urgent advice needed please

caprichos

Hi and thank you again for your adivce.
Here I have posted my SOA. I am afraid I have not completed it as it asks as I don't have debt numbers and interest etc at the moment. I have put the payments we make towards them.
Clothing goes in catalogue so no amount there.

Any advice?


Many thanks


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1760
Partners monthly income after tax....... 235.95
Benefits................................ 447
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2442.95

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 430
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 129
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26
Telephone (land line)................... 16
Mobile phone............................ 100.3
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 20
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 35
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 14.3
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Children swimming lessons............... 60
Physiotherapy........................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1262.72


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
capital one....................0.........16........0
capital one....................0.........55........0
vanquish.......................0.........0.........0
very...........................0.........0.........0
cancer research................0.........8.67......0
natwest........................0.........8.2.......0
laredoute......................0.........15........0
credit expert..................0.........14.99.....0
overdraft......................0.........25........0
stb............................0.........20........0
rspb...........................0.........15........0
wonga..........................0.........0.........0
moneyway.......................0.........0.........0
wageday........................0.........38........0
!!!!!!!!!!!!!..................0.........20........0
quickquid......................0.........0.........0
sunny..........................0.........40........0
freemans.......................0.........13........0
curvissa.......................0.........10........0
simplybe.......................0.........72........0
littlewoods....................0.........90........0
next...........................0.........60........0
luma...........................0.........24........0
aqua...........................0.........16........0
aqua...........................0.........48........0
vanquish.......................0.........61........0
Total unsecured debts..........0.........669.86....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,442.95
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,262.72
Available for debt repayments........... 1,180.23
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 669.86
Amount left after debt repayments....... 510.37

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

Karonher

Just a couple of things stand out. There is nothing in the groceries section and £100 for mobiles is a lot. Is that for 4 and can any of the contracts be reduced? Is there a way to have fewer haircuts and can the physio bill be reduced or even done through the NHS?

There may be reasons why they cant be but just a thought.

caprichos

HI,
Thanks for comments.
The physio cannot be done through the NHS I am afraid they only give your so much and then you are on your own.
About the haircuts, £50 is for 4 os us. £10 each boy and £15 for each of us adults. It is the cheapest I have found here in Oxford without compromising too much the quality of the haircut.

I have not put food as I though the left over money covers food and toiletries. Should I put it down regardless?

The payment I have out are the minimum agreed with creditors.

I have today however cancelled the charity bills and also the experian (credit expert) one.
I have switched energy suppliers hopefully making a saving of £220 a year.

Hopefully this is a start?

Also I am not sure what to put for christmas/birthdays , entertainment, holidays etc. We never go anywhere so there is not a fund for that and when birthdays come, we strecth for that as and when it comes?

Any more advice appreciated

Thanks again!!

caprichos

oh, with the mobile phone contracts we are stuck till November so we will change them drastically then unless someone can tell em if we can reduced now?

Dobbibill

caprichos wrote: »

About the haircuts, £50 is for 4 os us. £10 each boy and £15 for each of us adults. It is the cheapest I have found here in Oxford without compromising too much the quality of the haircut.

Have you looked at going to the local collage for haircuts. They normally have trainee hairdresser, who have to be supervised but that may save you a little here.

I have not put food as I though the left over money covers food and toiletries. Should I put it down regardless?

You need to put food on there. You are looking to account for every penny in or out when you do a SOA.

I have today however cancelled the charity bills and also the experian (credit expert) one.
I have switched energy suppliers hopefully making a saving of £220 a year.

Hopefully this is a start?

Well done on cancelling unnecessary payments. If you want a snap shot of your credit report you can do this on Noddle for free. Credit Expert /Experian take money off you every month for nothing. They do nothing for you and give you a 'credit score' which means nothing in the real world. If you want to check your CR, you can also get the statutory report for £2 as and when you want to check.

Also I am not sure what to put for christmas/birthdays , entertainment, holidays etc. We never go anywhere so there is not a fund for that and when birthdays come, we strecth for that as and when it comes?

Can you base this on last Christmas and last years birthdays and then divide by 12 (although now maybe 11 months until Christmas)

oh, with the mobile phone contracts we are stuck till November so we will change them drastically then unless someone can tell em if we can reduced now?

My DS is not due to change/upgrade his contract until August but was going over his allowance regularly. I rang them up and they increased his monthly allowance and reduced the price with no impact on his renewal date. It's worth giving them a ring and asking - worst case scenario is they say 'no' - but that doesn't put you in any worse a situation than you are in now. Give it a go, finger's crossed you get a result.

The other thing that jumps out to me is the Satellite/Cable TV - that is quite high, again give them a ring, they may decrease it, if only for a few months. That will give you a little breathing space too.

All of the above are just ideas to try to help. You may be able to do some of them which may save you.

Many SOA's take several attempts to get it accurate.

Best wishes

DB

caprichos

Thank you for all that. I will call the satellite and mobile companies and try to bring them down. Fingers crossed. Will look into all other suggestions too! Great help!!

spicefox

I noticed you have petrol /diesel and parking but no car insurance or maintenance?

Sazzie23

You'll be surprised what you actually spend when you look at food and toiletries etc##It can add up really wuickly

Suffolk_lass

Hi caprichos,

You already have some good advice here. I noticed you have two debts I recognise as high interest - wage day and sunny (some of the others might also be high interest but I do not know them). I suggest that you pay these more quickly than the others, perhaps with any savings from the mobile accounts or sat TV. Also, with regard to housekeeping, you could do a lot worse than read the first few posts in the monthly Grocery Challenge thread under Old-Style money saving - the February thread link is here - anyway, there are lots of great tips to reduce that whole area of spend.

Well done for starting this journey and very best of luck.
SL