any help or pointers??

boredofbeingathome

Jacks hun that is so inspiring...i was about to add similar also look at upping your income and all the challenges on here..i am often lurking on oldstyle where they can nip a penny in two and still produce a three course meal with change! Not literally but you know what i mean! Good luck x

RAS

confusedone wrote: »

[tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 640
Benefits................................ 108
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2348

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 551.7
Secured loan repayments................. 73.5
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 81.15
Electricity............................. 36
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 24.66
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 9.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 84
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 140
Other child related expenses............ 40
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 25
Life assurance ......................... 30
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1955.96

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 88000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91500

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(551.7)....7.48
Secured Debt.................. 0........(73.5).....7.48
Total secured debts........... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
unsecured loan.................13404.1...117.5.....0
unsecured loan.................0.........162.4.....7.48
Total unsecured debts..........13404.1...279.9.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,348
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,955.96
Available for debt repayments........... 392.04
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 279.9
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 112.14

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,500
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -13,404.1
Net Assets.............................. 78,095.9

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com. [/tt]

Hi

well done for posting up.

Even allowing for the difficult mortgage situation, you really are not in that bad a situation, even if it feels like it. Even if you have to take a bit of a hit on the house.

Your problem is equivalent to 6 month's salary and you have a surplus each month. I am trying to persuade someone else with debts equal to two year's salary and hundreds os pounds a month deficit that they have a problem.

Is there any early redemption penaly on the secured or unsecured loans? If so, then you need to think carefully before paying extra back.

However, there are places that you can save a bit if you need to strach together money to sort out any deficit or expenses from the house sale.

AS Jacks says, your groceries and car costs are high. Can you reduce them? When you renew the car insurance, check through the comparisoon sites liste don here and wswayp via a cash back site to get money back. You might also find your other insurances cheaper as well.

Do you have stuff that you can put on e-bay, amazon or take to a car boot? De-clutter in expectation of the move and earn some money?

And look at reducing the phones.

tealady

Hi. I would suggest that as petrol costs so much then every time you go to use the car ask yourself. "Is my journey less than 2 miles?" If the answer is yes then walk, it will save petrol, wear and tear and be good for you.
Also when the insurance is due for renewal use comparison websites to get the lowest quote then buy via a cashback web site. I think someone got a years car ins for less than £30 that way.

confusedone

Many thanks to you jaks, and to all that have read and replied!
ok, the petrol, i am a community nurse, so i drive all day, i account into that for both my work and personal hence the big amount. as i said i do live a bit away from family, but they mainly come and see us, but trying to give an overall yearly amount then broke it down for over 12 months.
Phones are sort of about 6 months into contract, so cant do much about them for a year, will definately look into offering the phone back to the company though!
internet is 2 uses, one for home and one for work. we are currently trying our hand at internet marketing (please although that sounds pretty impressive, we are still learning and havent actually made money, but really we see these as a necessity, much more than phones even!! and went for the 2 cheapest offers available, just cancelled our landline. dont have tv package, and dont really need it. Secured loans, yes to one no to another on the early redemption charges, but that early date is april 09 so very soon.
cars, we have 2 and both are needed as public transport is impossible here, and wifes is already a bin! mine is hardly an expensive one, but need reliability due to nature of my employment (sorry yes on that i do get some petrol money for my work, but hardly covers the cost of it, will work out exactly soon but it really is minimal)
the childcare, that is 35 perweek usually to childminder, so yes no real movement there, the 40 per month i allocated for things like well, anything that we need if we get caught short with the boy, spillages etc although we do try to keep on top of that!
we do sell on ebay and car boots (anyone want to buy a computer screen or an archery set???) just seems to tide us over for the shopping that day really. bit deflated really as just sold my bike and some other things with the intention of getting my wife a ring (hers was far too big (3 years ago!!)) i know it isnt a necessity, but she is pretty low and it is something i know she finds not nice to not have a wedding ring. stuff went for half the price i thought, so when we do get the money through, it will see us through til the end of the month, but again at square one.
reading this it sounds like for every solution there is a problem, im really not trying to be like that and do appreciate all your time here! just difficult to be positive, but going to try my best

Jacks_xxx

Aww honey don't worry.

We post our suggestions based on the bare bones of the numbers really but there's always more to any story than just the numbers huh?

I think it's lovely that you want to sort out your wifes wedding ring issue. Does she still have the too big one? Cos a "proper jeweller" could resize it for her.

I have no idea how much that would cost though.

I also have no idea what internet marketing is!

Blimey I'm clueless this morning!

Love Jacks xxx

Juneno

Hi,
As other have said, well done for trying to address your finances :beer:
It's a scary prospect and may seem hopeless just now but it CAN be done. I had my lightbulb moment at the start of this year, when I discovered how much debt my hubby had run up yet again (we'd spent all our savings clearing his last lot off). I freaked and took complete control of all our finances and we're slowly climbing out the crap.
On paper, we were just as bad as you, if not worse. This board helped a lot so trawl through all the moneysaving advice boards on here. Life may seem a bit boring, having to be thrifty for a while but it;s worth it when the debts start reducing.
Petrol - can you not negotiate a better rate from work? After all, fuel has risen yet again and surely they should pay something towards maintenance and insurance (business use!). Others have mentioned cashback sites as well. I've just got my latest £100 from Quidco so definitely worth doing!

I wish you all the best and hope you realise now that you're not alone. The people on here are amazing!:D
June x

Bargainfinder_3

Hiya, I just wanted to add to what the others are saying, that you are not alone.

I know how the sinking feeling inside starts, and you just think 'I'm just too tired' it all seems overwhelming, the constant struggle to stay afloat, the idea of a world of cashback sites, ebay, carboots, penny jars, challenges - just to be able to eat!

But I promise you if you and your wife sit down and promise each other that you are going to make a go of it; that you will do all you can to pay off your debt as soon as possible, you WILL GET THERE xx

Have you spoken to cccs yet? All the best hon xxxx

RAS

HI

Check your car insirance with one of the comparison sites, and see if you could swap to a cheaper option and get n=money back via www.quidco.com.

if there are just three of you, then the groceries are high, but if you OH is feeling a bit low, she may not be in the frame of mind to tackle that head one. Try and get her to look at Money Saving Old Style board and think about menu plans. You can cut back some on the current amount. Where do you shop?

confusedone

Well contacted CCCS as recommended by people, spoke to the first contact type person and they werent very nice to be honest, nothing in particular just very snappy. Told me off for trying to give a mobile number to her which was my wifes number as "they are your debts not your wifes".......i thought it was purely to contact me, oops. anyway i have the hour telephone appt booked in so lets see what happens. One thing she said in our 10 min chat was that i should go straight to a bank and open an account, cancel ALL of my debts, set up direct debits for those that are only secure on our house, and contact the other debtors and say ive been in touch with them, and i can offer a token amount. After a 10 min chat, sounds a bit both feet in to me, what you all think??

one more question too, if i did find say an extra 100 per month, squeezing from other places, what should i do with the 100?? pay the smallest debt off? pay the one with the highest interest off? what do you think??

many thanks, alan

Jacks_xxx

Ooh honey I'm sorry you got a snappy person at CCCS. I expect they have their off days the same as us but I do understand that it's unsettling. I know that they've been swamped recently, and it must get to you dealing with panicky stressed out people all day long but it's just not reassuring is it?

My usually lovely doctor was grumpy and short this week and I was really surprised at how much it bothered me.

Opening a bank account that has no connection to any of your debts is a good idea (cos sometimes banks just help themselves to your money if you miss a payment oir make a reduced payment the cheeky so and so's) but maybe hold fire on the otehr stuff until you've had a proper chat

I'll try and find the link that says who's affiliated with who and get back to you.

I'm not sure what the phone thing was about - maybe it's a confidentiality thing?

If you found a little extra dosh right now I would hang onto it until you've had the in-depth chat unless you have arrears on priority debts such as your mortgage or Council Tax, but after that the general rule is the highest interest rate gets paid first.

How long have you got to wait for the telephone appointment then hon?

Love Jacks xxx