Can anyone help? my SOA

Lara44

Details are here (per month)

Overdraft Cost £10.00 How big is the overdraft?
Mortgage / Rent £790.00
Household Maintenance £10.00
Buildings & Contents Insurance £20.01Check this is the cheapest, using Quidco
Council Tax £140.00
Water Rates / Meter £50.00Need to lower this through being more economical, making sure washes are full etc.
Gas Bill £73.00Massively high, need to reduce through Uswitch and economise
Electricity Bill £73.00 Massively high, need to reduce through Uswitch and economise
Home Phone Bill £67.00Follow Martin's guide to reduce this, some phone and internet deals for around £30 from Sky, NTL
Internet Bill £14.99as above
Mobile Phone Bill(s) £50.00Very high, check contract is good value, check out cashback schemes in mobiles board or go PAYG
Window Cleaner £6.00Lose this

Level Term Assurance £29.00Check this is cheapest - Quidco for cashback
Travel Insurance £8.00I would lose this and go for UK holidays

Food & Household Shopping £300.00Could shave £50-£100 from this by cooking from scratch, market shopping etc. See old style board
Eating Out £20.00
Drinks for Home £30.00Need to try to get this from within your shopping budget, lots of discounts at the supermarket etc, buy a half case of wine
Smokes £75.00try roll ups and see if they work for you

Car Maintainence £20.00
Car Insurance £38.00Check this is cheapest
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £20.00

Personal Loan Repayments £320.00

Childcare / Play Schemes £25.00
Laundry / Dry Cleaning £8.00Need to lose this if possible do it at home
Nappies / Baby Extras £5.00Out of main shopping budget
School Trips £5.00

DVD / Video Rental £5.99DVD rental tarting can last for 6 months and lots of cashback through Quidco!
Shopping For Fun £20.00Cannot afford this
NTL / Sky Subscription £9.75Try to get the package deal with TV, phone and internet for £20/£30
TV Licence £11.37
Other Fun £16.00What is this? You can't afford it

Cost of Christmas £83.33£1000 is a MASSIVE amount to spend on Christmas. Chop this in half!
Cost of Summer Holiday £208.33You can't afford this if it is getting you gradually into debt
Cost of Birthdays £41.67This is a massive amount per month, set a £10 limit and shop in the sales and online, use Pigsback etc to get vouchers to top up presents

New Clothes £30.00Cut this right down to essentials

Newspapers / Magazines £10.00Take this out of a 'fun' budget?
Haircuts £20.00This is a lot per month

QUOTE]

I hope that wasn't too harsh lifeisbut a dream! But you have a good household income, and you could easily have a great life within your means. Even suspending expensive holidays and cutting back for Christmas could get you on an even keel. There are some great places to go locally. How long is the loan term? Could you suspend expensive holidays until it's paid back?

Do you have any savings? If you are self-employed what about pensions etc? When you are debt free you need also to be thinking of adding these into your SOA if you haven't got them covered already.

elantan

deff have a look at the os board then the things those people can do with star drops is too amazing to be true ....it will save a fortune on cleaning products...

Lifeisbutadream

Hi - thanks for all your replies - a few things that I need to add:

Loan rate is 6.9% - we have 6 years left.

Mortgage - we have just moved mortgage and are tied in for 3 years - was best rate at the time.

Buildings and contents - have just changed and was the cheapest at the time.

I dont get child care vouchers - my son gets a free nursery place but I have to pay top up which is what the extra amount is.

We are not on a water meter I just left in what was there.

Gas and electric - they havent read the meter for a while - I didnt realise that was high! they just take DD that is why they are both the same. I do always turn off lights etc. but the heating is really dodgy - I think it will use a lot of gas.

I will definately look into reducing my phone bill by combining everything, but only thing is that I am on contracts with most of them, which you obviously cant just get out of.

The main reason that xmas is high is that we try and take a week off - this doubles the cost immediately! we dont spend massive amounts on the kids honest!!!

The holiday is already booked for this year, but again, we have to take time off work so dont get paid - doubles the cost again!

Birthdays did include both kids pressies plus pressies for other kids when ours get invited - I usually buy cards and pressies for other kids in sales or when I see them, but I maybe overestimated at £500 a year!

Thanks for everyones help. I do already cook everything from scratch, but I definately think I can look into reducing the bills.

Sea78

Lifeisbutadream wrote:

Could do with some advice! - this is my SOA - my household income is £2316 - expenditure comes to £2675.97. :eek:

Details are here (per month)

Overdraft Cost £10.00
Mortgage / Rent £790.00
Household Maintenance £10.00
Buildings & Contents Insurance £20.01This is what I am saving to pay for this, but I hope to get it less so might be worth looking round for a better deal when it's up for renewal, using quidco/other cashback site if possible
Council Tax £140.00
Water Rates / Meter £50.00
Gas Bill £73.00
Electricity Bill £73.00Already been said - these are VERY high, but as I am still to get the bills for my house I'm saying nothing for now!!:rolleyes:
Home Phone Bill £67.00This is high - try looking into other prices on the site for this.
Internet Bill £14.99
Mobile Phone Bill(s) £50.00
Window Cleaner £6.00Can't afford - DIY or leave them dirty for a while!

Level Term Assurance £29.00
Travel Insurance £8.00

Food & Household Shopping £300.00My budget is similar - actually £315, but this has to include any eating out costs we incur (ie can't afford to go out!) AND alcohol (whole other story, explained in other threads) which has eaten up about £120 of my food budget this month. Also includes nappies and baby milk, so try to look at where this is going, especially if you're already cooking from scratch - is food being thrown etc?
Eating Out £20.00
Drinks for Home £30.00
Smokes £75.00 Is this roll your own? Obviously, just saying stop might have no impact, but are you able to reduce the cost of this?

Car Maintainence £20.00
Car Insurance £38.00
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £20.00

Personal Loan Repayments £320.00

Childcare / Play Schemes £25.00
Laundry / Dry Cleaning £8.00This is high - is it really necessary? Try spot cleaning/airing/no wearing these clothes for a while!
Nappies / Baby Extras £5.00Can you incorporate these into the food budget - get freebies/coupons etc and use them as much as possible. Sign up to the sites already mentioned.
School Trips £5.00

DVD / Video Rental £5.99Cancel and get free trials through quidco.com
Shopping For Fun £20.00Don't really need to say anything!
NTL / Sky Subscription £9.75
TV Licence £11.37
Other Fun £16.00What's this?

Cost of Christmas £83.33V high. I save £20 a month for xmas - pick up pressies in sales etc.
Cost of Summer Holiday £208.33For as long as you have income/outcome issues you really need to get rid/cut down massively. Depressing but true.
Cost of Birthdays £41.67

New Clothes £30.00

Newspapers / Magazines £10.00This is unnecessary - if needed, get 6 issues for £6 with free gift type this - work out at a £1 a month
Haircuts £20.00

Both myself and my husband self employed - OH works 60 -70 hours a week and I work between 30 and 45 depending on how busy we are (we have 2 kids) - cant get a second job because our business hours a irregular and need to be on call.

Thanks in anticipation...

At the risk of repeating what others have said, I will go through like the CCCS went through our budget - so what I might add might not be what I would recommend (if so I say so!) but would give you an idea from my situation - every situation different obviously - we have 2 kids too - one still baby milk/nappies expense.
Edit - wow! Have spent so long and gone off to have lunch while doing this, I hope it's still of some use after everyone else's comments!
Sea xx

Lifeisbutadream

OMG I am so thick - I forgot to put on our income tax bill - which brings our total income to £1667 not £2316.

I thought it looked like we had a lot more money than we do!

Anyway - its all relative - thanks for the advice - I am just going to look at our phone bills and gas/elec..

misspoppy

That means you are nearly £1000 short each month you need to cancel the holiday. You'll loose the deposite but you can't afford to go. All the other things you have been adviced to do you need to do urgently.

Read both your gas and electric meter and call the co with it you could be under paying or over paying.

Lifeisbutadream

misspoppy wrote:

That means you are nearly £1000 short each month you need to cancel the holiday. You'll loose the deposite but you can't afford to go. All the other things you have been adviced to do you need to do urgently.

Read both your gas and electric meter and call the co with it you could be under paying or over paying.

I will lose the whole lot if I cancel the holiday - its a long story but basically I wont get any money back whatever - we kind of bought a few holidays in one a few years ago...

Lifeisbutadream

Looks like we are totally overpaying on the gas and elec - did what was advised on here and switched - first going onto quidco! thanks very much - if I am right I think I have saved at least £20 per month, but also think I was overpaying on DD so may have saved even more.

Phone bill not so simple as I am under contract for phone and business phone, but still working on it.

I definately cant cancel the holiday - I am stuck with a holiday a year for a few years now, but might look into selling it - although I doubt I will be able to ...

angelavdavis

Lifeisbutadream wrote:

Thanks for everyones help. I do already cook everything from scratch, but I definately think I can look into reducing the bills.

I also cooked from scratch but because I didn't really meal plan, I bought stuff and ended up chucking it away. I also went shopping even when I had a full cupboard/freezer just out of habit! I used a storecupboard challenge to clear the freezer/cupboard and then meal planned, so everything is part of a potential meal - rather than languishing in the cupboards for no reason!

Glad you sorted gas/elec out - its amazing isn't it when you suddenly sit down and look at things - you think "how could I have missed it?!"

Look at old style also for ideas for kiddi-presents for parties, etc.

Another thing, do you have a garden? - why don't you rope the kids in and start a veggie garden - that will get the grocery bill down! Check out Greenfingered moneysaving forum for more info.

Hermione54

In OP's replies no mention is made of the elephant in the room - smoking. You shouldn't smoke if you have children in the house; in fact smoking is a really dumb thing to do for all sorts of reasons, especially for someone who is in debt, and roll-ups are just as unhealthy and anti-social as ordinary cigarettes. GP's are very keen to help people give up so visit your surgery and ask for help. Save your health and £900 a year. You know it makes sense!