New member and SOA.. advice appreciated

abitrubbish

Hiya

Ok then, I've done a quick calculation, and by making a few cutbacks now you should be able to get a surplus of £700pm to throw at the debts without too much difficulty. If you put all this towards the Funding Corporation Loan (at 13.5%) you will be able to repay this by Jan 08.

The things I can see savings on are:

TV licence - this should be nearer £12pm - have you just started the DD?
Phone/broadband - you should be able to get this cheaper - I pay £20 to talktalk
Mobile phones - can you get a better deal/switch to PAYG?
Travel - do you really need a car as well as paying for buses & trams?
Tobacco - give up!
Alcohol - this should be included within the grocery budget
Groceries - £300 is quite high for 2 people, you should be able to get this down to below £200, including alcohol!
Work lunches - got to go...

This will reduce your outgoings sufficiently for you to consider giving up work, though if you wanted to wait a while longer, by saving the £1,000pm you would now have free you could put this to one side to make your life a lot easier. Say you saved this for a further 6 months after repaying the loan, you could have £6,000 which you could use to pay yourself a salary of £500pm for the first year you were off work (or keep for whenever you need it most)

When you do give up work it will be really tight. You will have to get rid of the car, and one of the phones for a start. This is how I see your SOA without your salary:

OH Salary £1,200.00

House
Tv Licence £12.00 *
Phone & broadband £20.00 *
Council Tax £98.00
Buildings & contents insurance £15.44
Water £25.00
Gas & Electric £70.00
Life Cover £5.00
Sky
Mortgage £564.80
£810.24

Other

Mobile phones £25.00 *
Travel £66.00 *
Pets £16.97
Xmas/birthdays etc 30
£137.97


Lewis Group £50.00

Available to spend £201.79

So I guess the question is whether you think you will be able to manage on a budget like this? Obviously the more you cut back now, the faster you will be able to repay the loan and the more you will be able to save before you stop work. If you're thinking of starting a family then you will probably get maternity pay for a while as well, which will help too... And there might be little stuff you can do whilst you're off to get a bit more income (ebay etc?)

HTH

dancingfairy

Just wanted to say hi :hello: I am very impressed by the amount of detail in the SOA. I can't add anything to the comments but good luck and I'm sure you'll get the debt paid off quickly- you sound very organised.

mattfiona

Thanks so, so much everyone - I will print this off and keep it as my reminder to keep up the moneysaving and read it all in more detail once I have a bit more time - some fab ideas here, just need to get DH fully on board with me and we'll be winning the fight in no time!!!

abitrubbish - will read properly later but WOW, it's good to know that even though it would be tight, it is POSSIBLE that one day we could survive on one job!!

Lara44

Helloo

Just a note to add that I think you could easily reduce your amount for presents to £10. I do Pigsback and it is amazing how quickly the points add up. You can also, instead of buying presents when they're due, buy things that are in the sales or on offer. I keep my eye on the grabbit forum which is amazing, and also the freebies board.

In my pressie box I have the free Comfort Pashmina, lovely handmade soaps I only paid P & P on £2.99, a £10 Arcadia voucher from Pigsback and a £10 Boots voucher, two cardigans for my niece and nephew from Vertbaudet with £10 off and free delivery code.

Total spend: £10.99 - for 5 presents