First go at an SOA, advice welcome

rufus79

Ok, so here is my first go at an upto date SOA (my old IVA one is now redundant as I don't have my car, and my income will be significantly less, plus I was only allowed £130 for household expenses - no wonder I struggled!!). One little problem is I have no idea what my income will be, almost certainly somewhere between £600 and £800 per month, but as I will be temping, it will vary.

Rent(inc of bills) £330
Household costs £180
Healthcare/optical £15
Travel (bus pass) £30
Haircuts £10
Telephone £25
Emergencies £20

Total £610

I'm sure I must have missed things though - if I could actually live on £610 I wouldn't be struggling so much! Any help is most welcome, thanks.

user55

Gas, electric, food, clothes?

rufus79

Oooh, forgot clothes (have got so used to just not being able to afford them I guess) what is allowed for that? My gas, electric, water and included in my rent (just a room). Food is in household costs.

allofadither

Rufus, if you don't mind me asking how did you get on the other evening? Hope you're OK.

allofadither

rufus79 wrote: »

Oooh, forgot clothes (have got so used to just not being able to afford them I guess) what is allowed for that? My gas, electric, water and included in my rent (just a room). Food is in household costs.

I think the clothing allowance is about £40 for an adult.

rufus79

allofadither wrote: »

Rufus, if you don't mind me asking how did you get on the other evening? Hope you're OK.

I am taking him for dinner on Monday (I have loan of a car, so I can drive him and give him a dribk - lol!!). I'm pretty sure he will be okay, I am going to be honest and tell him the truth and just hope for the best.

rufus79

Ok, so with £40 for clothes (seems a huge amount!) its a total of £650 so far.

allofadither

Do you have any contents insurance or life insurance?

allofadither

What about meals at work?

allofadither

And laundry/dry cleaning costs...with you only renting a room I wasn't sure if you had access to a washing machine.

rufus79

I have no insurance. What is acceptable for meals at work? I'm a packed lunch girl, but I occasionally buy a coffee....£10 a month??

Sorry, this all feels so new. Even on my IVA one it doesn't make a lot of sense as the company amended my figures and it was no where near accurate (they put gas and elec down as they said my travel costs were too high even theough it was the actual cost).