OK so here's my stats from a gunnabe debt free member :)

Legacy_user

Hi Everyone. OK fine I accept it I'm an addict. I can't stop spending. But my recent revelations may just help me to give the kick I need. I made an earlier post but I didn't realise I had to post stats. I thought I'd start again. Dunno how to delete the other one though lol.


here's the earlier post with a bit of my story.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4998740


Quoting someone in previous post. "Post a full breakdown of your income/expenditure (SOA) and cleverer people than me will be able to help you!"

OK sure I guess I didn't realise I'd posted somewhere to get help. I was just airing my laundry and letting the world know I accepted I have a problem lol.

OK here goes.. bare with me and let me know if I am missing anything.

Income after tax is £1450 PCM

CC debt (£2000 owed @ 39.9% APR) £250
CC debt (£1400 owed @ 39.9% APR) £62.50
CC debt (£250 owed at 27.7% max limit £600) £7.50
CC debt (£2400 owed locked for 29 months) £53
Other debt (£220 owed no interest accruing) £10
DWP (£260 owed no interest accruing) £5

Chance of anymore credit right now? 12% probably lol

Rent £380
Food £200
Cinema (tied in for now) £32
Electric £40
Phones £5
Course £28.30
Living Pot (odds and sods) £100


The amounts to the right are what I'm paying each month. Apart from the bigger CC card the rest are on minimum while I focus on the worst one first.

We do share all our money. Above is total income as I am studying to be a nurse at the moment.
So basically I know there's a bit left each month I have started putting all direct debits at same time of month on my bank. Any money left in this account each month after being paid again will go into the main credit card too.

I also set up so £300 goes directly to my husband’s account each month. This is taken out in cash from now on and £100 goes towards Living Pot and £200 for food which gives £50 a week from Aldi... no problems. Any left over each week can go to things like toilet paper or bin liners as we run out. I have made a ledger in and out for the two as well. I have also put a notepad with this to note everything that is bought in the living pot to see where money is being wasted on odds and sods that are a waste of money. We save on transport as we walk and cycle everywhere and we repair our own bicycles.

We don’t’ have children so big savings there. Only my husband has giff-gaff £5 a month. I don’t bother with a phone as I can contact everyone I need online so gave him my good phone lol.

Rent is on a small studio and includes gas, water and council tax. We do have broadband only but I paid a smaller fee for paying a year in advance. I got £72 off actually for the year!

We don’t smoke. We maybe have 2 bottles of wine a month… we are getting elderflower though to make our own soon as we have all the kit already just need ingredients.

I don’t know what else you might need? Height, waist-size? DNA? lol

Thanks
Scotty

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1450

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 380
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 5
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 32
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Odds and Sods........................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 757


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
CC1............................2000......92....... .39.9
CC2............................1400......67....... .39.9
CC3 29 mnth free int...........2500......53........27.7
Course.........................169.2.....28.2..... .0
DWP............................260.......5........ .0
Kleeneze.......................220.......10....... .0
CC.............................240.......7.5...... .27.9
Total unsecured debts..........6789.2....262.7.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 757
Available for debt repayments........... 693
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 262.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 430.3

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,789.2
Net Assets.............................. -6,789.2

Divingmad

Hi Scotty,
A nice new diary, we love them. There's loads of great people here that can provide advice (I'm only just starting on my own journey, so am trying to digest all the advice myself).
When you did your SOA, did you use one like this one:
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I have found this a better one to use as it makes you think of where all money is going (I forgot to include things like insurance for car, car repairs, etc) so my finances weren't as good as I first thought, but am now budgeting a lot better.
This one will also allow you to post on here so people can provide wisdom on where money can be saved.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your journey
DM

System

Hi thanks for the welcome and good luck with yours too. To be honest I never even heard of the term SOA. I do understand it though. I have done one but not that one. I have used it a few times on moneymadeclear website.

I know a lot of people would think I have missed out a lot on there but we really do have a life of very simple means except for my spending on other crap that we don't really need.


Here's that SOA on that website.

eeek brb having issues

System

Divingmad wrote: »

Hi Scotty,
A nice new diary, we love them. There's loads of great people here that can provide advice (I'm only just starting on my own journey, so am trying to digest all the advice myself).
When you did your SOA, did you use one like this one:
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

I have found this a better one to use as it makes you think of where all money is going (I forgot to include things like insurance for car, car repairs, etc) so my finances weren't as good as I first thought, but am now budgeting a lot better.
This one will also allow you to post on here so people can provide wisdom on where money can be saved.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your journey
DM

Here's my SOA sorry was having problems as I put amounts in then when copied and pasted they were all gone again lol.

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.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1450
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1450

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 380
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 5
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
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..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 32
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Odds and Sods........................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 757


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1............................2000......92........39.9
CC2............................1400......67........39.9
CC3 29 mnth free int...........2500......53........27.7
Course.........................169.2.....28.2......0
DWP............................260.......5.........0
Kleeneze.......................220.......10........0
CC.............................240.......7.5.......27.9
Total unsecured debts..........6789.2....262.7.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,450
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 757
Available for debt repayments........... 693
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 262.7
Amount left after debt repayments....... 430.3

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,789.2
Net Assets.............................. -6,789.2

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

asparagus1968

hi
is the income your bursary/grants whatever AND your husbands wages?

is the rent total or your half? same with food/mobile/odds and sods?
you ought to have contents insurance (even for the bikes)
are the debts all in your name?
you have put 0 for dental/medical-do you not go to the dentist at all/never need a prescription?
do you never get your hair cut?
do you never buy presents/cards for anyone?
ought to start an emergency fund for just- in- cases


"Chance of anymore credit right now? 12% probably lol" why on earth would you want more???


looks like you have a big excess on paper, but obviously not in real life.
maybe try a spending diary?
you need to know where that money is going:)


good luck

System

asparagus1968 wrote: »

hi
is the income your bursary/grants whatever AND your husbands wages?

is the rent total or your half? same with food/mobile/odds and sods?
you ought to have contents insurance (even for the bikes)
are the debts all in your name?
you have put 0 for dental/medical-do you not go to the dentist at all/never need a prescription?
do you never get your hair cut?
do you never buy presents/cards for anyone?
ought to start an emergency fund for just- in- cases


"Chance of anymore credit right now? 12% probably lol" why on earth would you want more???


looks like you have a big excess on paper, but obviously not in real life.
maybe try a spending diary?
you need to know where that money is going:)


good luck

Hiya thanks for your reply.

This is all in. I don't get any bursary as I'm not in uni yet I'm doing GCSEs to get onto Access to Higher Education then uni. so this is all the money we get every month. Sometimes a little more (no more than £100 on a good month and £50 less on a bad month.

retepetsir

Firstly, well done on joining and posting your SOA

Your SOA says that you have £430 left per month after paying the minimum balance on your cards, is this actually the case? I would suspect not if you've not paid them off yet.

Tackle the highest interest rate card first if you can, so hit CC1 with whatever you can, try and double the payments at least otherwise you'll be paying it off forever on that interest rate.

You don't want more credit, it is rarely the right solution!

Good points by asparagus, what about haircuts, presents, travel, etc.

Sure you're not entitled to any benefits if that is your total household income?

Ianh82

great diary. good on you for dealing with it.

would it be worth getting a long period lower rate CC and put all balances on one card if you can and cut that card up and pay the one balance off? if you could get one that is. i know it's not the best thing to do but could save a lot of money in interest if you could do that, espeically a 18-24 mth 0% card for balance transfers. i didn't notice if that had been explored.

System

retepetsir wrote: »

Firstly, well done on joining and posting your SOA

Your SOA says that you have £430 left per month after paying the minimum balance on your cards, is this actually the case? I would suspect not if you've not paid them off yet.

Tackle the highest interest rate card first if you can, so hit CC1 with whatever you can, try and double the payments at least otherwise you'll be paying it off forever on that interest rate.

You don't want more credit, it is rarely the right solution!

Good points by asparagus, what about haircuts, presents, travel, etc.

Sure you're not entitled to any benefits if that is your total household income?

Hiya

The minimum is about £90 ish a month on CC1 and we have a SO set up to pay £250 a month on it. The others are on minimum. The amount left over of about £400 is probably about right.

We can't claim any benefits because my husband earns too much on 21k a year before tax.

I do our hair, we don't really get presents I have a thriving garden and I am always cutting things and giving plants and fruit trees etc as gifts for free and making cards with stuff we have at home.

We do travel but it's so infrequent and it's literally a pennies as take megabus less than once a month and always get seats for under £12 is both of us are visiting his family. We cycle, run and walk everywhere within a 10 mile radius which is pretty much everywhere for us we need to get to.

The excess each month usually goes on rubbish. I used to put it all on the card then we would bring it back off the card lol. I am trying to leave it in our joint account now for the DD's and SO's we have set up and just live off the £200 (cash) a month food and £100 (cash) living pot. This living pot has to cover transport if we do go somewhere too. Also I have a ledger in and out from these 2 cash funds and another note book where everything must be written down. We need to live and I think it's fine to buy some rubbish like odd treats but not 3 or 4 times a week of the same thing. So keeping record we can see how we can buy better rubbish in future lol.

We both have a £10 note each which is for emergency incase our bike breaks and we need to get home from miles away... but that will hardly happen as even if we are 5 miles away we would both still walk back lol.

We also have a £50 emergency pot. I worked out the worst case scenario cost for a train home from most places we go like London or Manchester (we are in Birmingham). So if one of us goes away we take this cash only if it's really needed like a missed train or coach or something comes up. Then it goes back into the emergency envelope until the next time. If some ends up being used then we top it back up to £50 from the £400 odd left in the joint account.

Once we have been paid again then whatever is left in the joint account can be moved to the card. I think this will stop us keep going back to the card all the time.

Holiday consists of 2 star struck lovers, 2 bicycles and a pop up tent with a few snacks and a bottle of wine

There's a lot more to the plans. I hope it's not too complex for you all to understand lol. I'm a novice and though I'm feeling confident with our new set up started this week.. any further advice is very much welcome

System

Ianh82 wrote: »

great diary. good on you for dealing with it.

would it be worth getting a long period lower rate CC and put all balances on one card if you can and cut that card up and pay the one balance off? if you could get one that is. i know it's not the best thing to do but could save a lot of money in interest if you could do that, espeically a 18-24 mth 0% card for balance transfers. i didn't notice if that had been explored.

Hi thanks for replying. We managed to lock up £2500 for another 29 months yet at 0% interest. We can't get anymore as our credit ratio is not good and thus neither are our scores lol.

[Deleted User]

You really should have contents insurance, and something in the Emergency Fund.

Contents insurance can be had for around £10 per month.

As for the debts, concentrate every spare penny on the top two.

At your current rate of payment, they are going to take 36 months to clear, at a cost of £2,278 in interest.

If you could spare just £100 more, you could halve the repayment time, and reduce the interest by over £1,300.