Just done the SOA - determined to get rid of this debt!

breakingbad

Ok thank you for all your replies. I have taken getmore4less's advice and have created a much more focused SOA just for me (with £600 going to household bills). This is it:


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2156.43
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2156.43
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 239.9
Mobile phone............................ 40
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Car Insurance........................... 34.51
Contents insurance...................... 5.26
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 100
CreditExpert............................ 2.99
(Football) Season Ticket................ 60
Trade Union Membership Fee.............. 13.95
Current Account Fee..................... 15
Household Bills......................... 600 <<this covers all rent, utilities etc.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1406.61

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........(0)........0<
Car Lease......................0........(239.9)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
BarclayLoan....................8637.88...266.6.....13.9
Nationwide CreditCard..........1828......45.24.....19.9
Natwest Platinum Card..........2283......51.38.....16.95
0% Furniture Credit............817.03....74.26.....0
Total unsecured debts..........13565.91..437.48....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,156.43
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,406.61
Available for debt repayments........... 749.82
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 437.48
Amount left after debt repayments....... 312.34
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,565.91
Net Assets.............................. -13,565.91
Created using the SOA calculator at stoozing.com
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


As you can see, this leaves me with £312.34 remaining each month (with just making the minimum payments on cards etc). I will be trying to put as much as possible of this towards the Nationwide CC.


I have also created a mini-SOA for the household bills, taking into account both my wife's and my contributions:


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Total monthly income.................... 1200[/b]
Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 800
Council tax............................. 153.36
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 30
Water rates............................. 27.53
Telephone (land line)................... 15
TV Licence.............................. 24
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32
Internet Services....................... 26
Contents insurance...................... 5.26
Total monthly expenses.................. 1143.15
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,143.15
Available for debt repayments........... 56.85
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 56.85

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


So this £56.85 which remains in the joint account each month accumulates into a household savings/emergency fund.


Regarding the cars - my wife works 20miles south from where we live and I work 20miles north, so unfortunately we do need 2 cars. The season ticket is not a public transport ticket, it is a football ticket (which I know I don't need!).


FBaby - the debt slowly mounted up through 5 years at university, then I was out of work for almost a year (before I started teaching) which added to it significantly. Other than that, I would say it's just been bad money management.


Thanks,


Gary

[Deleted User]

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

£30 a month for electric and gas seems very low

The SOA is only for the OP's half of the bills, so it's really £60 for electric and gas.

Tabatha_Kitten

Well done posting the 2 SOA's.
We can see a much clearer picture now.

In our house we pool the money, pay the bills and debts then split whats left (which aint a lot !) but each to their own as to how they work a joint budget - as long as it works for you it doesnt matter !

One thing which really stands out to me now is that there is no allowance in either of the budgets for car maintenance and repairs.
A few things needing doing when one of the cars went in for a service and my budget used to fly straight out of the window.
It was only when I started allowing for the big "one offs" that I ever started to get on top of my debt problems.

[Deleted User]

Tabatha_Kitten wrote: »

One thing which really stands out to me now is that there is no allowance in either of the budgets for car maintenance and repairs.

Don't know about the OP's partner's car, but the OP's car is on a 24 month rental deal so, presumably, maintenance and repairs are included in the rental deal.

Tabatha_Kitten

Possibly, but to be honest Bob I was using the car thing as just an example.
We all have our own personal "one offs" we have to deal with whatever they may be and I really dont thing the £55 surplus the op has in the joint budget is anywhere near enough for any budget to work.

getmore4less

Current account fee. Same fee we have ours on a joint account and both get the benefits individually (Barclays) handy as we travel separately sometimes.

patman99

Op, check your contents insurance. All of the policies I have had over the last 5 years included mobile phone insurance anyway at no extra costs.
Take that away and that £180 looks very expensive for what is left. Full RAC package (personal rather than car) with a discount for not using it £75 p/a.
As you have the car on a lease plan I would expect such a plan to include free call-outs and roadside recovery and homestart as the car is still under manufacturers warranty.

My advice would be as follows -

Check contents insurance to see if it covers mobile phone
Check with dealership to see if you already have cover for breakdowns.

If answer to the 2 questions above is yes and yes, then cancel the £15 fee and use it to add to the overpayments on the credit cards.

Look at a 0% credit card (Halifax now do a 30 month 0% card). You can then transfer as much of the Nationwide debt to it as possible & pay it at minimum payments.
Throw all your spare cash at the remaining Nationwide c/card balance until paid-off, then do the same with the NatWest c/card & finally the 0% card.

If you have a good credit history & it appears you have a good wage, you might strike lucky & get a limit on the 0% card high-enough to actually transfer all the Nationwide debt + some/all the NatWest debt across. The saving on interest will be massive. If you manage this, do not forget to cancel the card once you have transferred the balance from it so it no longer shows on your credit history.

getmore4less

garmcqui wrote: »

Ok thank you for all your replies. I have taken getmore4less's advice and have created a much more focused SOA just for me (with £600 going to household bills). This is it:


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
.... snip .....

I have also created a mini-SOA for the household bills, taking into account both my wife's and my contributions:


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Total monthly income.................... 1200
Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 800
Council tax............................. 153.36
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 30
Water rates............................. 27.53
Telephone (land line)................... 15
TV Licence.............................. 24
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32
Internet Services....................... 26
Contents insurance...................... 5.26
Total monthly expenses.................. 1143.15
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,200
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,143.15
Available for debt repayments........... 56.85
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 56.85

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


So this £56.85 which remains in the joint account each month accumulates into a household savings/emergency fund.

Nice job.....

I would keep this surplus in the joint SOA even if you manage to cut the bills(rent and council tax chew most of it so not much to cut back on anyway), there will always be joint things that come up to use it unless it gets very big.

getmore4less

good point about the account, you don't need it if you have the lease car and won't be going on holiday as much and mobile, they are so cheap they don't need insuring these days(unless you have more than a mobile but that's not mobile its a gadget).

Get an ovivo sim a cheap phone(people throw out old ones) and stop loosing them.

getmore4less

Football season ticket.

£60pm

how often do you go?

can you sell your seat if you can't(afford) go?

when you do go what is the extra cost.. travel, food, drink, going out after.

How much does each match really cost?

Not saying don't go,

just value it against the other things you need/want to do.

Does the OH do the footy?