Income and Expenditure - Can you review?

singingsister

Can you please review our Income and expenditure please and see if I've missed anything or anything needs changing. Food bill might seem high but that includes nappies for our daughter. There are two items with a £0 figure.

Car Loan is under HP and car is valued at about £1300.

Rent £850.00
Child Savings £0
Loan Insurance £0.00
Car Loan £110.50
Mobile Phone £43.26
Mobile Phone £37.44
Contact Lens £15.00
Contact Lens £15.00
Car Service Plan £12.85
Veolia Water £30.10
Council Tax £150.00
TV Licence £12.18
New Call Telephone/Broadband £16.00
Scottish Power £64.00
House Insurance £24.74
ESTIMATE CAR INS £32.33
ESTIMATE CAR TAX £11.23

Variable
Haircuts £10.00
Clothes (2 adults, 1 2 year old) £40.00
Food + Nappies APPROX £250.00
Petrol APPROX £150.00
M Travel costs for signing on £10.00
Nursery Costs £208.00

Income £2,036.48
Outgoings £2,092.63
DIFFERENCE -£56.15

tigerfeet2006

Sweetheart, sorry to be an old fusspot but would you mind putting it through this calculater for me
http://makesenseofcards.co.uk/soacalc.html

Format it to MSE at the bottom and then c&p to here.

Thanks very much, just makes it easier to read for these old eyes.

singingsister

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1293
Partners monthly income after tax....... 60
Benefits................................ 683.48
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2036.48
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 110
Rent.................................... 850
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 32
Gas..................................... 32
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30.1
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 80.7
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 11.23
Car Insurance........................... 32.33
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12.85
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Childcare/nursery....................... 208
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 24.74
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Contact Lenses.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 2092.13

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1036.01
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1036.01

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(110)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,036.48
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,092.13
Available for debt repayments........... -55.65
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -55.65
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,036.01
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 1,036.01
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/font]

tigerfeet2006

Unfortunatly there isn't a lot I can suggest looking at that. It is very close to the bone, isn't it.

Assuming that council tax doesn't include arrears. Your rent is the average for a family your size i the area you are in ie: you are not in a 6 bed house

With the phones the OR will generally allow around £60 max. Some will allow around £20 extra each for mobiles but some won't.

Your HP, have you checked with the firm that they will allow the payments to continue if you are BR? Most won't and will want the car back.

Nit picking here but round your figures as they like things neat

singingsister

It is average. We live in a 2 bed flat.

The council tax doesn't include any arrears.....we have a seperate debt for housing benefit overpayments!

You say £60 for the phones. For each phone or for both phones?

Yes, we rang Peugeot and they are happy for us to keep to car providing we keep meeting the payments (and we've never missed any payments on the car so far) and the car is due to be paid off in July.

Didn't know to round figures - up or down?

Some of the figures are variable....petrol, food etc which doesn't help!

tigerfeet2006

singingsister wrote: »

It is average. We live in a 2 bed flat. Jeez louise :eek: Assume you are in the SE

The council tax doesn't include any arrears.....we have a seperate debt for housing benefit overpayments! Glad I am not the only one who has an expensive council. Ours is that on a 3 bed house though.

You say £60 for the phones. For each phone or for both phones? £60 for the family I am afraid.

Yes, we rang Peugeot and they are happy for us to keep to car providing we keep meeting the payments (and we've never missed any payments on the car so far) and the car is due to be paid off in July. Brilliant. Now you will have to see if the OR will allow the payment. Some will and some won't so I am afraid it is a guessing game, which you won't know the answer to until you go BR and speak to him.

Didn't know to round figures - up or down? under 50p, down. Over 50p, up.

Some of the figures are variable....petrol, food etc which doesn't help!

Yeah I know, it is a pain but you just have to do the best you can and try and bring them under so that you tak care of the deficit.

Have you found the Old Style board?
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=33

And get to know the other boards for ways to make extra pennies etc. For example have a look at the challenges on DFW
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2739372

Check out this thread as well
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1409337=

Right! I really must go as I have nativity costumes to make and they are due to go to the school tomorrow eeeek!

singingsister

I do the best I can - Ebay and stuff like that. But the little I might make from that - just goes on food and petrol and nappies and things.

Yes - I live in Watford, Hertfordshire - very expensive!

There's nothing we can do to bring the cost down - we don't have sky or anything. We need internet at home amongst others for hubby to job hunt (really not possible to sit in a cafe or library for some of the day with a 22 month old)

Also doesn't help that we are Jewish and keep Kosher. Kosher meat is alot more expensive too.

The sooner hubby finds a job - the better! Although saying that once you've deducted full time nursery fees of £988 a month....you have to have a hefty salary to make any difference!

:-(

Ineedaname

Just to clarify, the £60 pcm for phones is landline and mobiles combined!

You might be able to cut your contents insurance by a tenner, but being Watford, maybe not. Worth speaking to a local broker just in case.

Otherwise, your grocery budget is amazing, for 3 with nappies and Kosher meat - good for you.:T Oh, and contact lenses should be under 'medical expenses' and if you could you should allow something in there each month to cover eye tests, dental check ups and the odd prescription. As things stand obviously there isn't anything available to do that...

I thought my council tax bill was high in Hampshire, but yours is nearly twice as much.:eek:

Apologies if you've already said in another thread, but can you confirm if you're both going BR?

singingsister

Ineedaname wrote: »

Just to clarify, the £60 pcm for phones is landline and mobiles combined!

You might be able to cut your contents insurance by a tenner, but being Watford, maybe not. Worth speaking to a local broker just in case.

Otherwise, your grocery budget is amazing, for 3 with nappies and Kosher meat - good for you.:T Oh, and contact lenses should be under 'medical expenses' and if you could you should allow something in there each month to cover eye tests, dental check ups and the odd prescription. As things stand obviously there isn't anything available to do that...

I thought my council tax bill was high in Hampshire, but yours is nearly twice as much.:eek:

Apologies if you've already said in another thread, but can you confirm if you're both going BR?

We don't pay for prescriptions or eye tests as we get tax credits and we have NHS exemption cards.

Yes, we are both going BR.

With regards to our mobile phones, we rang T-Mobile to check our usage and both our contracts aren't up until September 2012. So to get out of them we have to pay £35 x 10 x 2 (both our contracts are £35 a month) = £700. Also for our usage, if we went pay as you go...my mobile bill alone would be £150 a month! I'm on the old flext tariff and get £180 allowance a month. This month I used £150 of it! So it's really not going to be cost effective for the OR to ask us to cancel them. Also, where would we find the £700 from to cancel our contracts?!

Also our landline is broadband as well. £16 a month. We did used to have mobile broadband which cost that but now we're getting phone and fixed line broadband. And I need the availability of fixed line broadband to allow me to work from home if necessary and hubby needs it to job hunt.

With regards to food and nappies, it's an estimate. It's really hard to judge. All depends on what we have in the house, how many nappies we have left etc....

kepar

Put your land line up to £60 and don't declare your mobiles and hope you can find the money from other allowances. Your groceries is low so raise that to compensate.

Ineedaname

singingsister wrote: »

We don't pay for prescriptions or eye tests as we get tax credits and we have NHS exemption cards. Always useful, thanks for clarifying this and the below.

Yes, we are both going BR.

With regards to our mobile phones.....Also, where would we find the £700 from to cancel our contracts?! It was just a thought. I'm with Orange, half way through a 2 year contract but I can vary my plan with them. Just wondered if that might be possible for you too. You've obviously looked into it thoroughly already which is great, just not so great it's not variable. Regarding cancelling the contracts, if you had to, once you are BR then the cancellation fee would probably just be added to your debts. You surrender the phones, stop paying for them and create a new debt... Let's hope that's not necessary and you can keep the phones.

Also our landline is broadband as well. £16 a month. We did used to have mobile broadband which cost that but now we're getting phone and fixed line broadband. And I need the availability of fixed line broadband to allow me to work from home if necessary and hubby needs it to job hunt. In which case it's a good deal, my apologies.

They were only suggestions based on info at the time, I realise now you've done a lot of work on your finances and looked into everything possible. That's really good to see.:)