any advice gratefullly accepted!!!

ben1974_2

Hi. I'm new to all this, so please be gentle with me. Was recommended this site by a lady at citizens advice.....probably the best advice she gave me. Said to post a statement of affairs and let it be picked over by lots of informed and experienced people on here. I am a self employed landscaper and do not expect the income figures to do anything other than fall in the months to come...jeez.....sounds like i'm beat before i start eh??? Just trying to be realistic. So here goes:

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2 p/time
Number of cars owned.................... 1

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

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 425
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 22
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 18
Car Insurance........................... 43
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 400
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)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1571

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 750
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 750

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
rbs visa.......................3500......65........16
cap 1 visa.....................8400......256.......16.3
rbs loan.......................25000.....425.......0
Total unsecured debts..........36900.....746.......- [/b]


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,500
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,571
Available for debt repayments........... -71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 746
Amount short for making debt repayments. -817

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,900
Net Assets.............................. -36,150

A right royal mess eh? many debts accrued during bitter child custody battle during which the lawyers got plenty of money to wait in court waiting rooms...moral of the story...shoulda tried harder at schoola and become a lawyer!!!
many thanks everyone

poorandindenial

Hi Ben

Welcome to the DFW boards, I am just going to have a nosey at your SOA but thought I would say hi first. It struck me that usually we recommend the CAB, is amusing me that now they recommend us :rotfl:

Right, back in a mo

beanielou

Just wanted to say hi & welcome.
Off to bed now so will look again tomorrow.

poorandindenial

ben1974 wrote: »

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2 p/time
Number of cars owned.................... 1

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

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Hire Purchase (HP) repayments........... 0
Rent.................................... 425
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 75
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40 (£80 per month isn't the biggest I have seen but it is always worth checking that you are doing all the little things like turning stuff off at the mains, not leaving on standby, using energy saving lightbulbs, only usingheating when you really need to etc etc)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33 (is this on a meter or standard rate?? if most of the time less people than bedrooms live in your home then it may be less with a meter and a bit of thinking about where the water goes - I live on my own in a 1 bed flat and pay £14 a month on a meter)
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 35 (is this on a contract?? do you use ALL your minutes each month?? if not you may be better off as PAYG)
TV Licence.............................. 22 (this should only be £12 a month)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 120 (this is pretty good, does it include toiletries, cleaning stuff etc)
Clothing................................ 30 (may have to ditch this for a bit)
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 18
Car Insurance........................... 43
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0 (I know nowt about running a car but are you only using for journeys where it is essential to drive? is the insurance the lowest you can get? if not then use a comparison website and a cashback website such as quidco)
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 400 (is this maintenance?)
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)...... 30 (=360 per year, could you trim back)
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1571

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 750
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 750

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
rbs visa.......................3500......65........16
cap 1 visa.....................8400......256.......16.3
rbs loan.......................25000.....425.......0
Total unsecured debts..........36900.....746.......- [/b]


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,500
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,571
Available for debt repayments........... -71
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 746
Amount short for making debt repayments. -817 (OK all the changes above are unlikely to free up enough to make this number positive, but theymay free up enough to set up a DMP - sorry to be blunt but you have a big shortfall here)

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,900
Net Assets.............................. -36,150

A right royal mess eh? many debts accrued during bitter child custody battle during which the lawyers got plenty of money to wait in court waiting rooms...moral of the story...shoulda tried harder at schoola and become a lawyer!!!
many thanks everyone

Ah - no worse a mess than we see on here every day - and there is a way to sort out all of them

As I have said above, you are not likely to turn the negative figure into a positive, but it is worth a call to one of the free debt advice orgs to see what they recommend as you may be able to free up enough to set up a DMP. CAB is one but there are others - CCCS have a debtremedy tool on their website that you can use to get an idea of what your options are.

laura2481

Hi! Thought I'd chuck my two penneth in: poss cut back entertainment for a while? £50p/m = £600 per year! :eek:

Fire_Fox

Hello and welcome! :T

As others have said your utility bills are all high for one person: we pay less for two of us - £101 last quarter for electricity, no gas in flat, £20 a quarter for water. Do you really need a landline and a mobile phone for one person? Do you have the 25% single person discount for council tax and do you pay over twelve months?

Could you consider getting a part-time job, even shelf stacking or cleaning, and doing the landscaping around that and your kids? Do you have the space to take in a lodger - either a weekday only let, occasional foreign language students or, if you have space, a full-time lodger and sleep on a sofabed or airbed when your kids visit? This would all be tax-free income and you might also get a contribution to the bills.