Help Me....

Head-Out-Of-Sand

Hi dal2008,

Can you do anything about your Sky bill? That seems quite high and although painful might be a good one to go without until you can afford it again? Or at least move onto a cheaper package?

I'm thinking of binning off my TV package when I no longer have tennants as the freeview box is pretty good now.

Agree with the above - Groceries definitely need looking at, that's a lot. I've just had a look at my outgoings and realised I spend nearly £300 on groceries, am aiming to cut that to £100 (there's only me eating it, for goodness sake...well, except for when housemates steal it!) by downgrading to cheaper/own brands and cutting out junk food and luxury items.

I know it's hard to give up the luxuries, but the luxury of not stressing about missing payments will be well worth it!!!

All the best & good luck with your plan

shabbychicfan

Hi there and good to see you have now posted up an SOA. Your debts are very similar to mine (although none of mine are secured). i too have a mortgage that expires in 2009 (fixed rate till then) so would be interested to hear if you get a response to your query on the mortgage board.

Can only agree with what the others say, cut down on your groceries and sky package.

Good luck - with determination we will do it!!

Will check back and see how you are gettig on!

Shabby x

dal2008

thanks for the advice all.

i was thinking about dropping sky but as i don't go to the pub or out I thought i need one luxury. i spent 100 a week on shopping/food but I do get junk food and snacks/chocolates so I will look to cut these out. I could also go there before it closes and get the discount stuff.

For xmas this year I brought it all from littlewoods.

What debts do you think i should concentrate on getting rid of first long term?

I have a 3 bed house and did think about downsizing but i've invested so much in it and plus it costs alot to move. In June my rate drops from 6.2 to 4.75 so this should give me a extra a month. It also costs so much to move and i probably couldn't sell my place now as it's so hard for new people to get a mortgage. I could rent a room out.

If I didn't have the two loans Blackhorse and Picture I would be ok monthly.

I live in essex and work in london and it costs £3,200 a year.

I paid for my car insurance and road tax in May last year.

The TV license is spread over 12 months I believe.

Provident rate is correct and it also displays on their web site. How dumb was I to get that loan. I borrowed £200 because I didn't want any more bank charges and i have to pay back £500. If ever the banks sort themselves out I should get back loads for charges.

I put a claim in because my picture loan was only meant to be for 25k to consolidate all loans but they added 5k as payment protection to the loan and i have to pay interest on that too. I asked can I get rid of it and they said no because it is in the contract I signed. They keep telling me that in 2010 I will get 1.3K cash back on it but I'd rather the loan be 25K and I do not pay the interest on it.

I am determined not to be in debt my whole life.

Kind Regards

MrsTinks

Ok... the sky isn't really an option. Luxury or not you need to loose it. Food - dropping the chocolate and treats isn't going to be enough. Set yourself £30 a week and spend some time on the Old Style board to see how little some people can manage on.
House... 3 bedrooms: move into your box room and rent out BOTH larger rooms provided that there is room in the box room for a single bed.
Electricity & Gas : shop around - that is way too high and also start turning the temperature down a couple of degrees and get energy saving bulbs. Homebase are doing 5 standard bayonet fitting ones for 90p this week/weekend.
Water: are you on a meter? This does seem quite high for one person.
You are spending nearly £800 more than you earn right now and shaving £50 off your food budget by dropping chocolates and treats and shopping a little later is I'm afraid NOT going to be enough...
Either you reduce your outgoings dramatically and find some extra income or you are looking at a DMP which WILL strongly affect your credit rating or worst case scenario you go bankrupt and loose your house...
Yes that sounds harsh but right now I don't think you've realised just how serious the trouble you're in is... So... start with deciding if you can get 1 or 2 lodgers in and if so look in your local paper to see how much rooms are fetching where you live
Then get onto switch and see if you can save by changing providers and if you can go through quidco or another cash back provider
Let us know how much that will save you and how much you can rent the rooms out for

dal2008

Its good to be harsh and i accept constructive criticism.

I will look into your suggestions.

I got promoted in work and didn't get a salary review so that may also help. I am lucky at the moment and I am able to do loads of over time so this is helping but am aware this is not a permanent solution.

Do you have any advice on which debt I should concentrate on?

Damita

Why is your sky so high??? I pay £22 a month for mine?? Do you have movies and sport?

I would rent out a room

TotallyBroke

dal2008 wrote: »

Hi all, sorry it took a while to work out the figures. Any help/advice is well appreciated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1Can you rent out rooms
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1Do you really need this how often do you drive it if you are at work 5 days a week
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2500
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2500
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1195.8See if you can get this on interest only
Secured loan repayments................. 276.35
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 102Do you get the single person's discount. Pay it over 12 months and not 10
Electricity............................. 65Way too high. Switch everything off at the plug.Find out how much you are in credit and get them to reduce the payment. Or switch company using cashback site
Gas..................................... 88Turn your heating thermostat and hot water thermostat down. If you have to add cold water to a sink of hot water then the hot water is set too high. Do the same as Elec.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 17.49If this was spread over 12 months it would be approx £12. Check to see why so high.
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 80Cut this right back. Work out today which channels you actually watch and only keep them.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400This should be £50-100 for one. That will be plenty and give you a takeaway once a week.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 50This is not alot so as above do you really need the car.
Road tax................................ 0Car but no costs?
Car Insurance........................... 0You need to budget something in here
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0Again look at what the car cost you last year and divide it by 12
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 250What is this for? If it for work then again do you need the car
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0You should have buildings insurance
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 30.27
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0Budget something in here even if it is £5 per month it will save you spending a fortune on the catalogues
Haircuts................................ 20Stop cutting your hair or get a friend to do it. The bowl style is coming back in fashion. It's the mse fashion.
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2618.91

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 1500
Car(s).................................. 300
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 201800

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 210000...(1195.8)...6.2
Secured Debt.................. 30000....(276.35)...9.678
Total secured debts........... 240000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Blackhorse.....................8000......227.2.....25.9
Capital One....................500.......25........22.47
Next...........................700.......60........26.49
Barclays Over Draft............3500......50........17.9Are you reducing this or just paying the interest
Halifax Over Draft.............1550......100.......29.8Ditto. Open a new account with no overdraft. Get wages paid into it and payments to come out of it.
Provident......................200.......24........189.2
Littlewoods....................1264.38...144.......29.9
Total unsecured debts..........15714.38..630.2.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,500
Expenses (including secured debts)...... 2,618.91
Available for debt repayments........... -118.91
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 630.2
Amount short for making debt repayments. -749.11
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 201,800
Total Secured debt...................... -240,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,714.38
Net Assets.............................. -53,914.38
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

You can easily shave £200 a month off your soa. The first thing you need to do is pay off that Provi loan. That will be paid off by Jan/Feb. Then if it was me I would pay off NEXT That would be done by June/July. Capital One would be paid off by September/October. This would give you a minimum of £300 to pay off the littlewoods this could be done by Feb of next year.

Get yourself a lodger and you caould do it all a hell of a lot quicker.
Good luck everything is possible

rustybucket

Dal, I also suggest renting out either 1 room or 2. While you may hate the thought of that, bear with it for the next 6 months till u remortgage then you can change your mind if you want, however that is easy money to help pay your way out of this.

And NO MORE consolidation........ I've been there, it does not work.

Merlot

Mrs Tine has already said what I was going to say...

You need to drop Sky today and start saving money on your food bill today.

You cannot afford luxuries, the debt repayments are your priority now, not watching some carp on the TV, I don't have the luxury of Sky or the luxury of a trip to the pub and I don't have any debt, thanks to this website.

Becoming debt free is a long and sometimes a difficult road, but only you can make the changes, we can only advise.

Your lightbulb is only flickering at the moment and once it is at 100W you'll know what the other DFW's are advising is the right way forward.

I wish you well.

Merlot.x.

urg123

Hi dal

Usually you focus on the debt with the highest APR but there would be the psychological boost of getting rid of a small one so I would pay off Provident first.

Then:
Littlewoods
Halifax
Next
Blackhorse
Capital One
Barclays OD

Search on this site (forums and Martins main pages) to look for reclaiming PPP. Lots of people have successfully done this.

Mrs Tine's right about the lodgers - its great money. It can be hard but as long as you set the ground rules at the start they you will be fine. There is a thread about lodgers somewhere on this site too.

If you make the cuts above then you will be able to have quite a lot of cash to start to throw at the debts.

Some other tips for you:
meal plan and make a list for the supermarket
eat out of your cupboards and freezer- how miuch food do you have in your cupboards that has just been sitting there!
join some of the challenges on this site.
Sell stuff on amazon and ebay - a good way to declutter the rooms you'll need for your new lodger(s)


Hope this helps

urg x x