SOA: new way of living

devonsdreamer

Ok so I am going BK on monday- I have tried to sort a budget that means we can live how does this look to people: we are a family of 5 (two adults 3 children) and I am also feeding my sister atm. I used cccs guidlines

Rent 595
Water 22
Gas& elec 67
council tax 127
house ins 14
Car insurance 15
Telephone 75 this is house phone and two mobiles (we are under contract and wil reduce when we can)
TV licence 12
Childcare- 92 (for two at preschool have to pay top up fees will reduce in april)
Car maintainance 20
car tax 15
car insurance 15
petrol & parking 70
Food 350
School trips 5
Dentist 5
Hair 10
clothing 49
childrens pocket money 4
entertainment 15
emergency fund £40

Total out goings £1617

Total income

£1,617

Prudent

Your allowance for food could be reduced.I spend £90 per month for 2 of us for all groceries, so it would be £270 for six. What about present, prescriptions, all the numerous costs that seem to go with school other than just trips? Have you included toiletries in the food budget?

devonsdreamer

Food budget includes, cleaning product, nappies, toiletries. At the moment I realisticaly spend over 100 a week on food so this is a big reduction for us. (part of- ok probaly the main reason I am going BK)
We dont eat junk food, we dont have sweets or pop. I cook from scratch, we are not overweight. I dont buy premium brands and only buy tinned items like tuna and beans when they are on offer. I only buy the reduced cuts of meat. We have started getting spuds from the local farmer at £5 for a 25k bag.

I have anxiatiey when we run out of things- I realise where this behavour comes from and I am seeking help with this condition.

fermi

Prudent wrote: »

Your allowance for food could be reduced.I spend £90 per month for 2 of us for all groceries, so it would be £270 for six.

With respect, this is not a moneysaving budget. When you go BR you need it build in a big comfort zone since you won't have access to credit to bridge any gaps from one month/weeks to the next.

What about present, prescriptions, all the numerous costs that seem to go with school other than just trips? Have you included toiletries in the food budget?

Those are good suggestions.

devonsdreamer: have a look through the links below to see how a potential OR might look at things:

http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/freedomofinformation/technical/TechnicalManual/Ch25-36/Chapter31/part7/part2/part_2.htm

tigerfeet2006

This is the allowances from the HMRC site

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/dmbmanual/DMBM800120.htm

and if anything your food is quite low so you are doing really well. Your budget looks quite good to me.

fermi

Hairdressing can be increased to £10 per adult + £3 per child per month. £29 in your case (for the family as a whole). Work out the BR's part of that.

fermi

Holidays as well:

Whilst extravagance is not endorsed in this respect, it may be considered a reasonable domestic need to allow the bankrupt and his/her family to benefit from a non-extravagant holiday as a break from routine. Expensive or luxury holidays (particularly if the holiday is abroad) are likely to cause offence to creditors but an allowance of between £60-£80 per month (amounting to £720-£960 per annum) for a household of 4 people should allow the bankrupt and his/her family sufficient funds to take a moderate annual holiday. Should the bankrupt consider this allowance insufficient to fund a holiday, he/she should be informed that any additional holiday cost that he/she may wish to incur must be funded from the amount of surplus income left with him/her after deduction of the assessed IPA/IPO contribution.

You are not expected to live in poverty/hardship, especially if you have a family.

So £60-80 per month for holiday savings is reasonable for you.

devonsdreamer

I am hoping that once my sister secures a job she will contribute to our budget also, I have her daughter living with me.

Because of out benefits we dont have to pay for prescriptions,

once the childcare reduces any surplus will be used for savings. We also dont spend 49 a month on clothing so this will be saved also - is it best to reduce that amount and have a savings pot too?

DEBTMONKEY1A

Hi Devons,

Increase as much as possible. Again-follow the links given above to insolvency site. Also......you can get great advice on http://www.debtquestions.co.uk/forum/index.php -they guy on there-Simon-is a qualified money advisor & KNOWS the max. you can put down. Also-see my outgoings-& I am single-on my previous posts. I'm sure there is more you can put in. Also-by having income exactly same as outgoings in my opinion it looks a bit 'suss' (no offence meant but you know what I mean)...I was a good £200 over! Put down as much as possible...then for example say you are £250 'over' & you get additional help (£250 or less!) from your sister you don't have to muck about declaring it, etc...

devonsdreamer

ok - it has taken me ages to get them both the same. feeling rather confused at the moment.

I can show what I was spending before and trust me it was way over on everything!!!

This is MY budget for me to stick to starting monday morning so the big bad debt doesnt start again (in my husbands name). I am trying to get my brain past BK and on to the new spending habits-

BUT you have made me think that I need to look at my form in more depth so I will be starting some more threads I think :eek:

Thanks to everyone

DEBTMONKEY1A

Hi again...have 'YOUR' budget searate...The SOA budget is NOT an exact copy of your outgoings-but putting down ALL you/your family are allowed.

Devonsdreamer...hi! Sorry-my post may have been worded wrongly. You've summed it up though 'it took me ages to get them the same'...if you think from an OR'S point of view what are the odd's of it being EXACTLY the same if it's not been 'tweaked' ??! Basically, put on as many of the extras that you're allowed (again look at the links on here & the link I gave you)...there's a good £200 or so I'd guess you can put on your outgoings. Keep your own budget for yourself!

Remember-it's not about moneysaving-you need to put down ALL that you can to coveer yourself/family. Say there was a car breakdown-you wanted to treat one of your kids/or one of you fell ill? At least this way you've got MORE in the pot.Sorry if my post seemed not clear-but I hope you get my point re: the 2 being EXACT. Ok...if you don't want to vary it much or add on extra allowences (which I'd say to deffo do!) at least be OVER by at least a few quid. Put on as much as you can-gleaned from links on here/replies. If say you were £300 OVER & the OR tweaks it down £100 you're still better off by £200-in case of emergencies. I can't stress enough that the SOA is NOT a personal budget for you-it's something that will give you/family ALL the allowences/cash you need to live a normal life.

Don't worry-will be the best thing you've done! Took me ages to get my SOA correct but with the help of this site/the web & the link i gave you it owrked out fine. Beleive me-this is the hardest bit of BR-the form filling/getting SOA right! The court/or meeting is much much easier IMO!