Tired of dealing with debts alone!

jasperconran

Hi Guys,

Have been on here a few times and have finally decided to be brave and post a SOA on here. Over the years, we have (im ashamed to say) accumulated some awful debts, and although we do earn quite well, at the end of every month we are so far into our overdraft its unreal. sometimes we go over, no matter how hard I try, my figures just never add up at the end of the month!:mad: I have tried to curb my OH spending habits, and I have also tried many many times to explain things to him, but all I get is "its my money, and ive gotta earn/find it". (hes not the best person to approach about financial matters on a good day!).

I have followed peeps advice on here, ie, doing daily clicks, free scratchcards etc. they are doing quite well. Anyway, its time to stop burying (at least) my head in the sand! someone has gotta take control and I guess its gonna be me! lol. anyway here is our SOA, any thoughts/ideas gratefully received!
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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4080
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 1178
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 485
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 130
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 11.58
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 19.25
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 31
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 88
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14.03
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 17
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 300
Total monthly expenses.................. 2860.86

Assets
Cash.................................... 8000
House value (Gross)..................... 360000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 17000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 385000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 205898...(1178).....0
Secured Debt.................. 32000....(485)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 237898....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax........................13100.....190.......18.9
HSBC...........................5200......130.......18.9
Barclaycard....................7000......162.......17.9
Virgin.........................5400......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........30700.....582.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,080
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,860.86
Available for debt repayments........... 1,219.14
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 582
Amount left after debt repayments....... 637.14
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 385,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -237,898
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,700
Net Assets.............................. 116,402

rubyslipper

jasperconran wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Have been on here a few times and have finally decided to be brave and post a SOA on here. Over the years, we have (im ashamed to say) accumulated some awful debts, and although we do earn quite well, at the end of every month we are so far into our overdraft its unreal. sometimes we go over, no matter how hard I try, my figures just never add up at the end of the month!:mad: I have tried to curb my OH spending habits, and I have also tried many many times to explain things to him, but all I get is "its my money, and ive gotta earn/find it". (hes not the best person to approach about financial matters on a good day!).

I have followed peeps advice on here, ie, doing daily clicks, free scratchcards etc. they are doing quite well. Anyway, its time to stop burying (at least) my head in the sand! someone has gotta take control and I guess its gonna be me! lol. anyway here is our SOA, any thoughts/ideas gratefully received!
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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4080
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 1178
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 485
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 130
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 11.58
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 19.25
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 31
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 88
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14.03
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 17
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 300
Total monthly expenses.................. 2860.86

Assets
Cash.................................... 8000
House value (Gross)..................... 360000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 17000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 385000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 205898...(1178).....0
Secured Debt.................. 32000....(485)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 237898....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax........................13100.....190.......18.9
HSBC...........................5200......130.......18.9
Barclaycard....................7000......162.......17.9
Virgin.........................5400......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........30700.....582.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,080
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,860.86
Available for debt repayments........... 1,219.14
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 582
Amount left after debt repayments....... 637.14
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 385,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -237,898
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,700
Net Assets.............................. 116,402

Hiya

Firstly, well done for your LBM! You should be really proud that you've got to this point and are keen to do something about it. It's not easy when someone's OH hasn't had their LBM and just isn't supportive but you're doing the right thing and hopefully in time he'll understand that. Lean on the folks on this forum if you're feeling under pressure - sometimes talking to total strangers about your probs can really help!

I'm not an authority on SOA's by any means but there are some very knowledgeable people on here who will pop in and advise.

For what it's worth though:

• Your grocery amount for 3 people looks a bit low to me but if that's genuinely what you spend every month then WELL DONE! That's a great achievement!
• Emergency fund - I know it's good to have savings but you might want to reduce or even stop the payments into this for a couple of months and attack some of those card debts with the cash. Look for Martin's articles on here about using savings to pay off debt.
• Electricity - this seems a bit high. Can you switch providers on this?
• Satellite - can you cancel this and get Freeview for a while? You can get a digibox quite cheaply these days.

Just a couple of thoughts! Good luck with this and keep posting!

Ruby x

Jesthar

Hi, Jasper, and welcome! Congratulation on taking the first steps on regaining control of your finances, it will help more than you think, and the people round here are a great bunch

Right, let's have a look:

jasperconran wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Have been on here a few times and have finally decided to be brave and post a SOA on here. Over the years, we have (im ashamed to say) accumulated some awful debts, and although we do earn quite well, at the end of every month we are so far into our overdraft its unreal. sometimes we go over, no matter how hard I try, my figures just never add up at the end of the month!:mad: I have tried to curb my OH spending habits, and I have also tried many many times to explain things to him, but all I get is "its my money, and ive gotta earn/find it". (hes not the best person to approach about financial matters on a good day!).

I have followed peeps advice on here, ie, doing daily clicks, free scratchcards etc. they are doing quite well. Anyway, its time to stop burying (at least) my head in the sand! someone has gotta take control and I guess its gonna be me! lol. anyway here is our SOA, any thoughts/ideas gratefully received!
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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 80
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4080
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 1178
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 485
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 150
Electricity............................. 130 - seems very steep, especially if you have gas heating/hot water! Have you checked about changing supplier? And don't forget that things like tumble driers and fan heaters literally EAT money...
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 11.58
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55 - you could reduce your package to save a few pounds
Internet Services....................... 16
Groceries etc. ......................... 100 - if this is accurate, VERY well done! However, it does seem unrealistically low for a family of three
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 19.25
Car Insurance........................... 0 - you have petrol and road tax, so there should be insurance! Or is it a company car?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - and you need something here too. or is it a company car?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 31
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 88 - an explaination of thes would be useful
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 14.03
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 17
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 300 - the usual phrase to put here is 'Your debts ARE you emergency' Especially as you have a nice nest egg listed below already
Total monthly expenses.................. 2860.86

Assets
Cash.................................... 8000
House value (Gross)..................... 360000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 17000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 385000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 205898...(1178).....0
Secured Debt.................. 32000....(485)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 237898....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Halifax........................13100.....190.......18.9
HSBC...........................5200......130.......18.9
Barclaycard....................7000......162.......17.9
Virgin.........................5400......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........30700.....582.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,080
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,860.86
Available for debt repayments........... 1,219.14
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 582
Amount left after debt repayments....... 637.14 - yay! HUGE surplus to put towards overpaying your debts - on paper, anyway...
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 385,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -237,898
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,700
Net Assets.............................. 116,402

Well, the good news is on purpose you have a very healthy surplus for overpaying on your debts. However, you say that you always wind up deep in your overdraft at the end of each month, so I suspect that you may either have a few things missing from your SoA, or have underestimateed some things, or maybe both. Don't feel bad about that, though! Most people forget some things or don't realise just how much they spend on some things.

With that in mind, I suggest the first thing you need to do is start a spending diary and literally put EVERYTHING you spend into it (go through all your statements for the last few months if you can!). You'll be AMAZED where the pennies can slip away! Once you have a clearer idea where your cash is going, you can attack the problem areas better.

~Jes

jasperconran

hi guys,

thanks for your posts so far. in reply to one query that was posted about my electricity, I have just switched to scottish power. however, I am trying now NOT to use my tumble dryer anymore!;) Also I have been having a look around the house, and I do know that my 12 yr old has her electric fan on all night every night, all year around!:eek: so i dont suppose that helps, i must get her out of that habit asap! lol. The other query that was raised, the £88 a month on other child expenses. Thats my daughters horse riding lessons, the only bit of fun she really has, poor love. thanks so far for your advice peeps, keep it coming! lol

Tixy

Hi :hello:

Do you know where the £637 surplus goes? Have you been overpaying more on any of the debts?
Do you have the savings for a specific reason? You could pay off your HSBC card and still leave yourself £2000 emergency money. I'm sure your interest rate on your savings will be very low compared to the APR on the card.

To get your 12 year old daughter out the habit - take the fan heater away at least until winter - she does not need this and at 12 should have no say. Remember to turn things off at the plugs not just on standby. Several TVs, DVDs, satellite and computers on standby will really add up over the year. Make sure you have energy efficent bulbs in all light bulbs - again a big saving (cheap ones at sainsburys this weekend 6 for 50p I think).

To help yourself and you OH realise how much things are really costing you look at the snowball calculators to see how much you are paying in interest.
http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx
(there is also one on the SOA site you used).

As others have said a spending diary will be really useful to you to ork out where it is all going. Good luck with converting OH, its not easy.

PS another idea about daughter - tell her to turn off fan heater or we won't be able to afford riding lessons!! That may give her an incentive, never to young to learn about budgets .

Tixy

PPS you could buy OH one of those wireless electricity readers for birthday or christmas! They sit on your windowsill and tell you exactly how much energy you are using in realtime, every second of the day. You can have it display in money terms as well. It made someone I know get obsessive about turning everything off seeing how low they could get the reading - sure they might sit around in the gloom but they saved about 35% of their electricity bill!
Warning this could lead to turning your OH into an obsessive energy saver who cuts the plug off the tumble drier, fan heaters and other energy guzzling appliances!!

Iron_Pyrite

Pay BC off with cash ( leaving a grand ) then put the 300 emergency and 162 from the BC (462) to over pay the next card.

Ignoring the fact you also have a surplus after this at the end of the month you seem in a strong position.

The secured loan will take care of itself as you shift the 28k in loans ( or 21 with the 7 paid of with cash )

angelicmary85

Hiya,

Welcome to MSE!! All the best with your bid to become debt free!!

I would maybe take Tixy's advice and pay off your credit card with your some of your savings!!

Clariman

Tixy wrote: »

To help yourself and you OH realise how much things are really costing you look at the snowball calculators to see how much you are paying in interest.
http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx
(there is also one on the SOA site you used).

Don't forget that the SOA Calculator now has a Snowball Button on it which will automatically load all your debt details into the new Snowball Calculator on the makesenseofcards website

Clariman

jasperconran

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice so far, it does feel good to share my probs with other people. I did the snowball calculator as suggested, and was quite surprised. It calculated that if I follow it, all my credit card debt will be gone by november 2011:j that does make me feel quite good!

I have started selling on ebay (daughters old clothes, although some are still like new!), bit slow going at the min, but will get there hopefully (no watchers at the min, 5 days to go!). Also took some other advice, and checked my last months bank statements to see where all our surplus goes, and OMG, we waste so much money on non essentials, it is unreal!.. especially on going to the cinema! need to start getting some free tickets, me thinks lol. are there any threads on here for that?? cant seem to find them. thanxs

Bismarck

well done for the LBM....once you start seeing where the ££s go it really is amazing! and so much of the smaller stuff is avoidable!