Getting other half involved

Mammy0f4

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0 (I'm a SAHM)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1754.29
Benefits................................ 419.88
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2174.17

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 514.2
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 142.60
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity & Gas......................... 118
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line) & broadband...... 21.47
Mobile phones........................... 14
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Groceries etc. ......................... 433.33 (typo earlier! £100 a week)
Clothing................................ 70
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax/Car Insurance/Maintenance/MOT.. 85
Childcare/nursery....................... 17
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 3.58
Buildings & contents insurance........ 15.42
Life assurance ......................... 8.59
Presents & cards (birthday, xmas, etc).... 100
Haircuts................................ 3
Summer Holiday.......................... 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
toddler group........................... 3.25
lottery................................. 4.33
Xbox live subscription (yearly)......... 3
Boiler Service (yearly checks).......... 4.17
School Dinners (no packed lunch allowed) 32.5
Union................................... 12.05
Window Cleaners......................... 6.5
Treats & Outings........................ 20
Emergency shop & in case fund........... 25
Kids Swimming Lessons................... 43.95
Kids Savings Accounts................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1709.79


Assets
Cash (emegency/xmas/hols/car bills).... 439.09
House value (Gross)..................... 96000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 97939.09


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 77207....(514.2)....3.94<
Car Loan.......................3835.3...(142.6)....8.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 81042.3...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin.........................2229.18...75........0
Barclaycard....................2203.49...50........0
Total unsecured debts..........4432.67...125.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,174.17
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,043.12
Available for debt repayments........... 131.05
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 125
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6.05

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 97,939.09
Total HP & Secured debt................. -81,042.3
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,432.67
Net Assets.............................. 12,464.12

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

nicp60

Hi Mammy0f4,
I must say I'm very impressed with your SoA!! I know with 4 little ones it must be dead important to be on top of everything, but wow!!!

Anyway, I've put some thoughts below. It's probably going to be quite difficult to make any cuts that don't impact on your current habits and way of life, but if you really want to clear this debt as fast as possible, then it's inevitable that there will be a few changes.

Re your other half - how do you handle his spending money at the moment? I take it that you're in charge of the main household finances (based on your knowledge of the soa that is)? Is it possible to broach the idea of him selling the old xbox before he buys the new one? Or maybe give him a set amount of money on a prepaid debit card (I use one of these and they're brilliant) per month for spends, and he can save out of that?

Mammy0f4 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0 (I'm a SAHM)
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1754.29
Benefits................................ 419.88
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2174.17

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 514.2
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 142.60
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity & Gas......................... 118
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line) & broadband...... 21.47
Mobile phones........................... 14
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Groceries etc. ......................... 100 Nothing constructive here, but this is excellent for a family of your size
Clothing................................ 70 Is this absolutely necessary - any way to reduce this and possibly sell old clothes on ebay - children's clothes bundles sell quite well.
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax/Car Insurance/Maintenance/MOT.. 85
Childcare/nursery....................... 17
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 3.58
Buildings & contents insurance........ 15.42
Life assurance ......................... 8.59
Presents & cards (birthday, xmas, etc).... 100 Can you cut this down? I have a pressie drawer upstairs full of nice but fairly impersonal gifts (writing sets, smellies etc) which I will be giving out (carefully lol!) all year!
Haircuts................................ 3
Summer Holiday.......................... 50
Emergency fund.......................... 50
toddler group........................... 3.25
lottery................................. 4.33
Xbox live subscription (yearly)......... 3
Boiler Service (yearly checks).......... 4.17
School Dinners (no packed lunch allowed) 32.5
Union................................... 12.05
Window Cleaners......................... 6.5
Treats & Outings........................ 20
Emergency shop & in case fund........... 25
Kids Swimming Lessons................... 43.95
Kids Savings Accounts................... 40

If you cut out the things in red above (obv not the xbox live membership - I'm an xbox widow myself, I know how these things go lol!!), you could save about £180 a month.
It doesn't have to be forever, but for a year or two it would help make some massive dents in the debts.

Hope this helps! N x

Mammy0f4

I've already 'cancelled' the holiday for next year but this years holiday is already booked.

Swimming lessons are a must have for the kids.

Prezzies I'm trying to figure out how to do more 'homemade stuff' but with 4 young kids 6 years and under (breastfeeding baby) and my other half away in work most of the time already that I hardly have time for the basic housework let alone making stuff.

The other outgoings I do struggle to cut out or back on. I've cut them out a few times in the past and have gone back to them as without them just doesn't seem to work.

This is why it is SO important to get the other half in on this properly because his random spending on energy drinks, etc. REALLY puts a strain on the budget.

School dinners are only for the rest of this term, after that they will allow sandwiches.

Lottery is something I've dropped hints about loads as I think it's a complete waste of money. I even said about the effect of it going up to £2 having on us and he said we'll just switch to the other lottery! :wall:

The kids savings I feel I must continue to do if I can.

The things you mentioned are most definitely good ideas for cutting back to help get rid of the debt, but if I could just get the other halfs head around all this then I know things wouldn't be so stressful!

Thank you for your view on it and it'll help when it comes to explaining everything to the other half, as at the moment he only has my views on it all and he thinks I'm being OTT!!!

Mammy0f4

The groceries are £100 a WEEK. I did a typo earlier and forgot to change that bit at same time that I updated the Summary part!

Dreaming_always

My partner enjoys the Monster energy drinks, he has his monthly wage and I get the tax credits and child benefit, but what I've started doing is buying his Monster from home bargains or b n m's as they sell them much cheaper I bulk buy a load for him at the beginning and once its gone its gone.

Ironically my partners also told me he will be buying the new ps4 that's coming out at Christmas, but I've told him that if he can afford to pay for it without affecting the kids and the household bills he can, so he will be saving out of his own for that

Mammy0f4

Oh be careful!!! My other half was on about that PS4 today and none of the PS3 games are going to be compatable!

Same for the new xbox apparently (I've just been informed).

Dreaming_always

It's all a con isn't it, I hope that's not the case. My partners quite good he always trades in his games so only has 3-4 for the ps3 ATM.x

Mammy0f4

Mine does trade his games in to thankfully. But after all the fuss about him 'needing' a kinect (which is now gathering dust in the cupboard) I really don't see the point of going and buying the next new console thing when the other one still bl**dy works fine!

quantic

I think you need to allow him a few luxuries, such as his new Xbox, while paying for his family is the main reason he goes to work, it sometimes feels like bills and stuff like that are none rewarding and sometimes the small things are what get you through the day.

My advice would be to give him a bit of slack, I know your doing a 'job' too, but to him it may seem like all he does is work and the last thing he probably wants to talk about when he gets in is money saving.

I probably wouldn't bother overpaying the mortgage if it was me during this stage in your life, I would only advise this if you have spare cash after paying for everything, have no debt and can manage with ease. In my opinion is it just unnecessary strain and you need to enjoy yourself somewhat. Have a balance between debt and fun or else it will not be sustainable.

Mammy0f4

He's already told me that he wouldn't want my 'job' after he was left in charge for a week when i ended up in hospital. He helps out at home when he's off work and cant wait to go back to work because he finds my 'job' very stressful and boring. We've got a few quid left a month and in order to get rid of the damn credit cards we just can't afford the luxurys like a new xbox. I have allocated treat money but try to use it on things like a cheap day out for us all. When our youngest is a year or so old i intend to get back to work part time (for extra money and a bit of sanity for me) but unfortunately that doesn't help us NOW to pay off the credit card.