SOA Help! 30 October 2015 at 9:50AM in Debt-free wannabe 18 replies 2.1K views

LouiseAlmighty

Hi all,
I'm new to this so please be nice!
I know our debts are no where near as big as people on here but they're still keeping me awake at night.
Me and my partner are still very young. (20 and 21). We are stuck between living frugally and clearing our debts or enjoying being young and continuing nights out with friends and other events.
I think its more difficult when all our friends have no responsibilities and are on nights out every weekend. Being so young I don't want to have to spend my very early 20s sat inside because I'm saving money, but I also don't want to be in debt.
We also want to start saving for a car and a house. We both should be passed our driving tests by January.

Anyway, I hope that is enough information. Please see my SOA! We have both stopped using our Credit cards and haven't added anything to them in 2 months now so the debts are not going up at least!


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 971.14
Partners monthly income after tax....... 875
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 350
Total monthly income.................... 2196.14

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 40.88
Rent.................................... 375
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 82
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 10.99
Mobile phone............................ 14.09
TV Licence.............................. 12.55
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.99
Internet Services....................... 10.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 240
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 164
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 12
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15.99
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 1.5
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 35
Haircuts................................ 14
Entertainment........................... 350
Holiday................................. 62.5
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Driving Lessons......................... 209
Total monthly expenses.................. 1761.48


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 2000
Total Assets............................ 2000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1557.43..(40.88)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 1557.43...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital One....................756.......12.83.....30.45
Halifax........................990.......9.9.......0
Total unsecured debts..........1746......22.73.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,196.14
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,761.48
Available for debt repayments........... 434.66
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 22.73
Amount left after debt repayments....... 411.93

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 2,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -1,557.43
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,746
Net Assets.............................. -1,303.43



Thank you very much.

andyfromotley

Hi Louise and welcome.

Well done you on sorting this out when you are young. I am convinced that if i had done this when i was 20 i would be a millionaire by now (all on pretty standard salaries too!)

Your SOA isn't too bad. You have an awful lot put aside for entertainment but i note your comments about wanting to go out and enjoy yourself. However it is possible to be out and about without spending a fortune, choose cheap restaurants and pubs, movies are cheap, walks are free, as are lots of talks, cooking meals for friends is loads cheaper than eating out, you get the idea. cheap cheap cheap, oh and stop worrying about keeping up with your friends, this is your life your money and your future!! (plus loads of those friends will be up to their eyeballs in debt!!)

Do you have £411 left each month? If so brilliant you will be debt free in about 9 months. Whoop!!
However i suspect you probably don't have this left each month in which case your SOA represents a wish list rather than reality. If this is the case then budgeting is king!!! i and many others on here use YNAB which is ace, but even a pen and paper will do. Sit down and give every pound a job to do for that month. so if you have £50 allocated for clothing ...thats it!! You want to spend more than that you have to 'steal' it from another one of your pots, it focusses the mind!!

You need an emergency fund of about £1000. This will stop an emergency becoming a disaster. I know you really want to pay off your debt, but trust me you will never regret having £1000 tucked away just in case. (plus when you have it these disasters seem not to visit so often!!)

Plus get this right now and you will be able to save for a car and not go into debt to own one. Good luck you are on the right track.

ViolaLass

Hire purchase but no car expenses, not even petrol?

andyfromotley

ViolaLass wrote: »

Hire purchase but no car expenses, not even petrol?

Neither of them can drive. They are taking their tests soon.

ViolaLass

Then why do they already have the car?!

HappyMJ

Is there a car on HP? It could be something else. When I met my partner she had a lot of household goods on HP. I think it was a waste of money so I made her send everything back and did without. We later moved into a rented property which included a cooker, washing machine, fridge, freezer and washing machine. We also won a TV within a few months so we now have everything back that was previously on HP.

asparagus1968

Hi, just some ideas from me:




Telephone (land line)................... 10.99
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 10.99
Internet Services....................... 10.99
These three can be a lot cheaper as a package, depending what level of tv you want, for example, I have a freeview box then a talktalk package of landline rental, calls and unlimited broadband for about £243 a month.






Contents insurance...................... 15.99 this seems high-mine is £5 for £20,000 of cover, also, buy tour insurance though a cash back site (I use topcashback) and you get a little back


Capital One....................756.......12.83.....30.45whose name are the debts on? could this be balance transferred to a different card? there are some fab 0% interest deals at the moment, have a look here on the MSE site.




Entertainment........................... 350
Holiday................................. 62.5these two need to be budgeted for strictly-I'd be tempted to transfer a set amount to cover these into separate accounts, then you can see where it's going-and when it's gone, it' gone !


emergency fund would be an excellent idea too.
SOA will look good with a couple oftweaks, you canhave fun, get rid of debts and get saving

LouiseAlmighty

Thank you for all the replies.
The HP is our couch, its interest free and meant we could spread the cost when we didn't have the cash! Sorry for the confusion on that one!!

LouiseAlmighty

Our phone internet and tv is a package with Virgin @ 32.99 a month, I just split it 3 ways for the SOA sorry!
The contents insurance is high. We were talked into a special tennants one when we first moved in. The contract runs out next month, so i will be changing that!

The capital one card is in my name, the 0% one is in my partners. I need to get a 0% one but everywhere is saying I won't have much chance when I try do the soft checks. I am worried about actually applying as i have heard the stories of it being negative on your credit report.

Entertainment is a problem. One night out for both of us comes to around £90 which i know its horrendous! We have been trying a lot and believe it or not the 350 thats there at the moment is a lot less than it was!!

Thank you so much for all the kind replies. We are really wanting to get this debt out of the way! Especially as we don't need to credit cards to get by we know once its clear thats it!!

parsniphead

I hope you get it sorted asap LouiseAlmighty. Better to get rid of the debt now rather than having it hang around your neck for years. I wish I had been as sensible as you.

A year of careful spending should get you sorted. All the best.

ViolaLass

LouiseAlmighty wrote: »

Thank you for all the replies.
The HP is our couch, its interest free and meant we could spread the cost when we didn't have the cash! Sorry for the confusion on that one!!

My mistake, I assumed and shouldn't have.

Can you give the couch back? It's expensive!