Finally tackling debt...any advice appreciated

sarahtom

Hello Im new to this forum, but i would really appreciate advice on my debt. Its been pretty bad for a while due to having a low paid job/being a student for years and also having bought a car last year (it was nearly new which might sound crazy given my debt but I wanted something where there was no risk of repair costs etc, id had such a nightmare with cars that year). I am now a qualified clinical psychologist so finally im on a fairly decent wage. I earn £28000 but pay £150 pension out of that,but with petrol expenses I get about £1800 take-home pay. Because my debts became so unmanageable i did two things; moved in with my father so I no longer pay rent, and my father very kindly paid off some of my credit card debt/helped me with a car, so i now owe him. Im wondering what else I can do. Please see below my SOA. My priority is my credit card debt which althoughn its 0% wont be for long (next march), although I may be able to go to another one when the offer ends. I also have a £1400 overdraft and pay £10 per month interest on this. Ive found it hard to write the SOA because every month is different, but ive tried to be realistic. I try to be very careful with buying food and try to get clothes in the sales. You might say i dont need to spend this much on clothes but ive found that realistically i need things for work, underwear etc.As a slight aside, Eventually once my debt is sorted id like to buy my own place, perhaps getting a lodger. my employers do a relocation policy which I am eligible for which means if I buy somwehere within a yearthey will pay all solictors fees etc, although i think its unlikely i can do it in that timescale.One thing I may look into is doing some private work as a second job, but ive jsut moved to the areaso sorting that could take a while. Finally, I am aware that entertainment at £200 a month sounds a lot, but this includes gym membership at £45 per month. I know this could be cut, but i need it to keep me sane, i know no-0ne in the aREA and i spend hours there! Any advice on any more i can do is appreciated. At the moment im paying off my credit card with whatever is left in the month. In the last two months since moving into my fathers this has been about £400 per month due to some unusual payments for other things eg old utility bills from previous house, graduation ceremony etc. Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 15
Gas..................................... 15
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 160
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 27
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 200
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 832

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

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................5000......120.......0
family loan....................5000......0.........0
student loan...................4000......80........4
personal loan..................5000......250.......11
Total unsecured debts..........19000.....450.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 832
Available for debt repayments........... 968
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 450
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 518

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 6,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,000
Net Assets.............................. -13,000

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.[/font]

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

e.g. the number of adults & children in the household, the number

of cars included in the SOA or anything else that may be useful.

Tonylpool

Hi Sarah,

I am new too and you will wish you had found this site earlier, however you have found it now so a warm welcome to you!

I have roughly the same amount of debt as you and also roughly the same income.

I'm not an expert on SOA but plenty of people are who will be along soon. I'll help by keeping this thread nearthe top for you. Your groceries and council tax seem a touch high though?

Anyway welcomeand keep posting, it really does help!

Tony x

sarahtom

thank you!

re: the council tax- i should say this is an estimate. They have not actually said how much it will be yet. Currently my father pays it but because he is a pensioner actually pays very little (about £20 per month). Now i am registered with him things will change and I will pay whatever extra there is, but i dont actually know what I will pay. im not sure what band his house is even, although its only small, worth about £120,000. I might pay a bit less than this.

Re: groceries well again ive tried to estimate (but this month am documenting everything to get a clearer idea). I tend to spend about £25 in Aldi each week but then do sometimes go back to get wine for example if im going to someones house at the weekend. Ive tried to overestimate rather than under-estimate.

Tonylpool

Always a sensible thing to do in any case!

There are excellent money saving boards in here (im still finding them!) and i'm amazed that already during July I have had 5 days when I have not spent anything! Trouble is, this site becomes addictive as we all want to support and become debt free!

Tony x

sarahtom

Id really appreciate further input from anyone on this...

one thing to say is ive realised my grocery bill IS correct, and is high due to wine! Most of my socialising at weekends etc involves going to someones house for drinks or vice versa, hence i probably buy 1-2 bottles of wine per week (dont neccessarily drink all of it though!) to take to peoples homes. I try to buy on offer, but a decent bottle of wine on offer is still 3-4 quid, which adds up. Other than giving up alcohol i dont really know how i can further reduce this! I am considering only drinking alcohol one night per week so i can take fizzy water and drive to parties etc on other occasions, iother than that dont know what else i can do!

sparky0107

sarahtom wrote: »

Id really appreciate further input from anyone on this...

one thing to say is ive realised my grocery bill IS correct, and is high due to wine! Most of my socialising at weekends etc involves going to someones house for drinks or vice versa, hence i probably buy 1-2 bottles of wine per week (dont neccessarily drink all of it though!) to take to peoples homes. I try to buy on offer, but a decent bottle of wine on offer is still 3-4 quid, which adds up. Other than giving up alcohol i dont really know how i can further reduce this! I am considering only drinking alcohol one night per week so i can take fizzy water and drive to parties etc on other occasions, iother than that dont know what else i can do!

Hiya sarah,
Just bumping you back up, hopefully you'll get some help soon
Good Luck

Gemmzie

Spending diary I think as you have a large surplus each month - you need to find out where this is going.

SouthernSoftie

Gemmzie wrote: »

Spending diary I think as you have a large surplus each month - you need to find out where this is going.

Def agree.

You do say 'other than giving up alcohol' you don't really know how to reduce it.... well that is a start.
We have 'Thursday' wine, which costs £2.20 from morrisons and is not bad at all, trust me. Tesco used to do one at £2.09 a bottle, which again is not bad.

£200 a month on entertainment is very high too, can you cut this down as presumably this is on top of the wine?

Could you switch to pay as you go for your mobile, or get a lower tariff? O2 do a £15 a month one that is a monthly contract.

You could also do a snowballer to help you put that surplus to pay the highest costing debt off first.....

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

firesidemaid

hi there

as another poster has said - you should have an excess of £1000 per month in theory, but it is going somewhere.

is your food just for you? then it should/could be no more than £25 incl. wine - aldi is not always the cheapest for food. there are bottles of wine selling at normal price for less than £3 in tescos that have been recommended in guardian. if you have free time on your hands on an evening you can be out looking for food shopping bargains. also tescos and asda take any money off coupons - look for further threads on this

my favourite saying is that in a week you only need 7 simple + cheap breakfasts, 7 pack-up lunches and 7 dinners - made from scratch in bulk to freeze etc.

if you drink at weekends, how do you get home ?taxis. you can get great items of clothing in charity shops if you have the time to browse. can you look for a cheaper gym membership? are there any staff discounts available?

get a cheaper mobile deal, either from your own provider or eg. vodafone are doing a sim-only deal (you get to keep yr number) £20 for 500 mins + unlimited texts online plus £90 cashback from quidco!

think about every pound you spend - the more you spend, the longer it will take you to pay your debts off.