Help and go figure (please)

takeachillpill

First of congratulations to Ms London, that is one hell of an achievement and I am over the moon for you, as well as a bit jealous! :T :beer:
Anyway, myself and my wife have got ourselves into a mess over the years due to combination of reasons, spending beyond our means (although this has been addressed by both parties), upgrading the car(s) (again, this has been addressed), redundancy x3 (me twice and her once – when she was pregnant), while we have two adorable kids (my little boy is 1 today!).
Anyway, we have worked hard to get our heads above water and I think I have covered most bases, although if anyone has any ideas on where else I could cut back, then I would be grateful.
PS – if anyone needs some freelance PR/media work doing, you know where I am

Income:
Mine: 1150
Hers: 950
CTC etc: £160

Outs:
Mortgage: 430 (just remortgaged to a better rate with IF)
Secured loan: 330 (pretty much tied in for two more years – this is at 6.8)
Credit card: 170 (8400 at 0% with Halifax until Feb ’06)
Loan to my mum: £60 (I owe her tonnes more than that, she is good as gold)
Council tax (grrhh): £108
Sofa: £45 (10 more payments)
Sky: £42 (I know, I know)
Mobiles £30 (for two, on PAYG)
Car insurance: £40 (for two cars)
Home insurance: £28
Telephone: £25
Gas and electric: £45
Water: £17
Life insurance: £15
Pet insurance: £6
TV licence: £11
Broadband: £10 (not bad eh?)

Obviously, above and beyond this we have food bills, although I get a fuel card now with my job – whoo hoo!

Any help would be appreciated.

Hawksmuir

Wow
I wish my wife and I had that amount of money left for paying food bills and general expenses

ms_london

Income:
Mine: 1150
Hers: 950
CTC etc: £160



Total: £2260

Outgoings:
Mortgage: 430
Council tax (grrhh): £108
Home insurance: £28
Telephone: £25
Gas and electric: £45
Water: £17
Life insurance: £15
Pet insurance: £6
TV licence: £11
Broadband: £10 (not bad eh?)

Sky: £42 (I know, I know)
Mobiles £30 (for two, on PAYG)
Car insurance: £40 (for two cars)



Total: £807



Surplus: £1453



Secured loan: 330 (6.8%)
Credit card: 170 (8400 at 0% with Halifax until Feb ’06)
Loan to my mum: £60 (I owe her tonnes more than that, she is good as gold)
Sofa: £45 (10 more payments)



Right, if your surplus is £1453 and your repayments on your debts (as above) are £605 this leaves you with £848…..



You need to include other things like food/clothes (for children) in your budget. I don’t know what a family of 4 could live off in terms of a food budget, pop over to the “Money Saving Old Style” section and they will be able to help – they are fab & can really save you lots of money around the house. But say £300 MAX, this leaves you with £550 to throw at your debts.



Am I missing something? Is this a case of you spend your money but don’t know where it goes? Does it just slip through your fingers?



What is the total amount you owe your mum? Could you increase her monthly repayment? What is the total balance on the secured loan? Could you clear your sofa early?? You could do this in a few months if you can, then throw as much as you can on the Halifax card before the interest goes back on.



Also, car tax/MOT/petrol – it doesn’t appear you have budgeted for this? You should be setting aside a bit each month, so that when the tax/MOT comes around each year you have the money saved rather than thinking oh god, and shoving it on a credit card.



There is no need to be jealous of me being debt free, it will be your turn (the same as everyone else’s on here) before you know it. It has been a tough slog for me, and I am amazed it has come round so quick, but I have learnt so much & have definitely changed as a person (for the better).



You’ve come to the right place. Let us know how you get on with the above.



xx

johannamse

You could clear the sofa next month...10 x 45. (according to ms_london calculations). Gor for it! What a great start - this will give you a real boost and make you feel great. Both you and wife need to really get on board with this - but it can be done.

Remember the general rule is to pay the highest APR debts off first. So I know you love your Mum, but I imagine she is at 0% so should be paid last.

What about childcare costs?

southernscouser

I don't mean to sound funny or anything but I can't really see the problem here!

You have £848 to spend on food, petrol, general living after all your bills. Are you spending all this and more? Is that the problem or are you asking the best way to pay back what you owe?

Sorry if I sound dense.

If you did want to or needed to cut back more then obviously SKY is the first thing. Do you watch all the channels your subscribed to? Can you get a cheaper package if you don't want to get rid of it completely?

Also you are spending £55 a month on telephones!

Other than that I'm afraid I can't help but good luck.

kevker

ms_london, we expect a big post on here Friday once you are completely debt free. WIll have the rotten tomatoes ready.

Edinburghlass_2

I assume your mobiles are on contracts at £15 per month, which depending on the free minutes you get is probably okay. If its PAYG you could probably reduce this amount.

Telephone: £25

Assuming this includes line rental, you are definately paying too much and need to pop over to the Home Phone board and see where you can reduce this greatly.

Good Luck

takeachillpill

Hi guys.

Thanks for your input, and congrats again to Ms_London, you are an inspiration.

I am not complaining about my lot, we are better off than a lot of people, but yes the spare money does just get spent and on the run up to pay day things do get tight.
Luckily, my fuel costs are low because I have a fuel card and I now have a company car, so I will be selling my P reg Peugeot 306 shortly (anyone interested?).

I think I got my phone bill a little wrong, line rental for the land-line is £10.50 per month and I use about £5 worth of calls.
The mobiles have been trimmed back from £40 per month for each phone so £30 in total represents a massive saving, and to be fair, we do need £15 per month each even though it is PAYG.

What else, as for childcare, we are lucky as hell - my mother in law looks after them during the day because she doesn't work. Believe me, I know what value that holds in every respect.

I think the biggest problem on the clothes front is the wife's spending on the kids. I reckon its over the top, but as for clothing for ourselves, we are generally very good with that to be honest.

I think I will try and pay off my sofa debt, that would free up nearly £50 per month, as for Sky, to reduce the package to what we most regularly watch (baring in mind we have two kids who love the kids channels) would only save around £6 per month and for that little amount of saving I am alright with that.

Luckily, I have been overspending a little bit on the council tax month by month, so I won't have to pay in December-March, so that should free up some money to throw at the credit card.

I do have another card with a £7k limit with Virgin, the balance is only about £50, so I will what deal they can do me to switch the balance over in February when my 0 per cent runs out.

Come to think of it, are Halifax likely to make me a good offer not to switch my balance away from them?

Any way, thanks for your replies, and take care

TACP

southernscouser

You say you would only save £6 a month from reducing the channels you don't watch on your SKY. How about you reduce it for a couple of months and instead of pocketing that £6 you just throw it straight in the bin! After a couple of months if you don't mind throwing the money away get the channels back, if you do thats an extra £72 a year to pay off debts. Look as it as a month and a halfs payment towards your sofa!

I know it's a bit of a cliche but "look after the pennies............."

As for your spending keep a diary and note down every penny you spend even a newspaper or bag of sweets for the kids! You'll be surprised where it goes!

Does your wife know about your wanting to get out of debt? If not get her on board, if she does maybe gve her a clothes allowance! Others who have been in the same position will be better to advise there.

takeachillpill

Yeah, my wife has got her head round our problems. To be fair none of her spending is malicious and I now control all the finances.

But there is always 'something' which comes up which prevents me from being able to give her a level amount each month.

I know that pees her off, and If I could give her more money than I do, I really would, but needs must.

I take your point on the sky, but to cancel the movies, which is the part we don't often watch, you lose the kiddie channels. Ridiculous!

Take care

donnalove

we don't have movie's
we have all other channels including sport this costs £36 a month
you get loads of kiddie channels, nickolodeon,cbeebies etc, but not disney
also with freeview you still get some kiddie channels
sky also do a freeview box it costs about £150 you get loads of channels.