Soa

tryingtobegood75

Hi see below for my new SOA - any savings to be made ??

Recently had a couple of loans paid off so in a much better position than before, (about 300pounds)

Want to try and save 400pounds per month for rainy day/holiday/house improvements etc

The credit card debt is 0% just moved over to RBS for 12mths, treating it like a loan hence 157pounds per mth for 12mths to pay it off.

Groceries is v. high I know but we've tried and tried to reduce this, (it does include everything from tescos inc alcohol - 12bottles wine/mth) that is as low as we can get it

300 pounds for entertainment includes everything.....cinema/treats/nightsout/takeaways/meals out. This come from looking back at the last 6mths bank statements to see where the money goes...

We could and should be able to be debt free/good savings but for the last 12 years we've always been in debt, always spending just that bit more than we earn and have to take loans out to cover larger things.

I'm not blaming the better half but she is more of a buy now pay later kind of gal. I.e. when I told her the last loan was just paid off she came up with a great new loan deal for 7.5k so we can do the kitchen, (which doesn't need done). For the first time I put my financial foot down...2 days of cold shouldering ensued....Perhaps a new mindset is in order ?

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................ 2020
Partners monthly income after tax....... 804
Benefits................................ 134.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2958.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 602
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 16.82000000000005
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 122
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 64
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 24
Mobile phone............................ 22
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 37
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 525
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 75
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 24
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 80
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 36 - boiler 14 - 22 mortgage ins
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 - mainly £400 xmas
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 300
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 400
Kids clubs.............................. 45
Total monthly expenses.................. 2574.32


Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 170000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 173500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 113000...(602)......4.99
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 400......(16.82)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 113400....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
RBS credit card................1880......157.......0
Total unsecured debts..........1880......157.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,958.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,574.32
Available for debt repayments........... 384.48
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 157
Amount left after debt repayments....... 227.48

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 173,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -113,400
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,880
Net Assets.............................. 58,220

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

sickasachip13

Hi,

Just a quick observation, but if you're trying to knock down costs..... £300 for entertainment seems remarkably high and represents an area that is very easy to save in.

SAAC

welshone27

Firstly I'm not expert, but if you cut the entertainment in half and also the shopping (which is very easily done) you'll alsready be £412.50 better off a month.

mrsb83_2

Well on your figures you won't be getting further in debt and you'll clear your unsecured debt in under a year.

But you are wasting large amounts of money. £525 is a crazy amount of spending at the supermarket each and every month. I have a relatively high grocery spend of up to £300 a month for two people, and we eat (and drink) really well. This figure includes quite a bit of convenience food and a lot of alcohol.

You're also spending an additional £300 a month on entertainment, some of which goes on takeaways and meals out, which means you are spending huge amounts on food. I also have a high entertainment budget - mine is £140 a month and I honestly think you could reduce your spend in this without really noticing it.

Your £400 a month emergency fund should be properly broken down. Household maintenance isn't an emergency expense - you should have a proper budget for it (I do £80 a month). Similarly with a holiday - if you know you want to take one then you should be budgeting properly for it. Nothing wrong with a genuine emergency fund, though.

tryingtobegood75

yeah, the emergency funds should be under savings.

I want to know how people eat for 2-300pounds for a family for a mth. I mean really how ?!

Is there a meal planner or lists of how this is done ?

We meal plan write lists try to be savvy and get good deals. We've tried the cheaper supermarkets but then tend to end up spending more as we have to go to the larger supermarkets for some stuff. We've tried downsizing on brands, (every brand) to try them, we've got a 50:50 success rate as some of them aren't 'value' i.e. always go for fairy liquid as it last 3times as long than the value brand.
About 80% of meals are cooked from scratch.

We do entertain about once or twice a mth for friends but they do reciprocate.

But still cannot get below 500pounds per meh and thats with not doing a shop in the last few days of the mth as we have no money :mad:


I need to know how its done....them I'm going to write a book and make a mint :j

tallyhoh

my food bill is approx £150/180 per month for 3 adults. well I should say shopping bill really as it includes cleaning/toiletries & anything else we need.

Pop over to the old style saving board, excellent for meal planning and stuff

mytimetoshine2012

Hi tryingtobegood75

I don't usually post on here because I don't feel qualified to help on SOAs!! However we have recently had a considerable drop in income and have addressed our food spending and so far are operating at under £30 a week for two of us.

Can you provide examples of some of your meals in an average week and where you shop? Also I see that 80% of your meals are made from scratch. This means different things - do you mean that you make sauces etc from scratch or from a jar?
Not being nosey but if we have more information then we may be able to offer more advice!
Don't worry you will get there!
MTTS

mrsb83_2

Shop once a week, plan what you're going to eat every day (you can switch around but you know that you need at least 6 main meals and lunch/breakfast items in your shopping).

I shop online so that I'm not tempted in store. I only buy what I need. Do a fresh shopping list every week - no more buying things just because you always do. Shopping online also means that you can see the special offers all in one place. I get inspiration from what's on offer that week.

I also cook 80% from scratch but I do pay for some convenience food so that I don't get regularly tempted by takeaways. We have 2 cheap meals a week (soup, pasta etc) to keep costs down. That said, I still buy steak etc if it's on offer.

I've never got into dropping brands or cooking in bulk. If I did those things I could drop much lower. The biggest changes for me were definitely the once a week shop and making sure I had easy emergency food in the freezer (pizza, half a crispy duck etc).

antonia1

tryingtobegood75 wrote: »

yeah, the emergency funds should be under savings.

I want to know how people eat for 2-300pounds for a family for a mth. I mean really how ?!

Is there a meal planner or lists of how this is done ?

We meal plan write lists try to be savvy and get good deals. We've tried the cheaper supermarkets but then tend to end up spending more as we have to go to the larger supermarkets for some stuff. We've tried downsizing on brands, (every brand) to try them, we've got a 50:50 success rate as some of them aren't 'value' i.e. always go for fairy liquid as it last 3times as long than the value brand.
About 80% of meals are cooked from scratch.

We do entertain about once or twice a mth for friends but they do reciprocate.

But still cannot get below 500pounds per meh and thats with not doing a shop in the last few days of the mth as we have no money :mad:


I need to know how its done....them I'm going to write a book and make a mint :j

Hiya - I feed myself for about £60, but that doesn't include alcohol or toiletries. I have cut down from around £150 per month, and my main tips would be:

• Meal plan - literally everything
• Make a list - and stick to it
• Cut down on snacks - they add ridiculously to the budget
• Batch cook and freeze
• Buy herbs, spices etc in the "world food" section at the supermarket

I would also suggest popping over to the Old Style board for more tips and recipes, and try websites such as lovefoodhatewaste.com to avoid throwing things away when they're nearly out of date.

Try keeping your food receipts for the month so you can see exactly where you are spending money. Separate alcohol, toiletries, cleaning products. You could easily be dropping a brand to save 50p on bread, but wasting £3 buying designer shampoo!

tryingtobegood75

ok, looking at my last supermarket shop till receipt - rough breakdown

fruit/veg - 12pounds, (potatoes/carrots/butternutsquash/brocolli/mangetout/bananas/apples/grapes/melon/leaks)
toiletries/cleaningproducts - 10pounds (toilet paper/toothpaste/washingup powder/painkillers)
meat - 16pounds (3 for 10pounds - chicken/salmon/chicken) shoulder of pork
frozen food - 12pounds (fish fingers/pizza/icelollie/peas/chicken dippers)
canned food - 10pounds (beans/sauce jars/ketchup/cupasoup/tuna)
cereal/bread/milk/juice/crisps/yoghurts/treats/pasta/ham/ s etc - 15pounds
wine 8pounds

The total list was about 85pounds plus we tend to do topup shop 10-15 pounds once or twice a week. Of course we don't buy the same things every week but the total is about the same...although the weeks we entertain it goes up 30 pounds

meal plan:

lunches - packed lunch for the kids (tuna/ham wraps/fruit/yoghurt/fruitjuice) Soups - butternutsquash and leek/potato this week / baked potatoes with cheese/tuna
dinner
sunday/monday - slow roasted pork - potatoes - veg
tuesday pasta-kids - salmon adults
wed - chicken curry for all
thurs - pizza kids - chicken/veg for adults
friday - lentil/veg curry for everyone
sat - lunch at the inlaws!

Kids eat separate on days they have clubs at 5-6pm

I mean we do eat well but in order to do that for half or even a third I wouldn't know where to begin

tallyhoh wrote: »

my food bill is approx £150/180 per month for 3 adults. well I should say shopping bill really as it includes cleaning/toiletries & anything else we need.

Pop over to the old style saving board, excellent for meal planning and stuff

DominicJ_2

I want to know how people eat for 2-300pounds for a family for a mth. I mean really how ?!

Asda cooking bacon
500g of bacon for 80p
Value potatoes
5kg for £2

Have you tried online shopping? We went from £100 per week for 2 of us to £40.

"Also I see that 80% of your meals are made from scratch. This means different things - do you mean that you make sauces etc from scratch or from a jar?"
Indeed, a jar of curry sauce, frozen sliced chicken and boil in the bag rice isnt cooking from scratch.

"Perhaps a new mindset is in order?"
Perhaps a treat is in order?
Phrase it like this "We can get that £7500 loan and get a kitchen now, or we can save up, and get a kitchen with those sparkly granite worktops you like."
My Partners requests to spend money are now met with "Well we could, but the money has to come from the house fund" she really wants to move, so suddenly buying stuff, not that important.