Advice on SOA pls

I-Want-To-Move

I would appreciate everybodys help with my budget. Ok this is not exact as im typing while watching the widower!! But maybe its a start.

Income after tax £1376

In household 1 adult 1 child

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage £223
Building/contents insurance £43
Car insurance £53.31
Tv licence £12
Water £24
Gas/elec jointly £75
Council tax £63
Washer insurance £7
Mobile £20
Public transport £80
Petrol £80

Weekly outgoings - term time only
Childcare £40
School dinners £10

Debts 0% - payments set up with step change
Loan £60 (total approx £6000)
Cc £13 (total £1200)
Cc £13 (total £1300)

My car insurance is high - this was best dealt when i used price comparison sites, it may be because i live in what is considered a deprived area.

Home insurance includes building, contents and emergency - i have had to make two claims on it this year so cant imagine another company would give me a cheap deal.

I need ideas on what you think is an acceptable amount of money each month for food, clothes, car expences etc. i have no emergency fund but need one asap. Something crops up or breaks and it ruins my good intentions of starting a budget.

I cant think of any outgoings ive not listed.

AlexLK

Your buildings and contents insurance is a ridiculous amount, as is your car insurance.

I-Want-To-Move

AlexLK wrote: »

Your buildings and contents insurance is a ridiculous amount, as is your car insurance.

Hmmmm helpful thanks!

I went on comparison site to find car insurance - ive never made a claim. The only reason i can think its so high is because of my postcode.

I know home insurance is high but have claimed on it twice this year so not sure another company would give me a better deal after my bad run of luck.

mrsscattercushion

It is definitely worth shopping around for the insurances ~ just in case. I know what you mean re claims, but if you factor in things like cash-back deals too (we got around £60 cash-back from our last switch) it definitely adds up. Car insurance sounds a lot but depends on no claims etc ~ again, would be worth checking.


In terms of what is a reasonable budget, in some respects that depends on what you've got left over. If you get a bit more time, might be worth posting a full SOA (someone will be along to post the link) so it is easiest for us to have a look at all your outgoings/income (are you getting all the benefits you are entitled to/any maintenance payments etc) and your outgoings. Your utilities don't look too bad, although transport costs with both car expenses and public transport add up to a lot.


There will be a lot of good advice for you I'm sure

thecassman86

Other than the comments about your insurances nothing else appears too high... But as suggested above by mrsscattercushion you could do with posting a full SOA as it'll be laid out in a clearer way and also show totals etc. The link is http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php.

heartbreak_star

That adds up to £966.31 (I think!) so you're missing a lot somewhere - obviously some is going on groceries.

I'd definitely post a full SOA and maybe get a notebook to use as a spending diary? Every time you buy so much as a cuppa or a pack of sweets it goes in the diary.

Good luck!

HBS x

Beckyy

What's the public transport cost for? It could it be cheaper to drive possibly. I know it is for me.

Is the washer insurance worth it? When I got my current one it worked out cheaper not to bother in the long run.

Tixy

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

I cant think of any outgoings ive not listed.

Car tax, car servicing, MOT, other car costs (new tyres etc)
Hairdressers, opticians, any medical costs
Presents, entertainment, child pocket money, child activity costs
Emergency fund (particularly as a homeowner)
You've not mentioned a home phone line/broadband/paid tv - do you have any of those?
Life insurance - do you have that?
Holidays (or activities/days out during holidays)

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

I need ideas on what you think is an acceptable amount of money each month for food, clothes, car expences etc. i have no emergency fund but need one asap. Something crops up or breaks and it ruins my good intentions of starting a budget.

Do you stil have a copy of the budget you made with stepchange? that would be a good starting point, and from there you could go through each item and see if you are spending more or less than is budgeted.
For a grocery cost estimate if you tend to buy these on a card then can you check back through the last coule of month's statement to see how much you have spent.
For groceries there are some on here who would spend less than £150 a month for the 2 of you, equally there are some who would spend £300 for 2 people.

National_Debtline

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

I need ideas on what you think is an acceptable amount of money each month for food, clothes, car expences etc. i have no emergency fund but need one asap. Something crops up or breaks and it ruins my good intentions of starting a budget.

Hi there

Just a thought on this particular point - I would encourage you to do a frank assessment of what you spend on food over a month, rather than someone else suggesting an arbitrary figure and you then trying to work around that - take tixy's advice about doing all your groceries on the bank card so that you have a paper trail to add up.

Clothes and car servicing can be a little trickier: why not take what you think you need to get by over a full year and divide that by 12. Where the car is concerned, do try to allow a little leeway especially if it's on the older side - I really do encourage callers to do this and it's often the fisrt time they've given it any thought at all.

Finally, you hit the nail on the head when you refer to the lack of a "rainy day" fund - this is what sends most people back to square one in my experience. You may not have the luxury of being able to allow much for this, but please absolutely do try to make reasonable room for it before turning your attention to debt repayments. You must make sure you are putting your family's interests first.

Regards

Dennis @NDL

kindofagilr

I-Want-To-Move wrote: »

Hmmmm helpful thanks!

I went on comparison site to find car insurance - ive never made a claim. The only reason i can think its so high is because of my postcode.

I know home insurance is high but have claimed on it twice this year so not sure another company would give me a better deal after my bad run of luck.

We claimed on home insurance once one year when the heavy snow brought our gutters down, the company paid out nearly £1500 to get the gutters and roof fixed and when renewal time came we still got a cheaper quote for the following year (think it was about £120 for the year) xx

[Deleted User]

I take it the house is empty during the day?

If so, then your utility bills are quite high.

Mine are £35pm combined.

As others have suggested, a proper SOA will allow us to give more detailed advice.

BTW. Are all your debts at 0% APR?

If so, for how long?