My SOA - please look

SuzySu

Hi

As promised I have tried to do my SOA. Please have a look and tell me what I can do to improve it and cut back. I already know some areas where I can look around to save money, but would like your comments too.

Well......here it is:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1184
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1522
Benefits................................ 190
Other income............................ 300
Total monthly income.................... 3196

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1514
Secured loan repayments................. 440
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 134
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 48
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 60
Telephone (land line)................... 60
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 184
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 77
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 19
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Dentist................................. 10
Gym membership x 2...................... 80
Total monthly expenses.................. 3280

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 265000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 271000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 198000...(1514).....0
Secured Debt.................. 57000....(440)......0
Total secured debts........... 255000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................271.......10........29.9
First Direct o/draft...........1102......60........0
Sainsbury .....................4519......102.......20.9
Nat West o/draft...............5200......10........0
Total unsecured debts..........11092.....182.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,196
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 3,280
Available for debt repayments........... -84
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 182
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -266

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 271,000
Total Secured debt...................... -255,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,092
Personal net worth...................... 4,908

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

Bunnyinthelights

Hi suzy,
The only thing I can personally see is the gym memberships.
Have you looked into getting rid of those?

Stinkybell

Well done for getting to this point. Food etc seems a bit excessive if there's only 2 of you, as does £184 on petrol! Could be an idea to sell current car (especially if it is worth 6k) and buy a cheap, small engined run around. Also, you have gym, sky and entertainment costing you £200 a month - that's £50 a week. Do you use the gym LOTS? If so, you could easily cut back on the other two or vice versa.

Burlesque_Babe

hi - I would look at

gas and electric - have a look at Uswitch
buildings and contents insurance - use Moneysupermarket then Quidco
car insurance - as above
entertainment - has to be massively slashed
groceries - again, can be cut quite a bit - how many is this for?
gym membership - cancel if possible and use the council facilities
mobile - if you are out of contract, switch to PAYG or ask your provider to switch to the cheapest tariff
clothing - that's a lot every month. Start using Asda, Tesco or Ebay for any absolute essentials.

Are you tied in on your mortgage? Any chance you could swap for a better deal?

Good luck

SuzySu

Thanks Bunny.....bl**dy gym. I have cancelled but it is a contract for a year so don't really know what to do about this. I haven't paid it for the past 2 months so I already owe them £160 (for both of us) :mad: . The contract expires in August. Any suggestions.....?

TotallyBroke

You are showing your telephone landline as £60 per month is that a typo or is your bill really £180 per quarter. If it is then that is where you can make a huge saving.

Stinkybell

What gym are you with? Some allow you to transfer membership to another person if you don't want it anymore. Not sure about the arrears though - you may just have to pay them off

Bunnyinthelights

Sorry Suzy,
I'm not very good with the sorts of things...hence why I am on this borad, lol
Good luck and keep up the good work.
Your mortgage is MASSIVE!

SuzySu

Ooh....more replies. I can't keep up. Thanks you lot!

There are 5 of us in the house....myself, partner, 3 teenagers.

I know Sky, gym etc is not essential, but I am now tied into contracts and I don't know what I can do about it.

Sky - £20 is for 5 channels plus Internet - still in contract
Gym - £40 each per month......have cancelled (did use it a fair bit but obviously can't afford it) - still in contract
Entertainment - £100 - we probably don't use this every month, but school hols might take the kids out. Will definitely need to slash this one.
Cars - we are thinking about selling one car but need to get it repaired first. Will only make £2000 I think (if that) but it's better than nothing and will save us on petrol, insurance, tax etc. We were only talking about this yesterday.
Mobile - only paying for DD at the moment. She doesn't get pocket money and does a lot round the house to help. I haven't paid the bill for my mobile for a couple of months so they have suspended my service but I'm still in contract until November.
Landline - can't afford this bill either so we can't make any outgoing calls.
Clothing - again, haven't bought anything new for ages but CCCS said to include something so I have.
Mortgage - selling our house to try to clear most of our debts so no point in swapping now (haven't even made the full payment for the last 3 months).

Bit of a mess isn't it.

BARGAINHUNTER!

You phone bill seems high - sky do a tv/phone/broadband package. Also your mobile bill, do you get free minutes with that? If so, could you use mobile free minutes and then sign up to free weekend and eve calls for the rest of your phonecalls? As the nights are lighter why not take up running? Cheaper than the gym and free too!

Bunnyinthelights

Suzy,
Where do you live?
Would it be an option to downsize/move areas to reduce mortgage?
We did this and whilst I loved my old house etc it has helped in so many other ways.
Obvioulsy, with 3 teenagers, you need a bit of room...