My SOA - Help!

Pepperoni

Hi There

I want to try and get my finances under wraps (and pay off my debts). At present, I seem to fritter away money and know that I could claw back. I've already identified some of the areas of my SOA that could be improved - e.g. no holiday, presents, clothes! My main purpose of this is to be able to pay off my debts sooner rather than later (and generally get spending in-line!).

Anyway - thought I would post incase anyone had any further ideas. At the moment my husband is not working - he left his job at the end of December (a decision we do not regret and there was good reason behind it), and has been trying to find a new permanent position. He has been earning some money with temp work - but I have not included this because we haven't actually received any of it yet and its hard to average it out monthly as the money will vary (and work is not guaranteed). We tried to claim JSA but they refused as he left his position without good reason to do so (in their eyes).

Thanks

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................ 1911
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 25
Total monthly income.................... 1936

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 480.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90.83
Electricity............................. 45.1
Gas..................................... 45.1
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 44
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.45
Internet Services....................... 19.45
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 230
Road tax................................ 20.83
Car Insurance........................... 66.67
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 27.5
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..................... 7.66
Contents insurance...................... 7.66
Life assurance ......................... 13.59
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 59
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1899.87


Assets
Cash.................................... 2500
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 135300


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 85000....(480.9)....3.09
Total secured & HP debts...... 85000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan (Car).....................6700......217.......7.9
Credit Card....................6000......60........0
Total unsecured debts..........12700.....277.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,936
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,899.87
Available for debt repayments........... 36.13
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 277
Amount short for making debt repayments. -240.87

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -85,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,700
Net Assets.............................. 37,600

redpete

I guess some kind of shared ownership woith mortgage and rent?

You've spotted the obvious - clothes, entertainment, presents, holiday come to £450. Any reason these couldn't come down to £100 or less, at least until OH gets a job?

Why are petrol costs so high - lots of travelling for work?

Car insurance seems a lot as well. What's the reason for this?

Tixy

Hi

How have you been managing the monthly shortfall so far? are you behind with any repayments? have you been going further in to your credit card each month/using up savings each month

Obviously in the short term at least you need to make some major reductions to remove that £790 shortfall.

Even dropping all spending on clothes, presents, holidays and entertainment for a few months won't make up your whole shortfall.

Has OH been earning enough from the temporary work to make up the remainder of the shortfall?

Have you checked the usual things like ensuring your gas & elec are with the cheapest suppliers/best tariff? looked for cheaper internet/or considered ditching paid TV? Do you try to minimise your journeys by car where possible to save fuel etc?

Pepperoni

Redpete - updated my SOA as I had stupidly put our mortgage payment under mortgage and rent! Sorry - I thought I'd changed it in time / before anyone had seen / replied

No reason at all to not stop the 'extra' expenditure - i.e. holidays, clothes, present - and will be changing / stopping them all. I thought I'd do my SOA based on a 'normal' month - but obviously right now no money is being saved for holidays etc!

Petrol - Yes, I commute.

Insurance - We pay monthly so incur interest there, at the time of renewal we were saving / paying for our wedding so it was the only option (or felt like it anyway...). I'm not sure why they are high - but we always use go compare etc. I'm due to renew mine and it will decrease by £10 a month. I'm also going to use the £2,500 savings to pay it off in full to avoid the £60 interest. Will do the same for my husbands insurance when his is due for renewal, I think his should go down by around £10 too.

Tixy

Redpete - updated my SOA as I had stupidly put our mortgage payment under mortgage and rent! Sorry - I thought I'd changed it in time / before anyone had seen / replied

Ah - that is much better! Whilst still a shortfall obviously it will be manageable by cutting back on those items.

Pepperoni

Tixy wrote: »

How have you been managing the monthly shortfall so far? are you behind with any repayments? have you been going further in to your credit card each month/using up savings each month

We have only been in this situation for 2 months now. Before we had an additional £1,500 which obviously made all the difference! I did my SOA based on a 'normal' month but since January we haven't been saving for holidays, buying new clothes, spending money on entertainment, etc. Should I update my SOA based on 'now'? I just didn't want to post it and confuse people with 'no money for entertainment? really?' etc! Shortfalls have mostly been covered by the savings, admittedly. I'm not behind with any repayments and haven't gone any further into our credit card debt.

Tixy wrote: »

Obviously in the short term at least you need to make some major reductions to remove that £790 shortfall. Even dropping all spending on clothes, presents, holidays and entertainment for a few months won't make up your whole shortfall.

I think you may have got caught up in the old version of my SOA as well (I put my mortgage fee under rent too). Thankfully the shortfall isn't this much - its around £240. I think it can mostly be covered by the removal of the clothing / holiday funds etc. Also with the money my husband is bringing in - maybe I should just include a rough estimate? I'd say minimum he can bring home £500.

Tixy wrote: »

Have you checked the usual things like ensuring your gas & elec are with the cheapest suppliers/best tariff? looked for cheaper internet/or considered ditching paid TV? Do you try to minimise your journeys by car where possible to save fuel etc?

Yes done the above. Our Sky is contract and on 50% at the moment so it will go up - when this happens I will be trying to reduce / remove.

getmore4less

Since this is recent change I would now do a 2014 SOA the how we want it to be one.

Also start a spending diary.

For hubby, I would not count any income and don't put any of his work related expences down either, they can come from the money also try not to spend it yet may be a little if he gets a good weeks work, this income can act as a fall back.


With this 2014 SOA the aim is to get a well ballanced realistic budget that will work and be sustainable on the one income, idealy this will be a long term one that can be used going forward once out of debt as well.

Hubbys income can then be used to get debt free quicker and/or pay for some discretionary spend.

Long term a essentials budget that is sutainable on one income gives you many more choices.

getmore4less

The other thing I would think about doing is the 2013 SOA, if you had 1500pm extra coming in thats £18k + any increase in debt during 2013 to account for.

we don't need to know how or why but it is good to understand where the money went and why for yourselves, this will give clear indications where the cutbacks are going to be so you don't suddenly realise things are missing from your life.

thecassman86

Agree with all suggestions above but also want to add "haircuts" to the list... It's £59 per month!! I'm presuming for that you tend to have colours etc done so it'll be expensive but perhaps until OH gets another job there might be a way to reduce this? I know a lot of people would immediately say to stop it entirely but, from experience with my wife, i know that stopping it entirely isn't always an option!

Pepperoni

Many Thanks - you have all provided very helpful advice and I appreciate that.

Here is an updated SOA - its still not perfect but I'm trying to achieve a balance between perfect and 'fake' (i.e. something that at the time of producing I feel is unrealistic).

I have adapted the columns for 'car' as when giving it more thought - my car is newer than my husbands, and I'd not really allowed for any problems with car service etc for his car - the new SOA allows for this.

I have reduced the presents column. I wish I had the guts to wipe this completely, but I don't feel I can and stick to it. We are quite frugal with who we buy for anyway and how much we spend (I can't imagine not giving our little nieces / nephews anything for their birthday). I have removed any expense for buying each other gifts - we can use our entertainment fund for a meal or similar and that would suit us fine.

I've also reduced the hair column as have spread out the appointments (i.e. go longer without one).

Entertainments stayed the same, and I'm dubious about how realistic it is. I think £250 would be more realistic if I'm honest - but as someone has already pointed out, if husband earns enough from the temp work then we can always take the additional £50 (if 'needed') from there.

Feel free to constructively criticise!


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................ 1911
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 25
Total monthly income.................... 1936

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 490.8
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90.83
Electricity............................. 45.1
Gas..................................... 45.1
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 44
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 12.13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 19.45
Internet Services....................... 19.45
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 230
Road tax................................ 18.33
Car Insurance........................... 66.66
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 38.75
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..................... 7.66
Contents insurance...................... 7.66
Life assurance ......................... 13.59
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 45.83
Haircuts................................ 53.75
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1659.09


Assets
Cash.................................... 2500
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 135300


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 85000....(490.8)....3.06
Total secured & HP debts...... 85000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan (Car).....................6700......217.......7.9
CC.............................6000......60........0
Total unsecured debts..........12700.....277.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,936
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,659.09
Available for debt repayments........... 276.91
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 277
Amount short for making debt repayments. -0.09

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -85,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,700
Net Assets.............................. 37,600

Pepperoni

getmore4less wrote: »

The other thing I would think about doing is the 2013 SOA, if you had 1500pm extra coming in thats £18k + any increase in debt during 2013 to account for.

we don't need to know how or why but it is good to understand where the money went and why for yourselves, this will give clear indications where the cutbacks are going to be so you don't suddenly realise things are missing from your life.

Honestly, I'm ashamed to say I wouldn't know where to start. We did get married last year so a lot of our money went into this (and the expensive honeymoon on the credit card.... amazing time, but I've learned not to rely on the card ever again because it might be a quick fix but you'll be paying it off for a very long time!). We have also been known to be terrible with money and food - takeaways, meals out, popping out for X Y Z every single day. Needless to say this has all dramatically reduced. We also wouldn't think twice about going to do X Y Z, and we gave ourselves 'spending' money which we now don't.