ok here goes!

sarjay32

Hi everyone

I have been a lurker on this site for a long time now and as my home situation is now the stable-est its been for a while i thought i'd start with sorting out my finances!

I am a single mum with 3 kids (2 boys aged 16 & 7 and a girl aged 13) i work 12 hours a week and just feel that am living beyond my means and can only see myself getting deeper and deeper in debt! I WANT OUT! so have just sat and sorted through my paperwork (its only took me about 4 months!) and am trying to get my backside into gear so that me and the kids can finally have the life we deserve

Heres my SOA -

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 315.91
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 864.48
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1180.39

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 31
Electricity............................. 64.95
Gas..................................... 64.95
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 65
Mobile phone............................ 26
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 325
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 8.5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 13.5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 650.02


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
Vanquis Credit Card............1491.46...75........39.9
Capital One CC.................465.38....30........26.4
Littlewoods....................1502.51...50........0
Very...........................879.07....35........0
Total unsecured debts..........4338.42...190.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,180.39
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 650.02
Available for debt repayments........... 530.37
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 190
Amount left after debt repayments....... 340.37

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,338.42
Net Assets.............................. -4,338.42

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Couple of things i should maybe mention - i currently recieve no maintenance from either of my ex husbands :mad: but this is now in the hands of the CSA........ so who knows?!

I am paying back a debt from my marital home to NPower at £5 per week (debt is roughly £450

I seem to live from week to week at the moment and have just opened a new bank account to try and sort things out using the piggy bank technique. Will be so grateful for suggestions - ideas - advice.

Thanks in advance

sarjay32

oh forgot to say i receive Housing Benefit (full amount) so in effect pay no rent thats why that is at 0.

unimaginative_user_name

Do the benefits you mention in your income section include housing benefit? If they do you should include your rent.

You don't seem to have much room for manoeuvre except with regard to groceries and utilities. Your gas and electric seem high. Have you done a price comparison? Are you tied to npower until you have cleared the debt?

Apart from that well done for posting and best wishes for getting some maintenance from your ex-husbands! Have you asked if you can increase your hours at work? I know it's not easy at the moment.

sarjay32

no i havent included the housing benefit i receive as it all local authority i dont actually see any of it - i just dont have to pay rent, if that makes sense?

I have prepayment meters for both gas & electric and yeah am tied to NPower until the debt is paid

Yep have asked about increase at work - nothing doing there! and am constantly looking for a new job but as yet zilch...... its a pretty dire situation but am determined to make the best of it. Not holding out much hope of getting anything from the exes!! been divorced from my 1st hubby for 10 years and never had a penny............:p

thanks for the encouragement though

mildredalien

You should probably put in some amounts for entertainment, presents and an emergency fund. Also you have nothing for travel? Do you walk everywhere, no buses, trains or car trips? Do you pay for your children to do anything that might need to go in child related expenses?

The above may account for the fact that you don't seem to have much left each month although in theory you should see £300-ish extra after minimum debt repayments. If you can pin down what you are actually spending it might help to figure out what you can reduce - that way you can start paying extra to those debts and whittling them down!

his_missus

Where does that £340 left after debt repayments go? Do you spend anything on entertainment, presents etc?

Keeping a spending diary may help, writing down EVERYTHING you spend daily. We did this and realised Hubby was buying a packet of crisps each lunchtime for 60p when he could buy a multipack of the same brand from the poundshop. It's not much but was £2 a week saved.

If indeed you do have £300 spare each month, that could really help reduce your debts, especially repaying more than the minimum amount on the credit cards.

Also, the landline telephone bill seems high.

Hope you get somewhere with the CSA regarding child maintenance.

Have a look at the "up your income" board to for money making ideas. If you have time on your hands, doing surveys can be a good way to earn vouchers/ money. I use some that pay out in amazon vouchers or into paypal, great for buying presents online.

Good luck x

sarjay32

have today started a spending diary as i'm bewildered as to where my money really goes?!

i havent put down for entertainment/presents etc cos am not really sure how much i spend on these???

Landline - this includes my line rental/broadband & tv package - all through sky.

Any activities my kids do are usually funded by my parents - i'm lucky that i have this help.

As for travel, we very rarely go anywhere out of town and when we do it would be with friends or family who are going anyway - therefore no cost incurred to me! as for travelling around town - we walk!

Will look at the board mentioned - thanks

thanks everyone for your feedback and support x

Bored

If you are not sure about figures for your SOA then it's definitely a good idea to start a spending diary. Another thing you can do is look at all your bank and credit card statements for the past 6 months; place all purchases into one of the SOA categories and total them up and divide by 6 to get a realistic average. It'll be much easier then to see where the overspends are occurring and you'll know where to focus your efforts.

Good luck.