Our SOA Please Look

oliviarosejackson

Hi, here is our SOA:

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 625
Benefits................................ 444
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2319
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 432
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 77
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 58
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 60 For two mobiles, high and I don't know why. Have told OH to stop using internet on his phone. These are 24 month contracts
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 This includes phone and broadband. This is with virgin
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 270
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 103 This is high as I have 3 points on my licence and OH is a new driver. It was the cheapest I could find with Tesco
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 322 Covered by our tax credits
Other child related expenses............ 8
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17.7 Includes contents too
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1685.7

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 68000....(432)......0 Unsure of APR, but is fixed until 2015
Total secured & HP debts...... 68000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................7000......134.......0 This is with Halifax to cover a car loan
IVA............................0.........150.......0 Been paying into sice 2007 Unsure when it is due to finish though
Total unsecured debts..........7000......284.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,319
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,685.7
Available for debt repayments........... 633.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 284
Amount left after debt repayments....... 349.3
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -68,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,000
Net Assets.............................. 5,000
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I have not included money for an emergancy fund, car tax, MOT, entertainment, etc as we don't put money aside for this, which we really need to start doing.

Our benifits are child benifit of £31 per week and tax credits of £80.50 per week. The tax credits cover our nursery fees, so we don't see any of that and I am also worrying about how they are going to cut these next April.

Please take a look at how you can help us to save money and where to find the best deal, thanks.

McKneff

the only thing I can comment on is your water rates, they seem awful high. Could you get a water meter installed.
I save a fortune on mine. You can have one installed, monitor its use and have it removed in 12 months if it is not cost effective.

Shop around for your internet package, you could get it all for a lot less than this.

You really should budget for your car costings.

oliviarosejackson

McKneff wrote: »

the only thing I can comment on is your water rates, they seem awful high. Could you get a water meter installed.
I save a fortune on mine. You can have one installed, monitor its use and have it removed in 12 months if it is not cost effective.

Shop around for your internet package, you could get it all for a lot less than this.

You really should budget for your car costings.

Not sure about the water rates. I think that we missed our payments for a couple of months, so they added extra on top of it.

Where would you advise the best place to look for the internet?

Many thanks for your input.

HappyMJ

oliviarosejackson wrote: »

Where would you advise the best place to look for the internet?

Many thanks for your input.

Start by ringing Virgin and saying you want to leave. They'll give you the best offer of the day. Compare the market before you ring. You can get home phone and broadband for £20 a month and a basic TV package for £20 a month. It's only £20 less than what you are paying so you aren't looking for a huge amount off.

katsu

Some comments for you to review.

Also, line curtains, review how long heating os on, turn everything off at night etc - winter is an easy time to spend on utilities

oliviarosejackson wrote: »

Hi, here is our SOA:

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 625
Benefits................................ 444
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2319
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 432
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 77
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40 check comparison sites for a better deal for G&E - read Martin's articles for advice.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 58
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 60 For two mobiles, high and I don't know why. Have told OH to stop using internet on his phone. These are 24 month contracts are the contracts £30 a month? find out if you can drop then down a bit - ring and ask.
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 This includes phone and broadband. This is with virgin look at getting a freeview box so you are paying only phone and BB
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 270 look at old style forum for advice on cutting this, cheap meals etc
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160 cut out any short journeys of less than say 3 miles. Also, drive at 60 on motorway, read articles on site about fuel efficient driving etc.
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 103 This is high as I have 3 points on my licence and OH is a new driver. It was the cheapest I could find with Tesco
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 322 Covered by our tax credits
Other child related expenses............ 8
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 17.7 Includes contents too
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 25 use clippers on OH and check local hairdressing bit of FE college for cheaper cuts for you. Also leave it one more week before going.
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1685.7

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 75000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 80000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 68000....(432)......0 Unsure of APR, but is fixed until 2015
Total secured & HP debts...... 68000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan...........................7000......134.......0 This is with Halifax to cover a car loan
IVA............................0.........150.......0 Been paying into sice 2007 Unsure when it is due to finish though
Total unsecured debts..........7000......284.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,319
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,685.7
Available for debt repayments........... 633.3
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 284
Amount left after debt repayments....... 349.3 Is this true? If not start a spending diary and review old bank statements.
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 80,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -68,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,000
Net Assets.............................. 5,000
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

I have not included money for an emergancy fund, car tax, MOT, entertainment, etc as we don't put money aside for this, which we really need to start doing.

Our benifits are child benifit of £31 per week and tax credits of £80.50 per week. The tax credits cover our nursery fees, so we don't see any of that and I am also worrying about how they are going to cut these next April.

Please take a look at how you can help us to save money and where to find the best deal, thanks.

rising_from_the_ashes

HappyMJ wrote: »

Start by ringing Virgin and saying you want to leave. They'll give you the best offer of the day. Compare the market before you ring. You can get home phone and broadband for £20 a month and a basic TV package for £20 a month. It's only £20 less than what you are paying so you aren't looking for a huge amount off.

Or home & broadband for £20 / month and Freesat / Freeview which would save £40/month.

foxgloves

You can get a perfectly good mobile contract with Orange for £15 a month & it comes with a smartphone, so that would halve what you are paying. I think we used to be on a similar Virgin package to you for TV channels, broadband & landline. We have downgraded to just broadband & landline & ditched the cable TV channels in favour of Freeview & can tell you that this reduces the monthly payment to Virgin to £29. We haven't missed a single channel & couldn't see the point in paying for extra channels, which were a luxury, when we'd got debts to pay. Now the debts have gone, we have still stuck with the freeview box, as it's fine. So even these 2 changes could save you £60 a month & that's without looking at other savings.

oliviarosejackson

Thanks everyone for your input.

I would happily get rid of the tv and have freeview. We have it built into the tv and it works great. Oh on the other hand is harder to convince. He doesn't have his sports channels with virgin, so he watches all of the history channels and you don't get them with freeview

We are tied into our phone contracts for the next 20 months. Might get oh to ring vodaphone to see why the bills are so high as they should only be £45 for the two!!!

I really try with our food shopping, but can't seem to get it under £60 per week. This does include nappies too. I cook from scratch and shop around. I go morrisons 10% discount, aldi and home bargains. Have also started to go to sainsburys late on sun to get some bargains. I also try to shop in the reduced section as much as possible.