Friday, January 11, 2013

I can't see how we'll ever be debt free & SOA

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I can't see how we'll ever be debt free & SOA

Old Today, 1:17 PM

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Join Date: Jan 2013

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Hi, I'm new here, a bit desperate and don't know where else to begin.
We have a HUGE overdraft and visa card balance and a few store cards, a loan and the usual bills.
We've recently had another baby and I've dropped some hours at work, my husband works all hours god sends and i think financially we're starting to spiral and I'm scared. My husbands ex wife has just had her maintenance payments increased from us also.

I've completed a SOA and I can see where we need to cut back on a few things. The problem is with one or two of them is that we're tied into contracts.
I cant see us ever not having any debts, we're both absolutely shocking with money too. balances don't seem to be going down, when they do I use the credit cards again because we'll be skint

I don't know whether to (or even if we can) consolidate so we have fewer payments going out. The hardest thing is getting our finances prioritized and or bank accounts straight. My husband gets paid weekly into our joint account, from here we pay all out bills. The only problem is we have a ?3,900 overdraft which we're up to the limit on. Because he gets paid weekly and bills are coming out all over the place, sometimes we go over our limit and some direct debits get returned. I cant figure out how to start from scratch and straighten this account out .

I get paid monthly into an account with no overdraft. We live off my monthly pay, pay for food, petrol, treats, clothes etc. I don't earn enough to pay all the bills. We still seem to have no money at the end of the month in this account either

According to my SOA we have over ?200 disposable income but I cant tell you we don't see this, I've no idea where is goes but it goes. My husbands weekly pay varies depending on whether he takes holiday/sick or does any over time. He has a really crappy hard job and we would love him to spend more time with us as a family but at the moment he works about 60-70 hours a week just to keep us afloat. The overdraft and visa are like a giant millstone around my neck. My husband doesn't deal with the finances at all. It's all left to me and I can't do it anymore without some help.

I'm sorry to pour my heart out but I don't know what else to do.

xx

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,800.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 134.80
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.68
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728.59
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.99
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.66
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196.81
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
child support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
professional registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.66
credit expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.99

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,934.80

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,719.17

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Old Today, 1:32 PM
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Going out is costing your ?260 and holidays ?60 a month - if you cut down on going out by ?200 a month and cancel your holiday plans, things should look brighter.

Keep a spending diary to see where the other money is going and phone your mobile phone providers to see if you can change tariff befiore your contract ends.

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Old Today, 1:37 PM

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We don't always have a holiday to be honest and this year its looking unlikely I just thought I ought to put it in there in case we did have one. We don't always go out either, I've used that as any wine/beer we have in the house or if we have friends over and the odd night out but yes, I see we can make a difference here.

I'm going to call Vodafone this afternoon, out mobile phone tariff is rediculous but I've called them before and they can't do anything about it. I can't afford to pay my way out of the contract either.

Thank you

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Old Today, 1:43 PM
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Hi, well done for getting it down - if possible could you put it into the "usual MSE SOA" - http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php

Some of the categories are different / lumped together - and there is a lot of missing info from this one (number of people / cars in house etc)

It also requires you to list the debts, payments / month & APRs which we really need to offer advice on the debts....

Is the salary both your wages together?

  • A couple of thoughts just now - don't consolidate ..... it rarely works
  • If one of you is paid monthly and the other weekly, I'd suggest a totally separate bank account for all your household bills - you would then both pay in a set amount to this account (either monthly or weekly) whenever you're paid
  • You need to put a figure in for car maintenance
  • Summer holiday is too high - as are Drinking & Eating Out
  • Why are you paying ?15 for your credit report each month????
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Old Today, 1:51 PM

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Hi, thank you.

I'll do that later today.
I didn't include car maintenance as my husband is a mechanic and he sorts our cars out through work.
The ?15 credit report is my husband, I keep asking him to cancel it and he says he will but never does. Because he has to ring up and do it I can't do it on his behalf.

Yes, I thought of a third account for the bills but because we're up to eyes in it I don't know how to sort one out so that the bills are paid on time while my husbands contribution builds up, if you get what I mean?

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Old Today, 1:55 PM
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I definitely second the idea of you starting a spending journal to find out where the surplus money is going. It's an absolute eye opener. I thought I spent nothing last Saturday, for example, yet when I got the reciepts out of my purse & wrote it all down in my new 2013 spending journal, I found I'd spent ?15-99. Not a huge sum, but it all adds up, & I find I have a bit of a selective memory where my spending is concerned.

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Old Today, 2:00 PM

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Firstly no problem is unsolvable. Remember that!

Just a few things that I would have a closer look into and see if you can cut/stop or even manage a small trim.

Mobile phones ? it might be worth stressing you are financially distressed and won?t be able to afford them.
Food ? lots of ideas on here for cheap meals (not sure how much you could shave off but it all helps)
Paid TV ? do you really need this?
Cinema/Hobbies ? do you really need this?
Drinking out ? do you really need this?
Eating out ? you can get a lot of vouchers/deals etc on here to make it a bit cheaper.
Credit expert ? what is this?

A spending diary is a total must if you can?t work out where the cash is going? Don?t worry I imagine this problem is experienced by everyone (me included!)

After those steps its worth seeing about getting high cost debt moved to cheaper rates (if possible). Lost of options are shown on the MSE site but I would stress, be sensible about what is achievable.

I?ve found the more involved you get in sorting out your financial problems the easier it gets and the more of a mind set it becomes. You might even surprise yourself and enjoy it (maybe).

I hope that helps a bit and isn?t too repetitive

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Old Today, 2:18 PM
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Is the car really necessary? you only spend ?50 on petrol so you dont go very far in it.

Tallyhoh!

Stopped Smoking October 2000. Saved ?14,040 so far!

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Old Today, 2:26 PM

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Thanks all!

The TV is stuck with us for a year I'm afraid. That's one of the contracts we're tied into. Along with the mobiles and Gas & Electric.

Oh the monthly wage was joint by the way. I earn ?1000 and my husband anything between 1600 and 1800 pm.

I'll start a diary, I did this once before but used to keep forgetting :s

No, we don't need drinking/eating out etc but I just see it as a little pleasure as we don't do much else to be honest. Maybe I'll change my mind about that though when I've got the real figures down on paper rather than an estimate.
Still, I don't know how we'll ever see the back of our debts...I hate money

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Old Today, 2:33 PM

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Quote:

Is the car really necessary? you only spend ?50 on petrol so you dont go very far in it.

My husbands petrol is paid for through work so that's just my diesel. I go to and from school and work. I also do a few on calls too so I'd need it then and my husband works really long hours which overlap mine but he also does on calls, it'd mean that one of us was car-less three times a week which isn't a prob when I'm at home but as I rely on my parents for child care and they dont live anywhere near me I prefer to use the car to get home from work to let them go home. I work 730am-730pm so using my car means I can get home 45min sooner for my mum to go home and do the 15mile journey. Does that make sense? sorry I'm typing as my daughter is using me as a c;liming frame!
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Old Today, 2:52 PM

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Here's the proper SOA. I think it's correct. I've had to group a few things together and put them under entertainment. I've also taken off the holiday.

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

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1800
Benefits................................ 134.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2934.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 728.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 124
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 113
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 360
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 18.66
Car Insurance........................... 77
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 268
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 8.68
Life assurance ......................... 47.99
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 43
Haircuts................................ 13
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
credit expert........................... 14.99
professional reistration................ 12.66
Total monthly expenses.................. 2386.6

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 160000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 161500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 119000...(728.5)....3
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 992......(124)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 119992....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Visa card......................6300......186.8.....0
visa card......................200.......10........19.9 4
next directory.................550.......62........25.9 9
Argos card.....................600.......30........29.9
Total unsecured debts..........7650......288.8.....-


Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2,934.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,386.6
Available for debt repayments........... 548.2
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 288.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 259.4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 161,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -119,992
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,650
Net Assets.............................. 33,858

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Old Today, 3:50 PM
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Hi,

Just a few small ideas...
- Entertainment is too high I'm afraid
- Groceries is also high, try the old style board for great bargain and batch cooking ideas
- Do you need both cars? You're only spending ?50 a month on petrol which implies they're doing relatively low mileage. When we got rid of our second one I was so shocked by how much we saved

More people will have better ideas too

Debt paid off ?0/?5500 MFW #42 OP ?0/?2000 Save ?12k in 2013 #079 ?0/?3000

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Old Today, 4:03 PM
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Quote:

Here's the proper SOA. I think it's correct. I've had to group a few things together and put them under entertainment. I've also taken off the holiday.

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

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of childr

Source: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4384999&goto=newpost

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