My 1st Diary - SOA Done, Snowballing Ready

somethingcorporate

Every little helps!

nicp60

Hi ecover,
I've made a few observations on the SOA - hope they help you! We've all been in the dark times on this site, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and you'll get there!
N xxx

ecoverbee wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1180
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2780

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 296.1
Rent.................................... 278.2 Sorry if I've missed something , but are you paying both rent and mortgage?
Council tax............................. 108
Electricity............................. 76
Water rates............................. 30.23
Mobile phone - 2 of us.................. 47
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
You could reduce this - for 2 of us (wine included ,) I spend £100 - a lot of it from M&S!!! Meal planning saves a fortune! Leaves us room in the budget for a £15 takeaway once a week.
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
GAP Insurance 10months then free........ 41.67
Wife's Union FEE........................ 16.6
Life assurance ......................... 14.94
Other insurance......................... 22.75
DFS Sofa 0%............................. 30.91
Car Tax ................................ 13.33
Car Insurance .......................... 50
Holiday................................. 50
Wife's Money .......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1412.85


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 48500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 48500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 46000....(296.1)....5.69
Total secured & HP debts...... 46000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Very...........................1185.58...12.35.... .39.7
Next...........................351.17....33.05.... .26.49
Barclaycard....................1544.64...34.75.... .6.72
Mini...........................16500.....276...... .6.8
TSB Loan.......................10375.....419.......19. 5
Virgin.........................6507.04...205...... .24.2
TSB............................6835.03...137...... .17.9
Total unsecured debts..........43298.46..1117.15...-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,780
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,412.85
Available for debt repayments........... 1,367.15
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,117.15
Amount left after debt repayments....... 250

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 48,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -46,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -43,298.46
Net Assets.............................. -40,798.46

ecoverbee

Thanks nic we live in shared owership so it's part rent and part mortgage. We have no way of getting a cheaper mortgage or the rent changing so we are stuck paying that amount.

Not sure how to live on £25 per week when we struggle on £40 per week, which also covers both our work lunches aswell.

Thanks
Andy

Hiddenidenity

Look forward to reading
*Subscribes* x

nicp60

Hi Andy,
I see what you mean with the rent/mortgage situation. Your outgoings are very similar to ours, and it certainly seems like you're on the right road. The groceries were the only thing I could see a potential saving in tbh - everything else looks competitive or impossible to change for the moment.

For the food, it has taken me ages to get it right, especially as I work 50+ hours a week, am not a great cook and Mr nicp60 won't eat 'stuff in sauce' or anything vaguely unfamiliar!
My main trick is buying 3 for £10 for main courses and bulking it out with potatoes, veg, side dishes and pasta. That would last us for 5 days, and lunches are normally chicken sarnies, cupasoups (good for the diet lol!) and leftovers. Tesc0 does some good frozen chicken fillets which can be cooked from frozen and used in casseroles or on their own with some seasoning (about £4 for a kilo). I have to say that £40 a week is still really good - when I tell my friends what our food budget is, their response is 'We spend that in a week!'.
The oldstyle board has some great tips too.

Have you thought about upping your income? I've been using usertesting.com. It pays $10 for testing websites. Tests are normally 6-7 mins long and done through screen capture software and there are about 15-20 a week that are available. It can be a good way to bank some extra cash. If you have an iPhone, the FieldAgent app is quite good too.

Just some ideas, wish I could be more helpful but like I said, it looks like you're SoA is as low as it's going to get for now.
Nxx

ecoverbee

Excellent tips thanks, I'm already upping my income by working overtime which is netting me over £100 extra per week. This is what's allowed us to spend cash for Christmas this year.

cocalls

hi well done on the start of your journey.

Just wondering how you got into debt in the first place? £43,000 is a lot. Is there any clothes from next and very(i think they're a clothes place apologies if not) that can be sent back if unworn or sold on ebay.

just looking at your insurances

GAP Insurance 10months then free........ 41.67What's this?
Wife's Union FEE........................ 16.6 Does this not come out of her wage as then it's less tax
Life assurance ......................... 14.94
Other insurance......................... 22.75 what's this for is it needed?

Good luck!

Igamogam

Just popping in to wish you good luck, There are lots of good ideas across the boards to help you on your debt free journey Just a couple of things............ goes your wife claim against her tax for her union fees? If not she can claim back six years of tax - its wont be a huge amount but its a bit more than you had and less for HMRC . Christmas : now dont get me wrong I am no bah humbug when it comes to Christmas but 21 presents at a time when you want to clear your debts :eek: Well done for deciding on a budget but you seem to have already added to it with your extra salary from this month:huh:

We made the decision some time ago that Christmas present would only be bought for our own children. We dont buy presents for each other.............well I get my customary ball of string and the OH gets a chocolate orange.....long story:D and we each have a secret santa at work. We told friends and family that we wouldnt be buying for them any more and where up front about it - we are skint- and only to expect a thank you in return for anything they bought us. A hard decision but we have stuck to it - some sulked,some moaned, SIL stopped talking to us:eek: but for the most part everybody understood and some have even followed suit:T Each to his own but maybe something to think about in the future............

Takeaways - nothing wrong with them every now and then and we all need a treat/ away from shopping cooking at some time - try and find the Great Takeaway Secret Book - fab easy recipies - I havent bought a kebab or curry takeaway since getting this book - worth its 99p in The W0rks. Cant stress too much about meal planning..........you will hear a lot about that on here too

Have you tired any online surveys to boost the income - once you get into them the money adds up and the £20/30 a month I can generate usually goes on groceries or direct into my paypal account.

Good luck and well done so far. The little challenges on here are good for keeping motivated - try PADs and NSDs;) *subscribes*


ETA - I see you PAD already

ecoverbee

cocalls wrote: »

hi well done on the start of your journey.

Just wondering how you got into debt in the first place? £43,000 is a lot. Is there any clothes from next and very(i think they're a clothes place apologies if not) that can be sent back if unworn or sold on ebay.

just looking at your insurances

GAP Insurance 10months then free........ 41.67What's this?
Wife's Union FEE........................ 16.6 Does this not come out of her wage as then it's less tax
Life assurance ......................... 14.94
Other insurance......................... 22.75 what's this for is it needed?

Good luck!

thanks for the comments much appreciated.

GAP insurance is basically for our new car which means that if it were to get written off we would get a brand new one and not be out of pocket. We only pay 10 months and the car is covered for the 4 years we have it.

Wifes Union Fee - going to look into getting this changed so it comes out of the wages, will let ya know how we get out later in the week.

Life assurance - I have a mortgage so was told must have it.

Other insurance - was a little something left over after we added £250 to the snowball so we use this as a buffer in case we need a little extra to fall back on from time to time. Also knowing we have this really helps us stay focused and if we need a treat we can use this.

--

We are also happy to know that we finally have a plan and in 2/12 years the only debt that will be left will be the mortgage and the car.
We will try and throw bit of money towards the debts and maybe in 6-12 months try and get 0% cards but we are happy that this is our way to become debt free.

thanks for the comments.

Ladybird.

ecoverbee wrote: »

GAP insurance is basically for our new car which means that if it were to get written off we would get a brand new one and not be out of pocket. We only pay 10 months and the car is covered for the 4 years we have it.

Eek, that is a LOT of money to spend on the off chance that you write off your car? Have you considered getting rid of the new car and getting something a lot cheaper? I think it would be the first thing I would look to do in your shoes, you would have so much more money to throw at much less debt every month.

Best of luck on your journey, I bought the secret takeaway book today after reading about it on another thread, looking forward to trying out some recipes as everyone seems to really rate them!