This is it, my LBM - The Aftermath!!

urg123

Hi There

I have looked at your SOA briefly and I can't really see many holes in your SOA - the real issue is that you have lots of repayments which is stretching your budget. Are you paying the minimum on all of them?

Other income £500 - what is this?
Phone is £35 - does this inlcude your internet? Can you find a cheaper deal?
Mobiles £50 - this is high. Move to PAYG

It looks like you might need to approach one of the debt support charities such as CCCS - I hear that they are great. If you can't afford to make minimum payments you should send a token payment to show that you are willing to re-pay the debt but are seeking further advice.

Are there ways you can increase your income - selling things; an extra job; or even checking that you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. You may even be able to get help with childcare vouchers as this is a big chunk of your costs.

There's a lot to think about and others who are more experienced will be along. If you struggle to get feedback you may want to post your SOA on the main thread.

Good luck

urg x x

mogchops

Well done on posting your SOA!

Followed you over from the daily DFW thread (no I am not a stalker dont worry!! :rotfl:) Just wanted to come over & offer some support!!

Like Urg said - mobile high - can you reduce contract or change to payg?
Entertainment and clothes - look for free entertainment - plenty of it around! And clothes - charity shops or freecycle. If you're not already on freecycle, get on it! Amazing what you can pick up there!

And sell anything you can on ebay and amazon - even small amounts all makes a difference - as you have discovered with your Payment a Day!

Well done and keep going!

rc01

Thanks Fay and thanks Mogchops (I'm happy that you've stalked me!!).

Unfortunately we can't get rid of either of the cars because of our jobs and tiddlers pre-school location, although I have been on at OH to downsize at least one of the cars to making the running costs cheaper.

I'm pretty bushed now, as I've been quite upset this evening about everything. I appreciate the help from everyone who's taken the time to comment and I'll come back to it all tomorrow on a fresh head.

xx

Jedilibrarian

rc01 wrote: »

So, here it is and it's just as frightening as I thought it would be.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1127
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 123.5
Other income............................ 500 ----what is this?
Total monthly income.................... 2850.5
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 581.5
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 128.25
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 34.27
Telephone (land line)................... 35 ----does this include internet?
Mobile phone............................ 50----try to cut as much as poss, move to PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 10.14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 220 ----can def be cut, visit the OldStyle Board, they are a fab bunch and they will help you shave loads off of this!
Clothing................................ 20 ---can you cut back?
Petrol/diesel........................... 160 ---can this be cut at all? Shop around for the cheapest petrol in your area (Petrol prices website helps)
Road tax................................ 15.85
Car Insurance........................... 48
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 347
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15.88
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 18.84
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Cash.................................... 60
Total monthly expenses.................. 1914.73

Assets
Cash.................................... 500
House value (Gross)..................... 215000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 16000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 231500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 144000...(581.5)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 144000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Gold Card.................6617......175.......27.9
Asda Credit Card...............1500......55........0
Northern Rock Card.............9972......198.......18.2
Loan...........................16702.....298.2.....0
Nat West Loan..................1147......192.......2.5
Sainsbury Loan.................16500.....330.......7
Northern Rock Loan.............7800......165.3.....7.7
Tesco Card.....................2000......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........62238.....1478.5....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,850.5
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,914.73
Available for debt repayments........... 935.77
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,478.5
Amount short for making debt repayments. -542.73
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 231,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -144,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -62,238
Net Assets.............................. 25,262
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

A couple of things to note, this is a joint SOA as I'm married. My OH has been out of work for 6 months or so, which has made our debt go up! He now has a job with first pay day at the end of the month so I have included his new wage.

Go on then, hit me with it

Hi :hello:
Followed you over from the DFW daily thread too, I think you are really brave posting your SOA, well done. I've put some suggestions above, I would heartily recommend the OS board for help with cutting your shopping, there is even a thread on feeding a family of 4 for a month on £20!!
Good luck with everything
JL

rc01

Thanks for the reply JL, I appreciate you taking the time. The other income comes from an online business me and hubby have, plus I have a small business of my own selling my jewellery and also teaching jewellery making. The business is slowly building up so I'm hoping it'll generate more soon, but who knows!

The phone does include internet, we are just about out of our contract period so I can shop around and try to get this reduced.

I've got a lot to mull over! Thanks again to everyone, I really appreciate the support

xx

Keeping_Positive

Looking at your SOA although there are savings to be made I think you will struggle to pay the minimums. I would talk to CCCS, CAB or Payplan for help. All free. CCCS even have an online system you can input your figures to see what they recommend.

Downwsizing the car is good. I did that last year. Its not as nice but does the job.

Good Luck

rc01

So, over the weekend I uploaded my SOA and had lots of feedback. I have to say it hit me harder than I thought it would. There were no surprises in it, I did know the situation we were in, but there's something about seing it written down.

I've had a few days to mull things over and look at what we can do. A lot of people suggested a DMP. Whilst I don't disagree with them, I'm not sure that I want to go down that road either and I know that my OH feels the same.

I was conservative on his earnings and only put down an estimate of his salary as he does get commission and bonuses on top of the figure I quoted. Also, my jewellery business is doing well so far, so hopefully this income will improve slightly as well.

For me, my next challenge is our food bills and they need to be drastically cut down. I don't think I'll be able to go down to the £100 p/m level in one go, but will definitely look to get under £200 for the next month and no takeaways!

I have been listing items for sale on ebay too, only a few bits for now, but it all helps.

Whilst things have been bad the previous months, I have been balance transferring to pay the minimum payments on some cards so I think this will have to continue. The whole process of that is just time consuming and a pain to remember, but I am going to concentrate on the horrid HSBC card for now and jig the others around.

Whilst I've been dealing with depression everything has got into a real mess. I know it isn't going to change over night, but I at least want to give it a go for say 6 months and then look at DMP. I know some of you will probably read that and think I'm mad cos there's no other way, but I'd like to wait and see

Finally, again thank you to those who helped. I will try and make an entry here every couple of days at least cos I think it'll help keep me focussed. Off to update my WTC Snowball now, with the little extra payment of £7.14 I made today!

EssexHebridean

I think pretty much everyone on here will sympathise with your feeling of wanting to try it on your own to see how you get on. If I may make a suggestion though - you should perhaps set a deadline of 6 months and then be brutally honest with yourself with regards to whether it's working or not...and if not, a DMP may be your best route. Having said all that though, to be honest you're so focused that I think you WILL manage to make a hole in it on your own, so fingers crossed for that and good luck to you.

Keep posting on here too - great for motivation!!

savingholmes

Can you transfer any of your debt to interest free or lower rates? MBNA anbd Virgin tend to offer lower minimum repayments eg Halifax, Capital one.

We've been paying £25 a month to Virgin all year on a £10K plus balance. That has meant we could prioritise other debts... That might be a way of avoiding a dmp...

Best of luck

rc01

EssexHebridean Thanks for the support! I think you're right, there will definitely be a date set and a review. With hubbys job being new and my business taking off I would just like to see how we can do by ourselves. To say that I am now focussed is an understatement!!

savingholmes Thanks for that info I'll look into it.

I know that if I feel like I'm back in control that's half the battle for me. Depression has a great way of causing chaos to the whole household and not just me, and also because I work in accountancy I feel like I have to give it a go myself. I'm very much looking at our household budget like a business!

I'm sure I'll have bad days where I'll go and get a Starbucks, or a takeaway, but I know I have support here as well now so you'll all give me a hug and a kick up the bum!