SOA, suggestions welcome

Red-Squirrel_2

I've been hovering on the boards for a little while now but not actually posted my SOA yet, so as I'm wide awake bright and early on my day off, here it is! I think I have a pretty good idea where I'm going wrong and what I'm doing right, but I must be missing something because when I put everything into YNAB I had 3K more in debt than I realised!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1500

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 226
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 14.5
Management charge (leasehold property).. 66.5
Council tax............................. 77
Electricity............................. 62
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 14.3
Telephone (land line)................... 7
Mobile phone............................ 36
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 9.7
Car Insurance........................... 37
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 60
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 42
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Breakdown cover......................... 15.45
Union Membership........................ 14
Total monthly expenses.................. 1065.07


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 110000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 111000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 45885....(226)......4.39
Total secured & HP debts...... 45885.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................4808......110.......0
Co-op .........................7000......140.......20
Tesco..........................476.......25........0
Catalogue......................103.......6.........39.9
Overdraft......................1658......0.........0
Halifax .......................988.......11........0
Total unsecured debts..........15033.....292.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,500
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,065.07
Available for debt repayments........... 434.93
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 292
Amount left after debt repayments....... 142.93

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 111,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -45,885
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,033
Net Assets.............................. 50,082

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


There is no budget for presents, because I do surveys/reviews/comps etc. for Amazon vouchers through the year and generally manage to buy all my presents with those (small family, only buy for a few close friends).

There's no budget for vet bills/pet insurance but I do have pets. I've never budgeted for this and have just paid as needed, my animals are rescues and are too old to insure now.

There's no emergency fund because I sort of agree with Martin about not saving when you have debt, and I view my Tesco card as an emergency fund (its 0% on purchases for another year). The balance on there currently is from a vet bill last month, my first one bigger than £100, I guess my luck couldn't last forever!

So...do your worst! All advice, even tellings off, are appreciated! Thank you.

Aphidgirl

Hi Red Squirrel,

£50 a month on clothes just for yourself sounds a bit excessive. I use to go clothes shopping just as a hobby but I've managed to stop this now and I only treat myself to new clothes once every few months. I probably spend about £100 a year on clothes as I tend to go to the cheaper stores.

Mind you, I spend about twice as much as you on entertainment! So we all have our vices

Red-Squirrel_2

Aphidgirl wrote: »

Hi Red Squirrel,

£50 a month on clothes just for yourself sounds a bit excessive. I use to go clothes shopping just as a hobby but I've managed to stop this now and I only treat myself to new clothes once every few months. I probably spend about £100 a year on clothes as I tend to go to the cheaper stores.

Mind you, I spend about twice as much as you on entertainment! So we all have our vices

I was struggling with what to budget for clothes, I don't shop every month, but when I do buy new stuff I tend to spend a bit more per item than I used to when I was younger and thinner and could get away with the cheaper stuff more easily!

I averaged out the costs over the year, I probably spend a couple of hundred at the start of summer and the start of winter and then another couple of hundred on replacements/things for specific occasions here and there through the year.

I can definitely work on cutting it down though, recently had a big clear out and realised just how much stuff I owned that I hardly ever wear. I now wear a uniform for work too which should help!

Thank you.

rising_from_the_ashes

Well done for getting it down:)reslly must do a new one soon

Couple of things - you need something in for car maintenance / servicing / mot etc - also an emergency fund so you have something to fall back on without having to resort to more debt

The car costs dont stack up for me im afraid if youre paying £60 fuel / month youre not going fsr - so spending £60 on car parking (work?) Doesnt add up - is there an alternative way to get there / how much would that cost?

If you add up the total car costs its costing more than double for other bits than ypu spend on fuel so costs dont justify benefits (sorry) - esp if there are alternatives eg bus, train etc

Breakdown cover is high - look at Autoaid if you still have a credit card - you need to pay it at the time but they settle quickly (usually wth 2 weeks so ofte before youve even had the c/card bill)

Also a few other bits missing such as presents (saw your comments but personally feel you need figures in here)

You should also incl pet costs - these can be huge so may be where a big chunk is going

Having a c/card to pay vets bills is all well & good but tbh adding to debt for every vet trip isnt - you need to budget for & put money aside for these (and other pet costs) - i have 3 accounts for my pets for various bits & pieces

What would you do if you no longer had te c card?


Phone is high - when does contract end?

Aphidgirl

Yeh I know what you mean about wanting to start buying a few better quality items rather than loads of cheap clothes.

These last few years my mum has given me a gift card for Debenhams each Christmas with £50-80 on it. I've used this to go and buy clothes/boots in the January sales and I managed to get some good quality stuff this year that was half price (and obviously free with the gift card!). Maybe if you could get your family to give you gift cards for Christmas/birthday that might slash the clothes budget even more.

Red-Squirrel_2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Well done for getting it down:)reslly must do a new one soon

Couple of things - you need something in for car maintenance / servicing / mot etc - also an emergency fund so you have something to fall back on without having to resort to more debt

The car costs dont stack up for me im afraid if youre paying £60 fuel / month youre not going fsr - so spending £60 on car parking (work?) Doesnt add up - is there an alternative way to get there / how much would that cost?

If you add up the total car costs its costing more than double for other bits than ypu spend on fuel so costs dont justify benefits (sorry) - esp if there are alternatives eg bus, train etc

Breakdown cover is high - look at Autoaid if you still have a credit card - you need to pay it at the time but they settle quickly (usually wth 2 weeks so ofte before youve even had the c/card bill)

Also a few other bits missing such as presents (saw your comments but personally feel you need figures in here)

You should also incl pet costs - these can be huge so may be where a big chunk is going

Having a c/card to pay vets bills is all well & good but tbh adding to debt for every vet trip isnt - you need to budget for & put money aside for these (and other pet costs) - i have 3 accounts for my pets for various bits & pieces

What would you do if you no longer had te c card?


Phone is high - when does contract end?

Thanks for your comments Rising, appreciate you taking the time to help!

Unfortunately, car parking is to rent a space near home, I live in a flat in a city centre so its pricey. I would love to do without the car but I work shifts and there isn't really any public transport to get me where I need to be when I need to be there! Also, I like to have it for visiting family, and for taking the dogs out to the country for walks, or to the vets if needed etc. I'm hoping to move out of the city to the 'burbs next year, which will save me money in the long term on service charge, ground rent and the cost of parking hopefully but for now I just have to stick that one out, annoying as it is!

Thanks for the tip on Autoaid, will definitely have a look.

Phone contract is till October 2016, kicking myself a bit now but I decided to 'treat myself' to a new phone when I started a new job with a decent payrise and before it'd really sunk in just how much debt I'd accrued while I was being paid peanuts to train. I was on sim only for £12 a month before that.

I'm sorry to be awkward, but I'm still not sold on the whole emergency fund thing. I see a lot of sense in what Martin says that there's no point having money sitting around waiting to be spent when it could be reducing interest instead. I'd never have a card that wasn't 0% for my emergency fund, as I realise that wouldn't make any sense, but until I'm debt free does it not make sense to throw everything at the debt as much as possible?

I do slightly wish I'd insured the pets when they were a bit younger though. Technically, I'd have paid more in premiums than I have in vet bills, just, but the peace of mind would have been nice! In the future, I shall insure I think!

Silian

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I'm sorry to be awkward, but I'm still not sold on the whole emergency fund thing. I see a lot of sense in what Martin says that there's no point having money sitting around waiting to be spent when it could be reducing interest instead. I'd never have a card that wasn't 0% for my emergency fund, as I realise that wouldn't make any sense, but until I'm debt free does it not make sense to throw everything at the debt as much as possible?

Hi Squirrel.

If you are not really budgeting and you have access to credit (especially if it is at 0%) I agree with you. It makes no sense to save if you are paying interest - if you do that you are in effect lending money to yourself at a huge loss.

On the other hand, if you use something like YNAB to budget properly, you can budget the money to an emergency fund, but move it to your credit card to save on interest.

E.G. You have £100 on your credit card at 17.5%. This month you have £100 extra. You budget £50 for an emergency fund and £50 for debt repayment but you move the entire £100 to your credit card. Next month you budget the same but you don't have to move anything.

While this might seem similar to just paying of your debt it has the advantage of breaking the debt cycle. After 2 months you have an emergency fund of £100 as well as no debt. If you don't do this it is easy for that £100 to be spent on something else.

Red-Squirrel_2

Silian wrote: »

Hi Squirrel.

If you are not really budgeting and you have access to credit (especially if it is at 0%) I agree with you. It makes no sense to save if you are paying interest - if you do that you are in effect lending money to yourself at a huge loss.

On the other hand, if you use something like YNAB to budget properly, you can budget the money to an emergency fund, but move it to your credit card to save on interest.

E.G. You have £100 on your credit card at 17.5%. This month you have £100 extra. You budget £50 for an emergency fund and £50 for debt repayment but you move the entire £100 to your credit card. Next month you budget the same but you don't have to move anything.

While this might seem similar to just paying of your debt it has the advantage of breaking the debt cycle. After 2 months you have an emergency fund of £100 as well as no debt. If you don't do this it is easy for that £100 to be spent on something else.

I had to read that through a few times!

That's not a bad idea actually, take the 0% credit card 'on budget' with YNAB so that if I do use it I'm still accounting for it properly and not falling into the trap of viewing it as 'free money'.

Thanks very much.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ouch to the car parking at home!

Totally get you with the car for dog walks etc- hopefullt it will be more cost effective when youre able to move

Emergrncy fund - i quite like Silian's suggestion & certainly a huge improvement on no fund

Whi,e i wouldnt suggest having hundreds in an EF while you hve debt £300 or so would be enough to cover replacing say a wasing machine or oven etc - you want to cler debt but you also dont want to add tp it (and even having a 0% card is adding to it) either

Pets & insurance - big ripe for me atm. I would certainly say anyone shuld have a new pet insured for a coupke of years as generally 'major structural' issues would become apparent by then - or if you have a breed with known major health issues

However having gone for a for life policy with a major insurer only to have them pull out & sell us to a company who did say they would cover older animals & pre-existing conditions - did nothing to ensure premiums were going to be affordable

Some have had rises from £40 / month to over £250 / month :eek:my own didnt go up that much but still to much to be affordable

Cats were easy to move elsewhere for affordable sum - dog hasnt been

If theyre not age related conditions it may be worth looking at accident & injury policies - usually about £6 / month (i have taken one of these)

I think if you have 1 or 2 pet its probably worth it - when you have a few it becomes less likely you will 'break even' on premiums to claims

Many have huge claims - but tbh they are in thr minority and again i personally wouldnt put mine through stuff others do (personal choice - also once they get older you have to ask what is really fair)


Apologies for spelling - keys on tablet dont work well anymore but as i mainly use it for reading i cant justify buying a new one!)

Silian

Np. It is a bit of a mindset change. Where your money is if you are using Ynab is completely irrelevant - only the categories matter and you are free to move it around so that it works best for you (within limits off course. You need to remember that there are some things you can't buy on credit).

I actually do the opposite where I allocate money to my credit card but (since it is on 0%) I leave it in my current account to earn interest. I'll pay it off once the 0% ends, but I should be debt free long before that.

But back to your SOA - it seems very sensible. Well done!

asparagus1968

Hi there,


Firstly, this month with your excess £142.93 get that catalogue paid off in full


Council tax-do you get your 25% single person supplemrnt, do you pay over 10 or 12 months?


Forfit the holiday for a year, have you actually been saving this somewhere? Could you put that towards another debt? I'd try and get rid of the overdraft, do you pay for that?


Breakdown is very expensive, go on to topcashback.co.uk and compare some.


Could you bundle the internet/landline and get rid of cable and watch freeview?
this is what I do: pay TT £19 odd a month for landline and internet, don't actually use the phone at all, just incoming calls, then just have mobile phone to pay for. If you have loads of inc minutes with your mobile use those before landline. Use saynoto0870.com to find cheaper numbers to ring on the mobile though!


Put you numbers in for pet costs too- food/toys/wormer/flea treatment perhaps?


good luck