Our SOA All ideas Appreciated

us,thecat&thedebt

Hi everyone,

After keeping a spending diary me and oh have now got a SOA to share and hopefully get some ideas..

Just to point out we are currently living in my great grandmas place (she passed away last year) so have no rent/mortgage

Income

My wages £1050
OH Wages £850

TOTAL : £1900

outgoings

Council Tax £150 (this includes arrears and will go back to normal in april) to £80 per month.

Water : £18
electric/gas £30
tv lic £11
Sky £43.50
BT £40
Car Ins £100
Petrol £75
Car Tax £20
Bulidings/contents £20.49
Pet Ins £6
Food £200
Meals at work £40

Total £753.99

Debt Repayments

My Loan with HSBC 23 REPAYMENTS OF £148 Amount oustanding £3500 (no payments made yet first on March 1st)

OH Loan with Lloyds Interest rate 16.9% repayments currently reduced to £50 from £179 amount outstanding is currently approx £7k with interest added monthly :eek:


Lloyds joint account overdraft £200 repayments £80 per month no intrest

OH Lloyds account overdraft £360 repayments £60 per month no interest

My hsbc overdraft £1000 gets cleared each month with salary and then used again :rolleyes:

Sofas from DFS (WHY) £35 PER MONTH interest free 25 repayments to go!

Total Debt repayments £373

Total outgoings £1126.99

Leaves £773.01

as we are saving for a deposit for our new home we are trying to save 1k a month..

and repay the debts quicker!!

black-saturn

Water : £18 Could you go on a water meter and limit your use?
electric/gas £30 This is about right but you might be able to save more by planning what TV programmes to watch and the rest of the time read or play a board game. Turn thermostat down on heating and put a jumper on instead of the heat.
tv lic £11
Sky £43.50 Could you cut your package down? Or could you go down to Freesat?
BT £40 Try telephoning your phone company and see if there is a package they can offer you which will save you money
Car Ins £100 Could you do without this? Could you walk, get a lift or use a bike or public transport instead?
Petrol £75 As above
Car Tax £20 As above
Bulidings/contents £20.49
Pet Ins £6
Food £200 This is a heck of a lot for 2 people and it doesn't even inlcude weekday lunches!! Cook things from scratch and buy less processed food. Look on the Old Style board for inspiration. I spend about £45 per month on a family of 3's food.
Meals at work £40 Packed lunches but from the above budget.

jesster_2

Hi

You're in a really lucky position not having to pay mortgage etc, so let's make the most of it!

A couple of things really jump out from your SOA. Sky, £43 a month. You can really live without this, or reduce the package, or go onto freeview for one outlay of around £20. That £43 a month adds up to £522 a year which could go off your debts.

Your food bill: how many people is this for? You can certainly bring it down. Check out the moneysaving old style board for cheap cooking ideas: you can easily get your food budget down to £20 per person per week. And taking food into work rather than buying there will save you even more.

Pet insurance: can you keep your fingers crossed for a few months? or 'self insure' by putting this money per month into a separate account so it builds up in case you need it, but if you don't need it then you have the cash there to put towards your debts. In the 30 years we've had cats none of them has ever had an accident or needed vet treatment. I'm not saying it would never happen, just wondering whether you can take the calculated risk of going without or self-insuring for a bit? Car insurance seems high: how many cars is this for? are you sure you've got the cheapest deals?

You have a real opportunity with no rent or mortgage, hope you can make the absolute most of it. Good luck with the saving for the house :-)

black-saturn

The Sky freephone number is 0800 731 6965. You could ring them and ask to have your package reduced. I went from £43.50 per month to £15 but I'd still like to cut down even more. If you think of it in yearly terms you are paying £654 a year to watch TV and I bet you don't even watch all the channels you have.

us,thecat&thedebt

Thank you all for your prompt replies..

Sky- im dialling the number as i type... ideally i would like to get rid of it all together as we even have freeview box!!! opened account last may so assuming i cant cancel?

Food- i know this is huge and it is only for two people and two cats!!
i am trying to cut it down as much as i can going to look on the old style board for ideas.

Car ins is for two people, two cars we are both under 25. oh has been driving just under a year and myself 6 months..
i have to have my car as i work for an estate agent. £50 per month of my income is a petrol allowances.
we currently have pay as you drive insurance my average bill is £45 and oh £55 although last month was only £25!


Pet ins is staying im afraid you have been very lucky.. my mum has had 2k of vet bills in the last month (fortunatly she had ins)

Gemmzie

Re: Sky - If you only opened it in May then they won't let you cancel, but you can go down to the lowest package

newMS

just want to point out that you dont have TV licence on your expenditure list

edit: sorry i just saw it , many apologies

sandralovescats

Car Ins £100
Petrol £75
Car Tax £20

Car insurance at £100 per month?? Are you sure???
Mid range car tax is £150 per year.

Are these figures for two cars?

us,thecat&thedebt

yes this is for two cars

chevalier

I know this is a silly question, but if you are living in a house where you have no mortgage/rent to pay, then why do you want to tie yourself to a mortgage on another property?
chev

sandralovescats

us,thecat&thedebt wrote:

yes this is for two cars

£100 insurance per month for two cars is very expensive!!