Statement of affairs - read it and weep!

Beetle

So everyone this is my SOA as of, well. Today.
I am in the process of finding out what rate my mortgage is but I think it's fixed at 5.65% until Nov09 but will double check. I have not taken into consideration our spends for haircuts, Birthday presents, holidays, clothes, car maintenance, car tax, news magazines, savings etc as it's too big a deal at this moment for me to admit to as it was only yesterday I put a post on "its official I'm crap with money". So here goes, looking forward to hearing from you all. Ask me any questions about our outgoings as it would complicate things if I added a reason why everything is with certain providers etc; hope you get my meaning.
Thanks in advance.

BRITISH GAS - GAS (Swapped to British gas & electricity joint Mar07)42.00
BRITISH GAS - ELECTRICITY 28.00
BRITISH GAS - HOMECARE 20.66
WATER 25.37
HALIFAX MORTGAGE (Fixed 533.89)
MONEYBACK BANK LOAN 106.96
VIRGIN MEDIA (basic TV/Phone/Broadband) 43.75
COUNCIL TAX 104.00
TRUST FUND 20.00
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 1 (Cheapest quotes) 33.11
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 2 (Cheapest quotes) 50.04
LEGAL & GENERAL 15.48
LEGAL & GENERAL 9.13
LIFE COVER 38.16
TV LICENCE 11.37
ORANGE MOBILES (£35/mth x2 plus calls) 89.34
PENSION 104.15
NORWICH UNION HOME & CONTENTS 34.35
DENTIST 18.90
EGG CARD (£4680 o/s) 100.00
TED CARD (£100 o/s) 5.00
TUNNEL TAG 50.00
CONTACT LENSES 20.00
GROCERY BILL (May07) 260.98
FUEL BILL (May07) 216.60
GRAND OUT TOTAL 1981.24
MR - SALARY AFTER TAX O/T & BONUS NOT INCLUDED 1325.83
MRS - SALARY (Childcare deducted using Leapfrog scheme £161.20) 625.67
TAX CREDITS/CHILD BENEFIT 110.75
IN TOTAL 2062.25
SPENDS 81.01

moneysavingwannabe

Hi,

Ok so I'm not much good at advice but I have noticed you have 2 mobiles with orange, but BB etc with Virgin have you considered their 4 for £40 package?

Otherwise phone them threaten to leave and they should give you a better deal!

I'm sure better advice will be along shortly!

Beetle

Thanks for that re mobiles but we're tied in until September 08 and won't be able to move.
Just remembered, have further questions:
1.) Mr & I both have our wages paid into separate accounts (his with Barclays robbing swines where all bills come from, and mine with A&L where food, fuel etc is paid). We were considering putting everything into the one account i.e. A&L and claiming bank charges back from Barclays £750+ for last then close the account. Do you agree?
2.) Mr gets paid overtime and bonus most months. We should be surviving without these. When he does have a good month, do you think we should put it away into a saving account for holidays, clothes, haircuts etc?
3.) I've been offered permanent extra hours at work and have accepted. Even after childcare we will still be better off by £120/mth. As for rushing home to feed our boy, well he eats one hot meal at nursery. He's happy with snacks when he gets home such as cereal, crackers, fruit etc.
4.) We both take packed lunches into work.
5.) Every lightbulb in the house is energy saving bar about 12 bulbs. Even the hob lights are energy saving ones!
6.) Do you think we should do away with our dentist? It's a private dentist and our teeth are perfect. Surely we can get a scale and polish once a year at an NHS dentist more cheaper?
7.) Husband is a mechanic - instant car savings.

I think thats it. For now anyway!

pania

hiya there. welldone for posting and such a good SOA to!! so lets take a look and please don't despair you're in the right place.

Beetle wrote: »

BRITISH GAS - GAS (Swapped to British gas & electricity joint Mar07)42.00
BRITISH GAS - ELECTRICITY 28.00
BRITISH GAS - HOMECARE 20.66 is this a necesary expenditure at mo. do you have an old boiler or can this be foregone for now?
WATER 25.37
HALIFAX MORTGAGE (Fixed 533.89)
MONEYBACK BANK LOAN 106.96whats the interst rate on this and how much is outstanding?
VIRGIN MEDIA (basic TV/Phone/Broadband) 43.75looking alittle expensive there. any chance of swapping to freeview if on a basic package? and reducing the phone and broadband package? or do you have lots of teenage chatterboxes that would make this counter productive?
COUNCIL TAX 104.00
TRUST FUND 20.00may be better to put towards your debt for now and recommenced when things are a tad easier.
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 1 (Cheapest quotes) 33.11
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 2 (Cheapest quotes) 50.04 Take a look on quidco and see if you can get a cheaper or similar deal with cahsback. favourite trick here at the mo!
LEGAL & GENERAL 15.48
LEGAL & GENERAL 9.13
LIFE COVER 38.16are the above three life critical illness and mortgage payment insurance? Seem reasonable.
TV LICENCE 11.37
ORANGE MOBILES (£35/mth x2 plus calls) 89.34Yeouch!!! read martins tips on how to batter them down somewhat to a lower tariff.
PENSION 104.15 seems counter productive paying this much money per month for the future when you need the money today. see if you can put this on hold a while.
NORWICH UNION HOME & CONTENTS 34.35
DENTIST 18.90
EGG CARD (£4680 o/s) 100.00 What is the limit and interest rate on this?
TED CARD (£100 o/s) 5.00as above
TUNNEL TAG 50.00
CONTACT LENSES 20.00
GROCERY BILL (May07) 260.98have a look at old style board for ideas on how to reduce this.
FUEL BILL (May07) 216.60
GRAND OUT TOTAL 1981.24
MR - SALARY AFTER TAX O/T & BONUS NOT INCLUDED 1325.83
MRS - SALARY (Childcare deducted using Leapfrog scheme £161.20) 625.67
TAX CREDITS/CHILD BENEFIT 110.75
IN TOTAL 2062.25
SPENDS 81.01

ok, so a few things there to think about. Also do you have anything that you cna ebay or amazon to get some money together? how about mystery shopping at the weekends. a few more suggestions to come but don't want to bamboozle you to start with!! Goodluck p xx

Sea78

Beetle wrote: »

So everyone this is my SOA as of, well. Today.
I am in the process of finding out what rate my mortgage is but I think it's fixed at 5.65% until Nov09 but will double check. I have not taken into consideration our spends for haircuts, Birthday presents, holidays, clothes, car maintenance, car tax, news magazines, savings etc as it's too big a deal at this moment for me to admit to as it was only yesterday I put a post on "its official I'm crap with money". So here goes, looking forward to hearing from you all. Ask me any questions about our outgoings as it would complicate things if I added a reason why everything is with certain providers etc; hope you get my meaning.
Thanks in advance.

BRITISH GAS - GAS (Swapped to British gas & electricity joint Mar07)42.00
BRITISH GAS - ELECTRICITY 28.00
BRITISH GAS - HOMECARE 20.66
WATER 25.37
HALIFAX MORTGAGE (Fixed 533.89)
MONEYBACK BANK LOAN 106.96
VIRGIN MEDIA (basic TV/Phone/Broadband) 43.75
COUNCIL TAX 104.00
TRUST FUND 20.00
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 1 (Cheapest quotes) 33.11
ROYAL SUN ALLIANCE CAR 2 (Cheapest quotes) 50.04
LEGAL & GENERAL 15.48What's this for?
LEGAL & GENERAL 9.13
LIFE COVER 38.16
TV LICENCE 11.37
ORANGE MOBILES (£35/mth x2 plus calls) 89.34Can you not get the free broadband from this? Could you cut this back at all?
PENSION 104.15
NORWICH UNION HOME & CONTENTS 34.35This seems high - have you checked it?
DENTIST 18.90
EGG CARD (£4680 o/s) 100.00
TED CARD (£100 o/s) 5.00what's this?
TUNNEL TAG 50.00Sorry, being a bit dim - what's this for?
CONTACT LENSES 20.00
GROCERY BILL (May07) 260.98for 3 of you? You could cut this down a bit - take a look at the os boards for more help on this
FUEL BILL (May07) 216.60EEK! This is quite a bit - do you both drive a lot?
GRAND OUT TOTAL 1981.24
MR - SALARY AFTER TAX O/T & BONUS NOT INCLUDED 1325.83
MRS - SALARY (Childcare deducted using Leapfrog scheme £161.20) 625.67
TAX CREDITS/CHILD BENEFIT 110.75
IN TOTAL 2062.25
SPENDS 81.01

Can you get the childcare deducted from Mr's salary as Mrs' salary is less, so you'd get more of a saving from Mr's?

Sorry to be a bit vague - will have a think about al this and get back on it tomorrow Well done for posting all this. I know it's hard work!

Sea xx

brainfreeze

Personal opinion....if the pension is part of a work one where the employer pays a fair bit in as well I would think twice about giving this up or putting it on hold. I would try and cut back everywhere else before giving this commitment up.

If it's your own pension plan then maybe see if you can put it on hold.

Beetle

-Homecare - boiler is 15yrs old, we'll stop this payment and knowing our luck it will pack in!
-Moneyback bank £5k outstanding 5.7% APR
-Virgin media is £35/mth plus calls. Should we stop it and switch to freeview? We use the computer quite a lot (i.e now!)
-Car insurance with RSA because my Dad is an ICI pensionholder and as part of his scheme he can introduce family to their cheap insurance deal. No one has ever come close in the last 5yrs and I check every year.
-Will stop pension.
-Egg card is 16.9% APR at the moment £5k balance switching to Halifax 0% on balance transfers for 9mths
-Ted card (Ted Baker chargecard) 19.5% APR £100 balance will move to 0% deal when it comes
-Can't get free broadband with orange as are on Telewest, you need a BT line
-Tunnel tag is for cheap travel through Mersey tunnels saves us 50p a day paying £50/mth
-Fuel. Have a skoda and a volvo estate. I use Volvo for work and we use it as our main car. Mr drives 48miles per day in skoda. We are looking to change to a diesel when we move house as one of us will be doing a longer journey then the other at some point.
-Childcare. My company do a deal, its easier if I pay straight from my salary.

We are thinking of taking a mortgage payment holiday. Any thoughts?
Also, we have our house on the market with a view to moving nearer my parents a) to save on childcare and b) be nearer family! We have made £60k profit (on paper) if we sell now. We intend to clear all debts with some of the profit with still enough leftover to put a good chunk deposit down on a house.

blackangeluk

Hiya,

was going to post about your SOA but think everyone has said everything I had thought of :rolleyes:

I agree about stopping the pension, seems pointless when that amount could be paid off a debt.

If you take a mortgage break you need to bear in mind that your monthly payment will probably be higher when you resume payments and work out if you can afford it.

Good luck

CLAPTON

the SOA has to be what you actually earn and what you actually spend .. well actually what you expect to earn in the next 12 months (divided by 12) and what you expect to spend over the next 12 months (divide by 12).

So its essential to put everything down otherwise there is no way you know if you are spending more than your income or less.

so if you are going to spend anything atall over the next 12 months on clothes, car tax, servicing, MOT, AA/RAC, repairs, kids activities, birthday presents, xmas expenses, holidays, haircuts, holidays, socialising, hobbies, magazines or what ever then it must be included.
Similarly if OH earn bonuses overtime then you need to estimate these two and add them to the budget.
Only then can you see the picture of your finances.

Kaz2904

DO NOT STOP YOUR PENSION. DO NOT STOP YOUR PENSION. DO NOT STOP YOUR PENSION. DO NOT STOP YOUR PENSION. DO NOT STOP YOUR PENSION.

The younger you are when you start a pension, the more time there is for interest to build up. You would have to pay far far far more than you do now to get the same benfits if you stop paying into it for a while. You can get out of debt and it is going to take some time but for heavens sake don't jeopardise your financial future by doing something so rash!

Ok here are my thoughts.
Ditch homecare, boiler is probably not covered at that age anyway!
Change to sky speak surf etc package (you need a BT line for this too though, why do you not have one?)
Stop trust fund- you are getting charged 1.5ish% per year for managing the fund anyway and could earn as well yourself. Also whats the point in little jonny having £20k when he reaches 18 when his ma and pa don't have a pot to pi$$ in- he'll probably go and blow it all on tat as we all did at 18!
I cannot believe the price of the car insurance- do you have points?
What are the legal and general payments? If they are life, critical illness and payment protection insurance then reconsider the need for PPI?
Life cover seems high?
How much do you use your mobiles? Surely it would be better to get a higher cost contract and not pay out for going over the minutes? Why do you use it so much anyway? If it's for work then claim it back or stop and if it's for socialising then get a free evening and weekend call package and just call landlines. Mobiles haven't been around for that long and aren't a necessity!
Look around for cheaper contact lenses- I heard someone say they got theirs for £8? Get them via a cashback website too!
Reduce your grocery bill and meal plan. You said that LO is happy with snacks in the evening but sooner or later you need to start him having proper food at the table with Mum and Dad even if it is only a salad or a sandwich or some sort of light meal. It may work out cheaper for you and will certainly be better for him! I take it you work all day- how about a crock pot to help your day run smoothly? Nothing lovelier than walking through the door to dinner that just has to be served up- quicker than junk food! When it's hot like this I tend to make up a huge bowl of salad for a couple of days and lunches. I stick in all the feta cheese and mozzarella, peppers, carrots, raisins etc, stir it round and bung it in the fridge. I then have "quick" extras on standby such as jackets and tuna or crusta bread or quick cook pasta. That'll sort me for 2 evenings and 1-2 lunches for me and the boy!
Fuel bill- WOW, thought of burning nappies?

If you can't get a BT line then I would examine the cost of virgin BB as I for one could not afford to be without my BB.
Refer DH to A&L via quidco and earn £40 each (for debt repayment!). They will give you an interest free od provided you can prove your current OD. Then reclaim your charges for 6 years!

If you do these and get rid of the dental plan then you could be looking at an outlay of £1820 per month. I save £140 per month for yearly expenses such as insurances taxes and birthdays/christmas. As you are starting this now you can re-examine the way you feel about birthdays/christmas and the spending involved. If you join pigsback then you ought to be able to earn at least £80 of vouchers towards boots or such between you and DH before christmas. Do you and DH need new clothes yet? If not then only buy for LO and when people ask what to get him for gifts say clothes or clothing vouchers. This limits the mess in the house and as he's not there all the time he doesn't need so many!
If you saved £140 a month then you would have £100 surplus monthly. If you used £70 of this for debt servicing and £30 to set up an emergency pot then after a few bonus payments you could have a decent pot.
I would suggest £200ish. Once this is built up to a level then you can use all of your money to snowball your debts.
If you go to https://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx then you can enter all of the details to see how long it will take you to become debt free.
You can then have a bit of fun by being even more inventive and trying to make it happen quicker!
Good luck with your new life!

Gemmzie

Beetle wrote: »

-Homecare - boiler is 15yrs old, we'll stop this payment and knowing our luck it will pack in!

If your boiler is 15 years old then it won't cover you anyway, we found this out the hard way