Newbie seeking some advice ...

peanutsmuggler · 7 March 2010 at 8:35PM

Hello everyone

Ive finally summoned up the courage to add up everything I owe :eek: and to work out what to do about it.

I suppose Im in quite a fortunate position in that I have a good job, am happily married, dont have any children, my husband earns a very good wage (about 3x what I earn) and he pays all the household bills, and we own our home outright. He doesnt know anything about my debts, and doesnt have any of his own - in fact he has quite considerable savings.

How I've ended up owing so much really frightens me. I really dont want to let my husband know. I got myself into this mess, I just need some ideas about how to dig myself out of it.

Here's my SOA. Does anyone have any tips/ideas on what I can do, please?

I'm just going to log out to put some stuff on fleabay (Im making an effort straight away) but will be along later, so please don't think Im ignoring any advice.

Household Information
Number of adults in household. 2
Number of children in household. 0
Number of cars owned. 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax 1195
Partners monthly income after tax. 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1195

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan repayments. 0
Rent 0
Management charge (leasehold property)..0
Council tax. 0
Electricity 0
Gas 0
Oil 0
Water rates. 0
Telephone (land line) 0
Mobile phone. 25
TV Licence 0
Satellite/Cable TV 0
Internet Services 17.5
Groceries etc. 350
Clothing. 0
Petrol/diesel 60
Road tax 45
Car Insurance 35
Car maintenance (including MOT) 20
Car parking 0
Other travel 20
Childcare/nursery 0
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc) 0
Pet insurance/vet bills 0
Buildings insurance 0
Contents insurance 0
Life assurance 0
Other insurance 8
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts. 30
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency fund. 0
Total monthly expenses. 612.5

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt Monthly APR
Egg card. 1336.21 50 19.9
Egg loan 4384.98 352.4 9.9
Nationwide card. 4404.76 150 19.9
Overdraft. 925
BoS card. 2600 48 0
Nationwide loan. 7996.6 293.8 6.7
Total unsecured debts. 21647.55 986.7 .

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,195
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 612.5
Available for debt repayments........... 582.5
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 986.7
Amount short for making debt repayments. -404.2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,647.55
Net Assets.............................. -15,647.55

JA1000 · 7 March 2010 at 8:53PM

I suggest you tell him. If he finds out he'll wonder what else is hidden from him. You have only tried to keep up with him.

Tixy · 7 March 2010 at 8:54PM

Hi and welcome and well done for working up the courage to post.

A couple of things that would be useful to know - what were your debts run up on? Was it general overspending? specific large items? - critically anything you can sell to raise cash?

Others will probably recommend that you do talk to your husband about this position so that you and he can work through things together. I think this probably is the way forward, however I think it best that you get a plan of action in place before you do this - with that in mind I'll suggest some ways I think you can make savings first off.

peanutsmuggler wrote: »

Here's my SOA. Does anyone have any tips/ideas on what I can do, please?

I'm just going to log out to put some stuff on fleabay (Im making an effort straight away) but will be along later, so please don't think Im ignoring any advice. Good - an excellent start"

Household Information
Number of adults in household. 2
Number of children in household. 0
Number of cars owned. 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax 1195 could you do any overtime at work? other ways to earn cash?
Partners monthly income after tax. 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1195

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan repayments. 0
Rent 0
Management charge (leasehold property)..0
Council tax. 0
Electricity 0
Gas 0
Oil 0
Water rates. 0
Telephone (land line) 0
Mobile phone. 25
TV Licence 0
Satellite/Cable TV 0
Internet Services 17.5
Groceries etc. 350 you can definitely get this down, probably without your OH even noticing. Is this mostly food? does it include drink / cigs or anything extra? try meal planning for the week before you shop, cook more meals from scratch, drop to supermarket brands for some items, bulk out meals with cheaper ingredients etc.
Clothing. 0 may need to budget a small amount here, just for essentials (unless OH buys it all)
Petrol/diesel 60
Road tax 45 is this right - £540 a year? what car is it? thats horrendous compared to the amount you actually use it - if petrol is only £60pm do you actually need the car?
Car Insurance 35
Car maintenance (including MOT) 20
Car parking 0
Other travel 20 what is this?
Childcare/nursery 0
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc) 0
Pet insurance/vet bills 0
Buildings insurance 0
Contents insurance 0
Life assurance 0
Other insurance 8 what is this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts. 30
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency fund. 0
Total monthly expenses. 612.5 610.50

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt Monthly APR
Egg card. 1336.21 50 19.9
Egg loan 4384.98 352.4 9.9
Nationwide card. 4404.76 150 19.9
Overdraft. 925
BoS card. 2600 48 0
Nationwide loan. 7996.6 293.8 6.7
Total unsecured debts. 21647.55 986.7 . not sure this quite adds up - they seem to come to 894.

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,195
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 612.5
Available for debt repayments........... 582.5
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 986.7
Amount short for making debt repayments. -404.2 you are a lot short each month, could you trade in you car for a cheap runaround (with cheaper insurance & road tax etc?) to pay a chunk off one of the debts?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -21,647.55
Net Assets.............................. -15,647.55

Good luck

peanutsmuggler · 7 March 2010 at 9:37PM

Hi Tixy

Thanks for the reply. Yep, general overspending. Its mostly run up on things like petrol, insurance, road tax (which just about doubled the year after the car was bought

) and food shopping.

Monthly income after tax 1195 could you do any overtime at work? other ways to earn cash? No chance of overtime. Im looking for ways to earn extra cash - am looking into MSing.

Groceries etc. 350 you can definitely get this down, probably without your OH even noticing. Is this mostly food? does it include drink / cigs or anything extra? try meal planning for the week before you shop, cook more meals from scratch, drop to supermarket brands for some items, bulk out meals with cheaper ingredients etc. Yes, mostly food and cleaning stuff etc. Neither of us buy drinks (he usually gets given a few cases of wine at Christmas via his job and that keeps us (well, me) going all year, and we dont smoke. Im going to explore the Netto down the road instead of going to Tesco tomorrow after work.

Clothing. 0 may need to budget a small amount here, just for essentials (unless OH buys it all) How small? I buy stuff on my cards and want to try and manage without for a while.

Road tax 45 is this right - £540 a year? what car is it? thats horrendous compared to the amount you actually use it - if petrol is only £60pm do you actually need the car? I know! Ive counted both my car (£405 a year) and my motorbike (£48 a year) tax here so it should be £453 for the year (£405 for the car, £48 for the bike). I use the bike every day for commuting - £20 a month in petrol or there abouts

Other travel 20 what is this? Petrol for the bike.

Other insurance 8 what is this? Bike insurance.

Total unsecured debts. 21647.55 986.7 . not sure this quite adds up - they seem to come to 894. This is what the SOA calculator added it up to. I'll check. Im pleased that you calculate it to a bit less though!

Amount short for making debt repayments. -404.2 you are a lot short each month, could you trade in you car for a cheap runaround (with cheaper insurance & road tax etc?) to pay a chunk off one of the debts? Both the car and the bike were bought for me by my husband about 5 years ago. They are in my name but we have a towbar fitted to the car which he uses now and then (he has a company car for his own use but wont fit the towbar to that because the car gets changed every 3 years). The car only has very low mileage so I think in the long run its best to hold on to it. I dont use it unless I absolutely have to.

savingmummy · 7 March 2010 at 9:43PM

Hi and welcome!
You need to cut up the cards, stop buying using credit and tell your DH.
It can be very hard to do so but it is for the best!
Good luck x

slummymummyof3 · 7 March 2010 at 10:41PM

Have you thought about starting a spending diary to work out exactly where your money is going? You need to work out what your weaknesses are!

You could significantly reduce your groceries bill without much of an effort. I note you say you are going to try Netto, but do you also have aldi/lidl nearby - you could also take a look at them. How much stuff do you already have in your cupboards/freezer that you could use up as well?

Tackle the highest apr's first by throwing as much as you can at them.

never-in-doubt · 8 March 2010 at 1:39AM

Have a word with jacobs Crackers - she was in exactly the same position and she feels much better after telling her hubby....

I'll find the thread and post it for you - she'll tell you how scared etc she felt - remember it Tixy?

never-in-doubt · 8 March 2010 at 1:41AM

never-in-doubt wrote: »

Have a word with jacobs Crackers - she was in exactly the same position and she feels much better after telling her hubby....

I'll find the thread and post it for you - she'll tell you how scared etc she felt - remember it Tixy?

Here you go: I need all the support I can get right now! - update!

Jacobs_Crackers wrote: »

Well folks, I have an update for you all.

I was going to tell my fiance today, but when he came home last night, as I thought he would, he could see there was something very wrong & insisted I told him there & then. So, after I had finally managed to pull myself away from the toilet area & wipe some of my tears away, I finally told him.

His reaction - very calm & couldn't really see what the big issue was! You could have knocked me over with a feather! I told him absolutely everything, hid nothing. He said he was glad I told him & would deal with it together.:)

So now, i would like to thank all of you lovely peeps who supported me, have a virtual pint / glass of wine / anything else, on me! Thank you all very much.:beer:

never in doubt - I'll probably be coming to you in the not too distant future for some more CCA advice! (if thats okay!):D

Have a read - you'll feel better!

Ive PM's Jacobs on your behalf with a link here as well....

Jacobs_Crackers · 9 March 2010 at 12:14PM

Hi Peanutsmuggler!
How are you doing?
JC.
x

peanutsmuggler · 9 March 2010 at 7:56PM

Hi All, thanks for the responses and lovely messages of support.

Am doing OK. Not summoned the courage to tell the OH yet. With some pretty fantastic timing, the brown smelly stuff has hit the fan where he works, so I dont want to dump (if you'll excuse the expression) this on him as well just at the moment (its not something that should affect him too drastically financially just yet). It never rains but it pours, eh?

Part of me thinks that I managed to get myself in this mess so its up to me to get out of it again.

I know its only Tuesday but Ive made a good start by putting a load of stuff (mostly books) on fleabay, and have made my own lunches to take to work. Thats saved me at least £10 already!!

I got an email from Egg today saying they are putting their card interest rate up to over 26%, but if I cancel the card I can continue to pay at the rate I'm on at the moment. I cut the actual card up ages ago so will make that call later on.

[Deleted User] · 9 March 2010 at 8:15PM

We are 2 adults and we only spend around £100 on groceries a month! We do however cook from scratch. Check the old style board for tips and advice.

Switch from premium to own brands - we've done this and mostly it goes unnoticed - I won't swop my branded coffee though, because I can't find an ownbrand I like. You will soon learn what you can and can't live with when you start trying them out, but you can easily, and painlessly, reduce your monthly grocery bill.

Always bring your lunch to the office.

If you can't do overtime, can you take a second job?

Also - as you have mentioned you've started, sell things you no longer use (Amazon, EBay, Gumtree).

Newbie seeking some advice ...

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