Final step (i hope) my I&E for your verdict

blind-as-a-bat_2

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Richard_S

Hi Bart,

Only got time for a quick post and a couple of observations:

1. How many of you are there? I can't remember and groceries has to cover everything down to shoe polish, window cleaner, fly spray, sun tan cream etc etc the list is endless.

2. Some O.R's will allow a contribution of £60 / month for holidays

3. Did you include anything for hairdressing?

4. What about house maintenance? Doesn't matter whether you own or rent you'll need to spend something on decoration and the odd repair.

I've got a fairly comprehensive list of things to include and I'll post it tomorrow.

Richard

allofadither

Evening Blind...how's things?

Here's my thoughts on your SoA...

School trips/activities seems a bit low as does the life/house insurance. And I'm a bit concerned about you putting down the car tax/repairs...if you haven't included the use of the car in the SoA the OR might wonder why you're paying for it's upkeep...just a thought Blind that's all.

What about TV licence? And dental? And optical?

Dither

allofadither

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

Thanks allofadither the £12 is for household insurance its just the way its worded online but i hope the OR doesnt think the same:eek: Thought id put TV licence so either i didnt cut and paste it properly or im losing my marbles (probebly the later:rotfl: ) And dental is free for us so cant put anything there now optical i hadnt thought of i dont need glasses (yet) so not sure what to do here? as for School trips/activities my son will be doing exams so no trips there and hopefully will be in collage from october as for my daughter she hasnt realy been on many but moves up to high school soon and they do more trips there so any sugestions are welcome

Everyone needs and eye test at some point...and you are 'Blind' after all:rotfl:

Now seriously, I seem to spend loads on school trips, I'll dig out the figure I put and post it up tomorrow. And I included the kids hobbies, costs me a small fortune to keep them off the streets!:eek:

Your clothing allowance is pretty low, I'm sure I put more than £60, and we are a family of four too. And I'm sure I put about £480 for the food etc. I think you should up your fig Blind, you're not eating enough:D

allofadither

I'm gonna sleep on this one Blind...I'll dig out my SoA figs tomorrow and see what I can help with. Hopefully the other BR's will be awake by then and full of good suggestions.

Nite Nite

Richard_S

Good morning Bart,

I've just posted a thread with a list of things to jog your "batman" memory :rotfl:

Hope it helps,

Rich

gettingitsorted

i know how you feel Bat

allofadither

Blind...here's some figs I put in my SoA:-

£480 for food (this was the fig Payplan told me was allowed and it is pretty close to what we spend).
£120 on clothing (sounds alot but my kids won't stop growing, uniforms and shoes cost a fortune)
£25 school trips (this fig was based on what I had actually spent)
£50 kids hobbies (this also is the real cost)

Now I appreciate that the last two might be seen as luxury's and might not be applicable to you, but an SoA is about real life expenditure so that's why they went in mine, not least because I consider them to be essential and that's what the SoA is asking for. The OR didn't question any of my figures.

Hope this helps Blind.

fermi

blind-as-a-bat wrote: »

Morning allofadither thanks for that your food matches what i read here http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/recmanual/REC1820.htm the problem is there is nothing in the way of a guide i can find on the Insolvency Service but they keep refering to the Family Expenditure Survey but the link for it is dead so the OR has guides to work to but as many have said there seems to be great variations in OR attitudes on wether you can have this or how much you can have for that i know my SOA should be a real figure of expenses but it also has to be realistic and as i said im a bloke and havnt got a clue:o

I think the OR has a summarised version of this:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_social/Family_Spending_2005-06/Familyspending2005-06.pdf

And believe me, it needs to be summarized.

allofadither

Blind...from what I've gleaned from your situation, you're most unlikely to be looking at an IPA/IPO and it's quite apparent from your original SoA posting that your expenses are not extravagent and that your income is modest.

All you can do is put down the figures to the best of your ability. I think it's unreasonable to expect average joe to make this exercise into an exact science. When the OR looks at your bank statements etc it should and probably will reflect what you put on your SoA. I think the OR is just looking for any major discrepancies.

Don't worry Blind (says me! ha ha), get this nailed and it's one more thing sorted.