Working hard at this and OH is now on board

gilly1964

For the best part of a year I have been debt busting alone, but finally my OH is now on board.

He has been making the lunches for work every day. Bulk buying soft drinks, instead of paying £1 a time at the garage etc.

He even sold his beloved BMW 5 Series and changed it for a Ford Focus.

Here's our SOA - please pull it to bits -
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2636
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2300
Total monthly income.................... 4936

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 670
Council tax............................. 120 - Paid over 10 months
Electricity............................. 45 - Switched and fixed recently
Gas..................................... 30 - Switched and fixed recently
Water rates............................. 48.12 - Paid over 10 months
Telephone (land line)................... 10.49
Mobile phone............................ 35 - 1 contract and DSS PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 11.75
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 38 - Tied in till EOY
Internet Services....................... 21 - Tied in till EOY
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 - includes everything - cut down fromn £600
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 300 - 1 car, 1 motorhome
Road tax................................ 40
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Other child related expenses............ 281.67 - child maintenance
Buildings insurance..................... 31.91 - combined with contents
Life assurance ......................... 33.97 - OH ex wife covered
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 7 - for all 3 of us
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 25 - go away in motor home
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Sports Training......................... 40 - DSS plays county badminton
Pocket Money............................ 25
Pension 2............................... 42.67
Pension 1............................... 65
Endowment 2............................. 33.65
Endowment 1............................. 74.26
Total monthly expenses.................. 2459.51

Assets
House value (Gross)..................... 240000
Car(s).................................. 36000
Total Assets............................ 276000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 116000...(670)......6.5
Total secured debts........... 116000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
BCard..........................3163.77...75........6.9
Mint...........................2200......100.......9.9
Mint 2.........................2700......100.......9.9
Loan 2.........................10000.....169.2.....6.9
Loan 1.........................15000.....292.7.....6.9
MBNA...........................6465......250.......0[
Total unsecured debts..........39528.77..986.9.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,936
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 2,459.51
Available for debt repayments........... 2,368.84
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1011.9
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 1,357.94

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 276,000
Total Secured debt...................... -116,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -39,528.77
Net Assets.............................. 120,471.23

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

This covers 2 adults and a 15 year old hollow legged boy who is here 5 days out of 7 and at his other house for 2 days.

We have
A car which is used every day for work - no buses and too far to walk
A motorhome which is used for long weekends and all holidays

Telephone, broadband and Sky are going to be reviewed at the EOY. We do watch lots of things on Sky, so may see if they will do a deal for broadband etc.

3 of the 4 credit cards are currently on 0% and I have closed all old accounts in the hope of getting another deal at 0%

I am aiming to decrease groceries by another £100 before the end of the year.

Due to badminton training and GCSE work, DSS is not able to get a part time job at the moment but does earn his pocket money by washing the car every week and other little jobs as and when.

Obviously things are still going awry so OH is now keeping a spending diary as his big downfall is his gadgets!
And mine was magazines and Costa coffess, but I have now rejoined the library and have a Costa as a treat once a week.

All comments much appreciated.

Gilly

Gemmzie

You are a perfect candidate for the snowball. Pop your debt info into http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx - you can afford almost double your minimum payments so it should be fairly easy to do.

GingerSte

It has to be said you have a healthy surplus there, but there are a few small things you can do to increase it (in the "every little helps" style)...

Just a quick note on the Sky, if you cut down your package to exclude the stuff you don't watch, you might make a saving there. I've dropped the things like lifestlye, movies, sports and kids channels to get the cost down to £19 per month.

Also, your petrol seems a bit high at £300 per month (although I don't drive so am not the most qualified to address this). I might be worth reviewing your car usage to see if there's anything you can save. Apparently if you clean out your car regularly, remove roof racks and drive more steadily you can save quite a large amount!

moo2moo

I'd love to be in your shoes!

Throw all your surplus at the highest card. Thats Mint 1 gone by X-mas and Mint 2 long gone by february which would leave you an additional £200 per month to throw at your other debts.

tallyhoh

Is a motor home one of those things you drive? Do you have to pay tax etc or have you already included this.

Clothing is also a lot or is this for the lad? I am lucky that mine is one of those metal freaks & can get all his clothes off ebay, rips & wear obligatory & he has to buy it out of his own money.