Finally got time to do my SOA...

LittleMac13

Sigh, here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1363
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 567
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1930

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 488
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 99
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 - runs out in August
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 29 - broadband & line rental
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 64
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 480
Other child related expenses............ 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14
Other insurance......................... 4
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 7
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 38 - this is my boiler payment
Total monthly expenses.................. 1570


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 90000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 85600....(488)......4.1
Total secured & HP debts...... 85600.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest........................3900......88........6.12
Tesco..........................900.......25........0
Car............................4500......90........0
Tax Credits....................900.......10........0
Loan...........................5840......164.......0
Total unsecured debts..........16040.....377.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,930
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,570
Available for debt repayments........... 360
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 377
Amount short for making debt repayments. -17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 90,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -85,600
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,040
Net Assets.............................. -11,640

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Feel like I've done all I can to reduce my monthly outgoings (cancelled my daughters savings dd, was only £10 like). Trying to do surveys and whatnot online, and get vouchers for my shopping. Reduced my gas and electric already.

Any ideas how I can do anymore?

Thanks!

MallyGirl

are all the debts really on 0%?

Since you have nothing in there for clothes, haircuts, car tax, car maintenance, only £7 for entertainment, I am guessing that your debts are growing every month.
You need to earn more or enter some form as DMP as you can't meet your commitments and there doesn't look to be much more you can trim

EssexHebridean

Comments in red as usual:

LittleMac13 wrote: »

Sigh, here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1363
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 567 Have you checked this is all you're entitled to once your childcare costs are taken into account?
Other income............................ 0 Thisnk about what you can add here without it increasing your childcare requirements
Total monthly income.................... 1930

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 488
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 99 Single person discount? Is this spread over 12 months, or 10?
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 - runs out in August Three months before see if you can drop this to SIM only - I know EE will do this - it may be whoever your contract is with will, too.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 29 - broadband & line rental
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 64 Read Martin's guide to driving economically to maximisze value from this, and think about any journeys you can walk rather than drive
Road tax................................ 0 Exempt vehicle?
Car Insurance........................... 60 Being paid monthly? If this the cheapest you can get?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 You need to set something aside for this
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 480 Ouch, now herein lies your problem I suspect. how old is your little one? Is your childcare paid for via Childcare vouchers through your work?
Other child related expenses............ 15
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10Shop around to see if you can make a saving via a joint buildings/contents policy
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14
Other insurance......................... 4 What's this? Is it essential?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 7
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 38 - this is my boiler payment So does it go out monthly on a boiler cover policy?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1570


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 90000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 85600....(488)......4.1 When's your mortgage up? There are better rates out there although possibly not with your low LTV
Total secured & HP debts...... 85600.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest........................3900......88........6.12
Tesco..........................900.......25........0
Car............................4500......90........0 Is this really at 0%
Tax Credits....................900.......10........0
Loan...........................5840......164.......0
Total unsecured debts..........16040.....377.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,930
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,570
Available for debt repayments........... 360
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 377
Amount short for making debt repayments. -17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 90,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -85,600
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,040
Net Assets.............................. -11,640

Take a look at Scott Weiland's diary for survey information. I'm finding Populus Live good, and Opinion Outpost are fiddly but pay out to PayPal at £2.50 increments which may be helpful to you. OnePoll are quick and easy but take a while to get to the £40 payout - on the other hand with surveys taking just a minute or so you've not got much to lose!

is there anything you can do to drop your childcare costs at all? That's really the killer for you I think, you're losing best part of a quarter of your income there, then a further quarter on rent - it's just not leaving enough for the day to day stuff.

LittleMac13

Car tax is £30 for the year which has already been paid, I can't afford to put maintenance for it away!


As fr new clothes and haircuts, that's a laugh, I don't get new clothes and haven't had my haircut for over a year.


I've checked everything what I'm entitled to, and that's it. Apparently I earn too much as a single parent (just over 19K) to be entitled to anything else.


Council tax is single person and is spread over 10 months.


I'm with EE, so I will get onto them in May and hopefully get a better deal!


I checked the fuel thing the other day, definitely trying a few of those tricks and waiting to see how they're helping.


Cheapest I can get, I had a bump in October so is only bound to go up more when it is due in April, and yes it's monthly :-(


My buildings and contents is joint, it's £20 a month, I will have another look see if I can get it cheaper. (was paying £40 a month previously so thought £20 was cheap anyway!)


The boiler payment is simply because I got it through HelpLink, EDF said I wasn't eligible for a free boiler as I earn too much (?!)


The childcare is absolute madness :-( my mam has started to have my little girl on a Friday morning which has helped a bit. She starts school next year so I'm hoping to see a big difference then! My work don't do childcare vouchers, Out of 40 staff I'm the only person with a little one.


Thanks for your help so far!

cms-help

Do you receive childcare vouchers from your employer to help pay for childcare costs? They are tax efficient (saved me about £70 a month when I had them which would deal with your deficit).

Do you use cashback sites for shopping? Any few extra pounds helps and we've been surprised how it adds up. We decided to accumulate it for Christmas this year.

EssexHebridean

LittleMac13 wrote: »

Car tax is £30 for the year which has already been paid, I can't afford to put maintenance for it away! Yes. mine's that band too. However - for the sake of £2.50 a month, it pays to do it. Tell you what - challenge - set up a savings account off your current account, label it "car tax and..." and then bung your survey earnings in there. Not only will it pay your tax when due, it'll probably contribute well to your service & MoT costs, too!


As fr new clothes and haircuts, that's a laugh, I don't get new clothes and haven't had my haircut for over a year. If you go the DMP route you'll be expected to put a figure to that - so real world, fine to leave blank, but in fact it's one area where a DMP would leave you better off


I've checked everything what I'm entitled to, and that's it. Apparently I earn too much as a single parent (just over 19K) to be entitled to anything else. Madness. Diarise to do another check after April in case things change though.


Council tax is single person and is spread over 10 months. write to your council (or you can probably do it online) and ask them to split it over 12 equal monthly payments - makes budgeting loads easier if things are tight.


I'm with EE, so I will get onto them in May and hopefully get a better deal! You know what, I'd be cheeky and call them now to see if there is "anything they can do" - have that PlusNet deal Martin flagged up in the weekly email recently to hand and wave that at them, they just might budge early.


I checked the fuel thing the other day, definitely trying a few of those tricks and waiting to see how they're helping.


Cheapest I can get, I had a bump in October so is only bound to go up more when it is due in April, and yes it's monthly :-( Aargh to the bump - any chance of getting a note of "not to blame" on that? It may help come renewal time. Got any "milestones" coming up? So ages 25, 30, 35, 40...? Of 5, 10, 20 years since passing test? Those help bring it down. Check your mileage etc is entered correctly too - might save a bit. For the time being, monthly is good - yes it costs a bit more, but at the moment, it helps with the budgeting thing


My buildings and contents is joint, it's £20 a month, I will have another look see if I can get it cheaper. (was paying £40 a month previously so thought £20 was cheap anyway!)


The boiler payment is simply because I got it through HelpLink, EDF said I wasn't eligible for a free boiler as I earn too much (?!) Ah ok so paying off a new boiler? Did you check with anyone other than EDF? Might be worth examining for government grants that might be able to be backdated, etc.


The childcare is absolute madness :-( my mam has started to have my little girl on a Friday morning which has helped a bit. She starts school next year so I'm hoping to see a big difference then! My work don't do childcare vouchers, Out of 40 staff I'm the only person with a little one. Tricky situation then, yep. As you say when she starts school that will make a huge difference to you won't it. Can you the juggle your working hours with afterschool clubs to make it even better?


Thanks for your help so far!

(Apologies by the way - rent should have said mortgage in my earlier response!)

I truly take my hat off to you for battling on with working when the childcare costs are eating up such a high proportion of your earnings. It's all wrong, to me, that a single parent should be left i this position and get so little help.

Silly question but have you already said - any chance of getting anything out of your little girl's Dad? He ought to be contributing. Does she see him?

cms-help

LittleMac13 wrote: »

The childcare is absolute madness :-( my mam has started to have my little girl on a Friday morning which has helped a bit. She starts school next year so I'm hoping to see a big difference then! My work don't do childcare vouchers, Out of 40 staff I'm the only person with a little one.

Thanks for your help so far!

Could you not persuade your employer to offer them? I did with my last employer (about 35 employees) and I was the only one that took them; they introduced the scheme when I asked on arrival - saved them money too.

tallyhoh

Don't know how it works with the vouchers but won't you receive less in benefits if you work more hours/cut down on nursery costs?

fatbelly

LittleMac13 wrote: »

Car tax is £30 for the year which has already been paid, I can't afford to put maintenance for it away!

But both need to go on the soa as monthly figures - £2.50 for the road tax and £15 for maintenance/MOT

As fr new clothes and haircuts, that's a laugh, I don't get new clothes and haven't had my haircut for over a year.

Similar, £40 for clothes, £10 for haircuts

I've checked everything what I'm entitled to, and that's it. Apparently I earn too much as a single parent (just over 19K) to be entitled to anything else.

Council tax is single person and is spread over 10 months.

In April, spread it over 12

I'm with EE, so I will get onto them in May and hopefully get a better deal!

Yes, also try for better deal on your car insurance using cashback websites

I checked the fuel thing the other day, definitely trying a few of those tricks and waiting to see how they're helping.

Thanks for your help so far!

I also doubt that, long term, you can live on £100 per month for food & housekeeping. For one adult, one child, I'd want to see £55 per week, call it £220 per month

I think you cannot afford the contractual payments on your debts and that you only have half of what you think as available income. That is still enough to consider a debt management plan (free one with stepchange or payplan) or an IVA.

I would suggest you make sure you are banking where you do not have debts and start talking to a debt charity.

MrsTinks

I'm going to ask from a different angle... have you tried asking for a payrise?

Sadly you either need to increase your income or reduce your outgoings.

Increase can be salary, contribution from the father or renting out a room in your house if there is a spare, or second job if you can find free child care.

Reduce outgoings is going to be either free childcare (are you entitled to the free sessions? Or does that figure already include the free sessions? In which case you need to look for an alternative!!!), or realistically entering a DMP. An IVA may be suitable, hands up they are not my forte so I'm going to leave that to fatbelly and sourcrates

Our social system currently penalizes parents who wish to actually work and contribute by not considering child care as a legitimate expense which is utter madness in my view