desperate SOA

k1mmie

Hi my husband and I have reached breaking point with our financial affairs. We have been juggling for so long now it has now become impossible. ANyway have listed it all below. May I point out that this is a real issue as my husband changed from being a contractor and earning £8000 per month to being permanent on Monthly Incoming of £4000.




Monthly Incomings:

My salary - nil
Partners salary - £4000.00
Benefits - £164.00

Total - £4,164.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £2300
loan - £468
Council Tax - £ (currently have 1812.00 outstanding- no arrangement as yet)
Gas - £60
Electric - £220,00 (including arrears)
TV License - £10
Sky £65
Phone - £50
Food - £300
Car Insurance - £90
Petrol - £120
Childrens travel fares to school/college- £240
House insurance £40
money for school trips/equipment £20
Fees for football sessions £10
water £30
Husband football sessions £20





He was then made redundant and out of work for several months. He found another job in September 2006, but we are still playing serious catch-up. Our youngest has just started secondary school, so I too am looking for a job although it wont be for a lot of money. My husband is still looking to return to contract work and until this happens we have to make the most of what we have now.

Any advice on where we can cut back or make adjustments appreciated. As you can see we go through most months being short and most months I do not have as much for food. Please help if you can.

HBFS

Hi! And welcome to DFW!

The food bill can be easily reduced, I feel. Perhaps by dropping a brand or two on most items should save a fair bit, plus making meals and freezing them til later should again reduce the expenditure

Perhaps trimming down the Sky too? Is it really necessary to have all those channels?

Anyway, good luck and we're all here for you!

PasturesNew

The fares to/from college seem very high. Can you provide more information about distance, age, etc.

Yes, the food could be cut back to just half of that (after Xmas of course!)

Petrol - why is this so high? How many miles are we talking about, to go to/from where and how often?

Car insurance is very high too... sell that Porsche!

Scarlett.1974

k1mmie wrote: »

Hi my husband and I have reached breaking point with our financial affairs. We have been juggling for so long now it has now become impossible. ANyway have listed it all below. May I point out that this is a real issue as my husband changed from being a contractor and earning £8000 per month to being permanent on Monthly Incoming of £4000.




Monthly Incomings:

My salary - nil
Partners salary - £4000.00
Benefits - £164.00

Total - £4,164.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £2300 - could you possibly go 'interest only' as a temporary measure?
loan - £468
Council Tax - £ (currently have 1812.00 outstanding- no arrangement as yet)
Gas - £60 - this is very high, but I'm guessing from the size of your mortgage you have a large house?
Electric - £220,00 (including arrears) - ouch! When will the arrears be paid off?
TV License - £10
Sky £65 - could you downgrade the package or bin altogether?
Phone - £50 - is this the landline? Every month? That's a LOT. Ours is that per quarter! Definite savings to be made there.
Food - £300 - how many is this for?
Car Insurance - £90 - good lord, what do you drive?!! This is massive, have you tried shopping around for cheaper?
Petrol - £120
Childrens travel fares to school/college- £240 - this is huge too, is this no cheaper options?
House insurance £40 - try to get this cheaper - I recently went from paying £36 a month to £16 for the same cover. Try moneysupermarket then quidco for cash back.
money for school trips/equipment £20
Fees for football sessions £10
water £30
Husband football sessions £20





He was then made redundant and out of work for several months. He found another job in September 2006, but we are still playing serious catch-up. Our youngest has just started secondary school, so I too am looking for a job although it wont be for a lot of money. My husband is still looking to return to contract work and until this happens we have to make the most of what we have now.

Any advice on where we can cut back or make adjustments appreciated. As you can see we go through most months being short and most months I do not have as much for food. Please help if you can.

Hi Kimmie

I've posted some comments above in red, I hope they help a little

How many children do you have and how old are they?

I may be missing something but from a quick 'totting up' of your incomings and outgoings you seem to have approx. £170 a month left when everything's been paid. Have you included everything there on your SOA? If so, try keeping a spending diary to see where this money is going

This might sound very drastic, but you have had a very drastic cut in your incomings - would you consider moving to a cheaper house? Your mortgage is eye-watering, but I guess on £8k a month it was a lot more manageable. Now you're on half of that this would be a way to save a massive amount each month. Like I said, I know it's drastic, but it might be worth considering

Best of luck to you.

xxx

oops_a_daisy

Hi there and welcome to DFW :hello:

do you have any credit cards or other debts that are not included in your monthly payments in your SOA?

CLAPTON

basically you can't afford to pay 2300 on the mortgage with your current income.

although it appears that your SOA says you're breaking even, but there seems to be many things missing... car tax/RAC/servicing/repairs... you have children but nothing for clothes, pocket money, nothing for socialising , xmas, presents, no holidays , 20 only for kids activities, haircuts, newspapers / magazines etc etc ... this doesn't seem sufficient.

I would suggest you

a. both of you start spending diary and write down absolutely everything you spend so you can see where all your money is going.

b. think about all the annual / one off or occasional costs and include those in your SOA(divided by 12 and add an monthly average amount)

only when you include all your spending (including all the annual and one off stuff) will you see whether you are really spending more than your income and by how much.

How much are your debts and what are they? .. you're paying 468 on a loan what is that for ?
Do you have CC debt?
Why is the car insurance so high
Can you downsize the car and make some money and reduce running costs

Not paying your council tax will lead to court summons and cause additional costs, you need to address this issue asap.

Can you get a parttime job to increase your income..
maybe at weekends so OH can look after the kids?

saffronflowers

Hi Hun congrats for posting


My salary - nil - could you not get some work in supermarket at nights
Partners salary - £4000.00
Benefits - £164.00

Total - £4,164.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £2300 how much longer will it be this high
loan - £468
Council Tax - £ (currently have 1812.00 outstanding- no arrangement as yet)as you know this is vital - you need to raise about £450
Gas - £60
Electric - £220,00 (including arrears)
TV License - £10
Sky £65 - This has got to go
Phone - £50 - This needs to be trimmed right down
Food - £300 this is very very high we feed four of us and three dogs for £200
Car Insurance - £90 - you need to check for a better deal for young drivers how about third party as the car is not worth much
Petrol - £120
Childrens travel fares to school/college- £240 - can you daughter not drive them to and from school -
House insurance £40 - check if you can get a better deal
money for school trips/equipment £20
Fees for football sessions £10
water £30
Husband football sessions £20


Take care honey

SFx

consultant31

k1mmie wrote: »

Sky £65

As you can see we go through most months being short and most months I do not have as much for food.

How can you pay £65 a month for Sky and not have enough money for food?
You need to prioritise, Sky is a luxury - food a necessity!

I don't mean to sound harsh, but your love of TV is costing you almost £1000 a year :eek: surely this money is better spent elsewhere!

booklover

sorry but what are the benefits you are getting? is it child benefit?

booklover

Lavendyr

k1mmie wrote: »

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - nil can you do some part-time work to bring in some more money?
Partners salary - £4000.00
Benefits - £164.00

Total - £4,164.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £2300 - why is this so high? you may need to consider downsizing as this is an enormous mortgage on your salary, it is more than 50% of what you are bringing in. Do think about this very carefully
loan - £468
Council Tax - £ (currently have 1812.00 outstanding- no arrangement as yet) - this must be a priority - nonpayment of council tax is one of the few things you can go to jail for, so please prioritise this in your debts
Gas - £60 - this is very high, have you tried USwitch to find the best deal/checked you are being as careful as you can, not heating more water than you need to, not having the heating high/on too long?
Electric - £220,00 (including arrears) - ditto, very high, though understandable if including arrears. Check you are being as energy-efficient as possible - turn off appliances at sockets rather than leaving on stand-by, replace normal bulbs with energy-efficient ones, cut out tumble dryer if you have one
TV License - £10 - per month, this adds up to only £120 - it should be around the £11.61 mark or something, every penny counts in your SOA
Sky £65 - as above, if you are struggling to afford food, you cannot afford Sky. Ditch it and get a Freeview box instead - you do not need this, it is a luxury you cannot afford.
Phone - £50 - this is quite high, are you on the best deal for you? Check comparison websites for a phone/broadband(/tv) deal that works out cheaper
Food - £300 - again this is high, you could cut down massively, check out the MoneySaving Old Style boards for some meal planning/budgeting tips
Car Insurance - £90 - is this the cheapest deal for you, it sounds like a huge amount, even for two cars. Perhaps you can consider downsizing your vehicle to a cheaper insurance category if that is a problem, but certainly shop around for cheaper insurance if you can.
Petrol - £120 - any chance of car-sharing or seeing if public transport is cheaper?
Childrens travel fares to school/college- £240 - I know these can be high costs but is there any grant available from the school for hardship, or can your kids get a lift with another parent perhaps?
House insurance £40 - again strikes me as quite high, have you shopped around?
money for school trips/equipment £20
Fees for football sessions £10
water £30
Husband football sessions £20 - I would be loath to suggest it as it is obviously one of the very few hobbies you/OH have, but it could be cut ou as every £20 can help.

In your SOA you've not included:
- Car tax
- Car repairs/maintenance/servicing
- Birthday/Xmas presents
- Hairdressing
- Dentist appointments
- Mobile phone?
- Breakdown cover?
- Clothes spending

maybe these are some areas where your spare £170 per month is going?

Also how much is your loan in total and how many more repayments are there to make?

k1mmie

Hi Guys - thanks for all the advice.

Here foes to some of those comments:

Mortgage is repayment - because we are paying arrears we cannot switch to interest only. So this amount includes arrears also of £300.
Gas/E;ectric - includes arrears. Still have £400 o/s on electric.
Sky- this is high at £65 - but we do not smoke or drink. We have no money for entertainment or to entertain the children so this is a small price to pay to entertain the whole family per month. We go nowhere and buy nothing!
Phone - this covers our landline / internet and husbands mobile (as he needs it for work)Husband works from home and it is a condition he has phone/internet access at all times.
Food- £300 - this is the maximum I get for food. The normal monthly figure is around £240. I am feeding 1 dog and 4 adults and 1 child on this. (including packed lunches for 2 kids daily)
Petrol is for hubby mainly to get to work if he has to go in. Or for picking kids up if they have an after school club, other than that do not use the car.
Car insurance. This is for a ford fiesta 1.4. S reg. This is my daughters car, we got rid of ours recently to cut costs down. The reason the insurance is so high is she is 18 and passed a few months ago. So for all three of us one car this is the cheapest we could get it.
Transport for kids. My daughter goes to college and has to get a train 3 days a week. There are no concessions for students so its £20 a week. (she has just got a little part time job - so is paying her own fares now) The boys go to a school 30 miles away. It is a church school and therefore not funded. £42 a week. All parents locally pay the same rate and get the same bus. (only 2 in the area)
Hubby has cut down his only hobby/interest to every other week now.


LATEST BULLETIN- I have an interview tomorrow at cough cough (local KFC). Not what I want but it all helps and If I can get it I am prepared to stick it out till something else comes up. Will let you all know if they are interested in a 40year old mother who has not worked for 18 years...........

Once again thanks for all your suggestions, they are taken on board and we are cutting back where we can. We have already reclaimed bank charges and are looking into PPI. All helps.

The loan is the biggest pain in the a***. Its very expensive at £465 per month for 180 months. Loan sharks. But looking into this loan at the moment and its legalities and if its enforceable!

Yes the benefit is for child benefit for the 3 kids. However not for too much longer as it runs out for the eldest in August.

Hubby has had some calls for contracts in the meantime and he is plodding away there. Plus point is more money and get us out of a hole quickly. Minus is not for long periods of time and no security, and not paid for holidays and sickness. But hey have to think for the now I suppose.

Will keep in touch. Thanks.