Can't believe our SOA and our debt!!!!!!?

FireWyrm

darcey1105 wrote: »

Does anyone meal plan does this help at all? My hubby tends to decide what he fancies on the day but wondering if I planned x amount of meals we could still meal plan but pick a meal we have planned if you catch my drift :0)

Yes. Very much. We have one of these : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Office-Weekly-Planning-Board-600x400mm/dp/B001M4H9ZM/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1403609418&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=whiteboard+30+days

We meal plan at the beginning of the month and then buy what we need. We can and do move meals around, but by and large, stay within the plan. There is enough flexibility in the plan to drop a meal or substitute for some other day's allocation if necessary.

I have also started a project where I am intending to record (at least for a few months) all spends in a given category for food spending. It is mostly to charge proportions and trends and make the planning more efficient. If I know for sure I need cereal every three months on average, I have a better chance of fitting it into the plan.

I use YNAB for this purpose but any spreadsheet will do.



This may look complicated and indeed, one poster has already pointed out that normal people dont have time for this, but honestly, the insight it gives will likely more than pay for the two or three hours I will spend a month actually administering it. I generally shop every two weeks with larger bulk buys in Costco and to be able to forcast these spends (I hope) will be very useful.

eyeopener2

You know FW, I've been a bit cynical about this YNAB (mainly due to cost) but the more I see, the more I understand, the more I like.
Off topic but I'm going to give it a go.

FireWyrm

eyeopener2 wrote: »

You know FW, I've been a bit cynical about this YNAB (mainly due to cost) but the more I see, the more I understand, the more I like.
Off topic but I'm going to give it a go.

Download the trial, it is free 30 odd days. If you dont get on with it, and that is perfectly acceptable, then ditch it, but I must say categorically that it has radically improved the way that I budget and handle money. Although, be warned, garbage in means garbage out. The ethos only works if you are utterly ruthless and honest with yourself. If you do get it working for you, there are reports which you can slice and dice any which a way you need to draw conclusions and there is no (legitimate) way to hide those sneaky spends that add up to hundreds a month. Every sneaky pack of cigs, wine, takeaway, packet of crisps is there for the analysis. Be warned, you may not like what you find out about yourself though. As I said on the other thread, a lot of time is taken up with "why on gods green earth did I do that" musings and solemn vows to do better next month.

Also, there is a 25% off sale on Steam at the moment...I posted about it the other day.

jubilee14

Hi Darcey you might want to check the tax side out as from your calcs you would be over the 50k mark which is when they start to claw back the child benefit too. they either do it as part of a tax code or if self assessment at the end of FY so you might want to check what the gross salary is so you dont get a fright there too.

Not trying to add any more costs on but better prepared now than January 31st 2015!

FBaby

Something doesn't seem right in regards to tax and also why are you entitled to child benefit on this income? Are you sure you calculated his income after tax properly?

Sky_

darcey1105 wrote: »

Will have a look, our tv license is quarterly so I divided it by 4 as we pay £37 a quarter.

Well done on biting the bullet and deciding to address the issue.

Just a niggle, but a quarter (quarter of a year) is only 3 months, not four.

I also think your {income: tax + NI} ratio seems odd, unless he has very high expenses. That in turn would mean that you don't have 4k available to spend each month.

I'd say you and he need to check, very urgently, what his actual income vs expenses is. Then budget more realistically for tax, NI and possibly repaying child benefit...

[Deleted User]

darcey1105 wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 4024
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Child benefit £132.00
Total monthly income.................... 4156


Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 202
Rent.................................... 800.00
Council tax............................. 129 - If this is over 10 months, switching to 12 months would reduce it to £107-50.
Electricity............................. 42
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 75
Water rates............................. 30.13
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 108 - This is :eek: , even for 4 phones. Go PAYG/sim only, at around £10 per phone.
TV Licence.............................. 9.28 - This should be at least £12-12.
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 42 - Cancel and go Freeview/Freesat.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 - You could probably knock a bit off here.
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 420
Road tax................................ 37.5
Car Insurance........................... 87
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 17.69
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0 - Nothing ever?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 27
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15.1
Life assurance ......................... 16.69
Other insurance......................... 18.1
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0 - Nothing ever?
Holiday................................. 0 - Not even a day at the seaside?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - You need something in here.
Park christmas ......................... 62
Savings ................................ 52
Critical illness ....................... 14
Tool insurance ......................... 13
Total monthly expenses.................. 2677.49

Assets
Cash.................................... 0 - Further up, you said you had savings.
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 8500

Secured & HP Debts[/b]\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR\
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8000.....(202)......
Total secured & HP debts...... 8000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Vanquis .......................1250......65.04.....39.9
Vanquis .......................1750......86.25.....39.9
Aqua ..........................3150......60.01.....39.9
Simply be .....................497.......45........39.9
Next ..........................565.00. 57.00....25.99
Capital one ...................500.......35........34.9
Capital one ...................200.......15........34.9
Lloyds TsB ....................50........50........2.5
H and m .......................30........30........2.5
Barclays ......................800.......20........6.9
Barclays ......................400.......13........34.9
Aqua ..........................2200......125.......39.9
Total unsecured debts..........11,393. 602.28

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,156
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,677.49
Available for debt repayments........... 1,478.51
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments.......602.38
Amount left after debt repayments....... 876.13

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 8,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,884.90
Net Assets.............................. -10,384.98

Even if you have 4 mobiles, cutting them to £10pm PAYG/sim only, and dumping the Pay TV, will save you £110pm, which is £1,320pa.

The APR on the first 4 debts is :eek:

Can you BT them to a lower rate?

The amount you list for "Presents (birthday, christmas etc)", plus the amount listed for "Park christmas" adds up to £1,464 per year, so, unless you have a truly H-U-G-E family ...

[Deleted User]

darcey1105 wrote: »

Will have a look, our tv license is quarterly so I divided it by 4 as we pay £37 a quarter.

Except there is only 3 months in each quarter, not 4.

£37 divided by 3, is £12-33.

may stop it whilst paying off our debt and then when debt free we can afford this saving option.

That makes sense, as the amount you will get in interest, on the savings, will be nowhere near the interest you are paying on the debts.

darcey1105

Thanks for the correction. His accountant deals with all expenses, income, tax bill etc and we are under the threshold for earnings as his expenses bring his yearly income down, I have gone on the last three months earnings- it does fluctuate and some months he can earn very little and I need to start putting something away for those months. His last years salary was £38000. Unfortunately it goes month by month and he may end up with no work at the end of the year. Just the joys of being self employed.
I will adjust tv license.

darcey1105

As for presents and birthdays unfortunately I'm one of 5 children, hence lots of cousins relatives- I have cut it just down to the children as it was getting stupid! Luckily OH has one sister and that's it with 2 kids :0)


I need to start buying in the sales and planning to try and save here :0)