My soa

bekkki1

Hi

Ive been a member of these forums for a while now, but as more of a lurker. Ive decided to post my soa as I have a couple of debts - nothing major but I need to clear them as quick as possible. I was debt free until recently but went on a bit of a splurge.

Yesterday I found out I am pregnant again and will be a single mom as I am no longer with the father, :eek: and I have a 5 yr old daughter

I work full time and earn £14,000 this is paid 4 weekly - I have done a soa but I have not changed my pay to monthly as I generally put this money into my savings account as I need work doing on the house.

this is my soa:

Monthly income after tax................ 877
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 480
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1357

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 468.05
Secured loan repayments................. 85
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 64
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 19
Telephone (land line)................... 10.45
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 26
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 60
Childcare/nursery....................... 295
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 10.5
Life assurance ......................... 31.95
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1270.56

Assets
Cash.................................... 1000
House value (Gross)..................... 74000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 75000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 70000....(468.05)...7.04
Secured Debt.................. 3000........(85).......0
Total secured debts........... 10000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card capital 1..........200.......10........0
choice catalogue...............630.......54........0
next catalogue.................400.......15........0
Total unsecured debts..........1230......79........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,357
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,270.56
Available for debt repayments........... 86.44
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 79
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 7.44



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

I know my childcare costs will reduce shortly as my mum is moving closer and she will be having my daughter for me. - i dont know if this is the case with the baby yet tho as I do work quite long hours.

All comments are appreciated - please dont be too harsh

Thanks

Bekkki1

andan

Hi and welcome to the baord, must of us are very friendly on this board and to be honest i can see many reasons why people would be harsh with you, it doesn't seem like your throwing your money around. Infact it looks like you are living rather frugally.

I don't really have any advice for you as i can't see many areas to improve, i think with your mum moving closer this will make a difference to you. Anyway just wanted to say hi and good luck with everything.

RedDino308

Hi and again welcome,

I think Andan meant can't rather than can with regards being harsh

Looking at you SOA it is pretty good. There are a couple of things that could be worth investigating though.
1) Do you need the satellite/cable TV or is this a luxury that could go for a short time? You don't state any internet cost so is that in the TV deal?
2) Are all those APRs really zero? If not then it may be worth doing a little shuffling to minimise interest charges.

I'm sure more experienced people than me will be along soon to help as well.

Good luck

RedDino308

IWantToBeFree_2

My observations:

Mortgage: Is this a repayment mortgage or interest only? If interest only, could you switch to repayment for a short time?

Council tax: Is this taking advantage of 25% single persons discount and spread over 12 months?

Sky: Do you need this? Could you reduce your package?

Life Assurance: Seems expensive, can you not get it cheaper? What does it cover? Usually find that those which have critical illness cover are quite restrictive on what they pay out on.

tallyhoh

Why is your life insurance so much:eek: :eek: :eek:. Mine is £8.25 & could be cheaper. Dont tell me, it was sold to you with your mortgage??

On the other hand--do you really only spend £25 a week groceries?? if you do, :dance:

bekkki1

Hi guys

thanks for your replies.

the £26 is for sky - tv and broadband. ii was contemplating getting rid but its my only vice,

No the Next APR is not 0% I think it is 29.9%

the catalogue doesnt charge interest as it is added on to the items cost

My credit card is again 20 something %

bekkki1

IWantToBeFree wrote: »

My observations:

Mortgage: Is this a repayment mortgage or interest only? If interest only, could you switch to repayment for a short time?

Council tax: Is this taking advantage of 25% single persons discount and spread over 12 months?

Sky: Do you need this? Could you reduce your package?

Life Assurance: Seems expensive, can you not get it cheaper? What does it cover? Usually find that those which have critical illness cover are quite restrictive on what they pay out on.

My mortgage is repayment - I have only had it a year and Ive got another 2 to go until my fixed rate ends.

My insurance isnt so high as i have 3. one is £1.99 a month and I have had it for years - i think the cover is £60k at the min but it goes up each year.

The other is for american life womens cancer cover - £11.95 this is imperative to me as my mum was diagnosed with cancer last year and there is every chance I will get it like others in my family. Also the cover is really good, as the rates have now gone up for the level of cover i have.

The last one is one i took out with my mortgage. i had to do this as otherwise i had to pay 3% of the mortgage. I know this is a con but i tried many whole of board mortgage people who couldnt get me a mortgage due to my salary and that was 100% and would take tax credits into consideration - so I am stuck but as soon as my fixed rate is done I am moving to another co. Its just under £18 a month and will pay of my mortgage.

life insurance is a must to me as i am a single mom.

my council tax does take into effect the single person - its a band A house so is quite cheap. I have it over 10 months as I use the extra money for buying presents in the sales for birthdays etc.

I really do only spend £25 a month on food - quite frugal and make everyrthing myself.

IWantToBeFree_2

It does seem like you are cutting back everywhere you can, have you thought about how you could bring in more money to throw at your debts? Things such as ebay, mystery shopping, online surveys etc... Do you use sites such as quidco and rpoints to get money back on online shopping?

poppy10_2

Don't you get any maintenance payments from your daughter's father?

bekkki1

I do use quidco etc and I have sold quite a bit on ebay but i suppose I will have to try and get some more things on it.

No I dont get any maintenance for her - her dad doesnt live in the uk so the csa cant do anything.

andan

RedDino308 wrote: »

Hi and again welcome,

I think Andan meant can't rather than can with regards being harsh


RedDino308

Oops, yes:o, was trying so hard to be nice didn't see my error. Anyway, looks like there have been some good replies.

I would certainly start looking at other ways to up the income, look at the up your income board for tips. Perhaps something like taking in peoples ironing or doing online work, such as surveys as these will be helpful with birthday presents etc.