Am New and A Bit Lost

DoWhatULove-LoveWhatUDo

I'm propping up my eyelids with matchsticks and about to log out but I wanted to ask about the state of play with the mobile phones as £145 a month purely for phone service seems a disproportionately large amount of your income. Does it give you £145 a month worth of happiness each month?

I think that in order to get back into the black you need to cut that bill down, cut the food bill, stop buying clothing for at least a few months and examine your car insurance to see if you could get a better deal next time. It seems fairly high to me. Ditto for your buildings and contents insurance.

If you have any money saved in the Holiday, Giftgiving or Emergency Fund then I would respectfully suggest that you use it to pay off your debts as soon as you can.

It's also important that you know the exact APRs on the debts so that you can devise an effective debt repayment plan.

petrafyde

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1450
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2950

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Secured loan repayments................. 320
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90 Is this over 12 months? Cheaper that way usually.
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 12 months or 10?
Telephone (land line)................... 65 Tiscali do BB, phone and SKY for less than £22 pm.
Mobile phone............................ 80 You should change to PAYG if possible
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 A family of five can manage easily on £200pm - this can easily be lowered
Clothing................................ 100 This can be done away with for a few months? I don't have any clothing allowance at the moment. Managing on what I have unless emergency!
Petrol/diesel........................... 150 Can you start to walk to certain places?
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 85 Have you considered switching insurance to find something cheaper? That seems high.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 30 Can you combine buildings and contents? Might prove cheaper
Contents insurance...................... 30
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 This needs reducing
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 50 Scrap that for now
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 2378

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 115000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 118000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 88000....(675)......6.9
Secured Debt.................. 17500....(320)......6
Total secured debts........... 105500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Natwest CC.....................300.......6.........0
Cap One CC.....................500.......18........0
Egg CC.........................4000......78........0
Next Catalogue.................150.......15........0
HSBC CC........................300.......10........0
Halifax CC.....................1800......100.......0
Virgin CC......................2000......150.......0
Tesco Loan.....................6000......296.......0
Halifax Loan...................15000.....290.......0
Natwest Loan...................15000.....275.......0
Littlewoods....................675.......0........ .100
Total unsecured debts..........45725.....1238......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,950
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,378
Available for debt repayments........... 572
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,238
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -666

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 118,000
Total Secured debt...................... -105,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -45,725
Net Assets.............................. -33,225

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

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

We pay to run one car which I need to get to work as public transport is not workable here. Car is part of the natwest loan above. We have no kids or pets and have one holiday a year - usually a cheap last min deal which ends up on a Credit Card (shame). Don't smoke. Drink rarely.

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Hiya Amy,

Well done on that. You can save a fortune there - easily £400 pm I think?

Before you go looking at switching providers also check out the Quidco website. It's a cashback cooperative, which basically means that if you go to their website - search for a company/retailer and click their link, you'll get cashback. For example, if you chose to switch to BG after clicking the Quidco link for dual fuel, you'd get a minimum of £40 back! It's all good stuff.

Shopping is easy to downgrade, it's just a case of budgeting hard to start with HTH

tealady

Hi If you drive a lot can I offer 3 tips
1) If your journey is less than a mile, think about walking it, its better for your ca, you, the environment and your pocket.
2) Check out https://www.petrolprices.com for the cheapest fuel in your area (it doesn't cover every petrol station but will give you a good idea for current prices)
3) When you car insurance is due for renewal, follow Martins advice about using comparison websites THEN check a cashback website to see if you can get some money back as well.

mum2one

amyadams99 wrote: »

Thanks Guys!

Here Goes!!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1450
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2950

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 675
Secured loan repayments................. 320
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90 - try and getthis over 12 months
Electricity............................. 45 - expensive - try comparison switch, maybe go through Quidco (cash back)
Gas..................................... 45 - same as above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 65 - way expensive if your with BT, could you not get the option 3, or have calls through 1899.com (5p connection charge call cost free landlines, mobile calls cheaper than BT line)
Mobile phone............................ 80 - are you near end of contract, renew but haggle or look at new contract, if 2 phones on contract can you make one pay and go
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0 - is that included with phone bill
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 - expensive for 2 of you, consider downshifting a brand, shopping list, pop over to Old style for money saving ideas re food, bulk and freeze extra portions
Clothing................................ 100 - this may need to be reduced
Petrol/diesel........................... 150 - petrol coming down so could help that one a bit, also car share, reduce journeys etc.
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 85 - again at renewal shop around, cash back sites
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 - have you considered a prepayment cert,
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 30 - again haggle, or check cashback sites
Contents insurance...................... 30 - as above
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 - maybe cut back and reduce, (recycle, come and join us on money neutral challenge, do surveysm use cashback etc
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 2378

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 115000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 118000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88000....(675)......6.9
Secured Debt.................. 17500....(320)......6
Total secured debts........... 105500....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest CC.....................300.......6.........0
Cap One CC.....................500.......18........0
Egg CC.........................4000......78........0
Next Catalogue.................150.......15........0
HSBC CC........................300.......10........0
Halifax CC.....................1800......100.......0
Virgin CC......................2000......150.......0
Tesco Loan.....................6000......296.......0
Halifax Loan...................15000.....290.......0
Natwest Loan...................15000.....275.......0
Littlewoods....................675.......0.........100
Total unsecured debts..........45725.....1238......-
Sorry to ask, will you be able to get the debts on credit card paid off before the 0% ends
Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,950
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,378
Available for debt repayments........... 572
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,238
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -666

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 118,000
Total Secured debt...................... -105,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -45,725
Net Assets.............................. -33,225

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

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

We pay to run one car which I need to get to work as public transport is not workable here. Car is part of the natwest loan above. We have no kids or pets and have one holiday a year - usually a cheap last min deal which ends up on a Credit Card (shame). Don't smoke. Drink rarely.

Hi

Well done on the SOA, its a big step, but one that we can all help, each little step is a baby step, but those baby steps soon become big strides, and you attack the debts.

I've just made a few suggestions, dont know if there any help, re presents, can you cut the list down you have to buy from, or at least reduce the amount spent, what about doing some surveys, use cashback sites, all helps out towards xmas.
xxx