New to forum. Please help!!!

June00

I would like to clear all my debts by Feb 2010. kindly have a look and give me your money saving suggestions. I expecially need to cut back on grocery spending.
Thanks all x

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1790
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 500
Total monthly income.................... 2290
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 470
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 75
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 16
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 15.4
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 30
Other child related expenses............ 22
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 7
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 28
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 60
Prof. body Subscription................. 10
Help for family member.................. 150
Saving.................................. 200
Gym..................................... 31
Tithe................................... 190
Total monthly expenses.................. 2041.4

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 125000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 125500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 102000...(470)......1.75
Total secured & HP debts...... 102000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan with LBS..................5700......148.......6.7
Credit card....................3500......25........0
Overdraft......................800.......100.......5.4
credit card Tesco..............500.......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........10500.....338.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,290
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,041.4
Available for debt repayments........... 248.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 338
Amount short for making debt repayments. -89.4
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 125,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -102,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,500
Net Assets.............................. 13,000

posted_2

£260/mth saving, £150 family member, £190 tithe? = £600/month.

Unless the loan is ending soon, you need to pay off around £1100/mth to clear it by Feb.

barnaby-bear

posted wrote: »

£260/mth saving?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/pay-off-debts

Horace

Hi and welcome

Your grocery bill can be cut by half at least, look at the moneysaving oldstyle board elsewhere on the forum as they give meal planning tips. The advice that I can give is to make a shopping list of what you need - look in your cupboards, fridge and freezer so that you know what you've got first. Use your local butcher and greengrocer as these will be cheaper than the supermarket.

You are spending £60 a month on clothes - stop buying them and only wear what you have, if the kids need new clothes look in charity shops or freecycle as clothes there are virtually new. You have are helping a family member out to which is costing you £150 a month - you can't really afford it, ditch the savings for a while too and use that £200 towards your debts. Sorry but I don't understand what the tithe is - is it some form of rent?

I am sure that others will be along with more experience than I, might not be tonight though.

HTH

June00

Tithe (190) is actually 10% of my income + offerings which based on my Christian beliefs I have to give to God and that is not really negotiable. The £200 saving is to go towards my debts - it is actually a high interest account which will pay about 7% at the end of the year. I have to help this my relative overseas who without this help would find things very difficult. The main loan of 5700 was used as down payment when we bought the house. I hope to earn extra 1500 this summer when I do some marking for exam bodies. This will hopefully go to reducing my debts. Thanks again for more suggestions x

postingalwaysposting

Hi June and welcome to dfw :j Here are a few ideas on your soa

Groceries etc ~ 300 ~ Reduce this, you can at least half this stop over on the oldstyle board and also use up everything in your cuboards before you buy more, except the basics.
Clothing ~ 30 ~ This need to go for a while, maybe use charity shops?
Other child related expenses ~ 22 ~ Whats this? can it be cut back?
Other insurance ~ 28 ~ Ditto above
Haircuts ~ 30 ~ Can this be reduced? I know some people need hair treatment etc but can this be stretched to one every 2 months?
Entertainment ~ 20 ~ Can this be cut back/reduced?

Help for family member ~ 150
Saving ~ 200
Tithe ~ 190 ~ Can any of these be reduced? The savings is a bad idea unless all your debt is 0% as what you are saving and the interest you recieve you will prob be paying tripple interst on your debt. The family member thing whats this? I unsderstand tithing (been there done that) but surely you can reduce it a while?

Hope that all helps... Also look at getting 0% deals for your debt. Can you up your income? second job or maybe tutoring ~ as you work in a professional line? Can you sell items on ebay/gumtree/amazon? If you have over payments you can make on your debt snowball them so that you pay your highest interest first.

Good luck in your journey :j

June00

Will definetely look to cut back on clothing, entertainment and grocery. The other insurnace is for my boiler and central heating and i really need that. My credit card debts are at zero percent for 1 year so my aim will be to pay off the loan with the most interest first x

Mrs_pbradley936

Can you postpone your tithe for a while? Charity begins at home after all and I am sure your fellow church goers would not expect you to contribute if you genuinely cannot afford to. Just tell them that funds are extremely tight and although you intend to contribute in the future have have done so regularly in the past, right now there are other calls on your income.

Tixy

Hello June

Welcome. I would have said most of whats been said by Horace and PAP. In addition your Gas bill seems high, are you making sure this is based on actual readings not estimated? Try to reduce your usage, turn heating off sooner (wear jumpers and slippers) don't leave an imersion heater going all day. Make sure you get dual fuel discount. Consider swapping to a better tariff for this and elec (see article under Utilities at the top of the page). If you do swap use a cashback site.
Also water costs are fairly high. I expect this is unmetered. Have you looked into whether a meter could save you money? You can try one for a while and swap back within a year if it ends up costing you more.

Have you started keeping a spending diary to keep track of exactly what you are spending? Write down everything you spend then at the end of the month compare it to your budget.

Depending on the age of your children can you involve them with trying to save money? - make it a game in the supermarket to reduce the shopping by finding cheaper alternatives to your usual purchases.

Good luck.
Tixy

June00

I provided a gas and electricity reading just last week and I was told what I am paying is about right to cover my usuage and arreas. I am with EDF at the moment and will try the price comparison sites to see which supplier will be cheaper. Will look into getting a water meter but with two children I dont know if that will work out cheaper. Unfortunately I am not allowed to claim any tax credit or any other benefit for that matter even though I pay tax and NI as Iam not yet a British Citizen. I am expecting a pay rise in september that will add at least another £200 to my take home pay so hopefully that will help me clear my debt. My biggest problem is impluse buying - not big things but little things here and there that soon add up. I will definetely make a list for my shopping next week and only go the shops once a week as at the moment I tend to go about 3-4 times which is not good x