Its time to sort out this mess!

You need a process/system to account for your future commitments and your day to day spending.

1.0 Accrue accurate monthly figure for medium term costs

2.0 Deduct your monthly (including accrual above) DD/SO etc from closing bank balance

3.0 Every day keep a reconciliation of your bank account balance with spending from that day.

So. every day you know where you are financially and know how many days you have left till payday. Ensure you are critical with all of your spending and reduce these to meet your financial envelope.

You need to reduce your expenditure dramatically to fund those debts.

You can probably work out what you need to do without having to ask the forum.?

Hi, just popping in to say happy new diary, and good luck with it..

There you are! Well done for looking to get to grips with things - that's always the hardest part,
deciding that there is something to fix.

Comments on SOA in red as usual:

mick1234 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1997.23
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0 50/50 co-parenting - should this not mean 50% of the child benefit, too?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1997.23

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 401
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 104 single person discount applied? If you haven't already done so look to get this paid over 12 months rather than the standard 10,
too, as that helps with cashflow.
Electricity............................. 61 Is this actually gas and electric? If not if you're using electricity for everything I assume you're on Economy 7 and storage heaters? Make sure you fully understand how to get the most from it as that figure is on the high side.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40 Think about whether switching to a meter might save you money - and if this is metered think about how you can use less!
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 12 Good work! :T
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 On the high side for effectively one and a half people - but you've already said that not planning well is a downfall haven't you. One to work on!
Clothing................................ 0 Never? not even pants and socks?!
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0 Zero rated car?
Car Insurance........................... 43 Have you checked this is the best price you can get for the cover you need?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 There is no way that a car worth £1200 isn't going to cost you anything in maintenance. You need to start budgeting for stuff like this!
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 300
Other child related expenses............ 100
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 23.53
Contents insurance...................... 0 Is this included in the insurance figure above?
Life assurance ......................... 47.4 Have you checked this is the best price you can get for the cover you need?
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 Is this enough? You've a child to buy for, plus any opther family, and any friends? Then there's wrapping paper, cards...?
Haircuts................................ 25 Every month? This seems very high
Entertainment........................... 20 And conversely this seems very low -
have a think about what you do for entertainment during the month whether it's at home or going out, and make sure this is realistic.
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 You're a homeowner - you MUST get something going here. Think about building a £1000 pot to start with.
Total monthly expenses.................. 1541.3


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 131200


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 106000...(401)......2.17
Total secured & HP debts...... 106000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
BC.............................9800......167.......8 This is the one to throw everything at first off
Halifax........................1405.89...36.42.....0 Make sure you know the finish dates for the 0% cards
RBS............................1400......50.81.....0
Tesco..........................3500......28........0
NUBA...........................3439.61...33.18.....0
Total unsecured debts..........19545.5...315.41....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,997.23
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,541.3
Available for debt repayments........... 455.93
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 315.41
Amount left after debt repayments....... 140.52 Do you actually have this amount left?

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 131,200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -106,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,545.5
Net Assets.............................. 5,654.5

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Well the good news is that you do have a surplus, if not a very big one. Do you have that money left each month? I'm guessing not - partly as there are things not currently listed on the SOA and partly as you've said you tend to fall into the habit of tripping into odd amounts of spending.

First thing - those 0% cards - make a note somewhere of the end dates for those. Then make sure that all the monthly payments on those are set at the amount currently required or slightly above - that stops it falling as you work on clearing of others, and means that you get more of an ongoing benefit from the amount that you know you can afford. (As an example - the initial minimum payment on my 0% card was £28 a month - that would now have fallen to £14 a month just because I've been paying it off - and that money would simply have been dropping into my account unaccounted for. That's when it's easy to fritter. (This trick only works when you're not spending on the cards though - but you won't be on the 0% cards, will you!)

If you can make savings in a few places on the SOA and make sure that you keep track of that surplus, you can start to make a substantial impact on that first card. Also it's worth (as I recall you know) keeping an eye for 0% deals you can shift some of that balance to, but be cautious as your other 0% deals end as those will most likely revert to higher rates than 8% so at those points it may be more important to get those switched.

Well done for a good start and for starting the diary. :T

enjoyyourshoes wrote: »

You can probably work out what you need to do without having to ask the forum.?

This is what the forum is here for - for people to get advice and help, and above all, support. And the diary threads work on this basis most of all. Comments like this aren't honestly terribly helpful OR supportive, as they put people off posting.