My SOA - Any Advice?

laurawaite

Hi all, I have been lurking around here for a few weeks now, making the odd random post but have finally decided to take the plunge and post my SOA so that hopefully you experiences MSE's can give me some advice on how to make money/save money!OK, here goes:In:My wages: £1059 after taxOH wages: £272 per week after tax, (assuming that he does a full week, he is a builders labourer so if it's raining he can't work which means he doesn't get paid), on average £1088 a monthTax Credits (inc Childcare element): £262 every 4 weeksChild Benefit: £72 every 4 weeksTotal monthly income approx £2481Out:Mortgage: £383 per month with Preferred on a 3 year fixed deal, think the interest is about 7%, not great but the best we could get!Rent: (Our house is SO): £181 per monthCouncil Tax: £95 per monthWater: £30 per monthGas: £30 per monthElectric: £25 per monthTV Licence: £11 per monthHouse Ins: £8 per monthMy mobile: £35 per month (includes free broadband)OH mobile: £25 per monthBT: £38 per month - includes monthly instalments of the initial set up fee we had to pay to join BT which was about £130 - I need BT as I need broadband for workNursery Fees: £31 per day, my little girl goes Tues/Wed/Thurs - no other options for cheaper childcare unfortunately - so an average of £372 a monthSpecsavers for my contact lenses - £10 a monthCar Ins (My Car) - £52 per monthVan Ins (OH) - £25 per monthMy petrol - £120 per monthOH diesel - £60 per month(both need vehicles for work and most petrol is work related)Groceries - £200 per month - trying to cut this downGoing out - We go out once a month and spend about £50 a month between usOH tobacco - £20 a monthDebts:Welcome Finance Loan - £217 a month (balance - not sure, loan was for £7500 but not had it long so with interest etc balance prob about £10K??)My Aqua CC - £60 a month - £1800 limit - maxed outOH Aqua CC - £20 a month - £650 limit - maxed outNext Directory - £60 a month - balance £570Additions Catalogue - £30 a month - balance £630(all credit cards and catalogues have been destroyed so we can't spend anymore!)Moorcroft repayment - £25 a month - balance £100 (this was from when OH defaulted on a catalogue)Blair, Olicer, Scott repayment - £60 a month - balance around £5K but if we could ever afford to pay it off I think they would take a lower settlement (this was from when OH defaulted on a credit card and loan)Repayment to my old student overdraft - £10 a month - balance about £1400I also have an overdraft on my current bank account of £1000 which I'm not currently repaying, my wages go in, cover it, I spend, am overdrawn again etc etcRepayment to my Nan as we borrowed £1K to cover fees when we bought our house - £100 a month, haven't paid for the last couple of months but really need to start paying again as feel guilty! balance £600Total monthly outgoings approx £2352So technically we should have £129 a month left over but this never happens! In fact we are normally in the minus figures, normally bcoz OH won't be able to work a full month meaning that his wages are down and/or we will be hit with an unexpected bill like my Car Tax which is due this month, how does everyone budget to cope with these kind of situations?Also, any suggestions to cut down anywhere? Our credit is all roughly 30% APR as we were desperate each time we needed credit and took whatever we could get! Have looked into 0% balance transfer credit cards/consolidation loans etc but bcoz of credit rating it is not possible.And any suggestions for making any extra money?We have already started selling on ebay and have registered for mystery shopping and are saving all our small change.Many Thanks for any suggestions and sorry it is so long!

laurawaite

Sorry I did put paragraphs in my post but for some reason they have not come out!!

postingalwaysposting

laurawaite wrote: »

Sorry I did put paragraphs in my post but for some reason they have not come out!!

laura can you edit the first post and put the paragraphs back in? its hard to read like that? thanks, i am sure many of us can help you out

tigtag02

Have you tried using southerscoucers sticky on this board as a template - its just too hard to read like that hon

duchy

Total monthly income approx £2481

Mortgage: £383 per month with Preferred on a 3 year fixed deal, think the interest is about 7%, not great but the best we could get
Rent: (Our house is SO): £181 per month
Council Tax: £95
Water: £30 per month
Gas: £30 per month
Electric: £25 per month
TV Licence: £11 per month
House Ins: £8 per month
My mobile: £35 per month (includes free broadband)
OH mobile: £25 per month
BT: £38 per month - includes monthly instalments of the initial set up fee we had to pay to join BT
Nursery Fees: £ no other options for cheaper childcare unfortunately - so an average of £372 a month
Specsavers for my contact lenses - £10
Car Ins (My Car) - £52 per month
Van Ins (OH) - £25 per month
My petrol - £120 per month
OH diesel - £60 per month(both need vehicles for work and most petrol is work related)
Groceries - £200 per month - trying to cut this down
Going out - We go out once a month and spend about £50 a month between us
OH tobacco - £20 a month
Debts:Welcome Finance Loan - £217 a month (balance - not sure, loan was for £7500 but not had it long so with interest etc balance prob about £10K??)
My Aqua CC - £60 a month - £1800 limit - maxed out
OH Aqua CC - £20 a month - £650 limit - maxed out
Next Directory - £60 a month - balance £570
Additions Catalogue - £30 a month - balance £630
(all credit cards and catalogues have been destroyed so we can't spend anymore!)
Moorcroft repayment - £25 a month - balance £100 (this was from when OH defaulted on a catalogue)
Blair, Olicer, Scott repayment - £60 a month - balance around £5K but if we could ever afford to pay it off I think they would take a lower settlement (this was from when OH defaulted on a credit card and loan)
Repayment to my old student overdraft - £10 a month - balance about £1400I
overdraft on my current bank account of £1000 which I'm not currently repaying, my wages go in, cover it, I spend, am overdrawn again etc etc
Repayment to my Nan as we borrowed £1K to cover fees when we bought our house - £100 a month, haven't paid for the last couple of months but really need to start paying again as feel guilty! balance £600
Total monthly outgoings approx £2352

So technically we should have £129 a month left over but this never happens! In fact we are normally in the minus figures, normally bcoz OH won't be able to work a full month meaning that his wages are down and/or we will be hit with an unexpected bill like my Car Tax which is due this month, how does everyone budget to cope with these kind of situations?Also, any suggestions to cut down anywhere? Our credit is all roughly 30% APR as we were desperate each time we needed credit and took whatever we could get! Have looked into 0% balance transfer credit cards/consolidation loans etc but bcoz of credit rating it is not possible.

postingalwaysposting

laurawaite wrote: »

Hi all, I have been lurking around here for a few weeks now, making the odd random post but have finally decided to take the plunge and post my SOA so that hopefully you experiences MSE's can give me some advice on how to make money/save money!OK, here goes:

In:
~My wages: £1059 after tax
~OH wages: £272 per week after tax, (assuming that he does a full week, he is a builders labourer so if it's raining he can't work which means he doesn't get paid), on average £1088 a month
~Tax Credits (inc Childcare element): £262 every 4 weeksChild Benefit: £72 every 4 weeks

Total monthly income approx £2481

Out:
~Mortgage: £383 per month with Preferred on a 3 year fixed deal, think the interest is about 7%, not great but the best we could get!
~Rent: (Our house is SO): £181 per month
~Council Tax: £95 per month
~Water: £30 per month
~Gas: £30 per month
~Electric: £25 per month
~TV Licence: £11 per month
~House Ins: £8 per monthMy mobile: £35 per month (includes free broadband)
~OH mobile: £25 per month
~BT: £38 per month - includes monthly instalments of the initial set up fee we had to pay to join BT which was about £130 - I need BT as I need broadband for work
~Nursery Fees: £31 per day, my little girl goes Tues/Wed/Thurs - no other options for cheaper childcare unfortunately - so an average of £372 a month
~Specsavers for my contact lenses - £10 a month
~Car Ins (My Car) - £52 per month
~Van Ins (OH) - £25 per month
~My petrol - £120 per month
~OH diesel - £60 per month(both need vehicles for work and most petrol is work related)
~Groceries - £200 per month - trying to cut this downGoing out - We go out once a month and spend about £50 a month between us
~OH tobacco - £20 a month

Debts:
~Welcome Finance Loan - £217 a month (balance - not sure, loan was for £7500 but not had it long so with interest etc balance prob about £10K??)
~My Aqua CC - £60 a month - £1800 limit - maxed out
~OH Aqua CC - £20 a month - £650 limit - maxed out
~Next Directory - £60 a month - balance £570
~Additions Catalogue - £30 a month - balance £630(all credit cards and catalogues have been destroyed so we can't spend anymore!)
~Moorcroft repayment - £25 a month - balance £100 (this was from when OH defaulted on a catalogue)
~Blair, Olicer, Scott repayment - £60 a month - balance around £5K but if we could ever afford to pay it off I think they would take a lower settlement (this was from when OH defaulted on a credit card and loan)
~Repayment to my old student overdraft - £10 a month - balance about £1400

I also have an overdraft on my current bank account of £1000 which I'm not currently repaying, my wages go in, cover it, I spend, am overdrawn again etc etcRepayment to my Nan as we borrowed £1K to cover fees when we bought our house - £100 a month, haven't paid for the last couple of months but really need to start paying again as feel guilty! balance £600

Total monthly outgoings approx £2352

So technically we should have £129 a month left over but this never happens!

In fact we are normally in the minus figures, normally bcoz OH won't be able to work a full month meaning that his wages are down and/or we will be hit with an unexpected bill like my Car Tax which is due this month, how does everyone budget to cope with these kind of situations?

Also, any suggestions to cut down anywhere? Our credit is all roughly 30% APR as we were desperate each time we needed credit and took whatever we could get! Have looked into 0% balance transfer credit cards/consolidation loans etc but bcoz of credit rating it is not possible.And any suggestions for making any extra money?We have already started selling on ebay and have registered for mystery shopping and are saving all our small change.Many Thanks for any suggestions and sorry it is so long!

better?

duchy

Tidied it up a bit for you Laura
First thought are.....spending diaries-try and work out where the dribs and drabs are going-it can be a real eyeopener.
Could either of you get a second job-maybe evenings or weekends so the other one could babysit ?
If you have lots of bits then how about car booting ?
Menu plan and shop once a week. It's that "popping in for a few things" that blows MY budget

debtfreewannabee_3

Even Better Use Quidco When Changing Household Insurances You Could Get Upto A Maximum Of £130 For Car Insurances

lunar

I have just set up a new account for my car tax and my nmc payments. I have just payed them both this month, the only reason it didnt go on the plastic is because i got my bank charges back! This works out to be 27.33 a month, and i know i wont face the same problem next year.

When I pay off my debt i will do the same for my car insurance, that way they cant get me with that apr they put onto the direct debit. This way i will have the money ready when the payments are due.

laurawaite

Thanks everyone, especially for sorting out the paragraphs (where am I going wrong with that by the way? I press return twice after each sentence but it still lumps them all together - and I thought I was good with computers!!)

We checked out confused.com, moneysupermarket.com etc for our car and van insurances and these policies seem to be the cheapest, the reason mine is expensive is that I only passed my test in March, so hopefully it will be less next year.

I am going to start a spending diary this Friday (as I get paid on the 24th of each month and that is when all my bills start to go out so effectively my month starts on the 24th) to see where we are spending money unneccessarily.

Any other advice appreciated!!

laurawaite

Well this time the paragraphs worked! Typical!!