My new SOA now that benefits are sorted out

Charityworker

As some of you may know my husband got made redundant at the end of october and we have been waiting to hear what the new rate of benefit is. So here is my new SOA. We have 2 adults in the house and 2 teenagers. One is on the first year of a 2 year college course and the other is still at school. My husband is applying for every job going but still no luck as yet.

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.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 389.12
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 818.00
Other income............................ 13.6
Total monthly income.................... 1220.72
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 241
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 130
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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...................... 4
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 16
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Caravan site fees....................... 300.00
Total monthly expenses.................. 833.00
Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 14000....(241)......1.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 14000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,220.72
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 833.00
Available for debt repayments........... 387.72
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 387.72
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -14,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. -14,000

Anyone offer any shavings off of this? I just want to make sure I'm getting the best deal for everything.

MFWannabe

I can't see anywhere you could make any savings; if any i would say some of the figures look rather lean; are you absolutely sure they are correct? If they are well done. Reference the £387 you have left each month according to your soa; you need to try putting at least £200 of this away in savings for emergency fund

soxxxxy

Is you family allowance included in your benefits ?

findingmyownway

There is no mortgage or rent payments in there?


Edited - sorry i just noticed the caravan thing, is that where you live?

somethingcorporate

What an incredibly tight SOA!

Anything you shave off will literally be pennies.

curlytop12

findingmyownway wrote: »

There is no mortgage or rent payments in there?


Edited - sorry i just noticed the caravan thing, is that where you live?

thats just what i was going to say!
if so,wouldn't the actual caravan count as an "asset" too?

Charityworker

Thanks for your replies. Yes the child benefit is included in the benefits.

There's no rent or council tax included because we get full housing benefit and full council tax benefit.

The caravan is what we bought when we were both working full time. I'm not sure if it's an asset. Some times I've been told it is and some I have been told it isn't.

Charityworker

FREEZ wrote: »

I can't see anywhere you could make any savings; if any i would say some of the figures look rather lean; are you absolutely sure they are correct? If they are well done. Reference the £387 you have left each month according to your soa; you need to try putting at least £200 of this away in savings for emergency fund

What do you mean by lean? Yes they are all correct.

MFWannabe

I just meant that seem low; so well done for getting by on these amounts

With reference to the caravan; i also assumed that's where you live. Do you use it often? If not then i would consider selling it as £541 per month is a lot of money to be paying out each month and you could have a good holiday each year for half that amount

HappyMJ

Charityworker wrote: »

What do you mean by lean? Yes they are all correct.

£130 a month on groceries for 4 people two of which are 14 and 17 and you give £3 cash every school day to the 17 year old for lunch leaving only £65 a month for breakfast, dinner and lunch for the other 3...and then there are cleaning products and toiletries to buy but assuming only food that's only about 20 pence per person per meal.

It's very very lean. I'd love to see your shopping list. I'm a single person and spend way more than that every month. That's £7.50 per person per week. I could not do that ever...

You have also included no travel costs. Yet somehow you get to and from this caravan. Doesn't that cost something? Do you contribute anything towards petrol for other people to take you?

No money for haircuts....come on what about a quick trim every few months at £10 each? That's about £10 a month at least.

Charityworker

Thanks for your replies. I have advertised the caravan up for rent on eBay so hopefully I will get some people staying in it next year. I'm told by people 'in the know' that people don't start thinking about their summer holiday until after Christmas. I tried to sell the caravan but the most I was offered on it was £5000. That would still leave me with £9000 to pay on it. I know I could get a holiday for much less than that but I love owning a caravan.

I give £3 a day to my eldest daughter to spend at college but she's only at college 2 days a week. The rest of the time she is doing on the job training ( she's training to be a zoo keeper) and they provide food and transport. Some days she doesn't spend the whole £3 so I just make it up to £3 each day.

It's true I have no travel costs. We have no car. I walk to work and everything we need is in walking distance so we got rid of it. It was an unnecessary expense. Travel to the caravan also costs nothing. It is only 10 miles away and my parents and friends also have caravans on there. So we just go with them. I offer money but they don't take it.

No money for haircuts because I'm an ex hairdresser. I havent worked as a hairdresser for about 20 years but I trust myself to do my own families hair.

Yes it's £130 for a months food. I've always cooked everything from scratch. Cleaning products are very cheap in wilkinsons. You can get polish, disinfectant, washing up liquid and bleach for under a pound. To be honest £130 is quite generous. I spent £103 on this months shopping.