Keeping up appearances.......

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Every little helps!

Quality over quantity anyways

HHX

HappyNow

Well, here is my soa! Please note that this is for FUTURE use, now that I've almost finished my Money Makeover. If I had done one just a few weeks ago it would have looked very, very different!!

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........(but 2 children both at uni so here at holidays and still needing some financial support, entered in Child Costs))
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1702
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1493
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 400
Total monthly income.................... 3595
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 458
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Council tax............................. 197
Electricity............................. 81
Coal..................................... 75
Water rates............................. 0 (we have a bore hole supply)
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 94 (includes internet)
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 34 (Sky Movies will be cancelled in 5 months
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 360
Road tax................................ 42
Car Insurance........................... 59
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Other child related expenses............ 125
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 80
Buildings insurance..................... 29
Contents insurance...................... included with buildings
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 28
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Savings - furniture/car needed.......... 88
Hobbies................................. 200
Pet costs............................... 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 2595

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 80000
Total Assets............................ 382000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 58320....(458)......4.9?
Total secured & HP debts...... 58320.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit cards...................64079.....960.......6.9
overdraft......................5000......30........12.9
overdraft......................500.......10........12.9
Total unsecured debts..........69579.....1000......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,595
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,595
Available for debt repayments........... 1,000
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,000
Amount left after debt repayments....... 0
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 382,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -58,320
Total Unsecured debt.................... -69,579
Net Assets.............................. 254,101

Hopelessly_Hopeful

Me again

Big chunk of work out of the way for you there.

Is that correct that outside of your mortage you have the 'debt' as 0%, if so how long for?

Net assets look very healthy so whilst your situation not as rosy as you would like the future is bright

HHx

poohbear59

Have you had a look at the monthly grocery challenge on here? That is where I started to make savings. We are now feeding 4 adults on £100 per month (I have two sons at home for now).

HappyNow

Hopelessly_Hopeful wrote: »

Me again

Is that correct that outside of your mortage you have the 'debt' as 0%, if so how long for?

HHx

Hi, thanks for looking . No, unfortunately only a relatively small amount of the unsecured debt is on 0%. I am embarassed to admit that we have debt on TEN different credit cards so they vary, but most of it is around the 6.9% mark for lob. Approx £15,000 is with MBNA/Virgin so tends to be on 0% for a few months, then when that ends I have to pay 4% admin fee, transfer more to my current account, then pay it straight off the card so the rate returns to 0%.

I do keep on top of them though, I never make late payments or exceed the limit and I always transfer balances to get the best deals, so really I think I just need to carry on doing that whilst reducing the balance as quickly as I can.

HappyNow

poohbear59 wrote: »

Have you had a look at the monthly grocery challenge on here? That is where I started to make savings. We are now feeding 4 adults on £100 per month (I have two sons at home for now).

No, I haven't seen that but I would love to get involved in it as it seems just what I need. Is it on the DFW board, or one of the others?

I have included cat food and cleaning products in my grocery bill - the full supermarket shop really so I suppose the £280 isn't all on food. I am going to commit to reducing it though because we spend an awful lot on food and don't even eat particularly healthily.

sharp910sh

You have a lot of equity in your house. You could easily sell that, pay off all your debt. What assets are worth £80k?

HappyNow

sharp910sh wrote: »

You have a lot of equity in your house. You could easily sell that, pay off all your debt. What assets are worth £80k?

Hi, yes we do have a lot of equity in the house so in an absolute emergency (maybe redundancy or something) we could sell it and move to something cheaper. But we've been here a long time and we love it, and it means that we can keep our animals at home etc so that would be an absolute last resort - we want to spend our retirement here. Plus if I sold the house my husband would be bound to notice ! (He's not aware of the level of our debts).

The £80K is a small terrace house which we own and rent out. We could sell that one which would go some way towards our debts, but the rental income just about covers the mortgage so we're probably better just sitting on it, at least until the property market picks up. I've always kind of imagined letting our children have the rented one to help them on the property ladder

Thanks for the reply

merlot123

Your SOA doesn't look too bad. Are you sourcing the pet food from the cheapest place? Pet insurance, have you checked recently you are getting the best deal. (Make sure you use Quidco/cashback website for any purchases you make).

Where in the SOA is the second mortgage for the rental property? ( may have missed it).

Do you currently pay your council tax over 10 months? If so, February and March are free months, so use that money to repay your highest APR debt.

I would say the present amount each month is alot. I'm going to say also you cannot really afford a holiday this year.

Do you have anything you can sell on Ebay to repay some of these debts a little quicker?

Make a note in your RL diary about the gift tags, I buy alot of my Christmas gifts in the sales and I pop a note in my diary of where they are kept and who I have bought for, otherwise I would forget by December.

merlot123

chevalier

My comments are in blue. Hope they help

HappyNow wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........(but 2 children both at uni so here at holidays and still needing some financial support, entered in Child Costs)) they can't get temp jobs to help out?
Number of cars owned.................... 2 can they be downgraded to take account of cheaper insurance.
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1702
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1493 Can either of you earn any extra money, eg from mystery shopping? Maybe you could do this, if you want to keep it a secret? Ie in your lunch break?
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 400 Is this the rental from the house? When was the last time the rent was reviewed? If more than a year, than I would expect a rental increase.
Total monthly income.................... 3595
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 458
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Council tax............................. 197 Ouch is this over 10 months or 12 you can ask to switch over.
Electricity............................. 81 Again hope your new habits brings this down, and well done on the new tariff.
Coal..................................... 75 Is this for the heating? Hot water? Can you stockpile some in the summer when maybe charges are lower? Could you burn free wood instead?
Water rates............................. 0 (we have a bore hole supply)
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 94 (includes internet) Still seems pretty high, but I think you said you had already checked the tariffs? For 3 mobiles? Is one for work?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 34 (Sky Movies will be cancelled in 5 months
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 So for most of the time this if for two of you only? Does this also include the pet food? If not then this is a bit on the high side. There are lots of tasty cheap meal ideas on the Old Style Forum.
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 360
Road tax................................ 42
Car Insurance........................... 59 I am assuming that this and the road tax are for 2 cars?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 10
Other child related expenses............ 125
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 80
Buildings insurance..................... 29
Contents insurance...................... included with buildings Have you got landlords insurance for the rental? If not this could be a false economy if the tenants trashed the place...Also do you do a tax return for the property to make sure you don't owe tax? Also the mortgage interest on the property can be offset against tax too I think.
Life assurance ......................... 20
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 How about the challenge of a money neutral christmas eg, selling things on ebay to fund this? Or else making things for presents instead of buying them. If you aren't very crafty, the keep an eye on the Grabbit board, as there are often bargains on there, but only if you are quick.
Haircuts................................ 28
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 20 do you have a lot in this already? You might consider paying off debt an emergency.
Savings - furniture/car needed.......... 88
Hobbies................................. 200 could you do this less frequently. Or could these hobbies make you any extra money?
Pet costs............................... 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 2595

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 300000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 80000
Total Assets............................ 382000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 58320....(458)......4.9?
Total secured & HP debts...... 58320.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit cards...................64079.....960.......6.9 would suggest putting the actual balances and apr's in here. It will seem less daunting, if you can focus on one card. Also if 6.9% is an average then some will be lower and some higher, ideally you need to pay off the higher apr cards first.
overdraft......................5000......30........12.9 I read something about Santander matching overdrafts for 12 months for free if you switched to them, but not sure if that would be a help.
overdraft......................500.......10........12.9
Total unsecured debts..........69579.....1000......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,595
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,595
Available for debt repayments........... 1,000
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,000
Amount left after debt repayments....... 0
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 382,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -58,320
Total Unsecured debt.................... -69,579
Net Assets.............................. 254,101

Good luck with your ongoing debt busting. Have a look at the snowball calculator I think it is at the top of the debt free wannabe forum. Then you will have a debt free date to work towards.
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