SOA - does it look ok?

mrsd1984

I've just started on maternity leave, and for the next 2 months I will be getting 90% of my usual pay, but after that I will be on smp. I have completed my SOA as if I was on smp and that baby D was here (I am waiting very patiently - come on!!!!!!!!!!!).

How does it look? I've included £80 for entertainment. That is split as £25 each for personal spends, and then £30 for a takeaway or 2!

We've only just ordered sky through a deal on here :money: Our freeview box that recorded/paused broke down and it would cost over £100 to replace. I'm guessing with a newborn, if we were to sit down to watch something, baby would want feeding/nappy changing/would start crying and I will probably be up quite a bit during the night, especially to begin with so decided £10.75 a month would definitely be worth it.

I haven't included clothes/hair cuts. Since falling pregnant I've actually only had my hair cut once. It's at a length where I can put it up out of the way, and I figure that's all I'll want to do initially.

My husband is self employed, but pays himself a wage, which is what I've included in the SOA. Every 3 months then he pays himself a bonus, which is usually between £500 and £1000. That extra money will be split, depending on where the needs lie. It could be treats like clothes, paying in to savings (we've got Nationwide flexdirect which pays 5% interest - it's better to keep it there than to pay off a 0% cc), but once savings get up to £3000, anything extra will go to the credit card.

I'm happy for you to be honest, and let me know if I've missed anything out. Thank you

mrsd1984

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 546.48
Partners monthly income after tax....... 950
Benefits................................ 87.96
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1584.44
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 601
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 67.65
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 111
Electricity............................. 43
Gas..................................... 43
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 11
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.75
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 11.67
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24.32
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 8
Contents insurance...................... 8.09
Life assurance ......................... 23.95
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 20
Baby Savings Account.................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1471.55

Assets
Cash.................................... 1500
House value (Gross)..................... 117500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 120500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 104000...(601)......0
Secured Debt.................. 1399.7...(67.65)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 105399.7..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................3025.52...66.54.....0
Total unsecured debts..........3025.52...66.54.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,584.44
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,471.55
Available for debt repayments........... 112.89
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 66.54
Amount left after debt repayments....... 46.35
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 120,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -105,399.7
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,025.52
Net Assets.............................. 12,074.78
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

[Deleted User]

Presents and Entertainment seem a bit high, but otherwise, I can't see much you could cut.

tallyhoh

are you entitled to any child tax credit?

mrsd1984

Thank you.

Tallyhoh: I don't think so. I earn around £27000 when I work full time. I teach, but have recently turned to supply teaching which is why I'm only getting smp for majority of my maternity leave. Will be looking to work part time after I go back so maybe then, but to be honest I know very little about it.

Bedsit Bob: I agree. But.......I figure that if we put away that amount for presents each month into a separate account, and then hopefully by the end of the year there will be some left over so that can help with other Christmas shopping (food, parties etc). £80 does seem a lot for entertainment, but we do split it so we get £25 each where we can spend it on anything we want, and then the other £30 is for if we want a takeaway or something.

[Deleted User]

I appreciate you would like to budget for entertainment and presents, but with only £47 spare, you can't afford them, let alone at that level.

BTW. How old is the child?

mrsd1984

The child is waiting to be born! I was due 3 days ago, and have done the SOA for when I am on maternity leave just bringing in the basics.

If all bills and debts have been paid, and there has been money put into pots for all the different things we need, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you. It's going into a separate account, not being spent monthly, so if things got so tight that we ran out of money, we could access it. Also, my husband brings home a bonus every 3 months, which is usually around £800 but I haven't added it to the SOA. That is all extra then, which will go into savings but can be accessed.

Cycrow

theres not much else you can really cut down on.
if you could find another way to get to work like cycling, then you could save money from the car

notanewuser

I can't imagine £120 a month is enough for groceries at all.

[Deleted User]

Sorry. I misunderstood.

I thought you already had one child.

In that case, I'd say almost £600 pa, for presents, is a lot.

mrsd1984

notanewuser wrote: »

I can't imagine £120 a month is enough for groceries at all.

We find it plenty for the 2 of us. We eat well, and cook a lot from scratch. Husband takes packed lunches to work and we do buy mainly value products. We have managed it for months, and have done it before when money was a bit tight.