Please help - can increase our earnings a little xx

monkey1000

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,440.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 134.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,100.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.50
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.50
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.50
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.60
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.10
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
RCN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50
Flat mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430.93
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,340.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.83
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.33
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33
Flat admin fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.67

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,349.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,373.46

~Beanie~

monkey1000 wrote: »

Monthly Expense Details

Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.50 - This is HUGE. Why so much?
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.50 - What is this?
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.60 - This is very high, can you try for a cheaper quote?
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 - WHat is this for? It's a lot of money for boiler cover.
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00 - Could easily cut this down. How many of you are there?
RCN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50 - What is this?
Flat mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541.00 - What is this?
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120.00 - Can you afford to save at the moment?
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 - what is this for?
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - I'm sure you can get rid of this
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 - What is this for?
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 - Can cut this
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00 - per month? Really???
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 - Use EBAY, buy essentials only for a while
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00 - Can you do without a holiday for a year?
Flat admin fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.67 - What is this?
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 - Take a packed lunch



Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,349.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,373.46

Wow, you are overspending by over £1000 per month!

I think we need a little more information. What do you mean by 'can increase our income'? How many of you are there in the household?

Can you give a breakdown of your loans etc, and show minimum payments and APR?

[Deleted User]

monkey1000 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,440.00Any way to increase? Second jobs? Overtime?
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . 134.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675.00Any way to increase?
Penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,100.00Any way to increase?

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.00This is very high! How many phones is this for? If you are stuck in contract ask if you can drop a tariff? If/when out of contract look at SIM only and PAYG - check GiffGaff, they have really good offers/tariffs available at the moment
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.50Again, this seems very high, I am assuming that this includes home phone, Internet and TV? If so home phone and Internet can be gotten for £20-£20 pm - drop the TV altogether or lower the package, consider freeview, or Freesat
Home Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00I assume this is included above
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.50Again this is very high each month - what does it cover?
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00Every month? What does it cover?
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.00Check online comparison sites to ensure that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area - often online and duel fuel is cheapest. Also make sure that you are using electricity efficiently switch things off instead of on standby, use energy saving bulbs, turn down the thermostat on the boiler, switch lights etc off in rooms that are not being used etc
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00only heat water for showers/baths when needed, switch radiators off/down in rooms that you are not using/use less often, switch the thermostat down on the heating etc
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.50consider if a meter would be cheaper if this is not a meter, if this is a meter ensure that you're not wasting water, get a water butt for the garden
Council Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00Is this over 10 or 12 months? Ask your local council if you can spread over 12 to help budget
Overdraft Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00Is this a standard charge, or is there interest on top? How much is the OD for
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.60This seems like a huge amount to pay every month? Why so high? Check online comparison sites at renewal and shop around
Mortgage/Rent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913.00Fixed or variable? What's the outstanding balance? /B]
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00Can you not get this for cheaper elsewhere? Shop around - seems quite high, but only you know if it's worth having
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.10shop around at renewal, use comparison sites
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00This seems very high as well. But really it will depend on how many it needs to feed? Are all meals included here (B,L,D), try dropping brands, meal planning, batch cooking, shop to a list, cook from scratch, take packed lunches, shop at Lidl/Aldi
RCN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50Union membership?
Flat mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541.00I am assuming that this is a rental?

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00Are all journeys essential? Can you car share? Walk more often
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00This seems high! Shop around at renewal, use comparison sites
Car Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67Do you save this somewhere for when it's needed?

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430.93How many cards? What's the outstanding balance on each? What's the minimum payment for each? How much are you actually paying towards each each month?
Personal Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,340.00How many loans? What's the outstanding balances? What are the APR's? How many payments left?

Savings & Investments

Value of you Buy-to-let flat should be here,
And the equity in your own home
And any cash you have saved for non-monthly bills - MOT, car maintenance, tax etc
Regular Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120.00How much have you got in savings in total? Are you earning a higher interest on your savings than you are paying on your debts? If not, then consider if paying off debts would be better

Family

School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Childcare/Play Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.83
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.33shop around at renewal

Entertainment

Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00try doing free things that are local, look out for deals, vouchers and offers
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00Try using free trials for things like love film and netfix (but cancel before you need to pay), check for books, DVD's, music in charity shops and on e-bay and amazon, and when sales are on HMV, and Play
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00What does this cover? Can it be cut back on? Use vouchers and deals, also sign up to some cashback sites and survey sites for vouchers to spend in stores etc for filling in surveys

IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50.00Every month? This seems very high
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 40.00Again, go when deals are on and use vouchers and special offers to cut this back

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 110.00Every month? This seems very high! Try going a few extra weeks in between cuts, see if there's a local college that does free/cheap trainee cuts
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67Every month? What does this cover?
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00Every month? This seems a lot! Try charity shops, sales, e-bay etc, also have a good clear out and anything that's in good condition and isn't used/worn anymore then either have a car boot, sell on e-bay - you must have lots of clothes

Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33Does this get spend every month? Or saved somewhere for when it does get spent? Buy things in the sales and save them, cut back on what you spend
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00Does this get saved somewhere for when it's needed? Try going for less time? Less far away? Have a staycation? Go camping/Glamping, use low cost airlines and book self-catering etc or else cut holidays out until debt free?
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33As above, plan throughout the year, buy things when on offer, in sales and save them for when needed
Flat admin fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.67

Odds & Sods
Meals at work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00Take packed lunches - much cheaper

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,349.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,373.46Okay, you are just over a 1,000 a month out? Does this seem accurate? Are you going £1000 further in to debt every month? There are plenty of things that can be cut back or cut out of your SOA so I think that you should be able to make these ends meet, but in order to make significant inroads in to your debts you will need to be paying above the minimums and in order to do that you need to cut back even further.

I have made some comments above, HTH

It would be easier to get a picture of your overall financial picture if you re-formatted this SOA for MSE (at the bottom of where you filled it in), And because of this it;s difficult to see how mush you owe, too whom, and how much you are being charged for your borrowing. It's also not clear how many people this SOA needs to represent? How many adults? How many children? etc

HTH

D9

monkey1000

That's not entirely clear - sorry!!
1. 'Internet' includes internet, landline & Sky TV as all got from Sky in 1 package.
2. Have a cleaner, as have 2 young children, 3 & 5, and we both work full time. Need to spend time with kids & not cleaning on our days off, although I appreciate this is a luxury.
3. Home ins - we own 2 properties, and this covers all the contents & property ins for the 2 properties
4. Plumbing cover includes cover for all our house hold things that can go wrong, w/mach, boiler etc. I've lumped them together.
5. Food - 2 adults, 2 children & 1 dog in house. Budgeting £150 per week for food & cleaning prods etc
6. RCN - This is our union subscription for work
7. Flat mortgage - the mortgage payment on the flat that we rent out
8. Saving - we pay on to an escalator scheme into our childrens trust funds. Don't feel they should suffer for our stupidity
9. The flat admin fee is exactly that, as it is a communal building, we have to pay £1400 per year to the management company.
The other payments at the end were probably as you say not all necessary, I was just trying to cover a worst case scenario if we did buy a bit more. Don't spend that much a month on clothes, but was just trying to add up all the kids clothes, school uniforms etc. I have probably overestimated these expenses. We can do unlimited extra hours at work as we both work for the NHS, obviously around our current jobs, and managing child care. Sorry to be confusing x

monkey1000

Hi Domino9 - thank you so much for taking the time to reply to the thread - 1st time i've ever been on this site today. Hoping it can change my life, and my children's xx

moohound

I think you will end up in the same kind of mess that I'm in if you carry on as you are, I thought I earn good money I can put some in mini moohounds trust fund, I can go on holiday, I can buy nice things, I can get plenty of overtime to cover it. I also work in the NHS the overtime dried up, there are cuts to frontline services despite what anyone says. I thought I would have free child care forever, until a family member became ill.

I made myself poor while giving the appearance of affluence. I would have a great standard of living if I had not run up these debts. Living like this is not sustainable. I wish I could have made the right cut backs when I had the opportunity instead of a crisis forcing me into debt management.

brummiebabe

monkey1000 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,440.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 134.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Penny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,100.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.00how many is this for? This is huge!
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.50
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.50Reduce your Sky package...do you really nEED all the channels?
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.50Appreciate what you're saying, but plenty of people work full time with young kids and manage to do their own cleaning...you could make a huge saving straight away
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00Every month?
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51.50
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.60 Every month??? Mine is just less that £24 - shop around!
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00Every month? Even the top level of British Gas cover is around £19 - or is this because you're also a Landlord?
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.10
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00Can be reduced - we're a famioly of 5 and we manage on £400 - which some people still think is very generous!!! Meal planning is your friend...plus shopping around
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
RCN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50Is this for both of you? Have you looked at alternatives to see if they're any cheaper? Appreciate it's a necessity....
Flat mortgage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430.93 How much do you owe?
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,340.00gulp.....how much is the loan and for how long?
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120.00 Surely if you're overspending by £1000 per month you're going to have to stop this for the time being

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00every moth? Ort is it a particular trip you're saving for? When will this end?
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.83
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.33
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00What is this for?
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00Surely not every month?
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00Can be cut back on if you're serious about saving money...that's a huge amount!

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33Every month??????
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83.33 Sounds about right....are you actually saving it though? I know some people will think this is huge!
Flat admin fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.67

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,349.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,373.46

Your outgoings are over a £1000 more than your income......you need to seriously look at this if you want to cut back and stop getting into further debt.

I appreciate you're both probably nurses and can do extra shifts, but there is a legal limit to how many hours/when you can work! Plus you say you want to spend quality time with the children. Obviously siome extra hours will help...but if you're serious about attacking your debt, then you really need to look at some of your excessive spending.

For the purposes of this board..it might be easier for people to comment if you use the SOA format that's in one of the stickies at teh top of the DFW board...it sets it out in a way where your financial situation is totally clear. I'm no expert and struggle with doing links...but am sure someone will put a link in for you.

Good luck...there is some excellent advice on this board....will certainly give you something to think about anyway!

[Deleted User]

monkey1000 wrote: »

That's not entirely clear - sorry!!
1. 'Internet' includes internet, landline & Sky TV as all got from Sky in 1 package.Cut right back to the basics, and when out of contract shop around, look at freeview/freesat - when debt free you can always re-instate)
2. Have a cleaner, as have 2 young children, 3 & 5, and we both work full time. Need to spend time with kids & not cleaning on our days off, although I appreciate this is a luxury.Yes this is a luxury, and one that right now you really cannot afford - as above, when you are debt free you can always reinstate - if you really really can't part with it, try and cut down (come less often, stay for less time)
3. Home ins - we own 2 properties, and this covers all the contents & property ins for the 2 propertiesShop around at renewal - Also, is it really worth your while having the second property if it is costing you so much compared to the rent that you are receiving? (insurances, mortgage, maintenance, service charge, boiler cover etc, and could you afford the place if you had a period of time without a tenant? would selling up allow you to become debt free? Would it reduce your debt by much? Would it allow you to balance your SOA so that you are not getting further in to debt every month? Not saying that it is a good idea to sell up, just suggesting it as something to seriously consider
4. Plumbing cover includes cover for all our house hold things that can go wrong, w/mach, boiler etc. I've lumped them together.
5. Food - 2 adults, 2 children & 1 dog in house. Budgeting £150 per week for food & cleaning prods etcThis still seems a lot, try meal planning and batch cooking, cheaper supermarkets and own brand products etc, take a look at the old style board for advice on reducing
6. RCN - This is our union subscription for work
7. Flat mortgage - the mortgage payment on the flat that we rent outAre you claiming tax relief on the things that you are spending on the flat? Might be worth your while speaking to an accountant if you don't already have one - sorry I cannot advise/make any suggestions at all on this as I have no idea/experience, but remember this being mentioned in another post
8. Saving - we pay on to an escalator scheme into our childrens trust funds. Don't feel they should suffer for our stupidityThey will not benefit from you getting a further £1000 in debt every month - this level is unsustainable and needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, you can always overpay, increase contributions once you are debt free to compensate?
9. The flat admin fee is exactly that, as it is a communal building, we have to pay £1400 per year to the management company.

The other payments at the end were probably as you say not all necessary, I was just trying to cover a worst case scenario if we did buy a bit more. Don't spend that much a month on clothes, but was just trying to add up all the kids clothes, school uniforms etc. I have probably overestimated these expenses. We can do unlimited extra hours at work as we both work for the NHS, obviously around our current jobs, and managing child care. Sorry to be confusing x

If you are not sure exactly what you are spending or where it's being spent then a spending diary will be invaluable. You can only address your finances if you know where it is going. For a month or two keep a note of absolutly everything that you spend money on from the bug things like mortgage payments to DD's CC payments, lunches, dinners, holidays, etc etc right down to the really small things like cartons of milk and newspapers, bars of chocolate, postage stamps etc (all the little things that you don't think about because they're just pennies or a few £ - they soon add up. After a month or two review the diary and see what you are spending and where - once you know where your money is going you will be able to tell if the spends are necessary or if they can be cut back (

Some further comments above,

Good luck with it,

D9

Betty_Crumble

Hi, i have tried to fill in the better format of an soa for you, obviously until you clarify a few bits and do it this way it'll only be used as an aid to others

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2440
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 134
Other income............................ 2775 this is penny & income from sav/invest
Total monthly income.................... 5349

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1454 i combined both mortgages
Management charge (leasehold property).. 116.67 for flat
Council tax............................. 140
Electricity............................. 72
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 51.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 83
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 73.5 combined sky bundle
Groceries etc. ......................... 650
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 22.5
Car Insurance........................... 100
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 66.67
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 80.83
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 34.33
Buildings insurance..................... 105.6
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 57.1
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 166.66 combined
Haircuts................................ 110
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 250
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
regular saving.......................... 120
school trips............................ 75
rcn..................................... 32.5
boiler cover............................ 60
overdraft cost ......................... 35
garden ................................. 20
cleaner ................................ 136.5
meals at work........................... 20
dentist................................. 16.67
eating out ........................... 50.
anti virus/it ?......................... 50
shopping for fun........................ 50
family days out......................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 4592.15


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
credit card....................0.........430.9.....0
personal loan..................0.........1340......0
Total unsecured debts..........0.........1770.9....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 5,349
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 4,592.15
Available for debt repayments........... 756.85
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,770.9
Amount short for making debt repayments. -1014.05

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

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

I have assumed there are 2 adults and 1 car but likei said its only til you update.

You have pet ins but no cost for food, is that in with the groceries?

I think you may have guesstimated some of the amounts, if thatis the case would you be better doing it with the exact amounts (is your car insurance really exactly £100?)

good luck chuck.

Betty_Crumble

i can save 836.16without even being too brutal
mobile down to 40. saved -43
groceries 400 -250
clothing 0 -100
presents 80 -86.66
haircuts 60 - 50
cleaner 0 - 136.50
eating out 0 - 50
anti virus/it? 0 - 50
shopping for fun 0 - 50
family days out 0 - 20

the sky could go on top of this and you could cut utilities

3 & 5 is not too young to start helping with chore imo, my 9 yr old has been since she was about 4 and honestly she loves it, kids like helping alongside their parents and i think thats the main thing, as long as yr not barking orders but rather making them feel like its a game that is really helping mummy and daddy then you cant go wrong.
Now if only i could get my 18 yr old lad to think this way again lol

monkey1000

Dear everyone, particularly Betty Crumble. Thank you very much for you advice - think I had better do the spending plan again, and try and be more specific. Feel that i can't think with an entirely clear head about this; and that once I have got control of the situation, or at least see where everything is going, it will help me to see a solution. Spending diary would really help with this. I came from a pretty priviledged upbringing, and was spoilt madly by my Dad who then died when I was 6. I really believe that I have been trying to recreate the life I had with him subconciously, although that doesn't exactly work on my salary. BIG wake up time, but not too late. Thank you all very mucfh though, I will try and do the spending plan again tomorrow xx