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Advice appreciated. Our SOA

Hello

Any advice on our SOA would be appreciated.

Childcare costs below are child maintenance for my partners other children.

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 3250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3331.2


Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 925
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 145
Electricity............................. 52
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 450
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2500



Assets

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


No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts


Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco cc.......................5200......100.......16
cap 1 cc.......................2000......100.......30
cap 1 (2)cc....................800.......40........30
overdraft 2 ...................1300......20........0
Over draft.....................2000......20........0
family loan....................10000.....150.......0
catalogue......................600.......100.......0
employer loan .................8000......300.......0
Total unsecured debts..........29900.....830.......-



Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 3,331.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,500
Available for debt repayments........... 831.2
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 830
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1.2


Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -29,900
Net Assets.............................. -28,900


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

Comments

  • MrsTUS
    MrsTUS Posts: 124 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Rebecca01 wrote: »
    Hello

    Any advice on our SOA would be appreciated.

    Childcare costs below are child maintenance for my partners other children.

    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.................... 1

    Monthly Income Details

    Monthly income after tax................ 3250
    Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
    Benefits................................ 81.2
    Other income............................ 0
    Total monthly income.................... 3331.2


    Monthly Expense Details

    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 925
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 145
    Electricity............................. 52
    Gas..................................... 50
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 25
    Telephone (land line)................... 18
    Mobile phone............................ 60Can you get your mobile phone contracts down? We pay £35 per month for 2 contract mobiles with good text and call allowances
    TV Licence.............................. 12
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 Could you get rid of this - freeview?
    Internet Services....................... 10
    Groceries etc. ......................... 400This is very high, we spend £220 per month for a family of 5 including nappies for 2 babies and household/toiletries - make a monthly meal planner. We eat lots of fresh veg and fruit so you don't have to compromise diet.
    Clothing................................ 20
    Petrol/diesel........................... 200
    Road tax................................ 10
    Car Insurance........................... 40
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
    Car parking............................. 0
    Other travel............................ 10
    Childcare/nursery....................... 450
    Other child related expenses............ 0
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 0
    Contents insurance...................... 13
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
    Haircuts................................ 10
    Entertainment........................... 0
    Holiday................................. 0
    Emergency fund.......................... 0
    Total monthly expenses.................. 2500



    Assets

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


    No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts


    Unsecured Debts
    Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
    Tesco cc.......................5200......100.......16
    cap 1 cc.......................2000......100.......30
    cap 1 (2)cc....................800.......40........30
    overdraft 2 ...................1300......20........0
    Over draft.....................2000......20........0
    family loan....................10000.....150.......0
    catalogue......................600.......100.......0
    employer loan .................8000......300.......0
    Total unsecured debts..........29900.....830.......-



    Monthly Budget Summary

    Total monthly income.................... 3,331.2
    Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,500
    Available for debt repayments........... 831.2
    Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 830
    Amount left after debt repayments....... 1.2


    Personal Balance Sheet Summary
    Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
    Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
    Total Unsecured debt.................... -29,900
    Net Assets.............................. -28,900


    Created using the SOA calculator at
    Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.
    Those are just a few things that immediately stand out to me to try and work on - I'm sure others will be along with more input soon :)
    "I once grumbled at having no boots - until I met a man with no feet" Anon

    Total personal debt of [STRIKE]£7850[/STRIKE] [STRIKE] £5977.74[/STRIKE] £5635.17
    Total household debt [STRIKE]£35092.42[/STRIKE] £22557.55
  • Hovel_lady
    Hovel_lady Posts: 4,291 Forumite
    Hello,
    The one thing I spotted straight away is groceries at £400. This seems high for 2 adults/1 child. Get over to the old style board for some suggestions about reducing this. Do meal plans, make shopping lists (and stick to them!). If you're buying branded items try stores own brand. Value items if you buy stores own brand. Not all value items are great (there's a thread on here about it) but most of them I find perfectly OK.
    It takes some time to get used to doing this but it will save you loads.
    Hope this is useful. Am sure someone will be along soon with more ideas.
    Good luck :)
  • Rebecca01
    Rebecca01 Posts: 732 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Hi
    Thanks for your replies, yes I guess the grocery bill is quite high but 50 percent of the time we have five of us to feed.
    This bill is usually whats adapted for any other purposes such as meals out ( not often) or any other costs such as the parking ticket I just got ( It blew over in the wind)

    The mobile is for three mobiles, I pay my Dads instead of paying 250 for the family loan we agreed tp pay 150 and a mobile. however we are not paying the family loan at all at the minute. My parents are really kind but my oh isnt comfortable with this.
  • Cliff1805
    Cliff1805 Posts: 47 Forumite
    Your rent seems really high at £925. What about moving to a cheaper flat? Also the money which you have budgeted for haircuts, presents etc; do you actually save this money each month? If not this is a good idea as you will not need to resort to spending on your credit cards again or borrowing even more money. I am saving a little bit each month towards christmas and I am determined that I wont spend any more than I have saved. If I only save £200 by December then that is how much we will have for Christmas. If I save more we will have more but I wont go into debt again. Hope this helps and good luck.
    31 Jan 2011 [STRIKE]Debts £19,294[/STRIKE]
    15 Jan 2012 Debts £11,893
    Net worth -£9,289
    DFD Jan 2014
    :eek:
  • MrsTUS
    MrsTUS Posts: 124 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Rebecca01 wrote: »
    Hi
    Thanks for your replies, yes I guess the grocery bill is quite high but 50 percent of the time we have five of us to feed.
    This bill is usually whats adapted for any other purposes such as meals out ( not often) or any other costs such as the parking ticket I just got ( It blew over in the wind)

    Even for a family of 5, £400 is still high.

    Eating out I presume would go under 'entertainment' on the SOA. Personally, we refrain from eating out in resturants because we can't afford it - we make picnics and take the kids out to parks/beaches and they LOVE it. For ourselves, we look for great deals on Groupon for local resturants i.e. we just got a 2 course dinner for two with a free cocktail each for a tenner - and it's a lovely resturant too. But we don't do that very often..

    Also, unless the parking ticket is from the city council, i.e. if it's a private company that has issued the ticket, don't bother paying it, it's not enforceable.

    I too had noticed the rent, but then I presumed you were living down south as I know it's more expensive down there - I'm from the 'poor' North-East (;)) and rent is alot cheaper up here, so I didn't comment, but if you could move somewhere cheaper, then in the long run it would be for the greater good.
    "I once grumbled at having no boots - until I met a man with no feet" Anon

    Total personal debt of [STRIKE]£7850[/STRIKE] [STRIKE] £5977.74[/STRIKE] £5635.17
    Total household debt [STRIKE]£35092.42[/STRIKE] £22557.55
  • Monkeynut
    Monkeynut Posts: 2,116 Forumite
    Are you able to find a little bit of work, maybe a couple of evenings or something, depending on when your partner is at home so can have the child? I know it's not nice when it eats into your family time, but even a couple of evenings at a restaurant/pub/cleaning/supermarket work etc could make such a difference.
    Say you did 2 evenings of 4 hours, even at minimum wage that would be £47.44 a week, so almost £200 a month extra for just those couple of shifts.
    Might be worth having a look if there's anything around if it fits in with your circumstances?
    Half of November Make £10 a Day Challenge: £51/ £170
  • Rebecca01
    Rebecca01 Posts: 732 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Thanks everyone for the tips. I will defo be doing some of them.

    Yes we live in the South East. I am from the North East so know all to well the costs up there.

    I really do not think we could find somewhere much cheaper to accomodate the five of us. Also we are stuck in that spiral of needing a deposit and not being able to get the old one back until we move out.

    My parner has been working away, so there is no chance for me to work and pay childcare.

    Seeing that SOA has sent us into a panic. So now we have a difficult decision to make. we are thinking I move back to the North East, save a fortune on rent and my oh commute. There are alot of negatives to this as OH will miss us and will have to do alot of travelling. He works on diffrent projects for about four months at a time so my argument is he could be working away anyway. ( its about 50 50 over the last four years) . However I will have family , could get a job and we could be debt free in a year. Though living with my parents again maybe difficult.

    The other children are moving to Devon anyway, so we could only see them in the holidays from September anyway.

    Hmmmm
  • Rebecca01 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.................... 1

    Monthly Income Details

    Monthly income after tax................ 3250
    Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
    Benefits................................ 81.2
    Other income............................ 0
    Total monthly income.................... 3331.2


    Monthly Expense Details

    Mortgage................................ 0
    Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
    Rent.................................... 925 High
    Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
    Council tax............................. 145
    Electricity............................. 52 Very high (see below)
    Gas..................................... 50 "
    Oil..................................... 0
    Water rates............................. 25
    Telephone (land line)................... 18
    Mobile phone............................ 60 Try to go PAYG when contracts due for renewal
    TV Licence.............................. 12
    Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 Need to cut until things are a bit easier - see below
    Internet Services....................... 10
    Groceries etc. ......................... 400 WOW! This is HUGE! and you should be able to cut quite substantially
    Clothing................................ 20
    Petrol/diesel........................... 200
    Road tax................................ 10
    Car Insurance........................... 40
    Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 This is very low - see below
    Car parking............................. 0
    Other travel............................ 10
    Childcare/nursery....................... 450 Will this reduce once the children move?
    Other child related expenses............ 0
    Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
    Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
    Buildings insurance..................... 0
    Contents insurance...................... 13
    Life assurance ......................... 0
    Other insurance......................... 0
    Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
    Haircuts................................ 10
    Entertainment........................... 0
    Holiday................................. 0
    Emergency fund.......................... 0
    Total monthly expenses.................. 2500


    Hello, a few things from me - the ones like rent etc that have been mentioned before.

    Gas/Electric are very high - how many bedrooms do you have? (as a comparison - 3 bed semi & pay £60/month for both)

    Sky - you can buy a Freesat card for a one off payment of £20 and get a decent amount of channels

    Car - £10/month for maintenance seems low to me. My car is under 3 years (so don't have an MOT to pay), and is one of these "cheap and cheerful" ones but it still costs me more than that (service = £120 + tyres, wipers etc etc)

    And, as others have said, that groceries bill is astronomical! Even if there are 5 of you at times, you should be able to chop off around £150/month with some clever planning etc - the old style board is full of ideas and tips.

    Re moving - yes it would be hard but I guess if you look at it in the context of 1 year and everything would be sorted, compared with struggling along for much longer than it may be worth it. As you say, it will be difficult with OH working away .... but, if he's doing it anyway .....

    If the childcare costs will drop once they move, then this would give you a bit extra to work with


    Good luck
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • dancingfairy
    dancingfairy Posts: 9,069 Forumite
    I woudl recommend getting in touch with one of the debt charities such as CCCS or National Debtline or your local CAB. From that it looks like you may want to consider either a debt management plan (dmp) or possibly bankruptcy :( especially as you are renting and don't own a house.
    Best of Luck
    df
    Making my money go further with MSE :j
    How much can I save in 2012 challenge
    75/1200 :eek:
  • Rebecca01
    Rebecca01 Posts: 732 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 2 July 2011 at 11:15AM
    Hello, a few things from me - the ones like rent etc that have been mentioned before.

    Gas/Electric are very high - how many bedrooms do you have? (as a comparison - 3 bed semi & pay £60/month for both) This is some arrears from over the last year.

    Sky - you can buy a Freesat card for a one off payment of £20 and get a decent amount of channels yes as soon as the contract is up.

    Car - £10/month for maintenance seems low to me. My car is under 3 years (so don't have an MOT to pay), and is one of these "cheap and cheerful" ones but it still costs me more than that (service = £120 + tyres, wipers etc etc) yes it probably is more and would come out of the grocery budget.

    And, as others have said, that groceries bill is astronomical! Even if there are 5 of you at times, you should be able to chop off around £150/month with some clever planning etc - the old style board is full of ideas and tips. yes it is high but it includes entertainment or dentist if we were to go. I wasnt sure so I just put it in here.

    Re moving - yes it would be hard but I guess if you look at it in the context of 1 year and everything would be sorted, compared with struggling along for much longer than it may be worth it. As you say, it will be difficult with OH working away .... but, if he's doing it anyway

    I think we are going to.:j

    If the childcare costs will drop once they move, then this would give you a bit extra to work with


    Good luck

    Thanks for your reply.
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