First SOA for years after huge drop in salary..

ferry

Hi all
I thought I woudl pop in and put up my first SOA for years as we're finding for the first time in a very long time that we're struggling..
A bit of background-I lost my job in June last year and after a few temp jobs found a new one only in Jan this year but its only a temporary contract but at least its something and a start..

I'm a bit pressed for time as I'm homeworking with the kids so I may have missed something out..theres more info from me after this SOA..
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 650
Benefits................................ 130
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1700
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 938
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 185
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 33
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 23
Life assurance ......................... 90
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 25
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1799

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 252000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 116000...(938)......4.87
Total secured & HP debts...... 116000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card....................6500......145.......0
Total unsecured debts..........6500......145.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,700
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,799
Available for debt repayments........... -99
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 145
Amount short for making debt repayments. -244
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 252,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -116,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,500
Net Assets.............................. 129,500

OK its done!Well,firstly my main concern is my mortgage -its high but this was arranged when things were better and have 6 months left on a 2year fixed deal.
No benefits income as Tax Credits are in progress just now.
Tel calls/landline/internet/TV all bundled.
Council Tax high as I'm covering an overpayment and have selected to do this over 7 not 10 months-but know I can change this.
Petrol costs high as I work about 50 mile round trip each day.
No haircuts as my wife does mine and she does her own,(luckily !).
Currently on a 0% deal with Barclaycard until June next year.
We have a perfect credit history as we do get best deals on CC's.
Our Life assurance payments are high but we do have the cream of policies and this is currently under review anyway to see if we can get costs down with a quality product..
I can almost hear the shouts of sell/downgrade your home but I really,really want this to be a last resort.
Sorry about the long post but please know we appreciate any constructive advice as ever form you guys.
Ferry

Gilly1976

Hi,

You mention tax credits but are you claiming child benefits. As you are both not higher rate tax payers then you should be able to claim child benefits and with 2 kids this should be around £130 per month, which helps your SOA balance.

sylviemylove

£80 per month for groceries seems very low...is this correct?

LittleMissGiggles123

Gas & electric is very high, can you change suppliers & start energy saving too?

Also, TV licence is only about £12 per month isn't it?

ferry

Gilly1976 wrote: »

Hi,

You mention tax credits but are you claiming child benefits. As you are both not higher rate tax payers then you should be able to claim child benefits and with 2 kids this should be around £130 per month, which helps your SOA balance.

yes one of the points I forgot-will amend now,thanks.

ferry

A bit better...
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 650
Benefits................................ 130
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1830
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 938
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 185
Electricity............................. 100
Gas..................................... 100
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 23
Life assurance ......................... 90
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 25
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2071

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 252000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 116000...(938)......4.87
Total secured & HP debts...... 116000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................6500......145.......0
Total unsecured debts..........6500......145.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,071
Available for debt repayments........... -241
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 145
Amount short for making debt repayments. -386
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 252,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -116,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,500
Net Assets.............................. 129,500
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Doubtful_Guest

You can definitely shave at least £100 off the groceries. There's two adults in my household and we eat very well on under £100 per month, so you should definitely manage to feed 2 adults and 2 kids for £200 or less. Have a look at the Old Style moneysaving board.

The gas and electricity are really, really high. Do a price comparison and speak to your existing supplier to see if there are different tariffs you could move to. Turn down your water thermostat and start being very conscious of leaving lights on etc.

Cut down sky to the basic phone/tv package. It's about £30 per month.

Spread your council tax over 12 months instead of 10.

I'm struggling to see the sense of getting further into debt each money to pay for expensive life insurance. Surely the insurance is there to pay off the debt in case you die unexpectedly ? So running up debt to pay for your debt to be paid off seems like slightly circular logic to me.

Have a look at other ways to boost your income. Ebay ? Avon ? What about a lodger ? Or renting out a room to short-stay students at a local language school ?

debtfreewannabe321

ferry wrote: »

A bit better...
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 650
Benefits................................ 130
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1830
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 938 Have you thought about interest only until your situation improves?
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 185
Electricity............................. 100 Agree with another poster seems high?
Gas..................................... 100 Also this...i'd shop around ( I pay £90 for both mine, have a 3 bed terrace...so i guess depending on the size of your house, but i bet you can get cheaper)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80 this is high, perhaps cut the package down for now OR call up complain you can't afford and if it is sky, lots of people on here have been getting good deals - I had a tenner knocked off my bill every month for a year and lost no channels
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 seems ok, could get lower though
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 23
Life assurance ......................... 90 This seems very high? I have 2 life assurance policies for £40 a month
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 25
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2071

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 252000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 116000...(938)......4.87
Total secured & HP debts...... 116000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................6500......145.......0
Total unsecured debts..........6500......145.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,071
Available for debt repayments........... -241
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 145
Amount short for making debt repayments. -386
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 252,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -116,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,500
Net Assets.............................. 129,500
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Good luck with it and hope you manage to make the changes you need DFW x

OverRated

I think the life assurance and TV/Phone/Internet are the two that jump out for me.

My life assurance is under review which is a decreasing policy for a mortgage of £99,500 for less than £9 per month. £90 seems VERY high especially as your struggling day to day - post of each policy with the cost and benefit.

Have you reviewed your TV/Phone/Internet package recently? Assuming you have SKY you can get basic TV package, unlimited calls and unlimited broadband for on £32 per month. Assuming you will want the Kids package then £33. A nice £47 per month saving!

hcb42

water also looks a smidge high, but not as much of a problem as the other utilities, the sky and the life assurance.

RAS

You need to get rid of the satellite TV urgently, reduce the utilities and sort out that life insurance urgently.

You also need to increase your income if you are not going to sell the house.

and I think benefits should be £130 plus the tax credits?