SOA and advice

enthusiasticsaver · 16 August 2019 at 4:49PM

DMc92 wrote: »

I’m new to the forums and have input below a Statement of Affairs for my current financial situation

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1515
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1515

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 311
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 16
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 4.16
Car Insurance........................... 33
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 1.66
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 91
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 12.5
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Overdraft interest ..................... 70
Personal Trainer........................ 80
Gym..................................... 16
Total monthly expenses.................. 1205.32

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Secured Debt.................. 1394.....(124)......6.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 7106.....(187)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 8500......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card ...................495.......337.......0
Total unsecured debts..........495.......337.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,515
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,205.32
Available for debt repayments........... 309.68
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 337
Amount short for making debt repayments. -27.32

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -495
Net Assets.............................. -8,994

I currently have an overdraft of £4500 which is my ultimate priority to pay off in order to apply for a mortgage for me and my partner next year. Any advice/constructive criticisms are welcome! Also see my new diary in the sub thread for better details of the overall picture. For clarity, I live with family and only pay rent plus food bills - occasionally cover electricity, council tax if required.

If 160 is food just for you that is too high. Look for ways to cut back. Whilst I appreciate the personal trainer is something you don't want to give up you can't afford it whilst you are also paying out for a private hearing aid and contact lenses. Why do you have HP and a secured loan? What are those for ? Presumably one is for the car?

You need to address the overdraft as £70 a month is a big chunk of your monthly budget. Do you need the car or could you do without it? The lending on HP and secured loan is 20% of your wages so with that, the overdraft and spending on credit card you are quickly escalating into a debt spiral. The only way out of that is to stop spending anything unnecessary so the PT sessions should go or be reduced at least and the food could be cut down by meal planning and taking food to work.

theoretica · 16 August 2019 at 8:56PM

Yellow_mango wrote: »

As an obvious point, the £337 payment on a £450 credit card is clearly over the minimum repayment. Is this a card that you pay off in full each month? In which case I wouldn’t include it - you might be double counting the card payment and the expenses you put on it.

DMc92 wrote: »

Yeah, I pay off the credit card in full each month. But I always seem to end up reaching for it before payday. It’s a terrible cycle and one I need to kick.

Exactly - what spending are you putting on the card? Look through the past few months statements. You are clearly spending more than in your SOA, by hundreds of pounds. If you stuck to the figures in your SOA, even without cutting down your personal trainer time, you would be climbing out of debt and able not to reach for the card at all.
For me, the first step is always information - where has the money been going? Then decide what you are going to stop.

kangoora · 16 August 2019 at 10:56PM

Frankly, paying someone £80/month as a personal trainer when you only have £1500/month income is crazy. That's over 5% of your income going on a pure luxury. Also, reducing your phone bill to a £10/month SIM would save another £50. Looking at it another way, you then only need to find another £20/month saving and that will be like getting a 10% pay rise.........

Cut the personal trainer. It's just a job to him/her and they must have it all the time. You know what to do now, you shouldn't need to pay someone to tell you to work out, work harder or get fitter.

It's no different to paying someone to cut your lawn, you don't keep paying them if you decide to do it yourself.

ohdearhowdidthathappen · 17 August 2019 at 12:14PM

My tuppence worth...
Food - if just for you, you could reduce this
Mobile - SIM only deal would save you £50pm
Personal trainer - needs to go
Car - can you trade in for something cheaper?
Loan - what is it secured on, if you're renting?
I'd keep a spending diary to work out where your money is going. It's boring, but effective. You need to throw every spare penny at the overdraft to get that down. Is there interest to pay on it, if so, can you put it on your 0% credit card until it's paid off?
I think it's a big shame you're having to pay for hearing aids and that NHS ones aren't fit for purpose, you'd think they'd be able to get them at a good rate from one of these private firms to offer on NHS

PSYCHIC_SUE · 17 August 2019 at 12:40PM

I would look at your debts and see if you can get a better deal interest wise to repay them.
Also you say £160 a month on groceries. I seriously wonder how you mange on this low amount.

Mnd · 17 August 2019 at 5:31PM

PSYCHIC_SUE wrote: »

I
Also you say £160 a month on groceries. I seriously wonder how you mange on this low amount.

That's about what we do, without scrimping at all

theoretica · 17 August 2019 at 6:38PM

PSYCHIC_SUE wrote: »

I would look at your debts and see if you can get a better deal interest wise to repay them.
Also you say £160 a month on groceries. I seriously wonder how you mange on this low amount.

Go to the Old Style page of the forums and you will be able to learn a lot about cutting grocery spending. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=33

Sncjw · 17 August 2019 at 6:51PM

How bad is your hearing loss. Could you qualify for a baha or cochlear implant.

Also if the money is based on two of you why is there no money for partners income.

If you have trained with personal trainer for a while surely you know what you should be doing so you can do the exercises yourself.

Do you watch tv at all as there’s nothing g for tv licence or tv packages

enthusiasticsaver · 17 August 2019 at 9:47PM

Sncjw wrote: »

Do you watch tv at all as there’s nothing g for tv licence or tv packages

As she lives with family I assume they are paying that. I also assume that is why there is no partners income as they don't live together. Not sure why she has put 2 people on the soa though.

DMc92 · 18 August 2019 at 9:54PM

Hi all,

£160 for groceries is for two of us. To make it absolutely clear, I live with my sister in her flat. I pay her £200 rent a month and take care of the food bill, and she pays other bills, council tax and so on.
The cutting the phone bill and PT are both points I am seriously considering. Spending to be honest, is either on food or entertainment- I know neither is necessary at that level and am aware of needing to cut this out.
I do need my car - the petrol quoted in the SOA is the minimum amount for commuting to
work but I also travel to visit family who live further away. And train tickets are not cheap for those journeys.
The car is the Hire Purchase. The Loan was for postgraduate study. I recently received a statement and the amount left is much lower than calculated so I will update this in the SOA.

I think I said in a previous I will revise my SOA going on advice provided, I have some loans in the incorrect category. Hopefully the new version will give a clearer picture.

SOA and advice

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