Giving myself 2 years to get out of Debt

Fivebyfive wrote: »

I have 2 days left until payday and run out of everything in the cupboards to make any decent meals with. I have really tried to stretch it but its not happening. We have been to the shops and bought some basics to get us through such as gravy and milk.

I also managed 11 'take lunch to work' days so far this month, i am breaking my streak today to buy lunch as we have nothing in.

Also had 11 NSD this month which i'm happy about :-)

I must get to the post office tonight and post an item i sold on 3bay on Sunday. I have one more item up for sale and then its on to the books again although they don't really sell on 3bay. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm still having no look what so ever with b0unts. I have requested a refund which i'm guessing will take a long time but i still can not cash out for vouchers, i'm checking the website 2-3 times an hour and getting no where :-(

Sounds like you've managed to stretch that less than £10 quite a long way, well done! And well done on your 11 days taking lunch to work. This is something I need to get better at doing even though it's such a simple thing I dread to think how much I spend on lunches at work (I probably buy lunch at least 50% of the days) - all those little £3 here and there will add up a lot!

What type of book are you trying to sell on 3bay?

Fivebyfive wrote: »

I have done this months SOA, any advise would be much appreciated I've only included what i earn and pay (OH money is seperate)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1352.32
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1352.32

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 275
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 56.5
Electricity............................. 10.5
Gas..................................... 10.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28.5
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 46 (will go down to £10 next month as this includes final bill on contract)
TV Licence.............................. 6.06
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 4.5
Internet Services....................... 22.76
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 I take it you pay for all the groceries for the 2 of you?
Clothing................................ 15
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 231.06 Can we ask what this is as it's a sizeable monthly figure to not be childcare related
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15 Every month?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 13
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 6.5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 5.37
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 35
Haircuts................................ 2.5
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 10
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Misc.................................... 8
Total monthly expenses.................. 1071.75


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit card ...................2134.83...21.02.....18.9
Debt 1 ........................192.......25........0
Debt 2.........................4504.99...86.63.....0
Family ........................32........32........0
Debt 3.........................4840.56...89.6......18.4

Total monthly income: £

1,352.32

Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £

1,071.75

Available for debt repayments: £

280.57

Unsecured debt repayments: £

254.25

Surplus (shortfall if negative) £

26.32

I assume with the exception of groceries the expenses you show are your 50% of most things? Does this accurately reflect your/OH's earnings, when the things that your OH pays for are taken into account? For example in our household OH earns substantially more than I do, therefore although he also has a bit more spending money than I do, he pays a good bit more towards joint/household stuff than I do.

The £30-odd you'll be saving on the mobile will go straight off to debt repayments I presume. You can also look to make some savings on the grocery bill too - we budget £150 per month for the two of us and that includes meat mostly bought from farmers markets/direct from suppliers, free range eggs/chicken etc.

One further point off your earlier post - you say that unexpected expenses pop up regularly - you need to think through what these are and then work out why they are taking you by surprise. Obviously a tight budget doesn't make covering all the bases easy, but a lot of financial shocks can be saved or at least cushioned by planning ahead.