My SOA - Help!

asparagus1968

i'd put £500 from savings into a separate emergency account, then try and forget its there!

when do you go on matty leave?

what will your income be then if OH not got a job by then?

Fmess

Hi

Good luck on your debt busting journey and with your pregnancy.

The biggest difference we found for saving money was to swap to shopping at Aldi. We are able to get all our shopping for a maximum of £200 a month and really, if we tried, I think it'd be £150. I might try this next month.

If I was you, I would pay off the ccard as a priority as when you go on maternity leave you will probably have a lot less coming in, so it will be difficult to pay it off and it'll go from 9% to 17%. Your loan has a lower interest rate so this can wait a little longer to be paid off. I have done this and the ccard should be gone by June and it feels brilliant to know I'll only have one debt.

Well done on taking the first steps

Pepperoni

asparagus1968 wrote: »

i'd put £500 from savings into a separate emergency account, then try and forget its there!

when do you go on matty leave?

what will your income be then if OH not got a job by then?

Thanks.

I go on maternity leave at the end of June. Income then is questionable as I have various options (i.e. length of time to take 'off') - returning after 6 months means I'm no worse off... so thats fall back. 9 months then I'll have around £1,200 and 12 months around £700.

Pepperoni

Fmess wrote: »

Hi

Good luck on your debt busting journey and with your pregnancy.

The biggest difference we found for saving money was to swap to shopping at Aldi. We are able to get all our shopping for a maximum of £200 a month and really, if we tried, I think it'd be £150. I might try this next month.

If I was you, I would pay off the ccard as a priority as when you go on maternity leave you will probably have a lot less coming in, so it will be difficult to pay it off and it'll go from 9% to 17%. Your loan has a lower interest rate so this can wait a little longer to be paid off. I have done this and the ccard should be gone by June and it feels brilliant to know I'll only have one debt.

Well done on taking the first steps

Thank you

Good tip RE Aldi - I have one quite local. I've also been looking at Iceland and I'm amazed by their prices so will be trying there too!

Thanks for the advice regarding which debt to tackle first.

Pepperoni

I've put £500 of the savings aside for the 'emergency' fund

getmore4less

Pepperoni wrote: »

Thanks Bedsit Bob.

Unfortunately it wouldn't work to SORN one of the cars. I commute and my husband needs his car for the days he does get temporary work. The temporary work usually involves a commute (but his petrol remains low as he is able to reclaim petrol expense).

As currently the OH pay is off SOA I think you should add up the OH fixed car expenses that have to be paid to hve the car ready to use on the SOA and have that refunded from any pay he gets

His variable costs can be taken off the SOA and come straight off his pay.

You need to be very careful not to just lose this extra money OH earns.

Just realized you should include contributions JSA on the SOA as that is the minimum he should get.

getmore4less

Pepperoni wrote: »

Thanks.

I go on maternity leave at the end of June. Income then is questionable as I have various options (i.e. length of time to take 'off') - returning after 6 months means I'm no worse off... so thats fall back. 9 months then I'll have around £1,200 and 12 months around £700.

Don't forget that you accrue holiday while on maternity, best to try not to take this before(allthough this is best practice) and keep it in the bag for extending time off later. Also try to keep the KIT days for the period where pay is reduced.

I think a SOA worst case for each period will help give the picture, it may be that you need to create a savings goal to cover any short fall that takes priority over the debt repayments.

as hubby gets more income this problem reduces/goes away but something to plan for so you know what the minimum extra income needs to be(now not in 6 months time).

Remember it is all about the planning.

getmore4less

Pepperoni wrote: »

Thank you

Good tip RE Aldi - I have one quite local. I've also been looking at Iceland and I'm amazed by their prices so will be trying there too!

Thanks for the advice regarding which debt to tackle first.

We have just about every shop in our small town we use them all but have found the quality on some of fresh stuff at Aldi and Lidl is so bad we avoid it is not worth the hassle of having to take stuff back, it goes off quicker and sometimes is already over, last was onions looked/felt good but going inside.

Selective shopping find the stuff that is good value at each store.

Another trick is bulk buy things you use all the time when things are cheap learn the discount cycle period and buy enough to get through the period.

Some discounts cycle between shops, probably a manufacturer promotion.

Make a list of target prices so you can spot a bargain and stock up.

Pepperoni

getmore4less wrote: »

As currently the OH pay is off SOA I think you should add up the OH fixed car expenses that have to be paid to hve the car ready to use on the SOA and have that refunded from any pay he gets

His variable costs can be taken off the SOA and come straight off his pay.

You need to be very careful not to just lose this extra money OH earns.

Just realized you should include contributions JSA on the SOA as that is the minimum he should get.

Thanks for the advice.

Will certainly make sure the extra money isn't lost!

Unfortunately he is not receiving any JSA They won't even pay his NI. They've said its because as far as they are concerned he had no good reason to leave his job. :mad:

Pepperoni

getmore4less wrote: »

Don't forget that you accrue holiday while on maternity, best to try not to take this before(allthough this is best practice) and keep it in the bag for extending time off later. Also try to keep the KIT days for the period where pay is reduced.

I think a SOA worst case for each period will help give the picture, it may be that you need to create a savings goal to cover any short fall that takes priority over the debt repayments.

as hubby gets more income this problem reduces/goes away but something to plan for so you know what the minimum extra income needs to be(now not in 6 months time).

Remember it is all about the planning.

Thank you - good advice and will do.