My SOA

VJsmum

My poundland doesn't have free parking either but if i buy loads of stuff it works out well. I buy palmolive or herbal essence shampoo and conditioner for a pound for a large bottle, so i buy 10 of each. In the supermarket yesterday it was £2.49 for a similar size.

Loads of stuff at poundland or Home bargains or B&M bargains is around a pound - toiletries, cleaning stuff, hair care. If you go once a month and stock up you will save £'s.

tilly2484

Thanks guys. Our poundland is in the centre so have to pay to park but I'll make sure i go in when I'm already in town. We have an instore/poundstretcher which is free parking and they have quite few things there. Most of my cleaning products are the basics range but I do have to be careful what I use in my hair. I tend to get them when they are on offer:D

RAS

tilly

You do not seems to have got your lightbulb on yet.

You really really need to review the way you are living. How long is your tenancy?

You need to seriously review whether it would be better to move somewhere close to your OH's work to reduce your travel costs and possibly your rent. You certainly cannot afford to rent a three room house just as a couple.

You also need to apllocate costs properly to your business. Your phone is needed for business, you do deliveries by car and have an office int he house? Why are the phone, petrol and rent costs not allocated to your business?

MrsTUS

RAS wrote: »

tilly

You do not seems to have got your lightbulb on yet.

You really really need to review the way you are living. How long is your tenancy?

You need to seriously review whether it would be better to move somewhere close to your OH's work to reduce your travel costs and possibly your rent. You certainly cannot afford to rent a three room house just as a couple.

You also need to apllocate costs properly to your business. Your phone is needed for business, you do deliveries by car and have an office int he house? Why are the phone, petrol and rent costs not allocated to your business?

RAS, I completely agree with you... When I read back the OPs responses to the areas posters have pointed out on her SOA - she seemed to be justifying all the costs and looking for reasons to almost justify NOT changing her circumstances - no offence to the OP meant at all..

I discussed with my husband, TUS, and the first thing he said was 'She hasn't had her LBM yet..' and I have to say I agree...

HappyMJ

VJsmum wrote: »

My poundland doesn't have free parking either but if i buy loads of stuff it works out well. I buy palmolive or herbal essence shampoo and conditioner for a pound for a large bottle, so i buy 10 of each. In the supermarket yesterday it was £2.49 for a similar size.

Loads of stuff at poundland or Home bargains or B&M bargains is around a pound - toiletries, cleaning stuff, hair care. If you go once a month and stock up you will save £'s.

Not sure which one you are talking about but herbal essences is £1 for a 170ml bottle at Poundland. It's a special sized bottle made especially for Poundland. It's cheaper per 100ml at Boots you get a 400ml bottle for £1.74. Sorry to say it but Poundland rarely works out cheaper. There is a Poundland thread here to find some bargains but the savings on some of the products are very small if there are any savings to be found at all.

tilly2484

I'm not trying to "justify" I am merely answering questions people have raised. I am grateful for all comments but I was not aware I was not allowed myself to comment.

My car is not just used for deliveries it is my own car. I also use it for my day job. Without it I would have zero income. I set up the business to make extra money. It was set up the last time I was made redundant and it is what kept us going whilst I was out of work. Now I do it in my spare time to make extra money. I am a sole trader so yes everything is logged what I spend on the business and the money I make go towards that just as any other business. Any extra is profit and is used to pay off certain things.

We have a 3 bedroom house because 1 is needed for the office- for my work and also my OH also does a lot of work from home in the evenings. The 2nd bedroom is for when the baby comes. The area I live this is the sort of money you pay. Moving out of the area isn't an option. My family is something that keeps me strong. I also have a sister with a mental illness and i will not move away from her. That aside we have 12 months left on the tenancy. Also with job security as it is today and with me and my partner being made redundant 6 times between us I do not want to move to an area which I would not be happy and to be stuck there if the worst should happen again.

Yes I may have not had a LBM yet but surely by looking at things I'm starting to. I have done a lot to try and change my circumstances. We have already cleared £10k of debt (which I am very proud of) and were doing well but were both hit by redundancies again and even though we both have found jobs this year we are both on half what we were so we have been at a standstill since.

I agree with all the comments made about various spends but I was putting a bit of context around them. Yes it would be a lot of money saved with getting rid of my car but like many other people this is just not an option- I was just trying to explain why.

I will be reviewing everything that we spend and where I can save money.

HappyMJ

So is this an SOA for the future then? If you have baby on the way you can put that down as +1 child even though it's not really here yet. I'm sure you'll be buying things for the baby in preparation for it's arrival. Better to spread the baby's expenses over the 9 months of your pregnancy than all at once on it's date of birth.

dancingfairy

Hi according to your SOA you have 469 a month to split between your creditors so could you not do a dmp based on this amount? even if you included an emergency fund of say 30 a month you should still have enough for a dmp? What have CCCS suggested to you? If something goes dreadfully wrong - ie stolen oil etc could you not just miss a month on the dmp and then resume where you left off or even claim stole oil on insurance etc?
Have you tried a spending diary to see if any money is dripping away and you are not aware of it - it's easy to spend 1 pound, 2 pounds etc here and there and before you know it you spent quite a bit on coke, coffee, ciagarettes, soft drinks, bottled water, parking, the 'odd' magazine, after work drinks, a newspaper on the way home, someone's leaving card, a birthday present, etc etc - the list goes on - I'd be surprised if money wasn't leaking somewhere.
Best of Luck
df

tilly2484

Well when you say future- it is what we are actually paying now but yes in terms of the house etc yes that is one reason why we went for the house, however it is only £50 more than our 2 bed before.

I'm lucky as my 3 best friends had babies last year (2 girls and 1 boy) so most stuff will be given/borrowed :-)

tilly2484

Spending diary is a very good idea- I'm certain a lot of money goes down the drain this way. Will defo be doing that-thanks.

I'm not clear on DMPs but I am due a review with CCCS and will talk that through with them as it could be a good option :-)