MFW newbe any help greatly appreciated

katsu

If you go on the debt free wannabee boards you will find the link to the SOA calculator - it is on a site called makesenseofcards - not sure if it is .com, .org, .co.uk etc but DFW has the link.

Mummymortgagefree

katsu wrote: »

If you go on the debt free wannabee boards you will find the link to the SOA calculator - it is on a site called makesenseofcards - not sure if it is .com, .org, .co.uk etc but DFW has the link.

Thank you for you help here is my SOA any tips from you experts would be greatly appeciated.

I work full time as does my husband and we have a one year old son. (childcare comes out of our wages before we get paid so our income shown takes that into account). My dream (and why i'm doing this)is to be able to cut my hours at work so that when our son goes to school I can drop him off and pick him up, that would be so wonderful !
I have about 3 years to pay off my mortgage and think I can repay something like £1100 a month in overpayments. If anyone out there can shave some more off our SOA that would be great. The figures are for both properties, our flat is rented out and gives us an income of £500 a month.



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................ 2318.56
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2173.01
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 4991.57
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 937.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 55
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 84
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46
Telephone (land line)................... 78 inc internet & sky
Mobile phone............................ 50 2x phones
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 550
Clothing................................ 250
Petrol/diesel........................... 240
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 65
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 33.7 both properties
Contents insurance...................... 25 both properties
Life assurance ......................... 30.11 inc husbands
Other insurance......................... 53.14
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 3116.57

Assets
Cash.................................... 4000
House value (Gross)..................... 330000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 23000
Other assets............................ 5000
Total Assets............................ 362000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 147300....(537.5)....4.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 147300.....-.........- inc husbands mortgage of £71,000 @ 2.5%
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................376.......0.........19.9
Total unsecured debts..........376.......0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,991.57
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,116.57
Available for debt repayments........... 1,875
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,875
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 362,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. 147,300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -376
Net Assets.............................. 215,324

pammyj74

Wow wish I had that income coming in

Obviously first thing is probably clothes (£250 a month :eek:) I dont spend that in a year! and entertainment could possibly be cut a little? As well as grocery. There is a grocery challenge thread, if you set yourself trying to knock off a bit each month until you reach a suitable target you think you can manage. with just two adults and a little one I bet you could possibly even half that amount. My GC is £130. One adult and 2 children. The thing you will probably come up against tho is hubby might not like the change if he is used to his home comforts but he should see the bigger picture at the end of it all.
I think the internet and sky seems high, you could possible try the old trick of ringing to say you are leaving and see if they will reduce it for you or probably see if you do use all the channels you are subscribed to.

I am sure others will have more common sense replies. I would say try and cut down on your utilities if you can, such as dont leave lights on, turn the heating down a notch, etc, you will be amazed how much this knocks your bill down over the year. Dont leave things on standby that sort of thing.
I have smart water gadgets in my shower and taps (not the bath taps) so the water runs slower, so using less water.

There is another member on here who is trying to be MF by the time her daughter goes to school so she can do what you would like to do and when I remember who it is I'll point you her way

Good luck with it, any questions fire away

Mummymortgagefree

Thank you,

I think you are right about the clothes. I only ever shop for clothes in supermarkets but things seem to slip in my
trolley !!! I will let you know how I get on this month, my goal is to spend no more than £50.

I have tried the sky phone call !! and they cut our bill in half for 6 months. I think we have too many channels so I will work on that to cut the bill. I will also keep an account of the money I spend on food too for a month and try to keep the grocery bill down. I find it hard to cook when I get home so ready meals are an easy option. I get up at 5 every day and have to be at work for 7:30, with a baby that is quite tough, by the time I get home and put my baby to bed i'm fairly shattered and cooking is a real chore at nearly 8 o'clock. Can you suggest any easy to cook meals that are inexpensive and won't take an hour to prepare ??

Thanks again for the advice and your time :-)

katsu

Hi MummyMF (too strange typing "Hi Mummy" ),

Some fast and healthy meal tips taking 20 mins or less:

1 - boiled potatoes. Buy new potatoes from the supermarket, put in a pan with cold water and bring to the boil for 20 mins. Serve with fresh salad (I buy bags of salad leaves to tip into bowls) with balsamic vinegar as a dressing (or use a salad dressing if you prefer).

I put different things in my salad and potatoes: mozarella, tomatoes and basil is yummy. Fresh green beans (also hot - boil for 5 mins) is lovely with grilled haloumi cheese (slice and place under the grill for 5-10 mins). Or you can use feta cheese - great with the beans, or with general salad veg.

2 - boil some pasta (10-12 mins probably). Whilst it is cooking place some fresh cherry tomatoes and chopped red peppers under the grill. Grill then so they collapse and get a bit charred. Stir into the pasta and serve with mozarella. Lovey and simple. I also have this with asparagus - you can either boil it in with the pasta for the last 5 mins or so, or put it under the grill and char it with the other veg.

Again you can serve this on salad leaves.

3 - stir fry. Get packets of the ready chopped stir fry fresh veg for around £1.50 in the supermarket. Just heat the wok with some oil if needed, brown your meat (I'm a veggie so no meat advice I'm afraid), then add the veg, some sauce and some straight to wok noodles.

On your plate in less than 10 mins (at least my veggie ones with quorn or tofu always are).

katsu

Mummymortgagefree wrote: »

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................ 2318.56
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2173.01
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 4991.57
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 937.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 55
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 84 :eek: Use an online comparison service to look at switching your G&E - check dual fuel and single fuel deals. We are a childless couple and our gas and electric together is around £50 pcm so you should be able to reduce this a bit. See if you can get a meter from your supplier like an OWL or borrow one from the library or buy one. It can help you look at your consumption data and thus go round turning things down and off - no stuff on standby, charge mobiles in the day, not overnight, reduce the thermostat, line curtains, don't have the water heater constantly on etc.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46
Telephone (land line)................... 78 inc internet & sky
Mobile phone............................ 50 2x phones fairly good assuming you both use them but check you are on the right tarrif for your needs.
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 550 You can reduce this. Old style boards, meal planning (meal planning, when I do it, definitely helps me save wasting food), use the mysupermarket website to see where to shop. Set a takeaway budget/number of takeaways a month and challenge yourselves to keep to it
Clothing................................ 250 would you rather have a smaller number of fantastic work clothes or tonnes of cheap T shirts? If you are spending this much on clothes in the supermarket then you must have loads of clothes at home unless you are constantly giving old ones to charity? Your LO can't need this many clothes either!
Petrol/diesel........................... 240 can you walk for journeys of less than 2 miles?
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 65 use comparison sites at renewal times
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 33.7 both properties
Contents insurance...................... 25 both properties
Life assurance ......................... 30.11 inc husbands
Other insurance......................... 53.14 what is this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 For how many people? There is nothing wrong in treating people but why not set a budget and use things like deals on the grabbit board, shop in the sales etc. I do pressies for ~23 people at Christmas and spend less than £200 and they don't think we are cheapskates. Outlet malls for branded dinner sets or kitchen goods at bargain prices, lots of great online deals.
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 100 depending on what this is look at vouchers and deals for meals out, social events, use tesco clubcard vouchers etc.
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 3116.57

Assets
Cash.................................... 4000
House value (Gross)..................... 330000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 23000
Other assets............................ 5000
Total Assets............................ 362000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 147300....(537.5)....4.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 147300.....-.........- inc husbands mortgage of £71,000 @ 2.5%
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................376.......0.........19.9 do you clear this every month? Think about getting a cashback CC (If this isn't one) so you get some cash back on your petrol and supermarket shopping.
Total unsecured debts..........376.......0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,991.57
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,116.57
Available for debt repayments........... 1,875
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,875
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 362,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. 147,300
Total Unsecured debt.................... -376
Net Assets.............................. 215,324

You've got a fantastic enviable surplus so it really is up to you both what changes you want to make. The above areas jumped out for me - see what you think.

HTH

AuntieMabel

Hi MummyMF,

I too have just 'gone public' and started my own MF thread after lurking here for years, and I now have the bit between my teeth and am on a MF mission.

One thing I would say, is don't do things i.e. spend, because it's what people expect you to do because you're on a decent income. Some friends/aquaintances (?spelling of that) of ours think we are crackers as we share a car and use the bus or train when it's not 'our' day to have the car even though we could afford 2 cars. I'm only using the car as an example as I know a lot of people need 2 cars for work, but it's your decision on what you prioritise your spending on.

Good luck with your MF quest. When I can work out how to do it I will subscribe to your thread.

best wishes

Mabel

pammyj74

Auntiemabel if you go to quick links at the top and then edit options you can amend how to subscribe to threads. You can have it set so that any thread you reply to will go in your subscribe list, just click it as no email notifications or you will get bombarded. Or you can subscribe individual threads at the top of the thread under thread tools

great idea about the car share so one person doesnt feel bad about using the car. Some people that isnt possible as dropping kids off etc but never thought about doing it that way.

Mummymortgagefree

Thanks for those ideas. The clothes buying on that scale will defo be a thing of the past. You're right I have loads of really cheap clothes,when just a few better quality pieces would work better. The £53.14 on my SOA is for income insurance in case I lose my job. The meal ideas look good and sound a cheap alternative to ready meals when i'm shattered after a day at work. Hubby works 40 miles away so does an 80 mile commute each day so needs his own car. I work 2 miles away but need a car to collect my baby from the child minder promptly at 5pm (hubby gets home at 6:30pm) can't see any way around this as we both leave the house at 7 each morning. Katsu you make some good points with things like presents for friends and family. I think it comes down to being organised and not rushing round at the last min looking for a gift and buying the first thing that comes to hand ? I'm really determined to work at this so watch this space. This week I have stopped getting 2 newspapers a day, sounds a small thing but costs us approx £160 a year !!! looked at like that even the little things really add up.

Mummymortgagefree

Just checking in with everyone.

Really pleased was able to make an overpayment this month of £1100. I have stopped getting 2 papers a day now only get one for hubby. Started using up everything in the fridge instead of throwing away out of date stuff I make sure nothing gets out of date in the first place (so ashamed of how I used to be !!!). I have cut down on my drinking and as a real plus i've also lost 7lbs :-).

I've been getting my sons toys from car boots and shopping for anything we really need on ebay ( got some lovely sun glasses - second hand but who cares !) Now the weather is nice i've been drying our clothes outside and not using the dryer. Another plus has been using the TESCO price checker which i'm sure a lot of you already do, to make sure our shopping bill is as cheap as it could be.

Thanks again for all your help will check in with another update soon ! x