My new SOA now that benefits are sorted out

soxxxxy

Wow Charityworker i think i need lessons off you. I really dont think you could save anymore than you already are,well done.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

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

Im assuming you havent included these benefits in the income part? I saw ur last soa where you had surplus of nearly £500 per month was amazed by it then well done one thing tho you have no cash assets and didnt have previously are you saving the surplus each month or are you able to pay extra towards the HP agreement each month?

HappyMJ

Charityworker wrote: »

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.

So what do you do with the £387.72 per month? You should have thousands of pounds saved up.

I'm sorry but I just cannot believe such a tight SOA. Benefits for a family with 2 kids are £250 a week for a reason as that around about what it costs just to live a very basic lifestyle with few luxuries. You spend £833 a month of which £541 is for your caravan. You and your family are living on £67 a week. That's even less than a single persons JSA. Why do you want to save for? Why bother working at all?

Charityworker

If I have any surplus money it will be paid off the debt of the caravan.

Yes HappyMJ we all ask ourselves why we work every day. I've always been good at budgeting. I spent 7 years living as a lone parent on £120 a week and I still managed to own an old caravan, take my kids on holiday every year and take them out every day on that. Maybe I should write a book. Lol.

HappyMJ

Charityworker wrote: »

If I have any surplus money it will be paid off the debt of the caravan.

Yes HappyMJ we all ask ourselves why we work every day. I've always been good at budgeting. I spent 7 years living as a lone parent on £120 a week and I still managed to own an old caravan, take my kids on holiday every year and take them out every day on that. Maybe I should write a book. Lol.

The interest rate is only 1.2% it's cheaper to not pay it off. Try saving instead at 3.1% or more. As you earn so little it will be tax-free.

I still don't know where your money has gone. If you have been earning this much and spending so little for several years you should have thousands in the bank.

Charityworker

HappyMJ wrote: »

I still don't know where your money has gone. If you have been earning this much and spending so little for several years you should have thousands in the bank.

We have been paying extra off the caravan. I've knocked an extra year off the payments this year alone. I'm hoping to do the same next year. The rest has gone on little things that you don't realise you are spending at the time like coffee on the way to work, newspapers and stuff. But now I am going to keep track of where everything goes. We have got some savings in the bank. About £1400. Thats going up and down all the time though so I didn't put it in the SOA.

XXSCOTSLASSXX

not really sure what advice etc you want from anyone sorry x u post in debt free wannabe but seem to have everything covered any advice etc anyone gives u already seemed to be on top off... apologies am not understanding why the post? x

HappyMJ

Charityworker wrote: »

We have been paying extra off the caravan. I've knocked an extra year off the payments this year alone. I'm hoping to do the same next year. The rest has gone on little things that you don't realise you are spending at the time like coffee on the way to work, newspapers and stuff. But now I am going to keep track of where everything goes. We have got some savings in the bank. About £1400. Thats going up and down all the time though so I didn't put it in the SOA.

Stop paying extra off the caravan. The interest rate is less than the rate of inflation so in real terms the loan is depreciating i.e becoming lower as time goes on without you having to do anything. You will be much better off opening savings accounts paying you more interest than the loan is costing you. Halifax kids regular savers pay 6% interest to you on £100 saved per month. That's £36 per year. The loan in that time would have cost £7.20. Profit to you £28.80. Multiply that by 3 as your excess income over expenses is about that and you make a profit of about £100 a year just by saving rather than overpaying.