please help, we are sinking

tine73

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned....................
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 305
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 42
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1947
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 710
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 111
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46.86
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 56
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 480
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 39
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 38.94
Contents insurance...................... 9.2
Life assurance ......................... 19
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1992.95

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 146500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 105000...(710)......6.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 105000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................1100......63.74.....0
additions......................700.......70........0
Total unsecured debts..........1800......133.74....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,947
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,992.95
Available for debt repayments........... -45.95
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 133.74
Amount short for making debt repayments. -179.69
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 146,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -105,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,800
Net Assets.............................. 39,700

StuTheDon

Luckily you dont have a lot of debt, but you are spending more than you can earn. Just a couple of points:

1 - Stop the life insurance - you can always start it later
2 - Presents - half this, you simply cant afford it.
3 - Benefits is only 42 - do you get all child benefit and tax credits?
4 - Mobile is high - can you go with PAYG?

Horace

Cut up the additions card. You will need to put the APRs of this and your credit card down.

Presents can be halved at least - how about making something instead?

Keeping a spending diary will also help as I bet you don't have any leftover money at the end of the month. You need to note down everything from comics to the kids to the lunches at work.

Money_maker

Gas and electricity seem steep at £228 month. Have you tried shopping around?

tine73

i have got more debt but ive got 2 point where i dont open the letters as i know i cant afford 2 pay anymore, credit card, home shopping accounts etc. we are in fixed rate mortgage which is due for renewal next year, know i have made us have a severe bad credit rating

postingalwaysposting

Hi and welcome to the dfw board The first things that stand out to me are below. Your debts arnt high its your monthly expenditure thats really high

Monthly income after tax 305 ~ Can you get a second job/sell on ebay/up your income in any way?
Benefits 42 ~ Are you recieving all your entitled to?
Mobile phone 56 ~ This is really high! There are deals around just now for enything for £10 a month. Can you reduce your packages or maybe move payg?
Groceries etc 480 ~ This is a huge outgoing. I know others on dfw that shop for the same amount of people for £200 a month. Try poping over to the old style boards or completing a storecupboard challange?
Clothing 50 ~ Can this go for a few months? if you cut this back for 4 months thats £200 saved and its a big chuck of your additions debt.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc) 100 ~ Ditto above can you half this to make another saving?

Good luck on your journey and keep posting :beer:

tine73

have just got a quote from npower, saving £268

postingalwaysposting

tine73 wrote: »

i have got more debt but ive got 2 point where i dont open the letters as i know i cant afford 2 pay anymore, credit card, home shopping accounts etc. we are in fixed rate mortgage which is due for renewal next year, know i have made us have a severe bad credit rating

In that case you need to dig out any/all letters and start opening them. They simply wont go away and are prob incurring charges and thus adding to your debt. You need to work with the whole picture rather than chunks. If you need more formal advice try one of the free debt charitys ~ CAB/CCCS/Payplan

Tixy

Hi Tine

Just had a quick look at your SOA and you are showing £179 shortfall each month. I think your should be able to cut back you spending by this amount.

Your electric bills are huge. Are you paying arrears? Are these estimated or actual bills? If this is your actual usage you need to drastically cut down the amount of elec you use. Things that use a lot are tumble driers, elec heaters, a water imersion heater. You can also be careful with making sure you use energy efficent bulbs & appliances, switching things off when not in use, not putting more in the kettle than you need, only doing full loads of washing etc.
I would have expected you to be able to reduce this by at least 50%

Is the mobiles for 2 phones? drop down a tariff if you can (ask your provider), make sure you never go over mins, or consider getting PAYG.

Is your media all 1 package? landline, satellite TV and broadband? Is this the best package available? Could you consider switching to freeview for a while?

Groceries could be cut. Try the drop a brand challenge, cook from scratch not ready meals, try meal planning so you don't buy more than you need and look on the old style board for cheap healthy meal ideas. How old are your children? £80pppm should be more than plenty for a family of 5, so try to aim to cutback to £400 to start and you should be able to reduce even further.

B&C insurance seems high, check you are getting the best deal using comparison sites and check you don't have more cover than you need. (I pay £22 combined for a house worth £165k).

Presents needs reducing down. Look at ways to earn money online (surveys/reviews) to earn vouchers which you can then use to buy presents.

You need to budget something for entertaining. You much occasionally spend something on either yourselves or the children. If you set a small budget then you can monitor to make sure you don't go over each month, if you don't have a budget at all you will be more likely to overspend.

Could you work any more hours? (i assume you are also doing your own childcare and work part time?) Can OH earn any overtime? The benefits figure seems low. Child benefit should be more than this and you are probably entitled to tax credits. Look at www.entitledto.com to see if you could be getting more.

As stu says your unsecured debts are not high, but unless you improve things and get rid of the defecit your debts will continue to grow.

Good luck.

Marthasdad

tine73 wrote: »

i have got more debt but ive got 2 point where i dont open the letters as i know i cant afford 2 pay anymore, credit card, home shopping accounts etc. we are in fixed rate mortgage which is due for renewal next year, know i have made us have a severe bad credit rating

I know EXACTLY how you feel....!

Take it from me - you need to be brave and open the letters and find out what situation you're in - you also need to open a basic bank account that is not linked to any of your creditors and have your income paid in there, otherwise they can go in and take what they like.

You've made the fist step by coming on here, but you need to take a deep breath and open the letters, then write down all your debts and what situation they are in (are they with DCAs etc) - then you can see what you are looking at and others on here will help you loads to take control again.

Good luck!

Jesthar

Hi Tine, and welcome to MSE! Even more, congrats on posting your SOA, it's a big step!.

Now, let's have a look for you:

tine73 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned....................
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 305
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1600
Benefits................................ 42
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1947
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 710
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 111 - :eek: PLEASE tell me this includes arrears (or is it prepay?); if not then either your useage patterns need an urgent review, or you should shop around for a new supplier, or both. In particular, check your useage of heat generating applianced - things like tumble driers really eat the pounds every time they go on. Just to encourage you, I may be single and live on my own, but my monthly electricity bill is only one tenth of yours, so it can be done.
Gas..................................... 42 - you might want to shop around for suppliers here, too.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 46.86
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 56 - can this be reduced?
TV Licence.............................. 11.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 15
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 480 - this is pretty high, you should be able to knock £100+ off this with relative ease if you follow the advice of the culinary experts on here.
Clothing................................ 50 - if you can put this on hold for a while it would be good
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 39
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 38.94 - not an expert, but this looks expensive...
Contents insurance...................... 9.2
Life assurance ......................... 19
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 - I suspect you will already have realised this is an easy area to cut back on.
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1992.95

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 146500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 105000...(710)......6.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 105000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................1100......63.74.....0
additions......................700.......70........0
Total unsecured debts..........1800......133.74....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,947
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,992.95
Available for debt repayments........... -45.95
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 133.74
Amount short for making debt repayments. -179.69
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 146,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -105,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,800
Net Assets.............................. 39,700

Well, the good news is your debt is actually pretty small, although I appreciate it certainly won't feel like it!

The bad news is that even without your debts you are spending more money a month than you have coming in, and this is the part you really need to have a look at, or the 'drowning' cycle will continue.

However, there is some good news left! Firstly, and most importantly, you have realised you are in trouble at a VERY early stage, and therefore can deal with it relatively quickly. Secondly, you have several areas where you can make some BIG savings with relative ease - your groceries, your electricity (hopefully), your present budget are all good targets here.

And there are plenty of people to help, too. Check out the Moneysaving Old Style boards on here for a wonderful group of people who are capable of perhaps halving your food bill without reducing you to beans on toast every day, and also excellent suggestions on lowering utility bills. The guys over in utilities should also be able to help with that one. And there are plenty of ways of making a little extra cash, be it car boot sales or competitions.

Oh, and the other ABSOLUTE must is to start a spending diary so you can keep track of where all the pennies slip away.

~Jes