In a mess, HELP!

karenk857

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting on these boards, but I've been reading for a couple of weeks now, and hope that I can get some help from you all. We have got ourselves in a total mess and don't really know where to turn next or what to do. Mypartner works full time, we have 2 kids under 5, and I am 6 months pregnant with number 3.

We can trace all of our current woes back to when we bought our car last August, I took out a Provident loan to do this ( foolish, I know). The car has also needed quite a lot of money spent on it for repairs etc, and is an expensive car to run. As it is, it's had yet more work done on it, and we have a £290 bill outstanding, with no way of paying it.

I have done a rough incomings and outgoings:

wages: £840 a month
child benefit: £113 a month
child tax credit: £300 a month
working tax credit: £20 a month


outgoings
rent: £200 a month
council tax: £130 a month inc arrears
groceries: £200 a month
provident: £140 a month
kids savings: £10 a month
mobiles: ££60 a month
sky: £37 a month
next: £40 a month
visa: £95 a month
catalogue: £40 a month
aol: £23 a month
car maintenance: £100 a month
gas and elec: £80 a month
BT: "16 a month
TV license:£12 a month


I worked out that our incomings are roughly £1273 a month and outgoings £1183, which leaves us with £90 a month, which is always used up on "odds and ends". Is there anything we can do to leave us with a bit of extra cash every month?? We are considering selling the car at the moment, but with £1800 left still to pay on it, is it worth?

Please help!! Should I declare myself bankrupt, or is this an over the top reaction??

Thank you all,

Karen

ceegee

Scrap the childrens's savings. You need the money far more than they do and perhaps you could re-start in a few years' time.

Bankruptcy.....errrr, no! Definitely "over the top"! Don't panic....your situation ain't that bad!

Avogirly

I agree with ceegee about the savings. Also get rid of sky, or reduce package, reduce mobiles onto PAYG, reduce AOL. Also give us a full statement of accounts with APR's and balances of your CC's (Next, visa and catalogue). Pop over to the old style board and they may have ideas on reducing your grocery bill too.
Hope that it some help to you.

Avo
xXx

tyllwyd

I agree that the kids savings has to wait for the moment. Also £60 on mobile phones is a lot - can you get rid of those completely? Sky at £37 a month is another big expense that isn't necessary. AOL is also not the cheapest option for broadband (and maybe at the moment you can't afford broadband?)

You haven't included tax, insurance, petrol for the car. Does £100 per month repairs on your car cover this? It looks as if the car is eating up £240 of your money every month, which is a huge chunk out of your budget, and I agree that you need to take a good hard look at whether it is worth it.

Do you get a Next catalogue? I used to get it, but I got fed up with paying out money for all the catalogues they send out - that is one I'd pay off and cancel as soon as I could.

You have got it tough at the moment with such a young family, I hope you get sorted soon.

newmoneysaver_2

Hi Karen,

There are a few things missing from your soa. Do you have any insurances to pay? Car/Life/Content etc

Does car maintenance include things like MOT, tax?

Is petrol covered?

Your mobiles are high, can these be changed to PAYG?
Sky - you can't afford to have at the moment- can you cancel?
AOL is too high!

Please post all the aprs for your debts, min payments and available credit (for visa) How is your credit rating? Are you able to get a 0% or low lif od balance credit card to transfer your other debts?

Sorry it seams like a lot but we will be able to help once we have all the information.

karenk857

Thank you for your replies. Here are the balance and APRs of the debts:
Visa-£4950 at 16.9% APR, but going up to 18.9 in April
Next-£440 at 26.9%
Catalogue-£150 interest free

I can't cancel the mobiles at the moment, I don't think because I only took the contracts out in October last year. One is for 12 months and the other is for 18 months. Our aol contract was renewd in December last year, so I think we're tied to them for another 9 months. I thnk it's the provident loan that's "doing us" at the moment, but have until at least next May til it's paid off.

I do have a next catalogue, much as I love it, I do wish I'd never set eyes on it! It looks as thought he car may have to go too!!

Karen

karenk857

The £100 doesn't cover the insurance, tax or MOT, just petrol and whatever may be wrong with it that month!! We generally pay the insurance over 3 months, which will start again in June. As for tax and MOT, those just spring up on us, we panic, have to borrow money off someone, then spend the rest of the year paying people back.

I have an ok credit rating, but I don't work, so am unable to transfer CCs etc. My partner has a shocking credit rating, so he's no use!!

fairylights_2

as a quick thought - have you looked into the sure start maternity grant? I got it when little miss fairylights was born and our income isn't much different to yours. I know that's a few months off yet, but every bit counts when things get tighter.

Otherwise you're going to have to wriggle on all those contracts and ask to be reduced if you can't cancel. I'd also seriously think about selling that car - it does seem a massive expense on such a modest income.

oops_a_daisy

Hi Karen and welcome - just a couple of points to add to those already posted. If your mobile contracts are 6 months old or more you may be able to reduce the tariff that you are on - a phone call to the mobile provider should sort that out. Also check if you are charged any extra for itemised billing. Good luck and I think with good moeny saving ideas now you will be able to sort this out quite quickly for the future

jitsuguy

Hi Karenk,

Cancel the sky if you can or at least try to get a reduced package. They generally have special offers which they might be able to switch ou too which might work out better.

Your gas and elec bill does seem a bit high as well have you considered changing to another supplier - see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103281560,22751

If you can't switch your cards it might be worth phoning them up and seeing if they will give you a reduced interest rates if you explaing your situation.

Can you reduce the amount you use the car? This will hopefully stop you needing repairs all the time as its usage will be lower and help reduce petrol costs.

You need to produce a full budget, use Martin's budget thingy - there should be a link at the top of the screen.

How long does the council tax arrears last for? Do the arrears pay off soon and leave you with a little extra cash?

Jitsuguy

jitsuguy

Just a little bit more,

Once you have sorted your budget out and hopefully you will have some cash left at the end to pay your debts with you should then snowball your debts (pay the most expensive off first). See here http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Jitsuguy