new here, help and advice, SOA

pearlsasinger

Hi there, i am a long time lurker but have never posted before.

i am going to post my soa as i would like a sustainable budget while still slowly paying off my debts.
A bit of background about me, a single mum to a teenage boy, have recently unexpectedly moved house so had to spend all my savings on that.
i had a laptop on BNPL from Very which was meant to have been paid off last month within the interest free period however with the move, the money was needed to move and for flooring so had to use an empty cc i had with a high interest rate.

Before the move, my budgeting was brilliant, everything was accounted for and i was slowly getting to grips with everything but now thats shot.

The loan is interest free but i am aiming to get it paid off before the end of the year, at about £178 a month.

I don't want to use the £500 savings i have as i like having a cushion in case of the unexpected but is the budget i have now created, feasible?
Any more ideas i will take on board.
thanks


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2068.43
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2068.43

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 415.87
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 42
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 18.2
Car Insurance........................... 29.87
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
charity................................. 2
parents presents........................ 15
boys brigade camp....................... 10
holiday................................. 50
child's christmas....................... 20
child's birthday........................ 10
christmas............................... 20
cattery................................. 0
new passport............................ 6.24
pocket money............................ 20
savings................................. 50
bank fee................................ 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 1420.3


Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 501

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card 1..................155.......10........30.9
credit card 2..................155.......10........26.9
credit card 3..................300.......7.5.......29.9
credit card 5 .................899.......42........35.9
loan...........................713.......178.......0
credit card 4..................500.......14.6......45.9
Total unsecured debts..........2722......262.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,068.43
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,420.3
Available for debt repayments........... 648.13
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 262.1
Amount left after debt repayments....... 386.03

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 501
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,722
Net Assets.............................. -2,221

HappyMJ

Personally I'd be cutting almost everything to get rid of those high interest credit cards ASAP. Once you've done that then you can return to normal spending and clear the interest free loan at christmas.

I would put the £500 of savings towards the credit cards. If you need emergency money in the future then use the credit card again. You'll save much more in interest. At 36% interest £2,000 is costing you £60 a month for no reason at all.

Tixy

Hi and welcome

A few initial thoughts on your SoA

Do you get any child benefit for your son?

You don't seem to have water rates included, is it included in your rent? or are you NI and is it included in council tax?

Is £120 a year enough to cover car servicing, MOT, things like new tyres etc?

Did you mean to have holiday in twice at £50 each time?

Given the very high aprs on the cards I'd probably try to cut back on a few things until they are cleared, e.g. new savings at £50, perhaps a reduction in entertainment for a few months?

What benefits do you get for the £15 bank fee? are they worth £180 a year? do you use them?

Looks like a comprehensive budget though in terms of remembering the sundry items you need to budget for.

pearlsasinger

thanks for your replies. maybe i should hammer everything at the debts to get them away before the new year., would that be doable, and start the new year with a clean slate>

im loathe to do that though

pearlsasinger

forgot to add, i have an available overdraft of £1000 i could use if i want at an apr of 19.9%.
should i use this to clear the cc

HappyMJ

pearlsasinger wrote: »

thanks for your replies. maybe i should hammer everything at the debts to get them away before the new year., would that be doable, and start the new year with a clean slate>

im loathe to do that though

pearlsasinger wrote: »

forgot to add, i have an available overdraft of £1000 i could use if i want at an apr of 19.9%.
should i use this to clear the cc

Yes it is doable...it just means not going out and using the entertainment money quite so much for the next few months.. You can still go out...just don't spend £200 a month doing it.

Yes use the cheapest form of debt possible paying off the one with the highest interest rate first and the one with the lowest interest rate last.

Change bank accounts....£15 a month is too much to pay for a bank account.

Once christmas arrives it is very tempting to use them again for gifts. You must not use them again. Any credit card charging much higher than around 12% interest (1% per month) is not needed at all unless it's an absolute emergency....and with those stupidly high rates charged on our cards I'd just be closing them down and getting ones with much lower interest rates. If you've paid everything on time up till now your credit rating should be enough to support that.

From now on...ignore everything on the Very site...it's all overpriced unless you see a hot hotukdeal posted. If you want something save for it and buy it elsewhere do not buy on BNPL again....they charge much more than other retailers to account for the cost of the BNPL.

You have Holiday allocated twice...do you have 2 holidays that you are paying off or just the one? Are you actually paying one off? My last holiday was a weekend in Wales costing £9.75 each for four people. You can get them so much cheaper.

19lottie82

Less than £30 a week for 2 people seems very low, especially considering you have a teenage boy! are you sure that's right?

And as someone else pointed out, why are you not claiming child benefit?

wegle

pearlsasinger wrote: »

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2068.43
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0 Do you receive Child Benefit?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2068.43

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 415.87
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 Is this included in rent?
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 42 This is expensive, how many phones is this for?
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0 No internet at home?
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 18.2
Car Insurance........................... 29.87
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 You should have something here. At least 2 dental check ups a year for the two of you.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 Worth looking into, not expensive and can get great deal through cashback website.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 This should be £65 based on your below presents detailed. This can come down
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 100 This is high.
Holiday................................. 50 This should probably come down or got rid of completely until debts are clear
Emergency fund.......................... 0 You need something here.
charity................................. 2 Charity starts at home, you need the money more at the moment
parents presents........................ 15 As above for Presents
boys brigade camp....................... 10
holiday................................. 50 You've put this in twice
child's christmas....................... 20 As above for presents
child's birthday........................ 10 As above for presents
christmas............................... 20As above for presents
cattery................................. 0 Should there have been a figure here
new passport............................ 6.24
pocket money............................ 20 Is this your child's or yours?
savings................................. 50
bank fee................................ 15 Downgrade your account if you are not making use of at least £15 worth of benefits
Total monthly expenses.................. 1420.3


Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 501

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card 1..................155.......10........30.9
credit card 2..................155.......10........26.9
credit card 3..................300.......7.5.......29.9
credit card 5 .................899.......42........35.9
loan...........................713.......178.......0
credit card 4..................500.......14.6......45.9
Total unsecured debts..........2722......262.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,068.43
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,420.3
Available for debt repayments........... 648.13
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 262.1
Amount left after debt repayments....... 386.03

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 501
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,722
Net Assets.............................. -2,221

You have a really great surplus and one that you could easily make bigger. Even with conservative cutting you could throw £700 a month at your debts which, by using the snowball calculator, would have you debt free by February. :j

pearlsasinger

wegle wrote: »

You have a really great surplus and one that you could easily make bigger. Even with conservative cutting you could throw £700 a month at your debts which, by using the snowball calculator, would have you debt free by February. :j

hiya thanks for all your replies, sorry havent come back sooner.
a few points to explain
chb is included in my income, all lumped together.
water is included in council tax,
mobile phones are for 4 lines,
internet is included in home phone line and groceries im trying to keep to a minimum and my son eats dinner at my parents

pearlsasinger

ps forgot yeah i put holidays in twice, so that takes the surplus up to £436

Moneymash

Other posters have pointed out things I would have said so I won't repeat. However, your petrol costs are 10% of your income, can this be reduced?