I know the drill.. - SOA included

LondonerAtHeart

Here's my SOA, please do your worst. I'll add comments to some items to give a little more detail.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1589.34
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1589.34

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 188
Rent.................................... 500
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 74
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 29.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 26
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 40 [BT broadband plus phone line - tied in for another 6 months ]
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 [I am trying to reduce this]
Clothing................................ 10 [..and this]
Petrol/diesel........................... 75
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 67
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 44
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 [..I know..]
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10 [Kids parties all the time :eek:]
Haircuts................................ 1.5 [Very rarely]
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Mini Cash ISA........................... 5
CSA..................................... 179
Books/Music/Films/Computers............. 2.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 1553.62[/b]


Assets
Cash.................................... 50 [ISA]
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 7050


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7000.....(188)......??
Total secured & HP debts...... 7000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
BarclayCard....................2900......40........0 [Another 21 months @0%]
Natwest........................1660......16........0 [Another 18 months @0%]
Nationwide Overdraft.................1500......0.........19.9
Total unsecured debts..........6060......56........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,589.34
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,553.62
Available for debt repayments........... 35.72
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 56
Amount short for making debt repayments. -20.28

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 7,050
Total HP & Secured debt................. -7,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,060
Net Assets.............................. -6,010

Thanks in advance :T

fermi

Welcome.

I've amended the thread title a little, so that people glancing at the board know there is an SOA in this thread to look at.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Does a £20 shortfall a month feel about right? that your debts are just creeping up slightly?

a couple of starting comments.
Water rates - is this unmetered? consider looking into a meter if your landlord will allow, which should net you a saving.
Car insurance looks high - is this a result of age? points? car? do you shop around at renewal time to look for the best deal?
Is the car essential given the relatively low spend on fuel? could you manage just with public transport? maybe somethig to have a think about?
Groceries - keep working on this - some articles on here might help you get this down (and might be the easiest place to make savings) - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/cheap-supermarket-shopping
Train travel - do you try to book in advance and follow the tips for getting as cheap as you can?

Aside from that - anyway to increase your income? overtime? a second job (although that sounds like it would be difficult with your child).

LondonerAtHeart

First of all thank you for replying

Tixy wrote: »

Does a £20 shortfall a month feel about right? that your debts are just creeping up slightly?

A £20 shortfall a month does feel about right, if not more. Apart from the reasons above, I've found myself using the credit cards now and then for other stuff (this has stopped) which meant it was slowly creeping up over the past year.

Tixy wrote: »

Water rates - is this unmetered?

Already metered but this is a direct debit every month, the meter isn't read very often so I'm not sure but this does seem high to me.

Tixy wrote: »

Car insurance looks high - is this a result of age? points? car? do you shop around at renewal time to look for the best deal?

This is due probably to a lack of no-claims years.

Tixy wrote: »

Groceries - keep working on this - some articles on here might help you get this down (and might be the easiest place to make savings) -

Thanks, I'll take a look

theoretica

Your first challenge is to break even - either make £20.28 a month (what can you ebay?) or spend £20.28 less (surely you can save that much off groceries?). Both seem managable level challenges and if you did both you could start working your way out of the overdraft...

LondonerAtHeart

I completely agree, I've limited my food shopping this month and I'm only shopping in Lidl (and NOT when I'm hungry). I usually tend to do food shopping online which actually makes me spend more, as I find myself trying to justify the delivery charge. I don't buy alcohol or much meat so I really don't know what it gets spent on

LondonerAtHeart

Oh I just remembered, I've also started entering competitions in the hope I might win something I can ebay only win so far is a bottle of childrens shampoo :rotfl: but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

rayday2

Do you have any skills you could sell? Not sure what your trade is etc. I just realised that could sound very dodgy! But you get my jist.

I am rubbish at these things

rayday2

LondonerAtHeart wrote: »

Oh I just remembered, I've also started entering competitions in the hope I might win something I can ebay only win so far is a bottle of childrens shampoo :rotfl: but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Sounds like my competitions luck, I won computer software that even I couldn't flog on ebay and a Hasselhoff book - again no one wanted it!

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi london at heart and welcome to the boards, it seems with a little tweaking you can make a difference to your soa good luck on your journey

madvixen

Hi London,

Your grocery budget does seem quite high. Have you posted it in the Old Style board? Let us know what you have in the cupboards/freezer already and we can probably halve that for you.