LttF's Dairy... 2009 here I come, ready or not!!

looktothefuture

Right, so here I am with head firmly unostriched from the sand (you know ostriches are said to bury thier heads in the sand when they get scared! :rolleyes: ) and this is the start of my diary... today!

Where to start... I dunno! Well I suppose it's at the beginning really! When I came to England in 2003 (South African) I was debt free - I'd paid every creditor in full, including the rubbish dentist I visited the week I left - against my better judgement!, and walked out of the country of my birth with quite a bit of money in my back pocket! In 5 measley years I'm almost 14K in debt and with absolutely nothing to show for it... I actually have not 1 asset in my name!

I'm prepared to cut back on everything, I want to pay back every creditor every cent I owe them and most of all I want to remember what it was like to want something so badly that you could pop and actually just go out and buy it with cash! (Within reason of course - but only in my dreams at the moment!)

I'm working on posting my SOA during this weekend - I'm close to finishing up my "who I owe and how much" list as well as "This is how much you have for this and no more" list. I've taken the first step and actually opened the mail I've been avoiding for almost a year (see post from yesterday!), contacted each creditor and explained my situation and started cutting back on EVERYTHING!

I am in a relationship with my darling fiance who despite agree's that we need to keep "OUR" spending in check, doesn't actually contribute much towards the household! Sorry honey but things are changing in this house, you will start contributing toward every thing we jointly owe i.e electric, gas, council tax, rent, groceries etc and if it leaves us worse off for a time, so be it BUT in the end it will be worth it!:cool:

beanielou

Welcome to MSE
Look forward to seeing your SOA.

Numpty_Monkey

:Tunostriched :rotfl:
Sorry but that is a belter of a word:Aand an explanation:j

looktothefuture

Numpty_Monkey wrote: »

:Tunostriched :rotfl:
Sorry but that is a belter of a word:Aand an explanation:j

Very descriptive isn't it?? I should patent that word!

Neobright

Welcome to the forum.

As they say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

I wonder if you think your situation was in any way accelerated by the 'debt is acceptable culture' prevalent in the UK compared to South Africa?

looktothefuture

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.................................... 750
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0 (See the Unsecured Debt Section)
Electricity............................. 39 (Scottish Power Gas & Elec £78.00 - This can come down, currently looking into this!)
Gas..................................... 39
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 119.37 (Currently in Arrears but payment is now being paid through a payment Plan of £23.00/m which includes my usage)
Telephone (land line)................... 30 (Almost up for renewl!)
Mobile phone............................ 10 (Pay as you go)
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47 (this can be halved - currently looking into this!)
Internet Services....................... 9.49
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 10 (Car currently untaxed!!!)
Car Insurance........................... 22.94
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10 (MOT due Dec 17)
Car parking............................. 81 (Live too far from a station to walk)
Other travel............................ 373 (Train and tube into London Trafalgar Square)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 25 (Stepson's Kumon - Maths Special Needs programme)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 10 (Stepson's monthly cut)
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1786.8

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

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Natwest Credit Card............416.......0.........16.9 (Arranging a payment plan)
Natwest Overdraft..............1594.41...0.........0 (Arranging a payment plan)
Natwest Loan...................4288.02...0.........14.4 (Arranging a payment plan)
GE Money - New Look............137.32....0.........0 (Arranging a payment plan)
London Borough of Hav..........141.49....0.........0 (Arranging a payment Plan)
BT.............................159.11....0.........0 (Arranging a payment Plan)
o2.............................524.07....0.........0 (Arranging a payment plan)
Council tax............................. 1458.8 (Currently held with Newlyns Baillifs and arranging a Payment Plan.)
Total unsecured debts..........8719.22...0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,786.8
Available for debt repayments........... 13.2
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 13.2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,719.22
Net Assets.............................. -8,719.22

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.
======== Enter any other useful information below ========

2 Adults in household permanently, 1 Stepson (7yo) every weekend.

Soooo there it is!
Scary isn't it! :eek:

I've added comments in RED to help with the questions I know are coming!

looktothefuture

Neobright wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.

As they say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

I wonder if you think your situation was in any way accelerated by the 'debt is acceptable culture' prevalent in the UK compared to South Africa?

Thanks Neo!

Actually, yes I think I agree with you about the UK's "debt is acceptable culture"... in SA, I couldn't get a loan, even on my rather comfortable salary! Any credit was very hard to obtain - store cards were only for the rich!:rolleyes:

TurnaroundSue

Hi and welcome to the boards! You will find that we are a friendly bunch here and also very wise (not me personally; that being wise I mean, not not friendly!!!:D ). I am not very good with SOAs, but I do notice that under the monthly amounts of your council tax you have put £1458.80 :eek: - is this correct? I think if you amend this to what you think you will be paying when an agreement has been made under the plan, then the situation won't look as bad. Also I notice that you haven't put anything income in for your OH. If you are looking for him to make a contribution (and I definitely think he should) then add that figure in also as it will be a more realistic figure at the end - does he really not pay anything towards his living as looking at your SOA you pay for EVERYTHING .

Also please get your car taxed ASAP, as without it they (the government) can come along and take it from you and crush it.:eek: :eek:

Good luck and I will be following your diary. I think that maybe the UK might be shifting towards the SA way and making it harder to get credit pretty soon what with the credit crunch and recession that's on its way!!!

looktothefuture

I've gone back and edited the council tax to show as an unsecured debt. It was originally in full in the section of monthly expences so projecting an incorrect monthly expence total!

looktothefuture

TurnaroundSue wrote: »

Hi and welcome to the boards!

Also I notice that you haven't put anything income in for your OH. If you are looking for him to make a contribution (and I definitely think he should) then add that figure in also as it will be a more realistic figure at the end - does he really not pay anything towards his living as looking at your SOA you pay for EVERYTHING .

Also please get your car taxed ASAP, as without it they (the government) can come along and take it from you and crush it.:eek: :eek:

Hi Sue,

Thanks for the welcome!

I do pay toward everything - He pays £200.00 toward the rent but I never see it as I pay the full rent and then he gives me the money toward the rent which then goes on the groceries, his son's haircut and Kumon so bang, there it goes!

I've printed this SOA and it's now stuck very firmly on the fridge... so he's got no choice but to see exactly what a difference a contribution toward the house would make!

I've thought about opening up a seperate bank account for the debts that I owe and transferring the amounts into that bank account so that I keep my debts seperate from anything he contributes toward the house. The Natewest loan, CC, Overdraft, and newlook debts are mine alone and I don't want him to be paying for them! It's just not fair!

TurnaroundSue

Hi, me again! Just looking through your SOA again and I notice one or two things that stand out!!

You don't have anything down for birthdays, entertainment, house insurance. Even if you don't put anything by on a monthly basis still put it down as it is an expense that needs to be accounted for.

Also as well I notice that you only spend £20 a month on petrol. If you are spending so little on petrol, do you really need a car? Could you do without it? How much is your car worth as that would be helpful to put that in the asset part of the form. Maybe you could sell it and use the proceeds towards your debts.

Hope this helps, and hopefully somebody alot more knowledgeable than me will be along in a minute.