An introduction to me - hopefully in the right place!

rumred

This is my second time of doing this - I was logged out during my last attempt. Subsequently, this is a much shorter version of my original hello!

My name is Sarah and I am a 26 year old DFW.

I have two loans, a credit card, a horse, various expenses and this month, for the first time ever, this weekend, I couldn't pay my rent, contribute to the bills, put fuel in the car. It's a path I've been on since I graduated, the debts have grown, the disposable income shrunk - but that's okay, put it on the credit card and sort it out next month! Oops, credit cards getting a bit unruly - rejig the graduate loan and pay them off. Pants, paying off this graduate loan is eating into my budget - I'll use the credit card. Damn, I'm right back where I started and feel miserable... nice food and wine on the credit card, methinks. And so on... Not helped by being in the kind of profession where you can be at the same grade, on the same salary yet have less take home pay (a situation I found myself in January 08, thus accelerating this process). A shortfall in pay last month and starting a new job this month being the icing on the cake. The bank charges being the cherry.

So I've cried a lot this weekend, hyperventilated and moped about in my pyjamas. It hasn't helped on a practical level but it's led me to MSE and really really wanting [needing!] to sort it this time. My poor other half - very financially astute and about to lose his job. Me, who will never be without work, peeing it up the wall.

Now, if I could only make Excel work on this computer, I could go and frighten myself with my finances... thanks for reading this far

beverleyhills

Hello Sarah. Welcome to MSE. Congratulations on your first step. Next step is to bite the bullet and find out the nature of the beast.
Work out the state of your financial affairrs and post them back on this board. Sorry can't find the link at the moment but someone will post it for you.

EssexHebridean

Hi Sarah - welcome to DFW and wel done for taking the hardest step - facing up to things and realising they need sorting.

Before much more help can be given, you need to post up your SOA (Statement of Affairs) so we can see what your incomings and outgoings are. We have several other DFW's with equines so understand about the costs relating to those.....hopefully one of them will see your posting and will be in shortly. You'l find an SOA calculator at http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html Once that's done then we can see where savings can be made and where you should be proceeding from here.

Most importantly, don't panic, there is always a solution.

doodledo_2

Hi Sarah and welcome to the DFW forum

As per one of the previous posts the best place to start is to complete your SOA. This will show you all your incomings, outgoings and debts and will be the start of your journey to being debt free. Its a scary thing to do but once you have done it the relief is immense.

Good luck and keep posting.

RAS

Hi

There are lots of things you can do, it may just take time.

Do the SOA as EH advised and then post it here.

Check out your future situation, if OH loses his job on https://www.entitledto.com, you might get some WTC.

And then both of you look at your bank charges, PPI, credit card charges etc and see if there is any scope to claim or reclaim.

rumred

Thank you for the welcome. The SOA was what I was looking for - thank you for the link. The joy in feeling miserable is an overreliance on caffeine... my brain is definitely not in gear!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1600
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 188.8
Rent.................................... 610
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 2.92
Car Insurance........................... 23.33
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 35
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 41.68
Haircuts................................ 11.67
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Vaccs................................... 5
Farrier................................. 22.5
Feed.................................... 17.5
Hay..................................... 32
Straw................................... 26.66
Livery.................................. 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 1291.06

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 7000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8079.....(188.8)....16.34
Total secured & HP debts...... 8079......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC...........................3743.85...289.......7.9
Credit Card....................3000......250.......0
Total unsecured debts..........6743.85...539.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,600
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,291.06
Available for debt repayments........... 308.94
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 539
Amount short for making debt repayments. -230.06
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 7,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,079
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,743.85
Net Assets.............................. 256.15
Created using the SOA calculator at ...
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

My rent is not £610 - that is the amount I pay into a joint account. All items marked '*' are things paid for out of the joint account, so I haven't included them in my personal calculations. Is that okay? We are not quite at the 'what's mine is yours' stage so I haven't included his income or any of his costs e.g. car.

Thank you!

Happytogetdebtfree

hey and a warm welcome someone will be along to help shortly i dont know what to suggest but well done on commencing your journey xx

beverleyhills

Can you reduce your present giving budget to small children only?
Can you generate any income from your horse?
Can you reduce your livery fees by part time working at the stables?

rumred

Thank you beverleyhills... hope I can work out the quote function and answer your questions!

beverleyhills wrote: »

Can you reduce your present giving budget to small children only?

I probably could actually - the only small child is my nephew and I planned to put away a bit of money for birthday/Christmas (and I 'owe' him £20 already :rolleyes:

Can you generate any income from your horse?

If the right person came along then maybe - I've shared him before - but it's not something I would actively seek to do, as he's an older chap.

Can you reduce your livery fees by part time working at the stables?

It's a DIY yard and so we help each other out on an ad hoc basis. Not so much an issue in Summer but in Winter we'll all be trading favours. Saves a trip up in the car at least!

I'm glad I'm not the only horse owner on here. They are expensive beasties... but he is my sanity and the yard is my escape! I don't want to become one of those "I see what you mean but..." people. Someone poke me if you see it happening!

RAS

Hi

Is hsbc a loan or a credit card?

There are a couple of things, like you mobile that you need to look at but the big opportunities for saving aRE PROBABLY IN THAT JOINT ACCOUNT, SO can you and OH go through that and post just the joint account income and expenditure?

In addition, your mobile use is high, so is your car insurance, look at the comparion sites and swap via a cashback site like ww.quidco.com. I understand you desire to save for a pressie for your nephew but the stark fact is that it is pressie or horse, so you have to cut back.

rumred

It's an HSBC Graduate loan and a Virgin 0% credit card.

Thick question: can I change my car insurance partway through the policy? It was renewed in December 08. I did used to live in a very rough area (although was never broken into) and I think I live in a nicer area now... but didn't get any money back when I updated my details.

Am I allowed to set aside £2/month for the baby? He wont be getting his hands on it until he's 18... If I don't do something I run the risk of being labelled bitter. Don't get me started on the relationship dynamics of my sister and I...

Mobile... I only need to text really as have a landline, so could make savings there. Am locked into contract until January. Will look into that.

Joint account details... password protected (told you he was astute...), will pull it up later. Currently working to guesstimates as we've only lived here since Easter and haven't had any bills through.

Thank you!