New here - my attempt at an SOA

mizmir

Hi

I've been reading this board for quite a while but just joined up yesterday and have been working out my SOA - as far as I can. Have finally woken up to the fact that our spending is getting out of control and we need to take things in hand. We are a couple with no kids (4 dogs) - both work with good salaries and we are managing month to month - but our debts are just getting bigger. I was alarmed when I added them up to discover there is over £28K outstanding on cards and loans - but according to the SOA we should have quite a lot of money left over at the end of the month - and we don't! Following advice on the forum we have started a spending diary to see where the money is going - so this SOA is a first attempt. Any other suggestions welcome. I know that we shouldn't be in this position and I really want to get us out!

So the SOA:

Income:
Me 2230
OH 2275
Total 4505

Outgoings:
Mortgage 2043
Buildings/contents insurance 43
Gas/Electric (capped rate) 63
Water (on meter) 23
Telephone/broadband (including all calls) 45
Council Tax 169
TV Licence 11
Mobiles (x 2 still on contract - ends early next year) 50
Car insurance - OH 42
Car insurance - me 30
Car tax (x2) 29
Car maintenance 40
Unemployment/critical illness cover 150
Union fees (x2 - might be able to cancel one) 26
Dental plan 11
Contact lenses (from internet) 12
Internet hosting (several websites) 23
Charities 6
Professional memberships 15
Food/household (trying to get it down) 200
Petrol/diesel 150
Dogs (food, vets etc - one dog on permanent medication) - 4 dogs 90
Parking 60
Subtotal 3331

Debt repayments 694

Total 4025

Balance (apparently!) 480

Debts:

Sainsburys CC balance: 5623.43 at 15.9% - monthly payment 127
Mint CC balance: 3045.85 at 14.07% - monthly payment 69
Capital one CC balance: 8560.76 at 5.94% - monthly payment 257
Overdraft balance: 5500 at 7.9%
Car loan balance: 2493.94 at 9.6% - monthly payment 162
DFS balance: 2829.24 at 0% - monthly payment 79

Total debt £28,053.22

I know the mortgage is horrendous - it is a £300K mortgage (on a house worth £350-400K - house prices are high where we live) - we will look at getting a better rate. We also need to try to get better rates on the CCs. (We have a number of cards that are empty - so will ring and see if they will give us a good life of balance rate to do some transfers). Food etc is estimated - will have a better picture in a month or so when we have done the spending diary for a bit. And will see where the £480 a month goes.
Is there anything else I should be doing? Thanks

alidadas

Hi

I think things will probably be a lot clearer for you once you've done the spending diary as you'll be able to see where your money goes.

I'd consider cancelling the chairty donation for the moment - its only £6, but could be used elsewhere. You can always set it back up again when your debts have cleared.

Shop around for your insurances, domestic bills etc - you may be able to get it cheaper.

Internet hosting - is this necessary?

Any chance you could sell one car? Do you and your OH work near each other to share lifts? Look into public transport - would it be cheaper?

You haven't included any money for things like clothes, savings, entertainment - I expect this is where a lot of your money is going.

Once you've got a handle on your monthly expenses and have hopefully cut back I'd start ploughing money into the debt with the highest interest - Sainsburys. At the moment you have £480 surplus a month (supposedly) - well even if you only added an extra £200 to your monthly payment to Sainsburys, this card would take about 18 months ish to pay off (possibly a bit longer once they've added the interest.)

Go through your bank statements and see what withdrawalls and debit payments you've done over the last couple of months - you might notice that you spend a lot on takeaways or something similar. - I did this with my H's account and noticed he'd spent about £60 on takeaways in one month!!!! and we hadn't even realised it was that much.

immoral_angeluk

Income:
Me 2230
OH 2275
Total 4505

Outgoings:
Mortgage 2043 Ouch! Is downgrading an option?
Buildings/contents insurance 43 Is this the best deal out there?
Gas/Electric (capped rate) 63
Water (on meter) 23
Telephone/broadband (including all calls) 45 Are there any cheaper deals out there for phone/broadband?
Council Tax 169
TV Licence 11
Mobiles (x 2 still on contract - ends early next year) 50 Can you reduce your package and go Pay and go next year?
Car insurance - OH 42
Car insurance - me 30 Are these the cheapest?
Car tax (x2) 29
Car maintenance 40
Unemployment/critical illness cover 150 Is this essential?
Union fees (x2 - might be able to cancel one) 26 What is this for?
Dental plan 11 How often do you actually use this and would it work out cheaper to just pay NHS charges?
Contact lenses (from internet) 12
Internet hosting (several websites) 23 Is this essential?
Charities 6 Personally I'd cancel this for the time being as it's £6 that could be going towards your debts. You can always start them again when you've sorted yourselves out.
Professional memberships 15 What is this for?
Food/household (trying to get it down) 200 for how many people?
Petrol/diesel 150 Can you cut this down by getting the bus?
Dogs (food, vets etc - one dog on permanent medication) - 4 dogs 90
Parking 60 Again, is public transport an option? You'd save on parking and petrol.
Subtotal 3331

Debt repayments 694

Total 4025

Balance (apparently!) 480

Debts:

Sainsburys CC balance: 5623.43 at 15.9% - monthly payment 127
Mint CC balance: 3045.85 at 14.07% - monthly payment 69
Capital one CC balance: 8560.76 at 5.94% - monthly payment 257
Overdraft balance: 5500 at 7.9%
Car loan balance: 2493.94 at 9.6% - monthly payment 162
DFS balance: 2829.24 at 0% - monthly payment 79

Total debt £28,053.22
Do you have the option of transferring balances onto lower interest rate cards? Do you have any savings that could be used to pay off debts?

adypem

mizmir wrote:

Internet hosting (several websites) 23

Have you looked at other hosting sites ?

https://www.freehostia.com offer a free hosting service that include scripting and databases ?

mizmir

Thanks for the responses.

Charity - OK - fair point - figured it was a drop in the ocean but I suppose £6 is £6.
Mortgage - we are looking at getting a better rate - I am not sure exactly what ours is as it has gone up a couple of times recently - must get on top of this.
Buildings/contents - changed this a few months ago - was the best I could get then
Telephone/broadband - need reliable connection - thought about Talk Talk etc but was put off by stories of poor service. Any recommendations for good, cheap, high use services? (Under contract still but could change when that expires).
Will look at mobiles, car insurance.
Internet hosting - I run several websites as part time business - I know this hosting service and get a personal and reliable service - I'd rather not lose this.
Unemployment/critical illness - with size of mortgage we rely on both of us working - need this for now but will check if can get cover cheaper.
Union - memberships of work unions. Will think about ditching this.
Dental plan - only way to get dental treatment here - no NHS dentists with spaces. OH had problems with her teeth last year.
Professional memberships - these are subscriptions to professional bodies that OH and I need to belong to for our work.
Food/household - for 2 people - I know this is too high - am going to work out a budget and try to get it to £150.
Petrol/parking - public transport would take me 2 hours to get to work (for a 20 minute journey) as there are no direct routes - have to go into town and then out again. But will look at possible alternatives like cycling (it is 7 miles each way). Unfortunately OH and I work in opposite directions. Will check public transport for her.
clothes, savings, entertainment - oops - yes. Clothes probably £30 a month, savings - nil, entertainment - ?? Spending diary really needed - I'm sure you are right that this will make things much clearer.

Thanks again - lots there to work on here.

Verbatim

Hi there,

Do you both take packed lunches and avoid starbucks etc at work? If not that's an easy saving. If you have to drive to work could you leave the car some way from your work that is free to park and walk or bus in from there thus saving the £60 parking fees?

Verbatim

Oh and I see you have a car loan. If your car/s are top of the range is it woth selling and downgrading to put the difference on the debt? If you have car finance you have to be careful to do it legally but it can be done. just a thought.

mizmir

Verbatim wrote:

Hi there,

Do you both take packed lunches and avoid starbucks etc at work? If not that's an easy saving.

One of us is usually at home for lunch - and the other usually takes lunch. But I do tend to hit Costas at work for coffee. Thanks for that - will take my own coffee!

Verbatim wrote:

If you have to drive to work could you leave the car some way from your work that is free to park and walk or bus in from there thus saving the £60 parking fees?

That's a great idea - a lot of the surrounding area is resident permit but I will look into this - there must be a point where that stops!
Thanks!

mizmir

Verbatim wrote:

Oh and I see you have a car loan. If your car/s are top of the range is it woth selling and downgrading to put the difference on the debt? If you have car finance you have to be careful to do it legally but it can be done. just a thought.

Cars definitely not top of the range - 5 year old hatchback and 7 year old estate! Loan was on the hatchback from a dealer. Don't think it would be worth selling it.

alidadas

mizmir wrote:

One of us is usually at home for lunch - and the other usually takes lunch. But I do tend to hit Costas at work for coffee. Thanks for that - will take my own coffee!

That's a great idea - a lot of the surrounding area is resident permit but I will look into this - there must be a point where that stops!
Thanks!

Do you need to be home for lunch?? This would be adding to your petrol costs!

You can get a nice flask from Asda for about £4 - we bought one for H to take to work - just need to make him use it!!!

James&Shell

Why dont you give someone like payplan a call to see if they can help you.