Advice on SOA & a few questions please

squiggle123

Hi, below is our SOA if you have any helpful suggestions I'd much appreciate it!

Income
£2726.24 (includes child benefit)

Debt repayments (in order we plan to clear them)
£88 min payment for credit card
£133.19 car loan
£40 overdraft fees
£13 overdraft 2 fees
£300 loan (family)


Bills
Mobile phones: £38.50 (mine is due for renewal for six months. Oh is on cheap contract £12.50)
Buildings & contents insurance £9
council tax £99 (pay over 12 months)
Water £34
Gas £66
Electric 39.50
Boiler & central heating cover £8.96
Mortgage £684.57
Life insurances £49.99 & £34.31
TV licence 12.12
Car breakdown £11.69 ( have cancelled and will buy cheaper cover outright end of December for one off payment of £42)
Phone &broadband £18.99
Car insurance £19.81
Food shopping & non food items £180
Petrol & bus fare £220
Baby groups £40

Savings to be budgeted for at start in Jan as result of calculating this soa
Haircuts-£11.66
Birthdays £33.91
Christmas £29.50
Clothes £19
Car tax £13.33
Car MOT £3.33
Holiday £58.33 (could forgo but not has holiday for four years and we need it)
Entertainment £150


By my calculations that would leave £266.55 left for debt repayments. My husband is due a bonus early next year (we aren't counting on it but hopefully) which if paid would clear the credit card balance in full.
We are also due a lump sum payment of £450 shortly which we are going to put towards the car loan payment. If the credit card goes early next year as planned then we will focus the excess money left in the budget on clearing the car loan as there is only about six months left on it. Then we will move on to the overdrafts.

We have really been economising the last few months, getting our bills down, switching suppliers, cancelling things we can cancel. But because we have needed to buy for Christmas we haven't yet seen an improvement in our situation. Therefore from Jan this is what we plan to stick to. Any thoughts? How does it seem to you? Any tips?

One thing is the gas and electric. We know we can get a cheaper deal but we are £90 in debit across the two accounts and with Christmas we can't find the money this month to settle up and switch to a different supplier but that is on the top of our list for Jan.

I have a question if I may?
When you save for different things such as birthdays/Car tax etc do people set up lots of different savings accounts and stash the money away that way or just lump it all together and try to kerp track somehow? I prefer the former but not sure how to go about doing it.

Finally we know we have been a tad stupid with money, but we are really keen to get on track and take control so please be kind. Thank you for reading!
Any suggestions of ways to economise further will be much appreciated!

sourcrates

Hi, welcome to the forum.

One thing you have neglected to tell us is how much debt you actually have ?

That would be very helpful if you could share that with us please !!! Lol

squiggle123

Thank you! Oh dear, I am very new to this as you can tell

Debt:
£3500 credit card (hoping bonus will shift this one)
£1990 overdraft
£1000 overdraft we go right up to this limit most months
£1500 car loan (will make a big dent of £450 into this one in the next few weeks)
Then there is the family loan which is several thousand, they are not bothered if we pay them back, it could have been a gift but we obvouisly want to pay them back and have set a term of five years. We can decrease payments if we want but we really don't want to. My point is I am not focused on this particular debt too much, it is important to me to pay it off but primarily it is the others which I am concerned with shifting asap.
The plan would be to start with the biggest monthly repayments which are the car loan and credit card. I know the method seems to be start with the smallest debt to keep motivated but we want to free up some monthly cash to pay the next lot off and hopefully the big two can be gone by spring. If not and the bonus doesn't materialise then we will think again. But the car loan is one we want to pay asap.

Many thanks for commenting.

tallyhoh

:eek::eek:why is your life insurance so high??

squiggle123

Re: life insurance, no particular reason. It is life and critical illness cover for both of us. We have no pre existing medical conditions. We took it out when we took out the mortgage as I think the broker waved the fees. It is something I had thought about re assessing but don't have the confidence to do it online without taking advice to make sure we have a decent cover.
Would you say that is particularlying high then?

sourcrates

To be fair, £8000 of debt is not massive, and you have a good income.

But you are obviously struggling to make any headway, hence the reason for your post.

Your budget could be cut in only one or two places, i think the life insurance may not be 100% necessary, but theres not much room elsewhere, if the bonus shifts the credit card, then your laughing, the rest can easily be dealt with.

squiggle123

Oh yes I appreciate tgere are others in a far worse position. I just really want the debt gone. I think we fritter money easily and with having not planned for Christmas at the start of this year we have had to find the money therefore our economising and pairing down the expenditure we've done over the last few months hasn't allowed us to make a dent.

I do appreciate the comments though thank you. Is it generally advised to take advice on life abd critical illness insurance? Do others not have this then? I thought you had to have it if you had a mortgage?

ViolaLass

What are the interest rates for each loan?

sourcrates

squiggle123 wrote: »

I do appreciate the comments though thank you. Is it generally advised to take advice on life abd critical illness insurance? Do others not have this then? I thought you had to have it if you had a mortgage?

Certainly something to take advice on yes, a (very quick) Google, brings up life policies from £5 a month, no fees, dont know your details of course, but may be possible to save quite a bit if you shop around.

Its the critical illness cover thats expensive.

You do not have to take your mortgage providers insurance, as its almost always more expensive.

squiggle123

They are all high and similar, I did look at this a few months ago but I don't have the info to hand right now. Why do you ask? Would it be useful if so I can check later

squiggle123

I see thank you. My hubby did do a comparison online a few months ago but I think we were worried to select a cheaper one. It's something I felt we should ask someone in the know like an insurance broker but if others just sort their own out then we can look into this more. Or we contact a broker? I literally have no idea how these things work. I think our cover covers both of us if either of us due or become critically Ill so it will pay off the mortgage if god forbid either of those were to happen