SOA suggestions

skint_chick

I just wanted to see if anyone could suggest where I could cut back on our outgoings - I currently pay £350 a month extra to my credit card so it'll be repaid by June next year. The holiday fund might seem a bit excessive but both my parents and brother live a (different) plane journey away so it costs around £100 a time to visit them and then OH and I take an off peak holiday together and maybe a long weekend cheap as well. I was planning on putting the £350 I'm paying towards the credit card towards early repayment of the loan (it was for home improvements) so it would be repaid by the end of 2016. I'd like to free up some extra money to overpay the interest only mortgage before 2017 (20yrs left)

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1420
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1170
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2590

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 580
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax - over 12mths............................. 113
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 50
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone x 2............................ 26
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 9
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8
Buildings insurance..................... 5
Contents insurance...................... 6
Life assurance ......................... 41
Other insurance......................... 15
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1485


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 205000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 146500...(580)......4.99
Total secured & HP debts...... 146500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
0% interest....................3000......70........0
Bank Loan......................13300.....356.......6.5
Total unsecured debts..........16300.....426.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,590
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,485
Available for debt repayments........... 1,105
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 426
Amount left after debt repayments....... 679

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 205,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -146,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,300
Net Assets.............................. 42,200


Food budget is quite high as it's meat and fresh veg based as I'm on the autoimmune protocol - like paleo but more restrictive for my autoimmune conditions and it's working and I'm healthy so don't want to change this if possible

HappyMJ

Your grocery budget in my opinion is actually quite low considering it's fresh meat and vegetables only and very little cheap carbs. Have you added up everything you spend including the extra shopping you might do during the week getting the things you've forgotten? Does it include your toiletries?

You have £679 left over each month. What's it being spent on? Have you gone through your bank statement to find it or are these figures best guesses based on what you want to spend?

You have an emergency fund contribution of £50 per month. Does that account have anything in it or is there an emergency every month?

Is the pet expenses line accurate? Pet's generally cost much more than £8 a month. What pet do you have?

You have nothing for car maintenance. Although it might be a new car you should have something here and make sure you don't spend it until required. Even £10 a month for the annual service and MOT would be a reasonable figure....but even then there are tyres and brake shoes that need replacing too.

£50 a month of fuel isn't very much. How many miles do you do? What's the fuel economy of the car?

The money's going somewhere...takeaways? pub visit? restaurants?

jaydeeuk1

Actually that doesn't seem too bad to me. My mortgage is pretty much identical as is my tv, gas and electric etc, and that 350 you spend on your credit card I spend on takeaways, eating out, and pub lunches several times a week. You're not struggling with less going in that out so I wouldn't feel too guilty about the £100 a month for holidays.

If you really have got £600 a month left over, thats £7200 a year you can put in to your debts so you should be debt free well before december 2016

Is that £500 on a £140k mortgage?

moohound

Doesn't look bad at all, agree with comments regarding car, but this could be incorporated into emergency fund I suppose. Mortgage interest rate seems high, that's the only thing that stands out for me.

skint_chick

Happy MJ - yes that's our total grocery budget, I shop at a local farm shop as well the supermarket but have been buying the cheaper cuts of meat and slow cooking them. I don't snack and stopped buying soft drinks, alcohol, and anything ready made. It includes toiletries - I got advice on the health and beauty board about cheaper make up and I make my own skin and hair products now so I bulk buy ingredients every few months.

We have a rabbit he is £8 a month for all his supplies and he shares our veg. The 'emergency' savings are for annual vet injections, car MOT, any repairs (it's only 4 years old and still under warranty for another year)

OH walks to work and my commute is just over 4 miles there and back 3 days a week plus supermarket visits, OH's parents and volunteering. I put a tank of petrol in the car a month. OH usually tops that up by £10/20 his mum gives him for driving her places.

From the £679 surplus we spend £350 on the credit card overpayments but we should have another £329 but this month I've ended up with just over £200 because I bought new lampshades and OH's Christmas present (it was way over budget!!)

Jaydeeuk1 - mortgage is £580 on £146,500 - 4.99%
moohound - we can't remortgage as when I took the mortgage I was earning over £40k a year - I've now gone part-time and don't make as much although OH lives here now and I'm in a much better financial position. My lender has some other deals but they're all at the same variable rate with huge fees so it's not worth changing especially when I'd like to overpay.

HappyMJ

Personally, annual MOT and annual vet fees shouldn't be an emergency. You know when they are due so should be on the MOT or pet expenses line...but anyhow everything looks fine.

Just keep an eye on where everything is spent and categorize it somewhere on the SOA rather than not having it listed anywhere at all. It's just hard to advise if we don't know where your surplus is going as to us it looks like it really is surplus money and should be going towards repaying debt.

Are you sure your mortgage interest calculation is correct? It's just that £146,500 multiplied by 4.99% divided by 12 is £609 not £580. Maybe you have less mortgage outstanding than you say you do which would be great.

cms-help

You seem to have a healthy surplus left at the end of the month but do you really have that left at the end of every month or is it "disappearing"? It's easy to forget about all those cash withdrawals that are spent on a coffee etc.


I assume you have an interest only mortgage based on those repayment figures?

asparagus1968

Hiya,


How long left on 0% ?
what is the "other insurance" for? is it needed?
put expected car/animal costs into separate account,keep emergency fund by itself.


I'd divide the £3000 by however many months left and pay that ,no overpayments.


I'd put spare money into interest paying account until enough to pay off loan without incurring early redemption fees (see loan T&C's)


Once those two are gone I'd then look at the mortgage, using a whole of market ,fee free company (MSE has recommendations in their re-mortgage section) maybe put a portion of it onto repayment as well as interest only?
If still unable to re-mortgage,go with the overpayment scenario.


ever thought of a cashback credit card for those flights, may earn you a bit, as long as paid off in full every month.


looking good though:)

skint_chick

Happy MJ - it's definitely 4.99% but some of it is repayment so I probably owe less than I think - still more than remortgagable though

asaparagus - the interest free is until Jan 2016 but I want to get it shifted as soon as possible. Other insurance is my income protection - I need to keep this as I was diagnosed with a long term autoimmune disorder since I took the policy and there is a rick as I get older I might be off work long term, it replaces 75% of my income after 26weeks (work covers 13wks at 100%, 13wks 50%)

I use an Electron card for my flights as they're low cost airlines and charge more than the cashback extra for booking fees. I need to separate out the bills - MOT and pet costs - from proper 'savings' so will get that organised and start taking the 'spare' money out of my current account so I can keep a better check on spending.

I wouldn't mind having no money left over if I was out having fun rather than worrying about owing money. It's unlikely I'll ever be able to remortgage so I need to start making overpayments and even it's a small amount it will make me feel better.

bsms1147

Looks pretty lean to be honest. Throw everything you have spare at the debt and it'll be gone in 18 months.