale_ well done

The reason for doing this is that my husband and I have recently got a joint bank account to help clear his (massive) overdraft.

In the past I've earned my wage, he's earned his and we've both put an equal amount into a joint account to pay the household bills and mortgage.

This was until I realised how big his overdraft really was (£3900) and also got fed up of paying more into the joint account when he actually earns more.

From last month I pay all my wages into the household bills and mortgage and we live off his weekly pay.

Anyway, we're trying for another baby and I'm desperate to be completely debt free as soon as possible.

Both of us are terrible with money and completely undisciplined when it comes to saving

By the looks of our SOA we look ok but we never have any money (although I haven't given our new banking ways a chance yet)
The biggest thing I want to get rid of is our loan to a family member.
The most difficult thing about this is my husbands fluctuation in his wage. It goes from £430 pw to around £510.base your spending on the lower amount, and you any additional income as overpayments of debts, or when debt free for savings or treats

As I've said I'm completely useless when it comes to money and I would just love a bit of advice as to whether we should get a loan to help pay the debts or which debts should be concentrated on first etc.

Many Thanks

Yan


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200 Any wat to increase either this or below? Overtime? Second job?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000 as above
Benefits................................ 80
Total monthly income.................... 3280

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 862
Council tax............................. 96Are you paying this over the usual 10 months? Ask your council if you can spread over 12 months.
Electricity............................. 60 Both of these seem on the high side - check that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area (often online and duel fuel are cheaper) - check somewhere like USwitch, if switching is going to work out cheaper then go through one of the cashback sites (Quidco, onepoll, topcashback etc)
Gas..................................... 88 as above
Water rates............................. 57.3 If you're not on a meter, one might work out cheaper
Telephone (land line)................... 25 See if combining with internet will bring this price down - should get both for £20-£25pm.
Mobile phone............................ 96 This is very high, even for two phones Do you really use all the minutes and texts you get as part of the package. If not then look at PAYG or SIM only contracts - there are some good ones about at the moment for £10 pm. If stuck in contract see if you can drop down a tariff.There must be a cheaper option here.
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 You could look at Freesat or freeview as an alternative, or drop channels
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This is quite high for 2 adults and one child - try dropping brands, meal planning, batch cooking, only buy what you will use etc (check out the old style board for ideas, advice and tips)
Clothing................................ 0 never?
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Car Insurance........................... 88.59
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 nothing?
Other child related expenses............ 315 what does this cover? Is it good value? Is there a cheaper alternative?
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 48.9
Other insurance......................... 5.04
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 never? Xmas? Birthdays?
Haircuts................................ 0 again is never really realistic?
Entertainment........................... 0 never?
account charge and interest on overdraft 50 Quite high
Total monthly expenses.................. 2131.7


Assets
House value (Gross)..................... 0 House should be here
Car(s).................................. 0 Car should be here if it's yous and not your employers
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(862)......6.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 120000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR Before you can make any priorities here you need to know what the APRs are, and are these the minimum payments? I suspect Littlewoods or Next will be charging quite surprising interest.
visa...........................2000......43........NaN
capital one....................194.......11........NaN
littlewoods....................218.......10........NaN
family loan....................2400......100.......0
next...........................818.......79........NaN
Total unsecured debts..........5630......243.......- The overdraft and any other debts need to all be included here


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,280
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,131.7
Available for debt repayments........... 1,148.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 243
Amount left after debt repayments....... 905.3 Well, you have a huge surplus at the end of the month - if you don't see this amount then you really need to find out where it goes. I suspect that some at lest goes on the things missing from your SOA (Entertainment, presents, haircuts, car maintenance, clothing). You need to keep a spending diary to identify where it all goes. Keep a notebook or diary with you and note down everything that you spend from a carton of milk or a postage stamp right up to the mortgage ad everything inbetween - after a month or two review the spending diary and you will soon see were it all goes (the small things can add up - coffees, luch at work etc without you even realising it). Once you know where it goes you will be better able to budget and prioritising spends.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -120,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,630
Net Assets.............................. -125,630

HTH

D9

yan79

Hi.

Thank yo.
The £315 child costs are CSA payments to my husbands ex wife for his two children.
The Others I have explained further up in this thread. The council tax is paid over 12 months so cant reduce that.

On the plus side, Ive cancelled sky sports and saved us £22.50 per month, cancelled the water insurance £5.05 and spread my water rates over £10 months instead of 8 which has reduced them to £46 per month and reduced that Npower bill by £10 per months. All in the last couple of hours!

Yan x

yan79

And reduced my mobile phone tariff by £5 per month...eeeee this feels good

Oh I forgot to reply to some of the questions on the last reply. My husband and I can't increase our hours any further. I work 30 hours and do as much overtime as possible but it's not always possible as overtime is scarce at the minute. My husband works crazy hours at the minute so he definitely can't increase his hours. If we did increase hours we would have to pay more in childcare too

To earn a bit of extra cash I make cakes for friends and family but they're quite expensive to make and decorate so it doesn't earn much.

Thanks everybody for your help at least this has motivated me to save a bit of money on our household bills

g_attrill

yan79 wrote: »

TV, internet and phone are all in one package with Virgin Media. We are fixed into a 1 year contract with them, think there's about 8 months left.

That is £75 a month though! You can get this cut back to the lowest, eg. cut movies/sports out and you will save a lot. If you are paying £25/month for the phone it means you are making chargeable calls (it should be about £12/month), so identify these and make them on your mobiles instead (which are very high so you must have inclusive minutes there). Only use the landline only when the calls will be inclusive and never it for calls to mobiles.