Scary... SOA

diamond

It's time for me to admit I am struggling financially. I have to do something about this.

I'm actually shocked that having been a member of MSE for almost 10 years that it's only now I realise things are out of control.

Just a little clarification on some things. I pay rent and mortgage as I live in Shared Ownership. Managed to get my morgtage to be interest only when I was made redundant and have made it stay that way. I have applied to Housing Benefit but because of my part time income and benefits it will look like I have a ton of money leftover. Feeling quite sick about all this to be honest. I have tried setting up work from home but my P/T hours are within school hours and then by the time I put my son to bed after all the household chores I am not very affective. Judging by the state of this SOA I can't use this as an excuse I need to start making some extra dough.

Anyway here we go...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1056.65
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 421.1
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1477.75

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 86.49
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 268.4
Rent.................................... 355.31
Management charge (leasehold property).. 127.42
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 75
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 44.92
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 32
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................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Account Fee............................. 25
Mentor.................................. 100
Mortgage Insurance...................... 26.38
Family Equity Plan...................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1443.1


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(86.49)....0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1809.3...(168.4)....0<
Rent Arrears...................1790.17..(100)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 3599.47...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Monument Card..................194.35....30........0
M&S Card.......................1463.5....60........0
TSB Card.......................950.23....25........5.9
Accountant Bill................500.......50........0
Business Bank Account..........183.19....10........0
Total unsecured debts..........3291.27...175.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,477.75
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,443.1
Available for debt repayments........... 34.65
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 175
Amount short for making debt repayments. -140.35

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -3,599.47
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,291.27
Net Assets.............................. -6,890.74

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

I had all these big ideas about snowballing but can't. Lookiung at things I could cut back on....

Mobile phone - a bit stuck as I had to take out a contract earlier this year that I am stuck in. I lost my iphone that I had saved up for and was sim free. I wasn't insured and needed a phone desperately. Alas am now on contract including insurance. Which I am glad I have as phone was pickpocketed the other day and received a new replacement pronto.

Sky, phone and internet are all in one. Managed to reduce the TV part of the package as I threatened to leave but line rental, broadband and calls are all in one. Call charges were high this month as I spent almost 2 hours one day trying to deal with the bank, 0845 number!

I also forgot to include bus fare to work £1.40 a day.

Going to cancel my business mentor as this £100 a month I clearly cannot afford.

The M&S Credit Card payment isn't a minimum payment it is just what I have always paid.

Hmm seems I am just writing now and it's making no sense at all. The more I write the further away I am from crying!

Help! Suggestions welcome

HKitten

Have you considered dropping Sky altogether? I'm with plusnet for my phone line and broadband, and I pay for netflix. All of that costs me about £26 a month.

If you make calls to premium numbers, download an app to your phone that lets you make calls to 0845 numbers for free (or rather, includes them in your plan).

Bus fare - can you get a monthly bus ticket instead of paying every day? Where I live, getting a monthly ticket costs half what buying an individual ticket for every journey would.

What is the account fee for?

I notice you're paying £50 for petrol but you get the bus to work every day. What other journeys are you making that are costing you so much? Could you cut them down?

Food bill - for yourself and a child, I reckon you could cut that down. I feed myself and my partner on £100 a month (ish). Do you cook from scratch? Do you buy ready meals? What do you think you spend a lot of money on there?

Tixy

Hi

Things certainly look tough on your SoA.

Is your income from self-employment? or is that emplyed part time hours and you are then hoping to run a business alongside?

Agree about the business mentor in the short term. What was this? might you qualify for free mentoring through something like princes trust?

If you cancelled that and if you did drop the M&S to minimum would that just about mean you would breakeven as a starting point to work from?

Any chance of any maintenance from your child's other parent (assuming that they have one)?

Your costs (aside from housing related) are pretty low already so there isn't likely to be loads you can do to reduce those. That said what about changing to a fee free bank account to save the £25? and to reduce the sky even further (or drop sky altogether and find a cheaper landline/internet)? Is the mortgage insurance a good deal considering your low mortgage repayment? did you claim on this when you were made redundant?

What item do you have on HP?

Whilst your debts are not high it does look like its going to be tough for you to get out of them, unless you can up your income somehow. Could you work any longer hours in your p/t job?

Is a car essential if you are commuting by bus?

JimmyTheWig

Is the management charge really £127 a month?

Cycrow

you have a car, yet you are not paying any tax or insurance on, or nothing for maintenance?

if the car is the HP, then maybe consider getting rid of the car, especially as it doesn't seem like you are using it for work ?

dinky201

Could try and research into what you and your partner could claim working tax, jobseekers etc... could ask for claim booklet from the stationary office.
also could save coppers, sell junk at car bootsale or ebay etc...
Could do something extra like bar work or babysitting too

I pay £10 per month on my mobile maybe you could look at going pay as you go.

If your having trouble paying secured loan maybe could get payments reduced or intrest freezed. Creditors should listen and not allowed to make you make unrealistic payments. could get help from finacial adviser on that.

tallyhoh

Is the £25 account fee paying for itself? Have you checked the details of your mortgage insurance carefully, sometimes its really worthless.

Is the bus fare for your child? Is the car worth it, you have only mentioned petrol but no running costs. For example my car is paid for but with MOT, service, tax & insurance & breakdown cover it costs approx. £150 a month BEFORE petrol costs. Any way of alternative travel?

theoretica

Shop arround for the mortgage insurance too - that looks high to me. What does it cover? I hope you are not paying £26 a month just to cover an £86 payment!

ellesbellesxxx

Hi
Your landline, mobile package = 100 a month.
25 a month for account fee
100 for business mentor
Electricity = 75

are the things that really stand out to me. Do you have storage heaters or something? For 2 of you that seems a lot - for 2 of us, we use 45 between us a month!