My SOA - Please help

One_step_forward

I have just listed my income and outgoings at the moment as husbands account is for his business and I don't have any real control over that.
I will include the payments he makes for mortgage and loans etc as his income.

Hubby
Mortgage £756 Recently fixed for two yrs at 5.69%
Lloyds TSB £258 Home improvement loan - 5 yrs 11.1% (46 payments left)
GMAC £288 Car - 5 yrs 13.7% just started - cheaper car
GE Capital £ 53 Rep windows - 10 yrs currently 10.6% (80 payment left)

TOTAL £1355 as his contribution

My Income

£1191

My outgoings

Anglian Water £14.20
AXA ISA £100.00 Cashing in after august 1st saved for holiday.
AXA £ 54.93 Life & Critical Illness to cover mortgage - joint
AXA £ 46.58 My Life & Critical Illness
AXA £ 20.00 Life Assurance paid for son
AXA £ 15.38 Life Assurance paid for other son
House & Cont £ 28.70 This has just reduced from £36!
PC World £ 9.99 x 2 Laptop and desktop insurance
Dog Ins £39.99 Dog nearly 13 and had major operation last year!
Sky £21.00
Council Tax £121.00
TV Lic £ 11.37
Diesel £100.00 Average per month
Car Ins £ 29.00 Just reduced from £43.50 changed car
Car Tax £ 12.00
Food £280.00
Internet £ 17.99
Phone £ 23.00 No mobile signal at home so cannot use free min
Mobile £ 25.00
Electric £ 47.00

TOTAL £1027.12

The ISA I will be stopping once the August payment taken as I was using this to save for holiday. So will be saving £100 per month there.

I know I pay a lot of insurance ( I work for an insurance company - guess which one lol) but I have tried to re-quote these but because of various medical probs since the premiums are higher.

The house insurance has just gone down - I had my renewal through for £46.00 a month then made a claim, because of my claim they re-quoted me and it came out at £28 - I did not ask questions but this is the amount they have taken from my account and all my paperwork is correct.

Have just changed the car from 4 x 4 gas guzzler to more economical one... saving £14.50 per month insurance, £65 a year road tax and about £25 per month less diesel. Also under full warrenty!

I pay life assurances for my sons because they have responsibilities and if I left it to them it would not be paid!

The pet insurance is high I know but the dog has had two major operations and is nearly 13 so don't know if I would be able to get cover elsewhere.

Ideally I would like to free £350 per month initially to make our debt free target of August 2013 - that is including the mortgage!

Any thoughts welcomed - thanks for taking the time to look.....

Carol

misspoppy

Hi

Welcome, do your sons pay you for their life insurance, if they have responsiblilities they should be responsible and pay for it.

Also why do you need two lots of life and critical insurance?

If you cant get mobile signal at home why don't you go pay as you go?

One_step_forward

Thanks for the quick reponse:-

No I don't get paid for the life assurance for my sons.... but am making sure that my grandchildren are protected should anything happen!

Am tied into my mobile contract until November but will review then.

One lot of life assurance just pays the mortgage..... the other is for an additional lump sum to cover loss of earnings should anything happen to either of us. Crticall illness is priority for us as we have a close friend who has just become paralized. We know the expense ionvolved of adapting house etc....

Thanks

misspoppy

Sorry to be harsh but you are looking to save £350 from your budget asking your sons to take responsiblity for their familes will give you 10% of the £350 you are looking to save.

angelavdavis

One_step_forward wrote: »

My outgoings

AXA ISA £100.00 Cashing in after august 1st saved for holiday.
AXA £ 54.93 Life & Critical Illness to cover mortgage - joint
AXA £ 46.58 My Life & Critical Illness
AXA £ 20.00 Life Assurance paid for son
AXA £ 15.38 Life Assurance paid for other son

All of the above seem very high - shop around. If you sign up to www.quidco.co.uk - legal and general give you cashback too for switching products - eg, my n/s 35 year old boyfriend got life and critical illness cover for his £116000 mortgage for just under £10 per month plus £20 cashback! I am amazed you say that you have shopped around to get equivalent - sons in particular are high. I don't think your employer is offering you a good deal. Why do you have two policies?

Internet £ 17.99
Look for internet/phone deals - you can reduce this
Phone £ 23.00 No mobile signal at home so cannot use free min
Mobile £ 25.00
Is the mobile deal the minimum? - isn't it worth looking at pay as you go if this is contract and you aren't using free mins?

Hi and welcome to DFW!

I think there are definitely areas you could be saving on.

Do you have any other options to raising cash - renting out a spare room, selling stuff on ebay, etc?

I don't know if you have discovered the snowball calculator, its worth entering the debts on here and looking how increasing your payments affect your debt free dates.

Have a look over on Old style forum - I think you could trim some off the food bill with some canny shopping tips. If it is just you and OH, then I think you can reduce this by £100 minimum.

Overall, I think £140 savings are doable without too much effort.

jennynoo

Have you checked if you contents insurance covers your computers?

One_step_forward

Hi, thanks for your suggestions, have started listing stuff on ebay... aimimg for £100 per month from this....... so with the the £100 from stopping the ISA that leaves me £150 to find.

Have stopped buying magazines, and now read them online.......

Will seriously look at the food bills..... but I only have a waitrose within 5 miles of my home so quite expensive......

Will sort out cupboards and do a tesco online basic shop.......

and see if I can get the fruit cheaper from market etc....

Will loook at insurances as well

thanks again

Carol