hanging my head in shame

dancingfairy

Jim -are you ok? there are solutions to this one for you.
df

MrsPorridge

Jim, The first thing is your grocery bill. Its very high. Have a look at the Old Style Boards where they talk about menu planning, batch cooking etc. I now spend on average £150 per month on groceries and household goods, toilet rolls, cleaning products etc., for two adults and one child. Believe it or not we now eat better than we did before. It can be done and the Old Stylers will help you out.

You will need to get rid of the satellite TV subscription.

You have also put £20 down for clothes. Forget this for the time being - if you are desperate use charity shops - no one need know (except us at MSE).

You've also put £14 down for entertainment - what is that for? Can you do without it?

Have you got another spare room - could you take another lodger? Even if you slept in the smallest room if you have three bedrooms.

Think about Ebay. Have you got anything you could sell on there? Its amazing what people will buy and how much you can get for it. Over the past couple of months I have made almost £280 from Ebay.

schoolrunmum

Oh Jim, please don't be ashamed! You've taken the first step now- as the song goes, things can only get better! Give yourself a kick up the !!!! for letting things get to this point, then gird your loins and crack on!There are so many wonderful, friendly people on here you'll feel you are among friends right away. Now you've started to get to grips you'll feel much better about yourself too. Not much in the way of solid advice from me (although your grocery bill did look high!), but more of a cyber-hug to you....SRM x

kate705

Hi Jim,

Well done for facing up to the debt, you have done the right thing. You cannot keep hiding from it, in the end the stress will be worse.

I'm not that good at the soa's on here and advice but I reckon dancing fairy is right, the mortgage may give you some leeway. If you are paying £715 pcm for £99,000 it sounds like a 100% repayment. Can you ask the mortgage provider to go interest only for awhile?

Big hugs to you,
Kate xxxxxx

Wookey

Hi Jim, well done on posting here as its a great place for help and info, i'm new myself but have been looking here for a long time. One thing you haven't included in your SOA is the rent from your lodger, make sure they are paying there way, i've was caught out by a !!!!!!!!!! in the past and when its someone you know its feels bad when you have to show them the door.
If there are two of you make sure there rent is covering up to half the monthly running costs for the flat ie 1/2 electric/gas/water etc, do they avail of your sky/internet as well etc, as someone else said to, have you another room to let? Your going the right way now at least and the debt and your worries will only get smaller.

worried_jim

I have just changed by utilities to BG click online 6 which was the best available to me.
I wasn't aware that you could pay council tax over 12 months, this figure does include 2 months arrears I got into prev- I am presently up to date with the payment schedule. my tv/broadband/ telephone inc the few call I make comes to £27 pm- the tv channels are free. I spend £60 pw on grociers this includes all my meals as I dont eat take-aways anymore and take lunch to work everyday.
I cant have a water metre as there is insufficent room in the bathroom to insatll one on the pipe- however becuse I have prev requested a metre and couldn't have one I do get a small discount on the bill, so I can't reduce that any lower.
I have already incresed my income by working another job 16 hours per week and have included this plus spare room let money in the soa. I couldn't work anymore as I am already exhuasted.
Thanks for everyones input so far, its so apprecaited, even your words of support. Thank you all very much.

dancingfairy

I would agree with Wookey - make sure that the lodger is paying his/her way. Don't forget they rent the room, contribute to the water bils, electricity, increased council tax the sky bill etc.
I am sure if the groceries are just for you then you could cut that somewhat -see MoneySavingOldstyle for hints and tips.
What deal are you on for the mortgage? can you get a better one?
I think that you need to make some tough choices right now - you are paying a huge amount on your mortgage and for secured repayments and a service charge - if you sold up you should be able to pay your debts off and make a fresh start.
I would definitely phone one of the free debt charities though and see what they advise.
Are you getting the right benefits?
Would you actually be better off without a lodger? you would get a single person discount on your council tax for a start, and you might be eligible for additional benefits as well - worth considering.
df

dancingfairy

If you could get a much better deal on the mortgage and make some cut backs - you could then do a debt management plan (dmp) but you would need to free up quite a bit to be able to do this and the key is the mortgage.
df

worried_jim

My mortgage is repayment and as it is with the abbey I believe it will be coming down by 1.5% as from December onwards. With the level of debt that I have and the poor payment history on that debt over the last year I haven't looked at changing as I didn't think I would be an ideal customer. To be honest the mere thought of the rejection from a bank sends a chill down my spine. My salary has been cut to £1097 pm , I charge £400 for the room and have no problems with the person ( he's brilliant, never see him ) I get about £200 pm from my other job after expenses depending on how busy we are, sometimes it will be a little more, but never any less. There is an opertunity that in Jan/Feb I may get my salary back, however I am not counting on this. On the SOA i did put down £20pm on clothing- in reality I have probably only spent £20 this year, i though if I left it at zero it would be veiwed as unreasonable. I don't really want for anything, I have everything at home and at the moment nothing needs replacing. Do you think I will lose my home and go bankrupt?

dancingfairy

How much will that shave off the mortgage a month? The trouble is you are overspending on the bills by 100 a month before you start paying the other debts back. Bankruptcy and repossession are possibilities but might be avoidable - why not try and sell your home and start from afresh?
df