Our SOA

lincs1205

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

This SOA includes the bills for both of us.

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1326
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3826

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 891.6
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 294.19999999999993
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 114
Electricity............................. 50 Electricity & Gas are combined, Next plan is to look for cheaper plans
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 74
Telephone (land line)................... 16.4
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 37.62
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47.65
Internet Services....................... 0 This is free for the next 12 months
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - We fluctuate with groceries, i've started batch cooking
Clothing................................ 20 - This is occasiona
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 - Joint
Road tax................................ 13.3 - This is my husbands as i don't pay tax on my car
Car Insurance........................... 27.14 - This is mine, hubby paid his for a year in advance
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 150 - This is hubbys, as i have a careplan which is included in the HP agreement
Car parking............................. 17 - This is me for work
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 17 - This is me as hubby does'nt go to dr's or dentist
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 16.37
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 27.23
Other insurance......................... 66.16
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 72 - This is every 8 - 10 weeks
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Clubwise................................ 25 - This finishes in October
RCN..................................... 16.4 - My union which i need to be in for work
Barclays Ptnr .......................... 84.74 - This is for the boiler
Policy Admin Svcs....................... 7.6 - Don't know this is hubbys
British Gas svcs........................ 12.56 - Don't know this is hubbys
Joint Account
Total monthly expenses.................. 2687.97


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 160000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 160000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 120000...(891.6)....6.4
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4120.....(294.2)....NaN
Total secured & HP debts...... 124120....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................3567.8....178.3.....NaN - This is Hubbys and finishes in march 2017
Credit Card....................7296......115.......6.4 - This is mine
Credit Card....................5150......147.......18.9 - This is mine
Santander Overdraft............1800......100.......NaN - Joint account
N&P Overdraft..................500.......100.......NaN - My personal account
Store Card.....................3996......109.4.....NaN - This is Hubbys
Credit Card....................7898.82...232.......NaN - This is Hubbys

I should just say that hubby had the majority of these debts before me met, he has helped his parents out in the past and we were in a much worse situation before i changed jobs, our wages vary month on month. We both do unsocial hours he does permanent nights and i do a variation of 12 hour days and nights. I have picked up a lot of extra shifts over the next few months and my wages have now gone up with regards to i get paid enhancements. I know we've made some stupid mistakes in the past but we are trying to rectify it before it gets worse. I have opened an account with Nationwide and i will be getting my wages paid into there as from Payday this month. Our wage dates also vary i get paid on the last friday of every month and hubby sometimes gets paid at the beginning of the month, sometimes the middle and sometimes has two paydays a month. The direct debits out of the joint account go out from the beginning to the end of the month. I will be putting £1100 a month into our joint account from my own account.

Many Thanks for reading

crazy_cat_lady

People way more experienced than me will comment on this - but I just wanted to recommend keeping a spending diary if you don't already. It's a real eye opener to see where everything is going, and certainly makes me think twice.

lincs1205

Thank-you crazy cat lady this is what i'm going to start doing, i already bring my food to work for the day packed in a cool bag. The real change is staying away from the newsagents downstairs, the vending machine and the cafe. My plan is to literally just bring the £1 i need to work and leave my main purse at home. I've based the SOA on our joint account my plan is to try and get my credit cards and overdraft paid down more and then start paying off more into our joint account.

Pixie5740

How much money do you have left over at the end of the month? From your figures I work it out to be around £190? Does that sound about right?

Mobile: £80 for two people is really high. Are you in contract just now? Could you downgrade your tariffs?

TV Licence: £37.62. TV licence should be £12.12 or do you have satellite or cable tv? If so this a luxury you can't really afford at this time.

Presents: £50 That's a lot especially as there are no children in the household.

Haircuts: £72 even for two people that's high.

You also budget £50 for a holiday yet nothing in your emergency fund and don't have any contents insurance. Is a holiday something you would be willing to forgo until you build up an emergency fund and pay off some of your debts?

twiggy86

Hi!

In addition to Pixie's comments I just wanted to add a few comments.


Your water seems very high - mine is currently £59 (2 adults) and that includes paying back a deficit.

You've said that your OH pays for his car insurance annually - I would still budget for this or where is the money going to come from when its due? I put aside x amount each month to cover the next years premium.

Also, you've said your OH doesn't use the dentist or docs - ever? I have an annual check up at the dentist and avoid the doctors like the plague but again I put x amount aside to cover it just in case.

£150 for car maintenance - is this every month?

The things you don't know what they are - check with your OH that they are needed. When I actually checked my statements I realised I'd been paying £5 per month for ipad insurance which I had no idea about!

Hope my comments help!

lincs1205

Thank-you Pixie & Twiggy for your comments.

Mobile - I'm in contract until November 2016 and Hubby is in contract until June 2017, i am looking at the possibility of reducing my tariff down and have had a look at my bill and i am going £15 over tariff each month through sending pictures which i'm going to stop.

TV License - We have satellite tv and are now in contract with SKY for another 12 months at least.

Presents - We don't really have a budget for presents in fact we don't really budget full stop which is why we're in the predicament we are at the moment.

We lurch from one month to the other, which is why we've decided enough is enough.

Haircut - That's just me, i'm going to start going to the college which is literally over the road from me when they return from holiday in september.

Holiday - We go in 3 weeks but when we come back we are going to continue tightening our belts even more than we are at the moment.

Definately need to build up an emergency fund.

Twiggy

Water - Yes it does seem a lot but not to sure what we can do we pay quarterly, we don't use the washing machine or dishwasher every day and hubby has showers every day whereas i have baths which is where it might be adding up. Any other ideas on reducing that please feel free.

Car Insurance - Yes we should start putting some away each month.

No he NEVER goes to the dentist or the dr's he has'nt in the 5 years we've been together.

Car Maintenance - No this is'nt every month more like every 6 -8 months thankfully

I think the £27.23 & £66.16 are for mortgage protection insurace and critical illness cover respectively.

Many Thanks for all your comments

Tixy

Are all your unsecured debts listed? You seem to have missed the bottom section of the SoA off when you copied it over.

Is your mortgage on a fixed deal? if so how long for?
It seems quite a high APR.

ShakeItOff

H Lincs,

I'm not sure if WhatsApp is still free for the first year, but for me that is the best way to send pictures without costing anything. Maybe try that? Also, I know it is a long way off until your phones come up for renewal, but it is definitely worth speaking to someone about the type of tariff. I always thought I used loads of data, so had "all you can eat" data on my tariff. I went in to the shop and they looked at my account and said I don't touch anywhere near 2GB of data, which meant I could drop down to a much cheaper tariff.

catmiaow

One thing that stands out to me is my mortgage is slightly higher than yours, yet I am paying nearly £300 a month less. Can you look into changing mortgages for a better rate? Nationwide was the cheapest for us and we have just moved.

thegreenone

What's the Barclays Ptnr for £84.74? If that's just boiler cover you need to look around fast.

lincs1205

Hi,
Thanks for all your comments.

Tixy - Yes all unsecured debts are listed. Our mortgage is on a fixed rate until December, hubby has been into the Halifax to look at getting it switched but we can't until the month before the contract ends. I'm not a 100% sure what the APR is, i'm not currently on the mortgage or any of the utilities at the moment it is on our to do list. Bit of background information, hubby bought this house with his ex in 2008, we met in 2010 and got married in 2013.

Shakeitoff - Think i'll go down to our local o2 shop and see if they can help me.

Catmiaow - We're tied in with Halifax until December, so going to have a look round between now and then. Hubby has taken money out against it and lent it to his parents. Not to sure about how to go about looking at mortgages and what's the best thing to look for etc.

Thegreenone - The Barclays Ptnr is re-payment for the new boiler that we had fitted last year as our old one was on it's last legs it's on a 5 year plan.

Thankyou for all your comments so far. Been looking at utilities and have found one that would save us £283/yr £24 a mnth.