SOA first time

sambodidly

Hi Everyone

I have posted recently but this is the first time I have done a SOA.

Please tell me what you think.

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................ 450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450
Benefits................................ 564
Other income............................ 250
Total monthly income.................... 1714
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 431
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 108
Electricity............................. 73
Gas..................................... 70
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 65
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 19
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 23
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 20
Other child related expenses............ 12
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 16
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1305

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 2500
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 75000....(431)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 75000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg Card.......................1400......50........0
Virgin Card....................800.......50........0
Overdraft......................1800......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........4000......150.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,714
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,305
Available for debt repayments........... 409
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150
Amount left after debt repayments....... 259
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -75,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,000
Net Assets.............................. 61,000

HappyMJ

Car insurance .... 23 yet no allowance for road tax or petrol? Is it a laid up policy? Sell the car? SORN the car and lock it away.

getmore4less

Do you really have £259 left every month?


Mobils and groceries could be reduced

DizzyDizzy

sambodidly wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I have posted recently but this is the first time I have done a SOA.

Please tell me what you think.

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................ 450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450
Benefits................................ 564
Other income............................ 250
Total monthly income.................... 1714
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 431
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 108
Electricity............................. 73 Both elec & gas seem a bit high?
Gas..................................... 70 Are you paying any arreas? Could you try to get these down- check meter readings?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 65 This is high - can you change to pay as you go? I have and only pay £10 per month
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 19
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 Can you shave this down? I pay approx £220 per month for 2 adults 2 kids. Plan your meals, only buy essentials etc
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 23
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 20
Other child related expenses............ 12
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 16
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1305

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 135000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500 Is the car essential? Can you maybe sell it and but something cheaper?
Other assets............................ 2500
Total Assets............................ 140000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 75000....(431)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 75000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg Card.......................1400......50........0
Virgin Card....................800.......50........0
Overdraft......................1800......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........4000......150.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,714
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,305
Available for debt repayments........... 409
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150
Amount left after debt repayments....... 259
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 140,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -75,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,000
Net Assets.............................. 61,000

Hi, I've put a few notes in, I think there are a couple of areas that you can maybe concentrate on to make some savings.

All the best x

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Yep, groceries defo. However I presume this includes toiletries, expensive items for your child and clothing as they all add up.

I'd say try and do your monthly shop with £300 cash see how far you can get. If you do it ok, cut it back to £275

Mobile is v high, is this for two contracts? When does your contract end?

Shop around for insurances when due. Try to get combined contents/buildings maybe cheaper.

Include any other car expenses you have missed off.

sambodidly

Hi
The car is essential to my/our work as we have our own business and need the car for that. That is also why I havent listed any fuel costs, as the business pays for the fuel. The business doesnt pay for the insurance as the business isnt doing fantastically at the moment either :-(

The phones (2) are mobile phones in contract until Dec 2011/Jan 2012 and have tried to reduce the tariff but I dont qualify with the provider at the moment :-(

The Gas/Electric is the monthly dd amount I pay and I never seem to be in credit with it so dont know about reducing that. I am in contract with my current supplier until next year. I am not in arrears luckily.

Food costs do include toiletries etc. This is one thing I know we spend a great deal on.

I have not included any luxuries, days out, activities with my son in the list.

Thank you.

Dinah93

Electric and gas are really high, go through a comparison site to see if you can get these cheaper. We pay £65 a month for dual fuel on a 4 bed house.

Can either of you take on more hours or get a second job? Even something like mystery shopping if you have childcare arrangements to work around. My DH does 8-10 jobs a week this way and earns about £400 a month and we get a few nice meals out, clothes etc as well.

Phones again are high, can you try to negotiate the contract down for fewer mins and texts if not using all the allowance. I used to be with o2 and they were great for this.

Satellite/cable is a luxury that could be cut. We got rid of our tv entirely as we begrudged paying the licence, and not only do we not miss it, but we're a lot closer too. If we want to watch a movie we watch it on the laptop, but you can own a tv for watching dvds so long as it isn't hooked up to an aerial and not have to pay a licence.

£350 a month for groceries for 3 is again really high. We spend £150 for 2 people, and this is always giving us 5-8 fruit and veg a day, and meat for dinner. An easy area to cut back is drinks (both boozy and non). Have squash, tea or coffee if you hate water, but fizzy and premixed drinks are expensive for what they are. Try approvedfood for discounted food, some is past the best before date, but for store cupboard staples this doesn't really matter. My brother got 29kg of food for £32 when he ran out at uni - granted this was a lot of noodles and pasta packets, but if you're happy with that at least part of the time then it could be a big saving.

You have car insurance but no fuel, car tax or maintenance?

You seem to have quite a lot of money left over, where does it go by the end of the month? consider a spending diary.

Hope that helps x

foxgloves

Your gas & electricity is high. Have a good hard look at how much energy is wasted in your home. swapping to cheaper tariffs can save a bit, but no amount of swapping will save as much as stopping bad habits that waste what you are paying for. We cut ours substantially by turning the heating down a bit & wearing a jumper instead, only boiling the amount of water needed in the kettle...i.e if you want a cup of tea, don't boil the whole kettle like I used to do, don't keep topping up baths with extra hot water, replace at least half your baths with showers, use washing machines/breadmakers etc, on timer overnight if you have the Economy 7 type tariff where the units used at night are loads cheaper, don't leave anything on standby, don't have the TV on as background....if no-one is watching it....& I mean properly watching it, then switch it off, swithc lights off, Buy a long handled dustpan & brush so you are not getting the hoover out everytime there's a bit of something spilled, do the ironing once a week as it's more efficient use of electricity than having to plug in every day, get the iron up to heat to iron one garment, etc. There are LOADS of things you can do. Even though our monthly payments have now gone up, they are still nowhere near what you are paying, & there are price rises to come, so give it a go. Oh, & where you can, always fill the washing machine full rather than waste money on half loads & set it to wash at a lower temperature. Your mobiles are expensive. You can get a contract for £15 a month. If either of you work for the public sector, council, etc, Orange are currently doing a 25% discount. Husband just taken out new contract & with discount (you just take a payslip) it was £11.25....worth having over the 2-year sign up. Extra telly channels are always a luxury. We are about to change just to Freeview as extra channels are not as important to us as staying debt-free (after many years of overspending) & being able to put a little bit of money away for a holiday or things we once would have just stuck straight onto loans or credit cards. Your grocery spend ought to be able to come down to £250 a month. You can save serious money on household/food budget, but need to be prepared to cook from scratch, batch cook & do some things differently. Loads of tips on Old-style forum. Once you get going, you will be surprised just how much you can cut down on. I was really surprised that our lifestyle hasn't really been compromised at all. In fact, husband said the other day that we're actually eating better meals now & he's happier all round because we now feel in control of our money, despite a big drop in our income. It's just a case of really understanding the link between spending habits & debts. Best of luck with it x