Please help - really need to sort myself out **SOA ADDED**

rachymoo

Hi,

I have lurked on here for a while and made a few posts on some of the other forums on here and have decided it’s now time to get my act together and sort out my debt. I need to sit down and work everything out but my estimate is that it’s about 2.5k, OK it might not seem a huge amount compared to some but it’s still at the point where there is hardly any spare cash each month and things are a struggle.

I know from reading on here that the best thing to do is post a SOA but I’m not exactly sure how to do it, the reason being that I live with my partner but a lot of our finances are separate? I.e. we have our own accounts and one joint account, we pay money into the joint account for our rent and bills (I pay the money in for the rent and he pays money in for the bills) and then the rest stays separate in our own accounts – so my debts are separate (and so are his). He doesn’t have any spare money either as he became self employed a short while ago. (I work 30 hours a week).

So how do I do the SOA?As I know you have to list all your bills and everything on there. Would I just put zero because technically I don’t pay them? Any advice would be appreciated. I so need to stop being stupid and get this sorted, we have 2 young children and I feel terrible that I never have any spare money to treat them. Thank you very much in advance.

Edit: I have now added my SOA below.

beanielou

So basically you would just show your SOA as it is for you with any explenations needed.
Look forward to seeing it.

rachymoo

Thank you, I will have a go at that this afternoon then, and will post it on this thread once I’ve done it.

Ooh actually just thought of another question (I’m awful for that, lol) – I had a look at the template and for each debt it asks what the minimum payment is – but the minimum payments are different each month, so how do I show that?

Thanks again.

rachymoo

Ok, here is my SOA - this is just the very first draft, so any criticism/tips are very welcome! As stated, mine and my partner's debts are separate and I pay rent whilst he pays bills, so I have left all bills etc as zero, I hope this doesn't make it look too odd.

Just to say - this isn't what I've BEEN doing but rather what I'm planning to do - I have had hardly any spare cash left every month but now a couple of things are paid off so I am left with more spare money to throw at other debts. I wasn't sure what to budget for things like entertainment etc so if you think it's too much or too little please say. For haircuts, my friend (a hairdresser) does it for me and I either give her a fiver or she comes round for dinner or something like that.

I don't have any travel costs as I travel to and from work with my partner, and his petrol costs are paid by his company.

For unsecured debt minimum repayments, I wasnt sure what to put, because the minimum payment changes every month?! So I put the minimum payments that are due this month, I hope that's right.

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 (my partner's)
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1028
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1028
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 540
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 (see below)
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 35 (will increase to 100 in September)
Other child related expenses............ 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 675

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Next...........................314.63....25.85.....25.99
Grattan........................515.92....25.8......29.9
Littlewoods....................971.74....15.8......0 (see note below)
Vanquis........................1074.22...65.58.....39.9 (need to check this)
Capital One....................495.11....17.53.....29.9 (need to check this)
Total unsecured debts..........3371.62...150.56....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,028
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 675
Available for debt repayments........... 353
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 150.56
Amount left after debt repayments....... 202.44
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,371.62
Net Assets.............................. -3,371.62
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Just a few notes - we do get child benefit and tax credits, these are paid into our joint account and go towards the bills (my partner doesn't earn much at the moment as he went self employed a little while ago).

Mobile phone - I can't get out of this at the moment but my contract ends in August so I thought instead of upgrading to a new phone, I could just keep the one I have and go for a cheaper contract (as I know this is an option they offer, as an alternative to a new phone)

Re Littlewoods, this is an important one. I wasn't sure what to put as my balance, as the balance in my account summary says £971.74, but actually if I pay Littlewoods off in a certain amount of time then it will be less than this - the reason being that we purchased things for the house on their 'Buy Now Pay Later' thing (silly, I know) - where you purchase something and can pay nothing for 12 months, once the 12 months is up you start paying (and a load of interest gets whacked on), or if you pay before the 12 month period is up then you aren't charged any interest. I have listed below the amounts, and when they need to be paid by to avoid interest:

£15 - August 2012 (amount was higher than this but I've been paying it off)
£267 - November 2012
£99.65 (December 2012)
£92 (January 2013)

So that's a total of £473.65, plus I owe £78.95 on my 'normal' balance, so £552.60 altogether. So I wasn't really sure how to show that on my SOA, I hope I haven't made that sound even more confusing than it is already. I really want to pay as much of that as possible off before the interest free periods end.

Thank you so much in advance for any advice, I have a feeling my SOA is a complete nightmare to read. I am also a bit ashamed at the silly debt I have got myself into so rest assured I've given myself a serious kick up the backside and cards are being cut up and passwords to other accounts (Next etc) are being changed!

Thank you x

rachymoo

Be honest - how bad is it? :eek: _pale_

edgex

can you do an SOA for the household, ie. you + partner

katsu

rachymoo,

Congrats on wanting to sort this. It is difficult for us to advise as this isn't your actual spending and we don't know what your household bills are, to help you cut back. Maybe repost either your current spending or the actual bills etc and show that you only pay half/add his half of the money as his income?

rachymoo

Hi again,

Sorry it’s not very clear. I’m all confused now and not sure how to make it better. See the thing is, my partner is self employed and so he doesn’t have a set income, it seems to vary a lot, to be honest he never seems to be able to pay himself much more than what our monthly bills are so we don’t have any extra. But he pays all the other bills like electric, gas etc – but a lot of the time he will just pay them out of his own account as and when he has the money (rather than putting the money in the joint account and paying them out of there), so it’s really hard to keep track of.

Sorry, I’m not being helpful at all here am I. I just have no idea how to make it clearer, these separate finances make it all very confusing.

edgex

rachymoo wrote: »

Hi again,

Sorry it’s not very clear. I’m all confused now and not sure how to make it better. See the thing is, my partner is self employed and so he doesn’t have a set income, it seems to vary a lot, to be honest he never seems to be able to pay himself much more than what our monthly bills are so we don’t have any extra. But he pays all the other bills like electric, gas etc – but a lot of the time he will just pay them out of his own account as and when he has the money (rather than putting the money in the joint account and paying them out of there), so it’s really hard to keep track of.

Sorry, I’m not being helpful at all here am I. I just have no idea how to make it clearer, these separate finances make it all very confusing.

either;

check the bills
or
ask for a bank statement


does he know about your debts?
youve got to be completely open with each other about your finances

cats2012

Just a note, at the moment it looks like you have a good chunk spare each month. It would be good to understand where this is going if you say you're struggling.

rachymoo

edgex wrote: »

either;

check the bills
or
ask for a bank statement


does he know about your debts?
youve got to be completely open with each other about your finances

He knows I have them – though some of the amounts have crept up without him knowing so no he’s not completely aware :-/

cats2012 wrote: »

Just a note, at the moment it looks like you have a good chunk spare each month. It would be good to understand where this is going if you say you're struggling.

Yep, I definitely have more spare now. It’s only from this month that I have that much spare – before this I was paying another loan which has now been paid off – plus my OH had got us in a bit of trouble with some Wonga loans so this was eating up a lot of money – again though this has now been paid off (thank god). So now I have a lot more spare to throw at the debt.

I admit though, I am bad with money and really do have a tendency to overspend (rarely on myself – it’s always on my kids, but even so!) so I am going to keep a spending diary for the next few weeks.