Newbie with my SOA...

BunnieJ

Hi everyone :wave:

I'm new to this, so please be kind! I was advised to post a SOA here on my other thread in the Marriage, Families & Relationships board

My current circumstances are:

I owe my OH £900 for "moving costs" (rent in advance, admin fees, cost of items needed for flat etc).

I also owe him £200 for a V Festival ticket as he paid for both of us.

The total debt is £1,100.

I have not, nor have I ever had, any other debt.

Until recently, my OH has never really asked me for any money back for moving costs, he said he was happy for me to repay him when I could. However, he needs the ticket money soon as he paid using his credit card.

After arguing about money this weekend I have found out that he had underestimated our budget and had been using his own income (what's left after he's put his money into the household pot) to subsidise our bills

He hadn't told me that he was having problems with money as he didn't want me to worry or get upset. I started a new job 6 months ago and they have only paid me correctly once! He knew I didn't have any extra money at the time to cover bills or start paying him back so he didn't say anything...

I have since organised a meeting with Halifax this weekend to get us a joint account set up just for our bills. Currently I have been transferring my portion of the bills into his account.

My SOA:

Incoming

Monthly salary - £1022.67
Lunch allowance (I used to get a free lunch/tea/coffee from work, but our company was taken over and now they are honouring this by paying us £3.75/day for food and drinks) - £81.25

Total - £1103.92

Outgoing

Household pot - £500.00 (subject to change if more is needed after we rebudget our bills)
Phone contract - £26.99
Phone insurance - £10.00
Car Insurance - £52.00

Total - £588.99

Balance remaining - £514.93

My plan of action is as follows:

Festival ticket (FOR ONE MONTH ONLY, THEN PAYING OFF MOVING COSTS DEBT) - £200.00
Savings - £100 (I need to set up a decent savings account)
Food & drinks at work - £40.00/£10.00 per week

Total - £340.00

Balance remaining - £174.93/£43.00 per week

All remaining money is for personal expenses e.g. clothing, toiletries/make up, going out etc.

After my next payday (27th April) I should have paid off the £200 I owed for my ticket!

Then it's just the remaining £900 to start paying back...:eek:

Regarding setting up a savings account/ISA - can anyone help?

I have already been trying to cut my expenses. I've cancelled my gym membership, Weightwatchers, stopped getting my nails done, take mainly packed lunches to work, cheaper phone contratc, but cost-cutting tips welcome!

All advice/help/support greatly appriciated!

[Deleted User]

You would be better off posting a proper, detailed, SOA.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

mrsscattercushion

Agree with ^, it is the easiest way for the good folk here to look at your incomings/outgoings and help with this query....for example, is the £10 a week on lunches out of the allowance you get or on top of?


In terms of savings/ISAs, there is a lot on info on the main MSE site about current best options ~ some current accounts with benefits pay better than instant savings ones.


Sounds like you have a fair amount of spare cash a month, if your figures are what you have left over ~ a few frugal months of not
buying new clothes/make up etc on top of what you have should mean you can pay him back fairly quickly!


If helpful it might be worth posting both your SOA and also a household one if you want advice on how you both can make cutbacks, if your OH's finances aren't looking healthy.


What is good is that you are talking about it and hopefully can tackle this together, good luck!

NHS_worker_bee

BunnieJ wrote: »

After arguing about money this weekend I have found out that he had underestimated our budget and had been using his own income (what's left after he's put his money into the household pot) to subsidise our bills

He hadn't told me that he was having problems with money as he didn't want me to worry or get upset...He knew I didn't have any extra money at the time to cover bills or start paying him back so he didn't say anything...

I have since organised a meeting with Halifax this weekend to get us a joint account set up just for our bills. Currently I have been transferring my portion of the bills into his account.

Hello and welcome BunnieJ

Please think very carefully before entering into a joint financial agreement with your partner (such as a joint bank account) because you will then be financially linked on your credit files and his credit card debt will reflect on you too.

Just reading what you have said (above) it sounds like you both need to have serious and honest chat about your finances and rethink your budget. Not telling the other person you are having problems with money is how bigger problems can start and this is a good opportunity for you to both reassess your financial situation and be frank with each other about any money you owe, and to agree not to keep 'money problems' hidden in future. He might not want to worry you but it's better to sort things out while they are still sortable than to face much bigger, unmanageable worries in the future because credit card debts have escalated. That's when things get worrying!

Basically you need to make a new realistic budget, live within your means, not make any big purchases until the outstanding debt is cleared and only then, after the debt is cleared, would be a good time to start a savings account.

Talk it through, pay off the debt first, then start saving. Hope it goes well

greenval

Bunny I've read your other thread in which you were complaining about you BF complaining about you spending money when you owe money to. I think he may have a point.
In April you can pay for the festival tickets £200. In the following three months if you are really frugal and allow yourself £124 spends for the month and save £50 pm for emergencies then you will have paid off the £900 by July.

BunnieJ

Thanks for all the help!

I don't have the exact figures to hand regarding household bills etc. My OH and I are going to sit down together with our statements/bills and go through them all so we can make a budget before we open a joint account.

You would be better off posting a proper, detailed, SOA.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

When I have the exact figures I will do a more detailed SOA. I've only focused on my income and the amount I put into our "pot" not the exact cost of each bill so far...:undecided

Agree with ^, it is the easiest way for the good folk here to look at your incomings/outgoings and help with this query....for example, is the £10 a week on lunches out of the allowance you get or on top of?


In terms of savings/ISAs, there is a lot on info on the main MSE site about current best options ~ some current accounts with benefits pay better than instant savings ones.

We get £81.25 lunch allowance is included our monthly salary, but it's marked down as a separate item on our payslips, that's why I separated them. The £40 or £10 per week (depending on how you prefer look at it) is using this money.

It cost's about £7.00 per week for 2 hot drinks per day. I don't always have a hot drink (I have a bottle of squash at my desk or bring in cans of fizzy drinks from home), but I will know the money is there if I want to purchase something from the restaurant.

[Deleted User]

Most of the outgoing are fairly easy to work out.

Monthly payments, such as rent/mortgage, Council Tax, electricity, gas, oil, water, telephone, pay TV, etc. are pretty obvious.

For things that are paid in one go (Car/Home Insurance, Road Tax, etc.), simply divide by 12.

The only tricky ones, are food, drinks, petrol/diesel, trips out, and so on.

Credit cards, loans and the like, are easy enough to list monthly payments, but balances and APRs may not be so obvious.

hettiecarro

Hi
As advised by Bedsit Bob - post a proper SoA on here.
You are going to need all of the information anyway if you are to have proper discussion with your OH regarding your finances going forward.
You'll find that listing everything out focusses your mind better.

theoretica

£120 a year phone insurance? Take care of it instead. And buy a cheap one if you need to. My current not-at-all-smart one was under £20 off ebay.

BunnieJ

theoretica wrote: »

£120 a year phone insurance? Take care of it instead. And buy a cheap one if you need to. My current not-at-all-smart one was under £20 off ebay.

I currently have a Galaxy S4 (just upgraded my contract and got it much cheaper in March!) and although I take care of it, I would really perfer to have insurance that covers me for everthing just in case. I have looked for better deals, but TBH taking insurance out with EE was the best deal for me. I use my phone for everthing as we don't use a landline and I don't have a laptop (mine died long, long ago) at home.

I am prepared to make cutbacks in all other areas...just not this as my phone does EVERYTHING!

Bunny I've read your other thread in which you were complaining about you BF complaining about you spending money when you owe money to. I think he may have a point.
In April you can pay for the festival tickets £200. In the following three months if you are really frugal and allow yourself £124 spends for the month and save £50 pm for emergencies then you will have paid off the £900 by July.

I agree. This would be the ideal. I know I have been a bit lazy when it comes to bugeting recently (I never said I was perfect lol). I just want to get this debt cleared ASAP so we can start enjoying ourselves and saving for the future.

Tixy

I would tackle this two fold.

First you have worked out what you can afford to repay him a month for the ticket and moving costs. Is he ok with that proposal? (whilst it would be good for you to build up savings I would focus on paying him back first so maybe offer him £275 a month for 4months).

Then I would suggest you both go through your joint household costs in detail and do the MSE money makeover to see whether you can reduce any costs and then what the real monthly amount is and whether that is more then £1000 you have budgeted currently (assuming he has been paying the same as you at the moment). Money makeover here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help

After that you then need to decide how you split that cost between the 2 of you. Whether you will both pay the same amount or whether you will split it based on your relative incomes, if they differ significantly.