Advice on ways to budget better/cut expenditure

InAPickle76

Good evening,

We are currently scraping by but things have become a bit more difficult this month as after renewing our child tax credits, the amount has been reduced by approx £150 per month. I am looking for any advice/help with regards to whether there is anything we can do better/save/manage debt etc and with the wealth of knowledge on here I wondered if anyone could help? I have seen people post SOAs - is this the best thing to do and if so where would I find the link and how to format? We have an appointment with a mortgage broker in a couple of weeks to look at remortgaging due to the crazy interest rates with our mortgage company but unsure if we will be offered anything due to our level of unsecured debt so just wondered if there is anything we can do to improve things in the meantime. Thanks so much in advance

RAS

Re-mortgaging, have you just checked your existing provider's best deals. You can switch to them without a credit check, so might be worth checking before you speak to a mortgage advisor?

InAPickle76

RAS said:

Re-mortgaging, have you just checked your existing provider's best deals. You can switch to them without a credit check, so might be worth checking before you speak to a mortgage advisor?

Hi RAS,

We are with the One Account who no longer offer mortgages. We would have to go through RBOS/Natwest and have been told it would be a new full remortgage application

enthusiasticsaver

There is a link to an soa in my signature. 

flipflopflo

@InAPickle76 please click on the link in @Enthusiasticsaver signature. Fill it in honestly, no matter how awful it looks, with what your incomings and outgoings are. Not what you think we want to see but how it is with you warts and all. Then press the format to MSE button and then copy and paste it onto this thread and people will do their best to help you. 

tacpot12

Posting a SOA is a good start. Take time to check that all your outgoings are on it.

Have a careful think about your assets, and whether you have anything that you might want to sell. Assets might also include things like a spare room that you could rent out, or time that could be used to earn more money.

InAPickle76

Thanks everyone I hope I have done this correctly!

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 3

Number of children in household......... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2400

Partners monthly income after tax....... 324

Benefits................................ 973

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

Total monthly income.................... 3697[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 1150

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 147

Electricity............................. 130

Gas..................................... 130

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 41

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 42

TV Licence.............................. 13

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 500

Clothing................................ 30

Petrol/diesel........................... 280

Road tax................................ 16

Car Insurance........................... 40

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20

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

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 60

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 37

Buildings insurance..................... 13

Contents insurance...................... 13

Life assurance ......................... 10

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

Haircuts................................ 40

Entertainment........................... 30

Holiday................................. 30

Emergency fund.......................... 30

Professional fees....................... 35

Autism Group............................ 10

Boiler cover............................ 29[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2956[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 500

House value (Gross)..................... 230000

Shares and bonds........................ 0

Car(s).................................. 1500

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

Total Assets............................ 232000[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 147250...(1150).....7.5[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 147250....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Barclays Loan..................19500.....490.......6.8

M&S Loan.......................7000......178.......2.8

Etika Finance..................727.......35........9.9

Self managed DMP ..............20000.....45........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........47227.....748.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,697

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,956

Available for debt repayments........... 741

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 748[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -7[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 232,000

Total HP & Secured debt................. -147,250

Total Unsecured debt.................... -47,227[b]

Net Assets.............................. 37,523[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

InAPickle76

Just for info - my son is 18 and is autistic. My husband is his carer and claims Carers Allowance for him. The benefits section includes his PIP, plus child tax credit and child benefit. The mobile phone costs is for all 4 of us. The pet section included insurance and pet plans for 2 cats. Thanks so much for reading x

kimwp

Hiya, it's a very sensible SOA, you could cut back by not saving for a holiday, emergency fund (one school of thought is it doesn't make sense to have an emergency fund when you could be using it to pay off debt), cancelling your cable subscription, trying to go longer without haircuts and thinking how to reduce your energy bill. All fairly small dents but they'll get you to a position where your income exceeds your outgoings and you can start overpaying your debt. I personally don't pay for boiler cover, preferring to self insure, but sod's law is that if you cancel, your boiler breaks the next day 😞

kimwp

Oh and shop for clothing in charity shops if you don't already.

Floss

£20 for car maintenance doesn't feel adequate - a new tyre can be £60+, an MOT is £57.50 without a service, and £280/m on fuel equals high mileage.

Can you negotiate your TV package? I take it that include your broadband?

I guess your food shop includes those brands familiar to your son so probably not much reduction there.

Are the professional fees claimable from your employer?