Suggestions greatly appriciated!

time_to_get_motivated

Hi I started a diary at the weekend and thought Id post my SOA on this bit as seen so much good advice to others thank you in advance :-)

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1560
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1157
Benefits................................ 146
Other income............................ 270
Total monthly income.................... 3133

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 300
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 118
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 52
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 600
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 110
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
boiler cover............................ 13
tax etc................................. 270
Total monthly expenses.................. 2376


Assets
Cash.................................... 392.81
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 5687.5
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 2002.76
Total Assets............................ 198083.07


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 137313...(300)......2.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 137313....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
1 .............................688.53....0.........0
2..............................186.1.....0.........0
3..............................145.......0.........0
11.............................7999......25.5......0
10.............................1000......0.........0
9..............................2900......420.......0
8..............................600.......100.......0
7..............................1482.96...185.4.....0
6..............................14000.....0.........0
5..............................480.12....0.........0
4..............................585.2.....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........30066.91..730.9.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,133
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,376
Available for debt repayments........... 757
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 730.9
Amount left after debt repayments....... 26.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 198,083.07
Total HP & Secured debt................. -137,313
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,066.91
Net Assets.............................. 30,703.16

freshstart11

time_to_get_motivated wrote: »

Hi I started a diary at the weekend and thought Id post my SOA on this bit as seen so much good advice to others thank you in advance :-)

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1560
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1157
Benefits................................ 146
Other income............................ 270
Total monthly income.................... 3133

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 300
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 118 over 10 or 12 months\.
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 52
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 80 can you drop tariffs or go to PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 this is really high - I used to feed 5 on around £200-250 a month
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 any way this could be cut down?
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 110
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 little high as well - any way you could reduce?
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 200 what kind of things this for? I would consider maybe cut down starting £10 a week?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
boiler cover............................ 13
tax etc................................. 270
Total monthly expenses.................. 2376


Assets
Cash.................................... 392.81
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 5687.5
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 2002.76
Total Assets............................ 198083.07


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 137313...(300)......2.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 137313....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
1 .............................688.53....0.........0
2..............................186.1.....0.........0
3..............................145.......0.........0
11.............................7999......25.5......0
10.............................1000......0.........0
9..............................2900......420.......0
8..............................600.......100.......0
7..............................1482.96...185.4.....0
6..............................14000.....0.........0
5..............................480.12....0.........0
4..............................585.2.....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........30066.91..730.9.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,133
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,376
Available for debt repayments........... 757
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 730.9
Amount left after debt repayments....... 26.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 198,083.07
Total HP & Secured debt................. -137,313
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,066.91
Net Assets.............................. 30,703.16

Mainly I think the mobile, pressies and groceries are high - maybe look at those? x

sunshineangel

hi and well done for doing ur soa gd advice above another thing or 2 -

do you 'need' satalite/cable or was it a 'want' thing - could it be cancelled?

also the presents spending at £50 a month could this be havled at least while you clear some debts?

could you also half your clothing budget?

mrsb83_2

Your groceries are sky high.

Also, if you're spending £300 a month on petrol then there's no way your car maintenance is only £20 a month. I know from experience!

You haven't entered all of the minimum payments for the CCs/payday loans, which means that you probably have quite a significant shortfall at the end of the month.

Cut your grocery bill, entertainment and mobile phone in half and you'll have made a good start. However, your debts are significant and you may need to consider a DMP. Are you in any arrears?

time_to_get_motivated

Income is sometimes more but never less. Fuel groceries and entertainment is a guess split out as this is where we go wrong pay bills, debts and then buy groceries then spend whats left on clothes/ entertainment.

Will try and answer everything...
the council tax is 118 x 10 months
mobiles could be reduced a bit but are used for business so some of it is a business expense by reducing the tax savings would need to increase.
Same with groceries it is generally breakfast for 6 lunch for 6 and dinner for between 10 and 13 people monday to friday. However I am sure we could reduce this.

The fuel costs should decrease in September as wont have as many miles to do but not sure by how much yet. The present line is a guess but the children get invited to so many parties and we dont really do presents for each other. Entertainment could definitely be cut by being more organized! This is generally me underestimating or people having seconds at dinner and us grabbing a takeaway instead of cooking again.

The Tv package could be reduced as we never seem to have the time to watch it and I gave up watching soaps etc as got annoyed if I missed part of the story lol! Will look into how long we are tied in!

Re the car maintenance it is really cheap as my hubbie does all of the labour and we have donor vehicles and piles of tyres that he has collected over time so really just cost of oil, filters and mot.

As regards the debt repayments we do not pay any interest, the one that has interest is the payment of 185.37 a month which is 6% i think but interest is already included in the total. The smaller ones are credit cards that we put groceries etc on and pay off in full each month. The £7999 debt is really old and has a CCJ for 25.50 a month, this we are hoping to build up a lump sum to clear in the future. The one we are paying back at 420 is to family and will be gone by end of year and the 14000 was a gift to buy house that I want to return but do not need to. At present the shares are being added to at 250 a month so when this reaches the amount will offer it to them but would prefer to do it before then and leave that alone.
The £1000 debt is what I think I owe for gas and electric from several years ago ... still at same address but they have never contacted me about it. No payday loans etc. The ones that have to be paid each month are 185.37 and 25.50 the others can be done in whatever order works best but detailed is how we are doing it at the moment. Thank you

freshstart11

sorry if you think this is rude bt can I ask - why on EARTH so many people for dinner?! lol

Batch cooking, people brining something etc can still reduce the groceries x

time_to_get_motivated

Im a childminder :-)

freshstart11

that makes more sense LOL I take it dinner is included in the cost of childcare ? x

time_to_get_motivated

Ok think looking at SOA the first thing that i am going to do is add up spending that can be variable so ...
groceries 600
clothes 40
fuel 300
entertainment 200
=1140 / 52 weekly £263
so I think a first target would be to withdraw a set £200 a week as a starting point and stay within that meaning a debt overpayment of £273 per month. Will also try and get the prescription few and far between and any presents needed out of this as well. Hopefully this will keep us more focused and aim to see how much we can have left each week instead of trying to stick to something unrealistic? Question is what day of the week to start from!

time_to_get_motivated

yes dinner included hence why i only put £270 away a month for my tax bill!

time_to_get_motivated

With the batch cooking I only have a tiny freezer which means I can just about fit a weeks worth of frozen shopping in but nothing else! I do have a collection of slow cookers that we have been given! Saving time and money on feeding everyone would be marvelous!

If I withdraw £200 on a Friday starting this week and then top up fuel to full to ensure thats covered then go through fridge and freezer and do a meal plan for the week (I have loads of bits and bobs that aren't enough for a full meal but could be topped up) and get the extras needed then get and birthday cards/ presents etc for week ahead and aim to keep hold of as much leftover as possible?