SOA - here goes

djtonyb

Me, Hubby and DD. Hubby is a SAHD to look after 3yr old DD. DH also runs a mobile disco earning approx £3000/year


Income/Month

Wages £1875
Tax Credit £43.46
CHB £72.40

Outgoings/month

£100 Marks & Spencer Credit Card (£2500@ 3.9% life of balance)
£20 Lloyds TSB Platinum Card (£624.40 Unsure APR)
£226.06 A&L Car Loan (5.9% with 2 years left)
£378.03 Abbey Mortgage (just switched cos I am a Mortgage Tart)
£39 Electric with British Gas - Switched and got tied in just before the prices went up
£11 TV License
£12 Buildings Insurance (Just swapped and saved £20/month)
£15 Endowment - 9 years left (for DD)
£13 Mortgage Protection
£10 Child trust fund for DD
£20 Contents Insurance (Just swapped and saved £20/month)
£27 Van Insurance for DD's Mobile Disco
£116 Council Tax
£85 My Pension (increase 5%/year)
£13 Life Assurance
£23 Gas with British Gas - Switched and got tied in just before the prices went up
£25 British Gas Boiler/Hob Service Plan
£25 Garage for Car/Disco Storage
£17 HSA healthcare plan for all 3 of us
£40 NTL (M Broadband, XL TV and Phone)
£21 Water
£25 Car Insurance (Just changed and saved £10/month)
£40 Mobile (£30 Contract – me, £10 PAYG – DH)

We also have quarterly bills of £26 – local Hospice and £8 – Mothers magazine sub (last Christmas prezzie)

Overdraft is £2000 with account charges of £25 + interest/month

DH shops for food everyday and we are spending approx £400 on food,clothes and days out with DD

I have set up a SO from our account to the Building Society account for £200 that plus the CHB and Tax credits will be used for food, clothes and DD. Once thats gone its gone.

Anthing left I aim to use to shove towards CC's and overdraft


So what is there left??????

KerryHawk

Hi there

I am more a lurker than a poster but I have to say you could definately cut the food bill - jump over to the old style board for loads of tips and advice on meal planning and shopping - they have certainly taught me a thing or three!!:T :T I would imagine shopping every day is the worse thing to do - it is too tempting for all those goodies and 'bargains'

More experienced bods will be along to help you with the rest but over £400 food and clothes for three of you seems a lot.

Good luck

Shineyhappy

I didnt see anything for car/van repairs/MOTs/road tax.

If you are looking to get any more magazine subscriptions for presents try going through Quidco as you can often get great deals there.

I think you could probably shave a bit off your shopping/clothes/going out budget.

djtonyb

Car/Van Repairs/tax/MOTs are usually paid when the occur and then paid off :eek:

I know my food bill is high and I'm trying to teach DH that shopping every day is not good. We don't eat ready meals and each fresh cooked food every day. We love our slow cooker

shell_girl

I would check the British Gas service hob plan. Unless you think your boiler is on it's last legs you may be better off putting this aside each month towards that sort of home emergency. TBH I haven't heard great things about the quality of their help if things do go wrong, but I'll stand corrected if anyone on here knows otherwise!

Also try playing with the snowball calculator to see what happens on the M & S card if you put your £10 trust fund money there instead. If it significantly reduces the amount of months that it would take off the clear date then it might be worth doing this for a while, and then once you're clear using the money that would have gone on M&S to top up your daughters fund to what it would have been had you carried on at £10 per month. Obviously you'd have to play around with snowballs to see if it's worth it.

floss2

Can i ask why you pay £17 a month to HSA, when you receive Tax Credits so all your dental, eyes & prescriptions will be free?

You have £1990.86 coming in (or are Tax Credit & FA 4-weekly?)
You have £1351.42 going out (inc quarterly bills)

So where is the other £639.44 going?

Start a spending diary, ask DH to keep all shopping receipts & work out how much you really spend on your shopping. Then get him over to the Old Style board to cut that figure - set him a challenge, blokes like a challenge to get their teeth into!

djtonyb

You don't get Teeth, eyes and prescriptions free if you're on Tax credits. Only if your in receipt of certain benefits which we're not.

djtonyb

Our boiler is 10 years old and My gas service plan has fixed a rewiring job on my boiler due to water leakage and no heating due to safety value failure.


So I thinks its worth it :rolleyes:

floss2

You receive an NHS exemption card when you receive Working Tax Credit.....

djtonyb

I don't get Working Tax Credits, just Child Tax Credit. I earn too much for Working Tax Credits and DH doesn't get any benefits cos he's a SAHD.

djtonyb

So where is the other £639.44 going

I'm gonna sit down this weekend and work out what went where and will give details on Monday