Here is my SOA, looking for advice.

InspectorSpacetime88

Hi,

I am looking for some advice on how best to go about reducing my debts. I have spent the last couple months trying to cut out excess spending and uneccessary subscriptions/services but as you will see from SOA below I am still running out of money every month.

I am getting worried because the fixed rate on my mortgage ends May 2020 and the 0% offer on my tesco credit card ends April 2020. So I am concerned that I won't be able to remortgage on to a similar or better offer so my monthly costs will increase and won't get another 0% offer to transfer the card balance to meaning I will start paying interest making it harder to being down the balance.

I have never been great with money because I have very little patience and impulse control meaning after getting my own place I have been spending the same way I was when I lived at home and in the past few months have tried to curb this behaviour just hoping it's not too little too late.

Apperciate any advice people can provide.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1980
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1980

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 427
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 107
Electricity............................. 70
Gas..................................... 42.45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 15.99
Mobile phone............................ 13
TV Licence.............................. 12.54
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 23
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 16.25
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 97.6
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 7.5
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 21
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 4
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1433.83


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 122500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 97420....(427)......2.82
Total secured & HP debts...... 97420.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Bank Loan................19393.....451.......2.95
Tesco Bank CC..................6135......61........0
Barclaycard CC.................3300.63...76........0
Total unsecured debts..........28828.63..588.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,980
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,433.83
Available for debt repayments........... 546.17
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 588
Amount short for making debt repayments. -41.83

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 122,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,420
Total Unsecured debt.................... -28,828.63
Net Assets.............................. -3,748.63

Sea_Shell

Gas and electric is the one thing that jumps out at me. Is that correct?

What sort of house (flat) do you have?

We only pay £63 dual fuel in a 4 bed detached.

InspectorSpacetime88

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Gas and electric is the one thing that jumps out at me. Is that correct?

What sort of house (flat) do you have?

We only pay £63 dual fuel in a 4 bed detached.

I have a 3 Bed Mid Terrace. I pay 112.45 monthly for dual fuel.

Here is a breakdown of actual spend so I usually have a credit balance sitting with Octopus Energy.

Date Type Amount Type Amount Days in Bill Period
25/05/2018 Elec £(53.22) Gas £(21.89) 25
24/06/2018 Elec £(56.85) Gas £(11.04) 30
23/07/2018 Elec £(58.76) Gas £(9.38) 29
23/08/2018 Elec £(59.54) Gas £(11.41) 31
22/09/2018 Elec £(43.81) Gas £(13.88) 30
07/12/2018 Elec £(177.73) Gas £(133.47) 76
05/01/2019 Elec £(71.11) Gas £(81.07) 29
06/03/2019 Elec £(121.15) Gas £(174.68) 60
13/04/2019 Elec £(79.56) Gas £(84.37) 38
29/06/2019 Elec £(153.13) Gas £(55.14) 77
30/07/2019 Elec £(64.56) Gas £(11.38) 31
31/08/2019 Elec £(59.26) Gas £(10.35) 32
29/11/2019 Elec £(130.52) Gas £(179.55) 90
08/12/2019 Elec £(77.78) Gas £(19.99) 9

EssexHebridean

Is your property centrally heated - using gas? If so then you need to work out what is going on with your electricity as that is more than we pay per month for a property that used electricity for heating and water as well! (We only use gas for cooking so our gas bill is a negligible £2 per month currently - electricity is currently at a useage of around £50 per month average though). Something is going on there are you have some months with massive spikes in electricity use, but all months are showing far higher than I would have expected.

Are you reading your meters regularly and submitting readings to the supplier? And have you joined the MSE Cheap Energy club to keep an eye on whether there is a better tariff available to you?

The loan is what is killing your budget currently - that is a huge percentage of your income to be paying out each month.

The other thing that stands out to me about your SOA is that is says you are setting money aside monthly for presents, car maintenance, clothing, and emergency fund, yet you are showing no cash assets. Is this an aspirational SOA rather than one that accurately reflects how things really are for you?

InspectorSpacetime88

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Is your property centrally heated - using gas? If so then you need to work out what is going on with your electricity as that is more than we pay per month for a property that used electricity for heating and water as well! (We only use gas for cooking so our gas bill is a negligible £2 per month currently - electricity is currently at a useage of around £50 per month average though). Something is going on there are you have some months with massive spikes in electricity use, but all months are showing far higher than I would have expected.

Are you reading your meters regularly and submitting readings to the supplier? And have you joined the MSE Cheap Energy club to keep an eye on whether there is a better tariff available to you?

The loan is what is killing your budget currently - that is a huge percentage of your income to be paying out each month.

The other thing that stands out to me about your SOA is that is says you are setting money aside monthly for presents, car maintenance, clothing, and emergency fund, yet you are showing no cash assets. Is this an aspirational SOA rather than one that accurately reflects how things really are for you?

Thanks I hadn't really thought about my energy usage as being high but I will take a look at this because admittedly I am not that energy concious i.e. I leave lights on all over the house and TV on all night stuff like that.

It is Gas central Heating and I don't submit meter readings regulary sometimes monthly sometimes longer.

I am a member on the energy saving club but I can't find the tariff I'm on so not sure shows accurate savings so haven't switched yet but it is something I am reviewing.

Yes this SOA is the plan going forward i.e. next month I should start having these cash assets put aside in a savings account.

This SOA was done after cutting a bunch of other stuff and would have looked much worse just a couple months ago which I guess is why I have these credit card debts in the first place.

I am determined now to turn the tide on these debts and know it will be difficult and will mean cutting back as much as possible but I am at the same time also trying to improve my health and lose weight all of which just feels a bit overwhelming.

Grumpelstiltskin

What is the other travel?

On top of the car expenses it's almost £ 100

InspectorSpacetime88

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

What is the other travel?

On top of the car expenses it's almost £ 100

That is monthly season ticket for train. I am hoping this will bring the petrol costs down as I used to drive to work a lot but I have to drive Glasgow to Edinburgh 2-4 times a month which is where a chunk of the petrol spend goes.

PasturesNew

InspectorSpacetime88 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet


Total monthly income.................... 1980

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 427
Council tax............................. 107
Electricity............................. 70
Gas..................................... 42.45
Telephone (land line)................... 15.99
Mobile phone............................ 13
TV Licence.............................. 12.54
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 23
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 16.25
Car Insurance........................... 45
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 45
Other travel............................ 97.6
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Buildings insurance..................... 7.5
Contents insurance...................... 7.5
Other insurance......................... 21
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 4
Entertainment........................... 40
Emergency fund.......................... 100

Total monthly expenses.................. 1433.83

Above, the red ones are those you can kill immediately. They aren't necessary.

You can't afford posh TV.
People don't need presents/so many presents
You can stay in for a bit.
Emergency fund - THIS is an emergency....

£195 found.

Your gas/electric seem high. I was paying £41/month for combined gas and electric with British Gas on their (high cost) standard tariff for a 2 bed house.

InspectorSpacetime88

PasturesNew wrote: »

Above, the red ones are those you can kill immediately. They aren't necessary.

You can't afford posh TV.
People don't need presents/so many presents
You can stay in for a bit.
Emergency fund - THIS is an emergency....

£195 found.

Your gas/electric seem high. I was paying £41/month for combined gas and electric with British Gas on their (high cost) standard tariff for a 2 bed house.

Yes fair point on TV but this is in contract at the moment but agree I can do without and will cancel when I can.

Staying in for a bit not a problem and will help with the weight loss too but was hesitant to rule this out all together but can try find free alternatives for socialising with friends.

Really think I need to keep the budget for emergency because if I don't and something happens it will just go on a credit card and really want to avioding using them or an overdraft again. In my experience there is always some unexpected cost that can't be avoided and I would rather be prepared for it going forward.

Presents I guess yeh is another one I should stop at least for the moment. Which should be easy at least going into the new year.

Appreciate the suggestions.

comeandgo

Do you have anything you can sell? Can you take in lodger or have a part time job?

Sea_Shell

Just seen that you're in Scotland. That's going to have an impact on your Gas/Electric, just because it's so much colder/darker over winter than "down south". So that does explain some of the high cost.

But....Turn those lights out!!!