SOA help

CliveOfIndia

Justme4 said:

I have 4 kids and don’t feel like I can work out what and how much I should be putting down for things…

As noted by the previous poster, looking at someone else's SOA would be a pointless exercise - the whole point of an SOA is that it's tailored to your personal circumstances.

And it's not - at least initially - what you should put down.  It needs to begin by being an accurate (as far as possible) record of your spending.  Look through your bank or credit card statements for the last few months.  If you spend roughly £500 a month at the supermarket, that's your "food and grocery" spend.  It doesn't matter whether that's too little or far too much, if that's what you're spending then that's what you put on the SOA.

You can then start to get into the nitty-gritty of "does that include toiletries and pet food?".  "Do you buy premium brands, could you switch to own-brand?".  All those kind of things.

The same goes for clothing, birthday and Christmas presents, leisure activities, etc.  I appreciate it's not always easy to see the wood for the trees, but if you set yourself some time aside and sit down with your statements, you ought to be able to come up with a reasonably good ballpark figure of what you spend on each category.

Once it's done, then you can start looking through and see where you can make savings - whether you do that by yourself, of with the help of the good folk on this board.

The SOA that most folk on here use is : https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

There are probably dozens of others online, but that one is pretty good, easy to use, and even has a "format for MSE" option if you did feel you wanted to copy & paste the results into this thread.

DankVielen

I have just read your previous post, I think it is important for people to see your issues in context, so please do not keep creating new posts about the same debt situation, add it to previous post.

Hopefully mods will merge this into your previous post.

Emmia

DankVielen said:

I have just read your previous post, I think it is important for people to see your issues in context, so please do not keep creating new posts about the same debt situation, add it to previous post.

Hopefully mods will merge this into your previous post.

Having read the other thread, it does seem to be a tricky situation, including alcohol and gambling issues.

The SOA is an important step, but joining GA and AA are imperative. 

Brie

I don't think anyone has posted an SOA that was perfect first time around.  Don't worry about it.  That's why people post their SOA here so we can pick holes in it (in a nice way) and hopefully find things that you might be able to strip from your spending. 

The same thing happens at the debt advice agencies - they put together an SOA or Standard Financial Statement or whatever they want to call it.  First attempt might just be guesses about how much is spent on groceries vs car vs gas & electric.  Then the bank statements get scrutinised and things are adjusted, then there's a change in benefits or income and they get adjusted again.  I've seen accounts with 20 or 30 versions.  

Justme4

Sorry I wasn’t sure if to do a new post or not, but least it’s all in one place now  

rent 425
council tax 149 
gas and electric just been upped to £247
water 46 
tv 15 
prescriptions/ dental 20 

clothing footwear 150 
hairdressing 50
toiletries/cosmetics 100 

food 600
laundry 19 
smoking (roll ups) 1 pack of 30g the one only one I can smoke is £25. I can easily smoke 2 a week so this is cutting right down. 

Phones for my self and kids 60 
tv/internst 44
amazon prime/itunes storage 18

buspasses for kids for school 88 
50 car insurance 
fuel and tax 220
mot and maintenance 60

so on the form from CAB is where I have got to.. but then where do I include this kind of stuff below.. 



Kids (pocket money birthdays/xmas) 

What about school trips? 

Emergencies? 
Kids hobbies? 

I see NOW… why I need a good solid budget.. because I spend more that I have… kids hobbies they want to start back up at kickboxing .. that’s 15 each for 2 lessons a week and they both want to go?? Stuff like this iv not really looked at for a long time … 

Iv averaged 30 each a month for clothes footwear.. the girls can go through a pack of tights  for school in a week easy (£5) for a 3 pack.. stuff like this all adds up 😭 … 

income is 2769

Justme4

Brie said:

I don't think anyone has posted an SOA that was perfect first time around.  Don't worry about it.  That's why people post their SOA here so we can pick holes in it (in a nice way) and hopefully find things that you might be able to strip from your spending. 

The same thing happens at the debt advice agencies - they put together an SOA or Standard Financial Statement or whatever they want to call it.  First attempt might just be guesses about how much is spent on groceries vs car vs gas & electric.  Then the bank statements get scrutinised and things are adjusted, then there's a change in benefits or income and they get adjusted again.  I've seen accounts with 20 or 30 versions.  

Thank you .. iv been borrowing of family for that long and using cash in shops because my banks been hammered as soon as there was money in there it would go through the sites which I’m so ashamed to say.. but todays day one. 

I’m also happy to never use online banking or been able to shop online with out having to actually deposit money physically into the bank, this should definitely hold me more accountable, which I have to be with my decisions. 

Iv now confided in a family member and iv said for the first few months I will with draw money when I get paid and set up one of those little budget folders with cash they said it sounds like a good idea till I have more stability and time clear from gambling and feel stronger and dealt with the issues I have that have lead to the addictions in the first place… sorry iv totally waffled back lol… x

kimwp

Justme4 said:

Sorry I wasn’t sure if to do a new post or not, but least it’s all in one place now  

rent 425
council tax 149 
gas and electric just been upped to £247
water 46 
tv 15 
prescriptions/ dental 20 

clothing footwear 150 
hairdressing 50
toiletries/cosmetics 100 

food 600
laundry 19 
smoking (roll ups) 1 pack of 30g the one only one I can smoke is £25. I can easily smoke 2 a week so this is cutting right down. 

Phones for my self and kids 60 
tv/internst 44
amazon prime/itunes storage 18

buspasses for kids for school 88 
50 car insurance 
fuel and tax 220
mot and maintenance 60

so on the form from CAB is where I have got to.. but then where do I include this kind of stuff below.. 



Kids (pocket money birthdays/xmas) 

What about school trips? 

Emergencies? 
Kids hobbies? 

I see NOW… why I need a good solid budget.. because I spend more that I have… kids hobbies they want to start back up at kickboxing .. that’s 15 each for 2 lessons a week and they both want to go?? Stuff like this iv not really looked at for a long time … 

Iv averaged 30 each a month for clothes footwear.. the girls can go through a pack of tights  for school in a week easy (£5) for a 3 pack.. stuff like this all adds up 😭 … 

income is 2769

Hiya! Did you look at the lemonfool link (in my signature). It has more categories and you can add whatever categories you need to. Then it will show the totals of your spends and debts etc. if you select "format for mse" and copy it into.a post, it'll make it easier to see what the best route forward is.

tealady

Hi. I appreciate you are struggling but there are things you can do.
I would take each item line by line and drill down to see if you can shave a bit off.
For example tv/ Internet. Are you still in contract and if you aren't can you get a better deal elsewhere.
Council tax, most pay over 10 months, could you pay over 12?
I assume you are not living with a partner. If you are not do you get maintenance and is it enough?
I appreciate it can be a bit overwhelming but the peeps on here are fantastic at (metaphorically) hand holding so if you need guidance just shout.

Justme4

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

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of children in household......... 4

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1056

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 1706

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

Total monthly income.................... 2762[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

Rent.................................... 425

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 140

Electricity............................. 120

Gas..................................... 126

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

Water rates............................. 46

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

Mobile phone............................ 60

TV Licence.............................. 15

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20

Internet Services....................... 24

Groceries etc. ......................... 800

Clothing................................ 150

Petrol/diesel........................... 200

Road tax................................ 15

Car Insurance........................... 50

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 60

Car parking............................. 10

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

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

Other child related expenses............ 70

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

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

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 0

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100

Haircuts................................ 50

Entertainment........................... 100

Holiday................................. 80

Emergency fund.......................... 50

School trips or costs .................. 30[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2761[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

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

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

Car(s).................................. 1

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

Total Assets............................ 1[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

MBNA ..........................6665......65........0

Klarna ........................600.......50........0

HSBC ..........................3324......80........0

Lendable.......................22187.....390.......0

Zopa...........................6221.73...135.......0

Very...........................788.99....0.........0

Virgin.........................5870......95........0

Lloyds.........................360.63....40........0

Paypal.........................2678.01...50........0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........48695.36..905.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,762

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,761

Available for debt repayments........... 1

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 905[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -904[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 1

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -48,695.36[b]

Net Assets.............................. -48,694.36[/b]

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

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

enthusiasticsaver

You will need a two pronged approach.  First the gambling must stop so get support for  that.  The SOA shows that you have little to nothing to throw at the debts so you will have no option but to default. Breathing space is pointless. Looking very quickly at yours I would say clothing and groceries are a good place to start to cut down.  I appreciate with 4 kids they always seem to need something but presumably some can be handed down? Have you put yourself on a clothes moratorium for now and look at supermarkets for kids clothes/school uniform.  Groceries could probably come down assuming you are not feeding 5 adults. Use budget supermarkets, yellow sticker deals and meal plan.