Need some help organising myself...

Clouds88

Hey guys below I will post my SOA. I just want a bit of opinions/direction as how I should save my spare money and what I should focus on. 

We have had a few skint years and problems with my husband. Previous BR/DRO. My husband has got over a gambling addiction and this is where we are currently at.

I am a very anxious person, had a year of hell with my last car. Bought a 4 year old car last month and paid 7,000 for it I used all our savings and put 1K on a card. But for me having the security of that car is so worth it. 

So, this month I have saved £1,000 back up. I'm keeping this as an emergency fund. 

I have not allocated money to birthday presents/car mot/ ect so should do this really from next month wages. I tend to just save it in one place but this is where I am lost, how much should I focus on clearing the debt vs saving more as back up/different pots?

I should add I am also pregnant with number 3 (complete accident, used contraception) so we will need to move house in the future, currently only in a 2 bed. I am going to wait until its here to move, so end of the year or next year to help save more as it's going to cost £300 more a month to upgrade to 3 bedrooms. I probably will need to pay months up front as well due to our credit history being poor and this doesnt drop off files until 2024. 

So if anyone has any advice re how to split this into different savings/how soon I should pay off the debts that would be great.

Statement of affairs

Number of adults in household........... 2 Number of children in household......... 2 Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1700 Partners monthly income after tax....... 0 Benefits................................ 1040 

Other income............................ 0[b] 

Total monthly income.................... 2740

Monthly Expense Details[/b] Mortgage................................ 0 Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0 Rent.................................... 652 

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0 Council tax............................. 142 Electricity............................. 45 Gas..................................... 45 Oil..................................... 0 

Water rates............................. 51 

Telephone (land line)................... 0 Mobile phone............................ 37 

TV Licence.............................. 0 

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 12

 Internet Services....................... 54

 Groceries etc. ......................... 320 Clothing................................ 0 Petrol/diesel........................... 120 

Road tax................................ 10 

Car Insurance........................... 34 

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 

Car parking............................. 0

 Other travel............................ 0 Childcare/nursery....................... 0 

Other child related expenses............ 0 

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 56 

Buildings insurance..................... 0 

Contents insurance...................... 6

 Life assurance ......................... 6 

Other insurance......................... 0

 Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 Haircuts................................ 0 Entertainment........................... 0 Holiday................................. 0 

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Total monthly expenses.................. 1590

Assets Cash.................................... 1000

 House value (Gross)..................... 0 

Shares and bonds........................ 0 Car(s).................................. 7000 

Other assets............................ 0[b]

 Total Assets............................ 8000

 No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b] [b]Unsecured Debts[/b] Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR Credit card ...................900.......50........34 Credit card....................1000......50........34 Credit card....................200.......5.........34 

Credit card ...................200.......5.........34[b] 

Total unsecured debts..........2300......110.......

[Monthly Budget Summary

 Total monthly income.................... 2,740 Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,590 

Available for debt repayments........... 1,150 

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 110

Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,040

Balance Sheet Summary[/b] Total assets (things you own)........... 8,000 Total HP & Secured debt................. -0 

Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,300

 Net Assets.............................. 5,700

Sofee3

Hi, you seem to have good monthly costs for outgoings nothing too high or obvious to me. So are you working full time and husband is at home? Hence no childcare bills? 
If this is the case you will need to think about what will happen when you are on maternity leave, i'd be saving cash up for this period that you are off. 
I use Starling for savings as you can make different pots for various things you want to save for.  But your £1000 emergency fund is great and just make sure you don't dip into it for other things, then I'd split paying off the debts and putting money in pots for birthday/christmas and insurances (then you could pay yearly and save money too).

MidsHollie

Hi there,
Different methods work differently for different people, but this is how I am managing my money. 

- zero based budgeting (giving each £ a purpose before I even get it, then as soon as I get the money, putting it where it belongs, wether that be debt repayment, direct debits for bills, savings, or to my spending account)
- I have a monzo account for every day spending, and within this I have ‘groceries’, ‘fuel’ and ‘personal spends’
- I have an emergency fund. This is in premium bonds - easy enough to access but not easy to spend! 

- Then finally I have my ‘sinking funds pot’. I put about £300 each month in to this account, which covers the following: car and home insurance, car maintainence and servicing, Christmas birthdays and other gifts, annual professional fees, annual boiler service, and probably a few other things that I can’t think of off the top of my head. None of these are emergency things, and I can predict them. At the start of each year I look back and se how much I spent on these things, and add 10% for cost variance and inflation. Divide by 12 and that’s how much I need each month to add to this pot. If I know I’m going to a lot of weddings, or everyone’s having a baby or something, I’ll add extra to the gifts funds. This is all one big pot of money. I can’t be bothered to separate it all out, but some people do. 

This works for me. Having the sinking funds pot means that I have zero guilt or panic when my the car needs new tyres or whatever because the money is there. It also means I address things really quickly. I chipped my windscreen a few months ago. Old me would have left it a while and hoped for the best and probably would have needed a new windscreen. New me called someone up that day and had it booked in for the first available day to be repaired. Honestly, it is SO freeing

Coolhand2

If I were you, I would pay off the 2.3k debt, with your excess cash you could pay it off in 2 months and then build up your savings.
I am a bit similar, I am expecting baby #3 in Aug, we live in a 2 bdrm. Last month I finished paying off all our debts and started working on our emergency fund, hoping to save 8k, after that I will save for a house downpayment. We don't plan to move until we buy, maybe in 2yrs. My kids are still young and they will share their room.

enthusiasticsaver

The interest rate on your credit cards is high so I would make paying them off a priority.  Keeping £1k as an emergency fund is a good idea mainly for the car and pet bills as you are not a home owner. Saving for birthdays, car repairs, pets etc should be done at the same time but you have £1k left each month so from next month I would maybe save £250 towards birthdays, car repairs etc and pay off £750 and perhaps do that for the next 3 months to see you debt free from July. I would use two savings accounts.  One for the emergency fund which you do not touch unless you really have to and one for the savings pots.  Some like to split into separate pots but I prefer just one savings pot and work out how much you will need for birthdays, christmas, car repairs and servicing, insurance  etc etc. Your car insurance will be much cheaper if you pay annually.  You have some gaps in your soa so make sure that is accurate. From then on you will have £1k spare each month to save or spend as you need.  Given you want to move once the baby is here and presumably have a maternity leave to cover I would lean towards saving it. Does your partner not work? 

  As you presumably have a poor credit history I would close all the cards down except for 1 and maybe use it for the odd item and pay it off in full each month once the debt is gone. 

The internet services is high or does that include a phone landline?  

Karonher

Its hard to say at the moment as there are so many gaps in the SOA. So many categories have 0 I know you say you will add something next month but they could all take up a lot of the money that left. Sorry its no help but it just might give you a better picture if you filled each section in.

Clouds88

Thank you for your replies. Husband has a disability so has been off of work for a few years now and I work part time around looking after the kids, although he does have them overnight when I work.

I left the sections blank as I dont put money aside currently, I just have, around 1K left and just put it aside/spend it. I do have a starling account so I'll do what you suggested above and create different pots and start adding money and target the debt more at the same time.

Mat pay is pretty decent as I'm in the NHS. 

Coolhand2 congratulations on your pregnancy! nice to see someone else similar. I know I shouldnt compare myself but it seems so much pressure to move, everyone else seems to have a bigger house than me and less kids lol. Our downstairs is a decent size, as we have a large lounge and conservatory but my eldest is 10 so she does need her own room really. I would love fo buy eventually but not sure if we would get there until I go back full time which wont be until this baby is a lot older. 

Thanks again 

kimwp

Hi! Your statement of affairs should be what you spend in each category, not what you put aside.