Please can anyone offer advice on my SOA?

determinedchrissy

Hi, I'm not really a newbie but have finally plucked up the courage to post my SOA, so thought I'd do it under a new username. I'd be really grateful if you could take some time to have a squint at my SOA and offer some suggestions.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1750
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1831.2
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 691
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 160
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 132
Electricity............................. 58
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 125
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 46
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 39
Internet Services....................... 5
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 23
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 250
Other child related expenses............ 16
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 185
Other insurance......................... 57
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 7
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
postcode lottery........................ 10
Bank Fee................................ 2
Total monthly expenses.................. 2216

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 10000
Total Assets............................ 216000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 105000...(691)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6000.....(160)......10
Total secured & HP debts...... 111000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
rbs............................5500......110.......17
barclaycard....................5000......90........0
Total unsecured debts..........10500.....200.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,831.2
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,216
Available for debt repayments........... -384.8
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount short for making debt repayments. -584.8
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 216,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -111,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,500
Net Assets.............................. 94,500


I work 4 days a week, my husband is self employed in the building trade but work is scarce at the moment so I haven't included any income from him as it isn't regular and can't be relied on (I haven't included any of his day to day expenses either i.e. petrol costs as they would be covered by the income he brings in). We have a preschooler who is in childcare when I am at work. OH looking after him isn't really an option as he needs to be available for work.
Petrol is high as we live in a rural area and I commute 70 miles per day
I am in the process of shifting my credit card debts to 0%
Life insurances are high and I am in the process of reviewing those (some of OHs need to be cancelled as he is now s/e)
Mobile phones are on contract till October

I've known for a while that we were just about keeing our heads above water (or maybe not ) but doing the SOA has been a real wake up call and I am determined to stop the rot before it gets any worse.

All helpful suggestions gratefully received. TIA

theoretica

You seem to have picked on the main points I was going to comment on- OH, childcare and life assurance (!). If you OH is really bringing in close to zero could he either look after the little one some days - cutting the shortfall, but still being available for work some days or move child care to a casual basis where it is only used when work for the OH does turn up? Can he find anything lucrative to do when not doing building work?

What is the other insurance? Postcode lottery seems a waste to me. Paid for TV could go at least until you are breaking even.

determinedchrissy

thanks for your comments Theoretica. I think the quickest/easiest things to sort are going to be the insurance.

HKitten

I'm new to this too so bear with me your petrol seems quite high to me considering you said your partner rarely works and you work four days. My OH drives to work four days a week and his car is certainly not cheap, but he still only spends about £50 a month. Is this something that could be reduced?

determinedchrissy

HKitten wrote: »

I'm new to this too so bear with me your petrol seems quite high to me considering you said your partner rarely works and you work four days. My OH drives to work four days a week and his car is certainly not cheap, but he still only spends about £50 a month. Is this something that could be reduced?

I wish I could reduce it - I drive approximately 1200 miles per month and I've got an economical diesel car - averages 60 mpg. The joys of living in rural Scotland I guess.......

actually looking at the figures again this should only be costing me about £150 per month - I'll need to keep a closer check on my diesel receipts this month. Thanks for pointing it out

barbarawright

£120 a month for groceries is marvellous if true - is it really that low every month? Including cleaning products and toothpaste/shampoo etc?

flippin36

Yes your groceries are very low - is this a guess figure or have you kept receipts.

Have you thought about paying interest only on your mortgage until your OH gets a job?

Mobiles are a lot. Could you contact your provider and ask for a reduction in your contract? Worth a try.

Get rid of tv subs if you can, or tell them you can't afford it and they may a least reduce your payment.

Is your council tax 10 or 12 months?

An emergency fund is probably more important than the lottery. Its those emergencies that give us the one step foward two steps back feeling. I've had to learn that hard lesson.

kazwookie

Is the oil really £125 per month = £1500 per year?

Can you husband get him self round the building sites locally and see if there is any day rate labour required or local warehouses?

Little_Miss_Uni-Debt

Hello DeterminedChrissy!

Well done on starting to look at your debt.

The main thing that sticks out is that you're currently spending £400 more than your guaranteed income. Which means you're presuming that your husband will earn at least £400 every month (after his expenses) I can imagine this creates a lot of pressure when you know that quiet months are on the horizon.

On the months where extra income isn't made this is where the debt creeps in.

There are two options. Either you rework your SOA to fit within just your income or your husband gets a p/t job that pays a set amount each month that you can count on.
This will stop the debt from increasing.

The next stage is getting your existing debt down.

If you could somehow fit your expenses within your wages, then that would leave your husbands income to go towards debt payments.

Planning is at the heart of setting a budget. Having an unknown second income will make budgeting very hard.

Please keep us updated. Best wishes for starting your journey.

AnotherMakes3

Do you get tax credits at all? I take it the benefits listed is your Child benefit?

Would your OH be able to get another wee job to tide yous over in the meantime?

[Deleted User]

Your life assurance must have been a massive amount of cover!
I am amazed at what you have been paying.