SOA, suggestions welcome

Red-Squirrel_2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

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

So sorry you've had these issues, what a blow. There are so many horror stories out there about pet insurance that was one of the reasons I didn't take it out when I first got the animals. I hope your dog is in good health and stays that way.

Red-Squirrel_2

asparagus1968 wrote: »

Hi there,


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

Definitely! I didn't realise the APR was so high until I just checked the T&Cs to fill out the SOA. I'll be getting rid of that asap now I've had the shock!

asparagus1968 wrote: »

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

Yes, I get the discount, and that's over 12 months. Just had the new bill through for April and there's no increase which is good news.

asparagus1968 wrote: »

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?

Its already booked, flights are paid for, hotel is on check in. It only a cheap short break and I went three years without a holiday while I was training for my new job. I know its a bit naughty, but its done now. I won't book anymore I promise!

asparagus1968 wrote: »

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!

TV, broadband and phone are in a bundle with Sky for £27, I just split the amounts for the SOA. Contract on that is till September, I needed the Sky box as the freeview signal is terrible in this building, pretty much unwatchable most of the time. Once the 12 months is up I will cancel and keep the box for free channels. I did get a good amount of cashback on that though!

asparagus1968 wrote: »

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

Good point, had forgotten about those costs


I didn't think the breakdown cover was that bad, what sort of costs is everybody else paying? I admit, I do like being with RAC or AA because I know next to nothing about cars and am usually on my own. I feel a bit more secure with a familiar/popular name. That' a bit silly though isn't it?

Thank you!

getmore4less

Start with the emergency fund/tesco card,

You still have to allocate funds from you income to cover this otherwise you will be juggling numbers every time you get an emergency(unplaned expense) although they should be rare if you budget properly.

To that end you have allready identified you need to budget for pet expenses they will happen and you are allready £500 down so start budgeting something if you keep it a zero you will never have a budget that works.

same with the car you need to have something in there for the maintenance.

The cash flow side of things mean you might not save the money but keep it as an overpayment on one of your other cards(snowball). when you use the tesco card you then need to redirect spare funds to cover the bills.


Allthough your SOA says you have a surplus I think you don't have one that big(£1700py) as you have things missing that WILL cost money at some point.

If you want to move you need to have something in the SOA for that.


Kill the catalog by spending on the tesco, fuel and food will do it.

allthough a SOA gives a monthly view you really need to think at least a years worth of costs in a budget to see how much will really be spare to reduce the debts.

It is still quite early in 2015 why not do a full 2014 SOA and see where your money has been going.
( or a financial year April->March)

getmore4less

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

I didn't think the breakdown cover was that bad, what sort of costs is everybody else paying? I admit, I do like being with RAC or AA because I know next to nothing about cars and am usually on my own. I feel a bit more secure with a familiar/popular name. That' a bit silly though isn't it?

Thank you!

£15pm will get you a fee paying current account with full EU breakdown, travel insurance and other benifits.

Not that you need any of those but as a comparison for what £15pm can get you.

rising_from_the_ashes

You might like the AA or RAC but youre certainly paying for the name :eek:

Autoaid is £41 for a year - thats less than 3 months of your current cover!:D

How often do you break down?

Generally AutoAid will send a local gaage (i know people whove broken down & its even their own garage that has come out!:)) and often far quicker than AA or RAC et al!

Red-Squirrel_2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

You might like the AA or RAC but youre certainly paying for the name :eek:

Autoaid is £41 for a year - thats less than 3 months of your current cover!:D

How often do you break down?

Generally AutoAid will send a local gaage (i know people whove broken down & its even their own garage that has come out!:)) and often far quicker than AA or RAC et al!

I've only called them out twice in the 5 years I've had the car. Oh dear.

Have you had good experiences with AutoAid then? I suppose if I can pay with my credit card it would work, just a bit scary in case it doesn't all get refunded for some reason!

rising_from_the_ashes

I used to use them & no issues - i have 5 years breakdown cover on current car so not reuired atm

Must fly as have a hosp appt

Have a look around the forum (post in the car section) for others xperiences

Also http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/car-insurance/breakdown-cover?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=bignote-three&utm_term=03-Dec-14-lt&utm_campaign=car-insurance&utm_content=9#BBtwo losds of others but really must fly

https://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/

Red-Squirrel_2

Thank you so much, its fantastic that there are so many kind people on here taking the time to help each other out!

Hope all goes well at the hospital.

andyfromotley

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

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 (obv too high, change at end of contract)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10 (again at end of contract change, can get phone and bb for £8pm at the mo!!)
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 50 (hmmmn)
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 9.7
Car Insurance........................... 37 (£444 per year for car insurance? Thats high, again drive it down ruthlessly at renewal)
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 (this seems a lot for a flat. i pay less than this for a 4 bed house. Drive it down at renewal)!
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 (wayy too much. Can be had much cheaper even for aa/rac via Top cash back)
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 (horrific!)
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.

Pretty impressive and well worked SOA. Well done. There are a few savings to be made. Don't sweat the EF vs debt thing. Either is fine provided you have a plan that doesn't include using full APR credit cards which you don't.

Gosh living in a flat is expensive isn't it?? If you add up you service charge, rent and car parking that payment would get you another 25k on your mortgage roughly!!

Red-Squirrel_2

andyfromotley wrote: »

Pretty impressive and well worked SOA. Well done. There are a few savings to be made. Don't sweat the EF vs debt thing. Either is fine provided you have a plan that doesn't include using full APR credit cards which you don't.

Gosh living in a flat is expensive isn't it?? If you add up you service charge, rent and car parking that payment would get you another 25k on your mortgage roughly!!

Thanks andy, you're right about flats. Luckily the mortgage is reasonable and I'm very lucky in that we have a good management company (the service charge has actually gone down by £200 a year since I moved in around the time they took over and they do keep the place well maintained) but yeah, its frustrating at times. I'm in my thirties now so the reasons for choosing the city centre flat aren't so pressing anymore, I don't stumble home at 3am and have friends sleeping on the sofas after nights out quite so much these days!

My car insurance might go down with a different postcode too, just did a quick comparison and the cheapest quote was £350, so I can definitely save at renewal.

Where did you manage to get £8 a month for phone and broadband? Is it a reliable connection? As soon as I can I want rid of the sky TV contract, I don't even watch it that much, but I've been really impressed by the broadband after a few years with BT which was terrible!