It's time to change things

tea_n_toast

Just checked my online banking and last four weeks wages were £276, £290, £292, £305.

Not sure what that is before tax

Thanks

MrsSave

That's roughly £18,000 pre tax (if my maths is correct).

tea_n_toast

Just did a calculation with his wage being £450 pre tax per week to allow for any higher weeks (a lot of which there were when he started) and everything seems correct apart from our tax credits are a bit lower than what it's saying they should be - we get £82 it's saying they should be £116. Should I call them or leave it in case I shoot myself in the foot and end up owing?

[Deleted User]

tea_n_toast wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2 - Do you really need 2 cars?

Monthly Income Details\
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200 -This seems very low for £26k pa.
Benefits................................ 462
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1662


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 203
Rent.................................... 430
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 196 - Even over 10 months, this is £1,960 pa (£2,352 if over 12 months), which is a LOT. Are there arrears?
Electricity............................. 110 - Even in an all electric home, this is high. Check comparison sites, and try to economise.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 - Are you in Scotland?
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 50 - If this is for less than 4 phones, it's too much. Go PAYG/sim only (about £10pm) ASAP.
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21.5 - You can't afford this. Cancel ASAP, and go Freeview/Freesat.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 - You can trim this back a bit. To start with, aim to spend no more than £200.
Clothing................................ 0\
Petrol/diesel........................... 320 - This is a lot. Is there some business mileage?
Road tax................................ 0 - Are both cars nil rated?
Car Insurance........................... 63 - Can you get a joint deal, which would probably be a bit cheaper
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - Never?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 14
Other child related expenses............ 0 - Nothing ever?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 - Never?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 - You need this. Costs about £10 pm.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - 2 children and nothing on presents?
Haircuts................................ 0 - Never?
Entertainment........................... 160 - This is £1,920 pa, which is :eek: Find cheap/free things for the kids to do. Look out for 2 for 1, kids go free, etc. deals.
Holiday................................. 0 - Not even days out?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - You need something in here, or you will be straight back to borrowing, when something breaks down.

Total monthly expenses.................. 1880.5

Assets\
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0 - You have 2 cars, which are worth nothing :huh:
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

Secured & HP Debts\
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 11500....(203)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 11500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Council........................600.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........600.......30........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,662
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,880.5
Available for debt repayments........... -218.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 30
Amount short for making debt repayments. -248.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -11,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -600
Net Assets.............................. -12,100

As I mentioned, for someone on ~ £26,000, the take home pay (£14,400 pa) is very low.

By my calculation, it should be ~ £1,700 pm.

You can comfortably knock £80 off Groceries, and £100 off Entertainment.

Add that to the £21-50 saved by cancelling the Pay TV, and you have an extra £201-50 pm, not including the extra ~ £500 that should be being brought home in salary.

Upsidedown_Bear

Your car costs are at least (you have no costs down for car tax and maintenance) £586 a month which is more than a third of your income.
If you can cut that down in some way or OH uses a bike it will help you.

sticky23

tea_n_toast wrote: »

Just did a calculation with his wage being £450 pre tax per week to allow for any higher weeks (a lot of which there were when he started) and everything seems correct apart from our tax credits are a bit lower than what it's saying they should be - we get £82 it's saying they should be £116. Should I call them or leave it in case I shoot myself in the foot and end up owing?

But that 450 a week is 23000 a year. From what you've been saying, it's more like 17-18K at the moment. Thats a big difference. How likely is it that he will get more hours? I would give the tax credit people a call, and tell them accurate amounts for say the last three months. I'm sure they are used to people having fluctuating income. As long as you update them if he starts earning more, you'll be fine.

I'm sorry to say that you can't afford a second car at the moment. You may feel that you need it, but loads of people do without. Try and think outside the box. Could your partner cycle to work? Could you take your children out of nursery for a bit? Could you move closer to the nursery, so you could walk them there?

[Deleted User]

MrsSave wrote: »

That's roughly £18,000 pre tax (if my maths is correct).

More to the point, that's £1,368-25 pm take home, which reduces the overspend to ~ £80.

With a bit of trimming (think groceries and entertainment), the OP can be comfortably in the black. :cool:

Could you perhaps drive your partner to and from work?

I appreciate that probably means an earlier start for you, but getting rid of one car would be a huge saving.

Upsidedown_Bear

If you have an overdraft you need to include that under debts.

lessonlearned

Hi tea-n-toast. Welcome to the world of MSE

Some great advice on here. Looking at your soa it doesn't strike me as being too bad, definitely Plenty of wriggle room there. I would second the advice to sell one of your cars - they are gobbling up income. The grocery budget looks a good candidate for trimming and that entertainment budget needs to be slashed. Takeaways and expensive days out can easily be avoided and are just frittering money away.

Days out can be free or very low cost, especially if the children are young. Look out for offers, vouchers, two for one etc, and take a picnic or snacks with you. Even holidays can be cheap and cheerful. Look out for the vouchers in the Sun newspaper. Their holidays are excellent value. When our children were small we used to have two or three of the Sun holidays a year, the kids loved them.

I agree double check that you are receiving the right tax credits etc. Can you make a bit of extra money by doing a regular declutter and then selling your unwanted items. The money I used to make on car boots paid for our holidays and days out.

Your budget has no contingency for dentists bills, medical expenses, Household emergencies such as washing machine breakdown, car repairs etc. What about children's shoes, clothes, Christmas, prescription medicines etc. You should really also get some house contents insurance and, sorry to mention this, but also life insurance.

Start with a spending diary and you will soon find out where you can make cutbacks.

Don't despair, you,ve had your lightbulb moment. It will get easier.

Lily_rose_2

Hi and well done for posting!

Your petrol spend is huge! We run 2 cars, DH works around 15 miles away (motorway driving) and I work 10 miles away & use my car for work (community nurse) and we spend £280 a month. If your DH works locally and you're using the car for nursery runs etc...how come the spend is so high? Is DH's car a petrol guzzler? Could you get rid and buy a cheaper car??