SOA - please help!! I want to start today!

Forward_thinking

Would really appreciate some help!! Is there another way to save the SOA to help it easier to read!!! Husband actually sat down to do this which was a surprise - he claims we are wasting time looking at this and need to get our heads down and get some more work done. But it's ridiculous - 90K net spent in a year!!!!!!! We really need a reality check. Determined to start today. :eek:

S
Enter your income details
Amount (£)
Monthly Income (after tax)
7000
Partner's Monthly Income
0
Benefits
0
Other Income (e.g. maintenance payments)
0
Enter your monthly expenditure
Amount (£)
Mortgage payment (from secured debt table below)
0
Secured/HP loans (from secured debt table below)
0
Rent
2225
Management Charge (e.g. on leasehold property)
0
Council Tax
300
Electricity (and gas - in arrears by £600 elec and £300 gas)
350
Gas
0
Oil
0
Water Rates
250
Telephone (land line)
60
Mobile Phone
15
TV Licence
10
Satellite/Cable TV
0
Internet Services
0
Groceries etc.(inc nappies, shampoo etc)
1200
Clothing
200
Petrol/Diesel
340
Road Tax (car)
0
Car Insurance (including breakdown cover)
25
Car Maintenance (including MOT and hire car at £630)
660
Car Parking
5
Other Travel
0
Childcare/Nursery
20
Other child related expenses (clubs, school dinners)
386
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)
85
Pet Insurance/Vet bills
0
Building Insurance
0
Contents Insurance
20
Life Assurance
60
Other Insurance (medical - I know, I know but really value this!)
300
Presents (parties £1600 yr, xmas £2500, b'day gifts - £400)
450
Haircuts (husband - £50 month, me - £170 approx x 3 year)
130
Entertainment
75
Holiday (one holiday a year at £5,000)
500
Household Emergency Fund (e.g. for repairs)
0

Cleaner/Ironer
220
Add another
Enter SECURED debts and Hire Purchase (HP) debts
Enter ALL your mortgage, secured and HP debt details here.

Debt description Debt (£) Monthly payment (£) Annual Rate (%)
Mortgage
0

0

0.00
Secured debt
0

0

0.00
Hire Purchase (HP)
0

0

0.00
Add another
Enter your UNsecured Debts e.g. credit cards
Debt description Debt (£) Min Pay (£) Annual Rate (%)

Virgin

20000

500

17

Barclays

11000

500

17

Parents

18000

0

0.00
Add another
Enter the value of your assets
Asset Value (£)
Cash
0
House value (gross)
0
Shares & bonds
0
Car(s)
0
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery)
0
Additional Information
Optional information, but very useful for anyone reviewing your SOA.

Number of adults in household
2
Number of children in household
5
Number of cars owned
2
Main functions...
Format for Print Reset Form Calculate

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Next Steps (optional)
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Click here for our SOA privacy and usage information.


* You have included petrol but have missed other car related expenses.

* Do you use gas or oil? Nothing entered.

* You have not entered any assets. Is this correct?

* You appear to own a car but have not added it as an asset.

Summary of Monthly Income, expense and surplus
Total monthly income: £

7,000

Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £

7,886

Available for debt repayments: £

-886

Unsecured debt repayments: £

1,000

Surplus (shortfall if negative) £

-1,886

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Assets: £

0

Secured & HP Debt £

-0

Unsecured Debt £

-49,000

Net Assets £

-49,000

Copyright ©1999-2016 stoozing.com | All Rights Reserved

About us . Disclaimer

lee111s

1200 on groceries and 450 on presents PER MONTH sounds ludicrous. How many of you in the household?


£250 for water rates? Can you move and rent somewhere cheaper?


£200 a month on clothing every month?


Why are you car rentals so high? How long left on these?


£60 for landline seems excessive? Is this including broadband and TV? Could probably ditch the TV, it's not essential.


£336 on school dinners? Can they take packed lunches?


£220 on a cleaner, this can go, clean yourself.


You can't afford a holiday when you're in so much debt, that's £500 a month you can save straight away.


A bloke pays £50 a month per haircut? This can be at least halved, if not reduced even more. Do you need to pay £170 to get your hair cut? Also seems a lot.


£85 a month every month on prescriptions? Have you looked into getting an annual prescription?

CalumHeath

Forward_thinking wrote: »

We really need a reality check. - You honestly do, but you;re in the right place.

Monthly Income (after tax)
7000
Partner's Monthly Income
0 - only one earner?

Rent
2225 - In the centre of London, presumably. Move somewhere cheaper? Even if it's somewhere for only £2,000 per month

Groceries etc.(inc nappies, shampoo etc)
1200 - this is absolutely massive
Clothing
200 - every month?
Petrol/Diesel
340 - every month? This is high.
Car Maintenance (including MOT and hire car at £630)
660 - this explains the monthly fuel cost

Childcare/Nursery
20
Other child related expenses (clubs, school dinners)
386 - this seems high
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)
85 - this AND private insurance
Other Insurance (medical - I know, I know but really value this!)
300
Presents (parties £1600 yr, xmas £2500, b'day gifts - £400)
450 - this is a lot
Haircuts (husband - £50 month, me - £170 approx x 3 year)
130
Entertainment
75
Holiday (one holiday a year at £5,000)
500
Household Emergency Fund (e.g. for repairs)
0

Cleaner/Ironer
220 - do your own cleaning and ironing?

Debt description Debt (£) Min Pay (£) Annual Rate (%)

Virgin

20000

500

17

Barclays

11000

500

17

Parents

18000

0

0.00
Add another
Enter the value of your assets
Asset Value (£)
Cash
0
House value (gross)
0
Shares & bonds
0
Car(s)
0
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery)
0
Additional Information
Optional information, but very useful for anyone reviewing your SOA.

Number of adults in household
2
Number of children in household
5
Number of cars owned
2
Main functions...
Format for Print Reset Form Calculate

Format results for discussion boards (optional)
Stoozing Motley Fool MSE

Next Steps (optional)
Creditor Offer Snowball

Click here for more information about Offers to Creditors.

Load and save your data (optional)
Erase data Load Data Save data

Click here for our SOA privacy and usage information.


* You have included petrol but have missed other car related expenses.

* Do you use gas or oil? Nothing entered.

* You have not entered any assets. Is this correct?

* You appear to own a car but have not added it as an asset.

Summary of Monthly Income, expense and surplus
Total monthly income: £

7,000

Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £

7,886

Available for debt repayments: £

-886

Unsecured debt repayments: £

1,000

Surplus (shortfall if negative) £

-1,886

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Assets: £

0

Secured & HP Debt £

-0

Unsecured Debt £

-49,000

Net Assets £

-49,000

Copyright ©1999-2016 stoozing.com | All Rights Reserved

About us . Disclaimer

Those are some huge numbers. Regardless of your monthly net income, you're living way beyond your means. This is evident from the debts you currently list alongside your outgoings; these are only going to increase if you continue living like this. It will catch up with you - you will run out of sources of credit and the house of cards will fall down.

The way to tackle this is to increase your income, reduce your outgoings or both. At the minute there is LOADS of scope for reducing your outgoings.

getmore4less

use this SOA and near the bottom(after calculate) there is format for MSE.
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php


edit: see you used that SOA just did not calculate and format for MSE.

CalumHeath

I posted that response by accident - I hadn't quite finished. I see you have five children - this explains some of the cost but it's still and awful lot and everything in my other post stands.

Have you checked the benefits and/or tax credits you might be entitled to? I'm not a benefits expert but see it suggested a lot on here.

Your credit cards have a high APR, you need to try and move it to a 0%.

There's a lot to fix but that also means there are plenty of opportunities to improve.

sourcrates

Prepaid prescription certificate, for one year, is £110.

That's for unlimited items,

that's nearly a grand in savings there.
You could easily halve your food bill, presents £4800 a year ?

Those measures alone would save you nearly 10k a year !!!!

Sorry, it doesn't matter how much you earn, if your spending more than is coming in, your in trouble.

greensalad

Council Tax
300 - definitely correct? Seems quite high for yearly. Could you spread over 12 months instead of 10 to help with budgeting?
Electricity (and gas - in arrears by £600 elec and £300 gas)
350 - this is crazy how big is your house?!
Water Rates
250 - also really high!
Telephone (land line)
60 - for a LANDLINE only?! How!
TV Licence
10 - this doesn't add up. TV license is £145.50 yearly.
Groceries etc.(inc nappies, shampoo etc)
1200 - this is an absolutely insane amount. You spend nearly £15k a year on consumables.
Clothing
200 - quite expensive / depends on number of children I guess.
Petrol/Diesel
340 - commuting costs? Could you get the bus/walk a bit more?
Road Tax (car)
0 - you don't pay road tax?
Car Maintenance (including MOT and hire car at £630)
660 - why so much? £8000 a year to maintain a car?
Other child related expenses (clubs, school dinners)
386 - break this down, what actually is it? What's it costing you?
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.)
85 - break this down too. How many prescriptions/appointments etc? Who for?
Life Assurance
60 - I personally wouldn't spend on this considering how in the hole you are, but others may disagree.
Other Insurance (medical - I know, I know but really value this!)
300 - no, get rid. Luxury. You don't need it. The NHS exists for a reason.
Presents (parties £1600 yr, xmas £2500, b'day gifts - £400)
450 - £1600 a year on PARTIES?! £2.5k on CHRISTMAS?!?!
Haircuts (husband - £50 month, me - £170 approx x 3 year)
130 - £50 a month for a MENS HAIRCUT?! Most barbers are £8! And I treat myself to cut and colour and it costs £65!!!
Holiday (one holiday a year at £5,000)
500 - £5000 holiday!!! My household earns as much as you and we spend £700 on our holiday and I thought that was a lot!
Cleaner/Ironer
220 - you cannot afford this.

You are in deep and you need a reality check

getmore4less

What cars are you running are they lease?
Do you need 2?

barbarawright

A cleaner when one partner isn't working is a luxury surely?

Though I see you're planning to go back to work? Will your childcare costs increase?

And I agree that you are spending an insane amount on presents

getmore4less

Is this SOA data based on 2015 full year data?
look at total income+(debt 1jan16 - 1jan15) to get the total going out in 2015

Start a spending diary to help get more accurate data going into this year.

The critical start is to get a balanced budget this year(so it does not get any worse) then do the debt reduction planning.

If you go back to work identify the extra costs that come from you working. eg more travel any child care etc.

Some of the catagories are very high so I would split them up into sub groups,

eg groceries seperate out food and booze as start,
is it loads of fillet steak or bottles of bubbly/wine

Cars/transport are another big one a bit of detail there may help.

andyfromotley

Look the savings here are obvious and i won't repeat the advice that you were given above. What you need isnt budgetary advice, a 10 year old could sort your SOA out. What you need is advice on how to change your relationship with money.

I suspect that at the moment if your income was £1,000,000 p.a. Your spend would be about £1.1m. Dont worry i was the same. For decades i had a 6 figure income and was perpetually skint and in debt. Circumstances left me divorced, unable to work and on an income of £22k pa. Since that happened i have completely changed my relationship with money. Strangely i find £22k plenty to live on, repay my debt, and be happy and fulfilled to boot!

As a starting piont you might want to check out Mr Money Moustache, Dave Ramsey and Living Stingy. They may very well start to change the way you think about money and life in general. You may also want to try and think about what really gives you pleasure, what your values and goals in life are and whether these are just materialistic desires?

Finally you need your husband to join in.It will be very difficult to change this if you are not working as a team. Currently you are on a consumer treadmill of earn, spend, borrow, earn more, spend more and yup, borrow more. Hows that working out for you? There is a different way of living.

Good luck with this.