my SOA

dubgirl

hi folks, after spending time on DFW forum and reading thread about other people's SOA, I've finally got round to putting up my SOA - off work at the mo so have the computer and house to myself. I had my lightbulb moment some time ago (dec. 2004) and I am already on a DMP with CCCS, however I will include these debts, as well of those of my OH. Here it is

Incoming
my salary 1616
OH salary 261.38 per week
Child allowance 69.80 every 4 weeks
CTC 42.43 every 4 weeks

Total 2860.88

Outgoing
rent/mortgage 1051.95
council tax 106.00
mortgage protection 62.47
life assurance 26.47
nursery 698.00
Gas 25.50
electric 24.00
Gas service 25.41
Tv licence 11.37
Water 21.00
Home ins 17.77
Car ins 48.38
child fund 10.00
NTL 4.00
Currys 3.49
sky 46.00
CCCS 54.00
food 60 per week
petrol 40 per week

total 2669.14

whats left 191.74

my debts currently 40541.75 dmp with CCCS

OH debts
b/card 3470.18 APR 19.9% mim payment 86.00 per month
halifax cc 441.16 APR 19.52% min payment 10.00 per month
Littlewoods cat. approx 800.00 ??APR

although on paper we seem to have over 190 quid left a month, it doesnt seem so in reality and at the moment, we put nothing aside for birhtdays, Xmas, clothes etc. Any help/suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.
dubgirl

ifstar

Your motgage protections looks high, see if you can get a better deal on that.
Is the life insurance for you both? You can probably get it cheaper (also buying through Quidco or Rpoints will also get you money back).
Car Insurance - looks quite high, is it for 2 cars? If not see if you can get it cheaper and if possible see if you can pay it in one payment as opposed to monthly. Your petrol bill also looks quite high - £160 a month.
You can probably get your Gas Service cheaper, looks like the same plan I am on (British Gas Homecare) and I plan to change it at the end of this years
contract.
Your food bill is probably a wee bit high, can you cut this down any?
Can you cut your Sky down a bit?

To help you with the above, do a search on Martin's article's or buy his money diet book (easier cause it's got everything in one place) and you will find the best ways to get better prices.

dubgirl

thanks. I will look into the mortgage protection and life insurance (that's for my OH). the car insurance is for two cars and the petrol costs have just gone up as OH has a new job with a 20 mile commute each way. His car is old and not very economical. As for Sky, which I know a lot people would say get rid and I would be happy to do so, but OH is adamant that this is not going - told him that he is going to have to earn more to pay for it then.

bonnie_2

Welcome to mse. Are your figures right because i make it £129 left over with your hubbys debts included and if you take of what he pays littlewoods as well, it will be less.
Is ntl really only £4.
What about car tax.
If i were you i would scrap sky and the child trust fund, which would save £56 straight away.
Gas servicing debatable, do they actually pay out when you want them. They were on watchdog a while back. same as currys at £3.49 i take it this is insurance as well. These schemes are often not worth the paper they are written on.

dubgirl

you are right about the amount being left over - must be my adding up I was trying to do several things at once! NTL is only 4 quid - we were told that we still had to pay even though got Sky. Will look at the insurances as well when OH gets home from work tomorrow. I am not convinced that he will say goodbye to sky. Your're right as well - forgot about car tax. I feel a bit guilty about cancelling child trust fund money -I feel I need to put something aside for DS.

comping_cat

dubgirl wrote:

you are right about the amount being left over - must be my adding up I was trying to do several things at once! NTL is only 4 quid - we were told that we still had to pay even though got Sky. Will look at the insurances as well when OH gets home from work tomorrow. I am not convinced that he will say goodbye to sky. Your're right as well - forgot about car tax. I feel a bit guilty about cancelling child trust fund money -I feel I need to put something aside for DS.

Have you tried phoning sky, saying you want to cancel and see if they offer you half price for 3 months? I used to do this (we dont have sky now, but we dont miss it, so no need to pay) and got half price for 6 months. If they dont offer the deal, still cancel, but ring back a couple of days later and say you have changed your mind - you have to give 30 days notice - so you wont have lost anything, but might gain something!!!
There is a freephone number somewhere for sky, i will see if i can find it, that will help save as their phone line is expensive!!!!

comping_cat

Found it - 0800 051 2595.

lynzpower

A few pointers from me here

Outgoing
rent/mortgage 1051.95
council tax 106.00 ( have you tried to get CT benefit, even for a top up?)
mortgage protection 62.47 ( wow ridiculously high, mine was only 32.00. I bet you can get some sort of cash back on these too )
life assurance 26.47 ( oooh again high)
nursery 698.00 ( could your LO have a childminder instead, often quite a bit cheaper)
Gas 25.50
electric 24.00
Gas service 25.41 ( you pay more for the service than you do for the gas! do you relaly need it!)
Tv licence 11.37
Water 21.00
Home ins 17.77 ( this is high. Mines only 6.97 a month, and I got 120 cash back from Quidco as well!)
Car ins 48.38 ( again, have you checked its the cheapest)
child fund 10.00
NTL 4.00
Currys 3.49 ( as cat says- not sure this is a good deal)
sky 46.00 ( paying almost as much for sky as you would to CCCS! if you ditch your sky &^ double your CCCS payments, youll have the amount of time till the end!!! Id do this without hesitation, surely your OH should support this
CCCS 54.00
food 60 per week ( a bit high- I reckon you could get this down to 40 without tooooooo much effort!)
petrol 40 per week - or 160 a motnh, are you getting clubcard points or nectar on this?


Hope this helps?

You have nothing in here for clothes, shoes, treats, days out - anything like that?

immoral_angeluk

Right let's have a look. Bare in mind this is just what I'd do and obviously it's up to you what you do but these are my suggestions.

Incoming
my salary 1616
OH salary 261.38 per week
Child allowance 69.80 every 4 weeks
CTC 42.43 every 4 weeks

Total 2860.88

Outgoing
rent/mortgage 1051.95 Would downsizing be an option? DO you have an equity?
council tax 106.00
mortgage protection 62.47 Is this the best deal you could find?
life assurance 26.47 Is this essential? If not cancel, if so look around for cheaper deals.
nursery 698.00 Are you entitled to any help with this through tax credits? Do you have any family that could help with this?
Gas 25.50
electric 24.00
Gas service 25.41 Is it essential? How many times have you used it?
Tv licence 11.37
Water 21.00
Home ins 17.77 Is this the cheapest deal? Check out moneysupermarket etc .
Car ins 48.38 This seems high.. how many people? Is this the cheapest you could find? Is it comprehensive or TPFT? If comprehensive how much is the car worth? If it's under £1000 then switch to TPFT.
child fund 10.00 Cancel this. you need that £10 right now. You can save again when you're in a better position.
NTL 4.00 Is this for calls?
Currys 3.49 What's this for? If it's appliance insurance cancel it. You probably won't use it.
sky 46.00 Personally I'd cancel and go freeview. You get the same rubbish but for free. Or at least call up and threaten to cancel as they'll offer you a deal to stay.
CCCS 54.00
food 60 per week For how many people? Check out the moneysaving oldstyle board on ideas how to cut this down.
petrol 40 per week Would it be cheaper to use public transport?

total 2669.14

whats left 191.74 Keep a spending diary for a month to see where this goes. you'll be suprised how much gets frittered away on crap.

Nothing on here for your car tax or MOT?

immoral_angeluk

Also can't see anything for home phone or Bt line rental??

david_hellier

Hi, according to my figures you have £62.75 per week to spend on food and anything else, so I suspect you are still overspending. To avoid further overspend I suggest you write this amount in a little book (a spending diary, ebay) on a Monday and deduct what you spend/withdraw each day.

The killer seems to be the nursery fees. Given the OH's income it would seem logical to pack his job in and look after the kids. This at least would provide more money for food etc. also, follow the others' cut back advice.

Good luck, the figures:

income weekly monthly
self 1616.00
partner 261.38
c ben 17.45
ctc 10.61





total 28.06 1877.38 divide by 4.33
£433.24

£461.30 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 1051.95
council tax 106.00
elec 24.00
gas 25.50
water 21.00
secured loans 0.00
TV licence 11.37
fines 0.00
mort prot 62.47
life 26.47
nursery 698.00
gas service 25.50
home ins 17.77
car ins 43.38
child fund 10.00
ntl 4.00
currys 3.49
sky 46.00
cccs 54.00
petrol 40.00












total 0.00 2270.90 divide by 4.33
£524.05

£524.05 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = -£62.75 per week