Help with SoA

drwho2011

Here is our SoA

Household:
2 Adults
2 Child (7 yr old and 1 yr old)



Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,440
Partners salary - 0
CB/CTC: - £430

Total - £1,870

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £850
Council Tax - £0 (normally £133 pm)
Gas - £30
Electric - £49
Water: £43
TV License: - £14
Broadband/TV/Phone: £40
Mobile: £50
Food - £200
House Insurance - £31
Travelcard - £60
Life Insurance £48

Total Household Expenses: £1415

Debt Repayments
HMRC: £30
Loan x1 (2 yrs left): £150
Loan x2 (4 yrs left): £200
Credit Card Payments: £110 (total balance £4,600)
Total: £490 pm


Total Expenditure: £1905


Total: £-35 pm


Any suggestions on how to cut back further or increase income would be welcome......

drwho2011

Posted thread with wrong title.

Was meant to ask for help on SoA.

JulieGeorgiana

drwho2011 wrote: »

Here is our SoA

Household:
2 Adults
2 Child (7 yr old and 1 yr old)



Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,440
Partners salary - 0
CB/CTC: - £430

Total - £1,870

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £850
Council Tax - £0 (normally £133 pm) Why is this not accounted for?
Gas - £30 See Below
Electric - £49 Are you on the best rate? Taking meter readings? Watching your usage? Do you unplug things?
Water: £43
TV License: - £14
Broadband/TV/Phone: £40 This can be cut in half by going Freeview
Mobile: £50 This is very high? Find out your usages and get a better plan more suitable and negotiate a better deal if possible.
Food - £200
House Insurance - £31 This seems high... have you compared?
Travelcard - £60
Life Insurance £48 This is very high... Can you look around and see if you can get better value?

Total Household Expenses: £1415

Debt Repayments
HMRC: £30
Loan x1 (2 yrs left): £150
Loan x2 (4 yrs left): £200
Credit Card Payments: £110 (total balance £4,600)
Total: £490 pm


Total Expenditure: £1905


Total: £-35 pm -£168 if you add Council Tax


Any suggestions on how to cut back further or increase income would be welcome......

You can re-do your title by editing your first post and changing it to SOA for more help.

You have so much missing though... clothes/haircuts/dentist/medical/emergencies etc etc

Try using this SOA Calculator for a better picture of your spending and try re-posting it. The more information you give, the more feedback you will get.

Good Luck x

drwho2011

Council Tax - £0 (normally £133 pm) Why is this not accounted for?

We don't pay council tax as have a Class N exemption which we expect to continue for the next 2 years, however unless I can clear at least £3,000 debt a year we wont be able to afford our course fees for Oct 2012. If we delay our studies they will cost us each a further £16,000 to complete due to fee increases (which would not effect us as continuing students)

Gas - £30 See Below
Electric - £49 Are you on the best rate? Taking meter readings? Watching your usage? Do you unplug things?

Its the best rate I could get in July, shopped around and compared various deals and fixed for 1 year. We do turn off things religiously, except for computers for reasons I'll go into below. I do give meter readings but for some reason they weren't updating correctly so bills are jumping around. I expect that they will average at about £65 pm combined but I won't be sure until the weather warms up so figures above are for July-Dec average.

Broadband/TV/Phone: £40 This can be cut in half by going Freeview

Works out at £20 broadband, £10 TV, £5 for VOIP phone line/number rental and gives an unlimited US/UK calling package for £5. This works out cheaper than using phone cards to call abroad (wife is from abroad) plus we save as don't pay a BT line rental, however it requires a good broadband service plus I earn additional income from ad hoc work I do using the broadband.

TV could be cut back, tbh the main reason we have it in the package is we have 2 young children and we don't have a working receiver. As we get a low/poor signal on the digital receivers and signal boosters it means we can't get any of the children channels.

Mobile: £50 This is very high? Find out your usages and get a better plan more suitable and negotiate a better deal if possible.

I plan to try downgrade or cancel my contract (in 8 months time), the other half is my wife's contract which she has another year left on and was essential for her work.

House Insurance - £31 This seems high... have you compared?

We don't have a NCB and live in a higher than average crime area, I did compare online, went to brokers and wasn't able to get a better deal, but did get £50 cash back in process. I expect this to drop at renewal.

Life Insurance £48 This is very high... Can you look around and see if you can get better value?

Its two plans, my wife and self and we were required to take out a plan that could cover our mortgage, my plan is cheaper, hers is more expensive due to her age, mine due to pre-existing health conditions. They were the cheaper individually than a joint plan and it worked out with double the payout should we both die.

drwho2011

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

You can re-do your title by editing your first post and changing it to SOA for more help.

You have so much missing though... clothes/haircuts/dentist/medical/emergencies etc etc

Try using this SOA Calculator for a better picture of your spending and try re-posting it. The more information you give, the more feedback you will get.

Good Luck x

I tried editing but couldn't see how to change the title.

Clothes (christmas/birthday gifts)
Haircuts (wife cuts our hair)
Dentist (both exempted for a year)
We make our own gifts and cards.

I do have £600 in savings for emergencies, the children have £2,000 in their savings account if worst came to worst.

As for debt all but loan x2 (12.9%) is 0% (although the credit cards come off these deals in consecutive months from July).

I'm hoping from March my wife will be able to do some part time work which should bring in another £500 pm, but this will depend on getting shifts around my work and her being able to get to the sites via public transport.

drwho2011

deleted post

rising_from_the_ashes

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

You have so much missing though... clothes/haircuts/dentist/medical/emergencies etc etc

Try using this SOA Calculator for a better picture of your spending and try re-posting it. The more information you give, the more feedback you will get.

Agree with JulieGeorgiana ... sorry but we need the full picture to be able to help - as JG says, there is a lot of info missing & we also need the debts / monthly payments / aprs etc to be able to advise.

drwho2011

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................ 1440
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 430
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1870

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 850
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 34
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 48
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1437


Assets
Cash.................................... 600
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 175600


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 141000...(850)......4.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 141000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................765.......30........17.9
Credit Card 2..................1600......30........17.5
Credit Card 3..................2200......50........12.9
Loan 2.........................7400......200.......12.9
Loan 1.........................3000......150.......0
Total unsecured debts..........14965.....460.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,870
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,437
Available for debt repayments........... 433
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 460
Amount short for making debt repayments. -27

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 175,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -141,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,965
Net Assets.............................. 19,635

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks! Much easier to try to help:D

drwho2011 wrote: »

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................ 1440
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 430
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1870

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 850
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 Need to have a think about how you're going to cover this
Electricity............................. 45 Note your comments
Gas..................................... 34 Note your comments
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43 Have you got a meter? This is quite high
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 50 Note your comments - switch to PAYG as soon as you can
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60 Anyway you could get a lift with someone for petrol money?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0Note your comments but you need to start putting something away for when the exemption ends - even £5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20Note your comments - check again at renewal time
Contents insurance...................... 13 As above
Life assurance ......................... 48 Note your comments - again check around - try the insurances board for advice
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0Note your comments - need something in here, even £10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10 Need to try to increase this - cover new appliances etc
Total monthly expenses.................. 1437


Assets
Cash.................................... 600
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 175600


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 141000...(850)......4.7
Total secured & HP debts...... 141000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card 1..................765.......30........17.9 No 1
Credit Card 2..................1600......30........17.5 No 2
Credit Card 3..................2200......50........12.9 No 3
Loan 2.........................7400......200.......12.9
Loan 1.........................3000......150.......0 is this int free or did you not know the apr?
Total unsecured debts..........14965.....460.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,870
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,437
Available for debt repayments........... 433
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 460
Amount short for making debt repayments. -27

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 175,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -141,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,965
Net Assets.............................. 19,635

TBH there's nothing that really stands out as being really expensive ... apart from the mobiles - if you've already checked your utilities etc. Shop around again at renewal time.

So really, you need to increase your income - especially as there's a few things you're currently exempted from, that you will need to pay for shortly.

Do you have a spare room you could rent out? You can get up to £4250 without having to pay tax http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/TaxOnPropertyAndRentalIncome/DG_4017804

drwho2011

Water rates............................. 43 Have you got a meter? This is quite high

No and couldn't get a meter fitted.

Other travel............................ 60 Anyway you could get a lift with someone for petrol money?

No and this is using a student oyster card for a 15% discount on the tube fare with a season ticket.

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0Note your comments but you need to start putting something away for when the exemption ends - even £5

In 4 months I'll have private medical coverage through work.

Entertainment........................... 0Note your comments - need something in here, even £10

Can't afford entertainment

Emergency fund.......................... 10 Need to try to increase this - cover new appliances etc

All our appliances are 6mths old (so under warrantee) as we previously lived in a furnished flat.

Loan 1.........................3000......150.......0 is this int free or did you not know the apr?

Its interest free so long as its paid off on schedule.

rising_from_the_ashes

drwho2011 wrote: »

Emergency fund.......................... 10 Need to try to increase this - cover new appliances etc

All our appliances are 6mths old (so under warrantee) as we previously lived in a furnished flat.

Yup, but you still need to think for the future - even if they last 5 years, the cost of replacing each one is likely to break down to at least £5 / month between them being new & that time (that's on a replacement cost of £300)