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Statement of affairs (on a mac and the formatting has gone to pot)

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ElmoR
ElmoR Posts: 413 Forumite
Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
in Debt-free wannabe
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,200.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 600.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.67
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.17
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 950.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108.33
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.33

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.67
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.25
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.83
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
study lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.67

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.50


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,800.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,293.08



Already debt free, but wondering how to manage things even better having just gone through a major life change and trying to plan for big things ahead like a newer car in a few years time and supporting a child through higher education in the medium term.

Any advice tips would be appreciated.
«1

Comments

  • Deep_In_Debt
    Deep_In_Debt Posts: 8,579 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Mortgage-free Glee!
    Hi and welcome

    The first thing that jumped out at me was your electricity. Is it really that amount each month? That's astronomical! Do you switch everything off at the mains and turn lights off when not in the room?

    Can you save on the garden maintenance and do it yourself or get a friend or neighbour to help?

    Mobile phone - are you in contract? Can you get a cheaper deal? PAYG?
    Debt 30k in 2008.:eek::o Cleared all my debt in 2013 and loving being debt free :)
    Mortgage free since 2014 :)
  • downhillfast
    downhillfast Posts: 968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Just a couple of things...

    You have £147 listed for cleaning products/Cleaner at the top... and then £150 for cleaner at the bottom?

    You are also paying out for travel insurance but don't budget for any holidays?
  • missbiggles1
    missbiggles1 Posts: 17,481 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You have net income of £3,200 pcm and still get £600 pcm in benefits?
  • KxMx
    KxMx Posts: 11,117 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 27 September 2015 at 3:35PM
    You've put in a cleaner twice.

    Does the Garden maintenance really cost that little? I've only ever found the cheapest non professional gardeners at £10ph.

    Do you need one can the family not muck in, tidy after themselves etc? Share the bigger jobs/work on a rota? Perhaps cut down on the hours you do have a cleaner and take care of the rest yourselves.

    I can't see your household make-up but...

    £500 annually on Christmas is a fair whack. Shop throughout the year when you see deals/ sales etc- the majority of my gifts are actually bought at the end of the previous year when all the Xmas gift stock is reduced. Extreme Coupon & Deals UK is a FAB Facebook page, she posts toy and gift steals all the time. Household items too in the last month i've got a huge pair of garden shears & a beautiful, quality shower curtain for £2.99 each.

    Total spend on food/work lunches/snacks (excluding school lunches) is 587.50 a month.

    Cut down on the grocery spend (yellow stickers, drop a brand, make a list after stock taking cupboards and stick to it, stock up on deals in bulk to save) and take in your own sandwiches etc save bought items at work as an occasional treat.

    Optical bill at £120 per month, contacts I assume, can you find them cheaper or switch to lenses? I have to wear glasses because contacts are not available in my prescription and the world hasn't ended ;)

    When any insurance is due for renewal shop around, use TCB/Qudico if switching to get a bonus back.
  • notanewuser
    notanewuser Posts: 8,499 Forumite
    You needed to hit the "format for MSE" button. Nothing to do with being on a Mac.
    Trying to be a man is a waste of a woman
  • chesky
    chesky Posts: 1,341 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts
    How many adults and I'm assuming just the one child.
  • cms-help
    cms-help Posts: 187 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    How do you get benefits on a £53,580 annual salary?

    Internet and phone costs are high - we pay less than half that for unlimited download internet, internet TV, landline and 2 mobile phones.

    Your cleaner is entered twice.

    How many people is household shopping for. We are 2 adults and 2 children and spend way less than that whilst still using a "big name" supermarket.

    Your car maintenance is very high every month. Parking is very low!

    Optical bills, meals at work, coffee/snacks - all very high.

    Is £10 a month for school trips for real or are the children of an age where the school is taking them ski-ing?
  • sourcrates
    sourcrates Posts: 31,510 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts I've been Money Tipped! Name Dropper
    Hi,
    There's no "wonder" about it really, you need to check you are on the best deals for all your utilities, be a bit more savvy with the shopping, do you really get £600 a month in benefits on a monthly take home of over 3k ?

    It's mostly common sense savings that add up the most.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter
  • anna_1977
    anna_1977 Posts: 862 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 500 Posts
    as already mentioned there's no details on how many are in the household.
    You mention supporting a child through HE - I'm assuming that's Uni? If so, that's what the student loans are for....they are old enough to support themselves surely?
  • tlc678910
    tlc678910 Posts: 983 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    I'm guessing the "benefits" might be non means tested disability related benefits so perhaps we don't need to press the OP for explanations of their personal circumstances (not relevant). No offence intended to those that asked the question.
    Tlc
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