My SOA

prozacthegigglefairy

Hi,

Here is a rough draft of my circumstances.
Until my Credit report comes, I can't give exact figures, nor can I say what apr's I am paying as most are so old, they are with collection agencies.

Income

Partners Wage
£280-£300 PER WEEK WITH OVERTIME
Tax Credits
£65 PER WEEK
Child Benefit
£30 PER WEEK
Maintenance
£25 PER WEEK

Outgoings

Rent
£85 PER WEEK
Council Tax
£190 PER MONTH, (INCLUDES DEBT, SHOULD BE CLEARED FOR SEPTEMBER)
Electric
£0...Creditor, we are arranging a meter fitting to pay the deby (listed below)
Gas
£0.....Another Creditor, they are coming tomorrow to fit meter to repay the debt.(Listed Below)
Water £0 Paid up till April
TV LIcence
£10 PER MONTH
House Ins
£20 PER MONTH
Car Insurance
£45 PER MONTH
Union Payments
£11 PER MONTH
Hire Purchase
£20 PER WEEK
Loan Welcome
£137 PER MONTH (One payment behind)
Loan 2 Doorstep Loan
£198 PER MONTH (2 Months behind)
Magazine Subscription
£8.95 x 2 QUARTERLY
Shopping
£40 PER WEEK
Petrol
£20 PER WEEK
Cigs
£10 PER WEEK
Car Tax
60.50 PER SIX MONTHS
MOT
£100 PER YEAR
Internet, Phone, Telly
£60 PER MONTH INCLUDING COST OF CALLS
Clothing
£20 PER MONTH

I think that is everything we have going out.

Now for the debts.

GAS £1000
ELECTRIC £400
LOAN WELCOME £200 INCLUDING CHARGES UNSURE WHAT LEFT TO PAY ABOUT 2000 I THINK
LOAN DOORSTEP £400 OWE £1000 IN TOTAL
EGG £9,500
CATALOGUES £3000
CREDIT CARDS £3000
COUNCIL AND SOCIAL SECURITY £3000
BT £400
YES CAR CREDIT (5000 BUT DISPUTING THIS COS WE TOOK CAR BACK AFTER WE PAID HALF FOR IT)
OTHERS INCLUDING WANADOO, AOL, BOOK CLUB £500
YB LOAN £1000

I Think that is all, but till I get the Credit report, I can't say for sure.

Its a mess isnt it?

Giggles (although not giggling at the moment)

Storm

So, income is around £400 p/w & outgoings about £245 before any debt repayments (except c.tax cos that's included in the current rate). This is rough, and I may have got a couple of the conversions monthly-weekly etc wrong!

So, you should have about £670 a month left for debts, £420ish you've accounted for in your SoA. You need to figure out where the rest is going - are you currently making payments on the other debts?

The first thing in your SoA that can go is the magazine subscription - I know it's not much, but every few pennies helps at times! You should be able to reduce the food bill hopefully, and clothes too - how many people is this for?

Sorry if my post seems disjointed, got to go out the office now, but will check back later!

Good luck and welcome to DFW!

Snaggles

Hi Giggles, well done on putting your SOA together.

My initial thoughts were:

Magazine subscriptions - could you cancel these for now, and maybe take them out again once you are in a better position financially?

Cigarettes - You know what I'm going to say. You have been through such a lot in your life, and I know sometimes things are so stressful you feel you can't cope without nicotine, but by giving up you would be taking control, improving your health AND your finances.

Internet, phone & TV - you could probably find this cheaper - NTL (or Virgin Media, whatever they're called now) do 3 for £30, plus calls. And it's always worth ringing them and trying to negotiate a cheaper deal, we did this recently and they've knocked £10 a month off our bill, just for asking.

Have you incurred any bank charges? Lots of people on here have had success in claiming them back, and it can add up to hundreds or even thousands if you have been struggling financially for a while and have gone
over your overdraft limit.

I'm sure others will have more advice.

Good luck and take care xx

shameless-about-money

You would be best off with a DMP - to lump all your debts in one place with one payment - and go from there - along with the money-saving techniques already mentioned

prozacthegigglefairy

Hi,

At the moment we are paying lump sums every week too get back on track with our loans.
Some weeks we pay about £100 and other only a tenner, dependant on the week of the month.
The subscriptions can go, your right, its just with not going out ever, and we smoke cheap tobacco, we have no other leisure at all.
We don't go to the pub, we don't go to the pictures, we stay in everyday.
We also try to save a little for xmas too, so we are not struggling then.
On paper it certainly looks better than it is, but where the money goes is anyones guess.
I spend no money on myself, and the subscription is for craft mags, because I do cross stitch as a hobby.
I have just switched to Virgin Media to save money, but will downgrade my package.
The smoking I can't give up so easily. I have tried and only upset myself, I will but at the moment, I just am not ready.

Thank you for replying

Giggles

prozacthegigglefairy

Hi,

At the moment we are paying lump sums every week too get back on track with our loans.
Some weeks we pay about £100 and other only a tenner, dependant on the week of the month.
The subscriptions can go, your right, its just with not going out ever, and we smoke cheap tobacco, we have no other leisure at all.
We don't go to the pub, we don't go to the pictures, we stay in everyday.
We also try to save a little for xmas too, so we are not struggling then.
On paper it certainly looks better than it is, but where the money goes is anyones guess.
I spend no money on myself, and the subscription is for craft mags, because I do cross stitch as a hobby.
I have just switched to Virgin Media to save money, but will downgrade my package.
The smoking I can't give up so easily. I have tried and only upset myself, I will but at the moment, I just am not ready.

Thank you for replying

Giggles

Snaggles

If the money just seems to 'disappear' each month (I know the feeling ), a lot of people on here have a spending diary - you just write down EVERYTHING you spend, and it soon shows you where you might be overspending, and where you could cut back.

Snaggles

Oh, had another thought - could you make cross-stitch cards (birthday/Xmas etc) and sell them either to friends and family, or even through eBay etc?

prozacthegigglefairy

That sounds excellent, I defo could do with that!
I know the clothes can be cut down on now, as we have enough to last us for a bit, unfortunately the food bill can't.
There is 4 of us, and i buy everything smart price as it is.
I never buy ready meals, always cook from scratch to save money and save all my twos and ones and fives, to put in the coin macine there for a voucher off once every few months.

Thanks

Giggles

Sea78

Hi

Perhaps have a look at the freebies board for some of the sites you can do clickthroughs etc on (pigsback for example, which I do. Involves clicking on various things over a few weeks/monhs to get points towards vouchers, which could then be put towards nice things like the cross stitch etc)?

Keeping a diary and writing down all spends is an eye oipener too.

Sea xx

prozacthegigglefairy

I have recently joined pigs back, and do yougov surveys and other surveys for money off vouchers, but i will look through the freebies.
I applied to do Avon the lady came yesterday, but they credit check you, and i know i will fail.