My new SOA can any improvements be made?

sistafromanothermista

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1580
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1270
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2970

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 749
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 30
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 137
Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 58
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 52
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 433.33
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 240
Road tax................................ 13
Car Insurance........................... 22
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 3.33
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22
Buildings insurance..................... 6.5
Contents insurance...................... 6.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 2023.78


Assets
Cash.................................... 750
House value (Gross)..................... 175000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 183750


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 162000...(749)......2.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 120......(30).......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 162120....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
cc1............................2996......30........0
cc2............................3233......32........0
Total unsecured debts..........6229......62........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,970
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,023.78
Available for debt repayments........... 946.22
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 62
Amount left after debt repayments....... 884.22

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 183,750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -162,120
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,229
Net Assets.............................. 15,401

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

sistafromanothermista

I also wanted to add that some of my petrol costs are covered by expenses but this varies each month.
Have just switched gas and electric to a cheaper tariff which is dual fuel @ £118 per month. We're in credit by £27 as we haven't had the heating on yet :money:
Mobiles are both in contract. Mine until next Oct, DH until next April.
Car insurance is cheap as DH has paid his off in full so just mine on SOA.
Shopping, we stick to a strict budget of £100 pw and never go over. 5/7 dinners a week are prepared from scratch.

Any tips on how else we can save?

sistafromanothermista

Is that a no then? :rotfl:

haycorns

Tell us more about how medical costs are made up - would a prescription prepayment certificate work for you? do you have and NHS dentist

haycorns

pet insurance - what animals is this for.
Petrol - again quite a lot . Car you cut this down by walking short journeys?

Moneymash

My comment is about the prescriptions too. I think pre-payment is about £29 a month so unless your prescriptions cost more than this, it's not worth it.

I am on some medication for the next 6 months or so and found out that B**ts charge me prescription price £7.85, but LL*yds only charge me £4.14 over the counter as long as I show my prescription first. The only reason I found out about this was because B**ts messed up another prescription so I took my business elsewhere, otherwise I would have remained with B**ts and continued to pay full price.

Are you in the right council tax band?

Pet insurance, beware if you shop around and take out a new policy. If your animal has a pre-existing condition which occurs within say 14 days (this can vary depending on insurance provider could be as long as 30 days) of taking out a new policy they won't pay out. Is it a good idea to save money in a savings account rather than pay a premium so you are self -insuring, you could start by saving £22 a month for a while, then drop this to say £15 to make a saving.

Are you doing all you can to reduce petrol usage, I think there is a guide on this site, no roof rack, well inflated tyres, only half filling the tank etc?

Also, just wanted to say I follow your diary and you are doing really well, I fully expect to see you on the MFW board in the near future.

sistafromanothermista

Moneymash wrote: »

My comment is about the prescriptions too. I think pre-payment is about £29 a month so unless your prescriptions cost more than this, it's not worth it.

My £24 is for my contact lenses every month

I am on some medication for the next 6 months or so and found out that B**ts charge me prescription price £7.85, but LL*yds only charge me £4.14 over the counter as long as I show my prescription first. The only reason I found out about this was because B**ts messed up another prescription so I took my business elsewhere, otherwise I would have remained with B**ts and continued to pay full price.

Are you in the right council tax band?

It's a new build so i would assume so

Pet insurance, beware if you shop around and take out a new policy. If your animal has a pre-existing condition which occurs within say 14 days (this can vary depending on insurance provider could be as long as 30 days) of taking out a new policy they won't pay out. Is it a good idea to save money in a savings account rather than pay a premium so you are self -insuring, you could start by saving £22 a month for a while, then drop this to say £15 to make a saving.

I took advice from here and went with Axa who were cheaper than our previous Tesco
Are you doing all you can to reduce petrol usage, I think there is a guide on this site, no roof rack, well inflated tyres, only half filling the tank etc?

Yep
Also, just wanted to say I follow your diary and you are doing really well, I fully expect to see you on the MFW board in the near future.

:happyhear Thanks :cool::T

sistafromanothermista

haycorns wrote: »

pet insurance - what animals is this for.
Petrol - again quite a lot . Car you cut this down by walking short journeys?

It's for a little dog
Walking not an option unfortunately
DH works 20min drive away (not on bus route) and my job is a driving job.

MrsGSR

My DH gets his contact lenses, eye tests, cleaner, appointments for £11 a month. There is an article on the main site for getting it cheaper so may be worth looking at.

MrsGSR

Also could you shave £10 maybe £20 a week off your shopping bill? Maybe by switching supermarkets or making sure you use your store cupboard and freezer well. We have a £150 budget a month for the 4 of us but it's not really enough so we will be upping it to £200 for a month to see how it goes. Maybe that could be worth a try?

sistafromanothermista

MrsGSR wrote: »

My DH gets his contact lenses, eye tests, cleaner, appointments for £11 a month. There is an article on the main site for getting it cheaper so may be worth looking at.

That's something i definitely want to look into. I think i need to find out my prescription though.
That's the next thing i'll do. Thanks MrsGSR


With regards to the shopping, we have cut down from £150 pw to £100pw, we now do the main shop at Aldi with the other bits at Asda. Some weeks we're under. Although we like to buy the meat from the butchers due to the quality on offer at the supermarkets.
We usually spend around £40 at Aldi, £30 at Asda then £20-£25 at the butchers.