SOA - time to face the truth :(

Thisisme_3

Hi everyone, so I have finally got round to doing my SOA. It was horrible seeing all my debt there in black and white. How on earth did we think it was ok to spend so much?

Although I have listed all my debts separately they are actually in a DMP with Stepchange, although I am thinking of changing to self managed, any thoughts?

Our current situation is that my husband is self employed although he has subcontracted for the past few years and so has no tax to pay the amount he recieves is minus 20% tax and after expenses are taken off he is usually due a tax rebate. I am currently a SAHM having had to leave Univeristy for a number of reasons. I am currently looking for a job but only around 16 hours per week as any more than this and we are worse off due to the cost of childcare. I am currently in receipt of contribution based JSA and am entitled to it for five more months. My husbands income has increased significantly in recent months however it is only now that I have left university that we actually have extra funds available if that makes sense.

Also my parents are in the process of selling their house. There is the possibility that they would give us some money if we were able to negotiate F&F settlements. If we also sold our car and added together OH's tax rebate (estimated at around £2000) then we could maybe find around 45% of the amount we owe quite soon. Would it make sense to off F&F settlements before increasing our monthly payment? We could perhaps just put the extra into a savings account and if F&F's are turned down make a lump payment (minus the money from my parents).

Anyway wow I've rambled on there, sorry. Here is my SOA, I'll annotate so it makes a bit more sense in certain areas. Please feel free to comment - in fact please do.

Oh as far as I know all our debts are now at 0%, we,ve had our DMP since Oct 2011.
Thanks

Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2 (aged 1 and 4)
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000 (average)
Benefits................................ 745
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2745
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 306
Council tax............................. 97
Electricity............................. 72 (v high due to them having us on the wrong DD amount for ages so arreas)
Gas..................................... 73 (as above)
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 14.5
Mobile phone............................ 50 (I'm tied to contract at £36
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23
Internet Services....................... 0 (currently getting 6m free)
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 320 (Oh uses £50 pw for work)
Road tax................................ 22
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 3.75
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 30 (oh's work insurances)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 75
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 78 (£15 pw plus £18 swim pass)
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1801.25
[
Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 148500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 147000...(306)......2.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 147000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Loan.....................21621.....44.78.....0
Barclaycard....................4536......20.34.....0
MBNA...........................4365......20.72.....0
Barclays Bank..................686.37....5.........0
Tesco Bank.....................720.14....6.52......0
Barclays.......................903.31....6.4.......0
Barclays.......................1508.18...11.26.....0
Aktiv Kapital..................1560......9.59......0
Santander......................1989.26...9.59......0
Iqor...........................2746.58...13.05.....0
Mint...........................2766......10.75.....0

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,745
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,801.25
Available for debt repayments........... 943.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 158
Amount left after debt repayments....... 785.75
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 148,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -147,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -43,408
Net Assets.............................. -41,908

seekert

I can't really offer alot of help. I am a newbie, I got out of debt quite a few years ago, but I have no mortgage and rent.

Just wanted to say 'well done' for taking the first step. I am sure others will be along to give more detailed help.

Looking at your monthly expenditure it looks ok to me, petrol is a little high..but I don't know your circumstances.

Upsidedown_Bear

Hello :wave:

The bottom of the SOA appears to be missing. Could you re-post with it please?

Thisisme_3

Upsidedown_Bear wrote: »

Hello :wave:

The bottom of the SOA appears to be missing. Could you re-post with it please?

Oh yes don't know how that happened sorry. Have added it now, thanks

Thisisme_3

Oh I also forgot to add I owe my dad £700 that I need to pay him £150 pm and oh takes £20 people for food at work . That takes my monthly excess down to £515

Sorry x

cats2012

Do you know where that £515 is going? If not, keep a spending diary because that's a massive excess so there must be some stuff you've missed!

Thisisme_3

No I don't, that's the thing. I just spend it and I have to change. Previously we were paying some childcare but I've taken my daughter out now.

Thisisme_3

Right so I've gone through what I need to put in to different accounts each month. I'm thinking one acc for car and house emergencies and one for birthdays and Christmas. I would also like to budget around £10 a week for entertainment for me and DH so we can maybe have a date night once a month as the money I currently budget for entertainment is for doing things with the children really.

Chemical_Thundra

Hi Thisisme!

Your situation is quite similar to mine. I am a SAHM and my husband is the sole earner and we have two kids (3 & 8 mnths) I am uni but it is night school so we dont have the childcare costs.

As far as your SOA goes it looks ok, we manage on a lot less for groceries so maybe some wiggle room there??? Also 75 p/m for presents,maybe cut back there? Its all personal choice though but thats my two pence!

Anyway I wish you well! :beer:

hampsterpoo

Thisisme wrote: »

oh takes £20 people for food at work . That takes my monthly excess down to £515

Sorry x

Can he not take food in with him , sandwiches or something to heat up there? , you've gotta start some where ? , do you buy newspapers magazines etc, that could account for some of the £515

MrsCautious

How quickly can you stop paying for satellite and cable TV? I'd cut the presents right down, people who care about you wouldn't want to see you more in debt for the sake of buying them stuff. They may even welcome not having to buy something for you back

You can cut back big time on your grocery spending, I recently joined the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style money saving board and there's lots of advice and encouragement about meal planning, batch cooking, saving money while still buying fresh.

Do you have stuff you can sell?

These are just my first impressions on reading your SOA, I'm sorry I don't have any advice about how to structure debt payments and all of that, but to me, I was surprised to see people saying your SOA looked okay, when you are in debt and saying £75 a month is for presents and you are paying for telly, freeview is fine . I hope you don't mind me saying that, I think you could look at your spending and say what's essential and cut back on everything else -- use the car less, turn the heating and lights off, go without certain snacks, don't eat out/buy lunches etc -- just generally being thrifty, set a lower budget for Xmas, your kids won't notice the difference, especially if you have fun being crafty with it. Inevitably I'd say your ents each month is too high, especially if it's for kids' stuff -- £15 a week *before* swimming is a lot of money imho, especially when the kids are young enough to appreciate free stuff just as much.

£40 a month for clothes is also high -- perhaps it doesn't seem it but I honestly think it is at a time when you have debts to pay. You could halve that couldn't you? Or at least shave £10 a month off.

I understand what you say about gas/electricity being in arrears, but could you still shop around when the time is right?

I am so sorry if I'm stating the obvious.



The Old Style board and the NSD challenge on here can help bring some focus.

You could start by resolving to plan to eat what's in your freezer/cupboards as much as possible and plan what's needed around that.

I don't know the answer to this question but I'd also ask if you can afford £100 a month as an emergency fund on top of all the insurance you pay, isn't paying your debts an emergency? (Again, I hope you don't mind me asking that, I don't know the answer. . hopefully someone with a wise head on their shoulders can advise better. . .)

Good luck to you.