My SOA - where is the surplus going?

LunaLady

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned....................

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1023
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 188.4
Other income............................ 300
Total monthly income.................... 1511.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 420
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 20
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 13
Mobile phone............................ 16.03
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 40
Other child related expenses............ 21.75
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 32
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 22
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1195.78


Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Very...........................2741......175.......39.8
Total unsecured debts..........2741......175.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,511.4
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,195.78
Available for debt repayments........... 315.62
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 175
Amount left after debt repayments....... 140.62

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,741
Net Assets.............................. -1,741


I want to get my debt paid off quickly, because I am cutting down my hours at work in October. According to this I should have nearly £150 left a month. I am not struggling or getting into more debt, but I dont have this left over.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

LunaLady

I just wanted to add that my groceries includes the £50 a month I spend on School dinners for my eldest son.

rising_from_the_ashes

My suggestion if you have "disappearing money" each month is a spending diary.

You need to do it for a couple of months and log every penny but, believe me, it's usually a real eye opener!

Best of luck

pennypusher

Keep a spending diary that will help you see where the money is going. If you did a packed lunch for your son that would save you a lot of money each month.

HappyMJ

If you don't have this left over then you must find where it is going. An SOA is great but it must be accurate. Do you really spend what you say on what you have listed. Is £15 a month on clothing accurate? For 4 people including 3 children who always seem to need new clothes then I would expect it to be £20 per person per month at the very minimum. Groceries I would expect to be £100 per person per month at the minimum. Yes it can be reduced by careful shopping and recycling clothing but so many people under estimate this. Keep a diary and keep every receipt and tally it up every month and update your SOA. BTW your electric is high and your gas is low. Any reason for this? You also have no travel expenses. Bus tickets? Taxi's? Have you borrowed someone else for a lift maybe and gave them some money for the fuel?

With your savings of £1,000. Throw them at the Very account and use your overdraft in an emergency.

mildredalien

Unfortunately only you will be able to tell!

Pore over your bank statements over the last 3 months and make lists of every time you took out cash, paid by debit card etc. as well as all your standing orders and direct debits. You should be able to figure out if not exactly what you were buying the general amount you are spending apart from the above essentials. It's so easy for those little bits and bobs to add up.

Plus you have nothing in for haircuts and entertainment - do you really spend nothing on these every month? You don't have car expenses or other travel - what about buses etc?

LunaLady

I dont actually have an overdraft which is why I keep the £1000 as a safety net.

I live close to work so I walk every day. I do get the bus once a week to take the children to the library and my youngest son to his trampolining lessons.

I will keep a diary and add my receipts up. I used my CC statement to add up my supermarket shop but I will keep a spending diary to be more accurate. Maybe I did underestimate clothes.

HappyMJ

LunaLady wrote: »

I dont actually have an overdraft which is why I keep the £1000 as a safety net.

I live close to work so I walk every day. I do get the bus once a week to take the children to the library and my youngest son to his trampolining lessons.

I will keep a diary and add my receipts up. I used my CC statement to add up my supermarket shop but I will keep a spending diary to be more accurate. Maybe I did underestimate clothes.

Fair enough. Any credit cards that could be used only in case of emergency? It might be an idea to apply for one and put it in the freezer and only use it in case of an emergency. If you get a £1,000 limit it will save you £398 per year by using the savings to pay off Very and never using the credit card but still having that safety net.

shop-to-drop

Do you not get Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit and help with your rent and council tax? Maybe even free school meals.

mildredalien

A safety net is a good idea, although you probably could get away with a slightly smaller one and use some to pay off your Very account quicker. As you rent, it is unlikely you will have massive household expenses to cover. Personally I keep about £200 in cash at any one time to cover emergencies and irregular expenses and I've never really needed more.

LunaLady

No CTB or HB, I have never applied as I assumed I wasnt eligible.

I got into a mess with TC's in 2009 after they made a mistake and so I decided I couldnt deal with the stress any more so I stopped claiming.