Upsy Daisy 'fesses up - SOA now included

**Upsy_Daisy**

Right

According to my spreadsheet DH and I owe £30069.

I am the breadwinner - my takehome is £2280 monthly
Dh took early retirement and his take occ pension is £880 monthly
We have 3 children, our oldest is 7 and has a "life limiting condition" so in addition to 4 weekly CB of £185 we get DLA of £281 and DH gets carers allowance of £212 both also 4 weekly.

I pay the mortgage and £400 toward household accounts, DH pays £750 monthly into the joint account for household debts which is generally utilities, insurances phones and internet.

I WANT TO BE DEBT FREE BY CHRISTMAS 2010.

Then we can start overpaying the mortgage which is £270,000 part repayment (90K) and part interest only (£170K).

The mortgage is a 5 year fixed rate with Abbey - who are not the most flexible on overpayments.

I would like to be mortgage free within 10 years but realistically within 15 years, I will then put my mortgage payments into accounts for the children (SAM (7) henceforth cost centre 1, Katie (2) henceforth cost centre 2A and Lizzie(2) henceforth cost centre 2B

I fear for their future:-

Rogue landlords (I work in housing and it's scary what is going on in the private sector)
Probably no final salary pension schemes
Serious alcohol and drug use in young people - these days they go out with the intention of getting seriously !!!!ed - rather than just to have a good time
The celebrity culture and emphasis on appearance at the cost of knowledge and experience
An increasingly misogynistic society
Religious intolerance

Maybe " twas ever thus" but once you've had children the world switches from being a manageable place into being a scary place.

Generally here to get my debts down and then work on me mortgage - I do hope that within 18 months I/we will be debt free

savingholmes

well they say confession is good for the soul!

Have you ever done an soa (statement of affairs) on here or done the snowball calculation... that may be a good place to start if not.... If you've already done all that great!

**Upsy_Daisy**

Thanks for your comments savingholmes - I haven't done a SOA yet - I'm trying to get to grips with that and need to get things in order a bit beforehand.
I have been trying to cut back on food (and wine) expenditure over the last month and have been keeping a diary of how much I've been spending - I am embarrassed to confess that so far in August I have spent £820 on food and toiletries.
I don't do takeaways or eating out ( apart from buying the kids a Happy Meal last Sunday ) as I have suffered once to often with stomach upsets - the last time being the worst following a visit to a well known pizza establishment when I was 26 weeks pregnant, DH and I were fighting each other to get our heads down the loo for 2 days. The trip had been a birthday treat for DS 4th birthday and completely wrecked the event.
The debts are going to go up for a little while yet - we have got carpets on order and have to spend another £300 on tiles (bathroom and kitchen) for our recently completed extension - in total that's going to be around £2500 as we now have a lot of floor space and wall space.
On the upside I am shedding credit cards. A few have a couple of quid credit balances and I am closing accounts and asking for these back - nothing significant but better off in my account than earning interest for a bank.
I also have a claim on for £8200 from Mastercard under Section 75. We orignially paid the deposit for our extension on the credit card - (it was a timberframe extension costing £23,000). The timberframe company have now gone into liquidation so we are recaliming the deposit but the bank are dragging their feet. They say they are trying to get the money from the liquidators. Regardless, they do have to repay us but I think it's going to be a struggle.
I currently have a lease car from work and the lease ends in 2 weeks - I have to get some work done on the car or the lease company will sting me - a couple of bumps and scrapes need seeing to, that's likely to cost around £450 but if I let the company do it it will cost around £1,000. After that I will have no car! I don't know how long I'm going to be able to live without one but even if I can only manage a month or two it will help. DH has 2 vehicles - a car and a landrover (which he is deeply attached to) - problem is the landrover has no rear seats so cannot be used for the school run. It is likely he will have to drop DS off at school and then I'll walk to work when he gets back - I probably won't get into work until 09:30 but that's only around 15 minutes later than when I was doing the school run and driving on to work.
I've looked at the old style money saving board and have joined the September challenge aiming for £500.
Will add a bit more news at a more reasonable hour.

Happytogetdebtfree

Morning upsy daisey great name ! good luck with the dfw journey x

chevalier

Here is the link to an SOA calculator
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Does your son have a special diet that explains the high food/toiletries bill? If he does have you asked for special items on presciption for him? Might save you a bit?

Also the old style board has literally 100's of cheap and healthy recipes which you could batch cook to save money.

I don't know whether it is possible but can you get landrover seats put back in if this would help matters. You never know someone on www.freecyle.org might be wanting to get rid of some

good luck with busting your debts
chev

**Upsy_Daisy**

Thanks very much for that.
Re Freecycle - I actually have a conservatory I want to get rid of - we dismantled it last year and it's been under cover clogging up the garden for over a year. I did try to join freecycle some time ago but by the time they responded with links etc I had forgotten my password! Must try again.
I hadn't actually thought about using it to get hold of stuff.

No one in the house actualy has a special diet. We were "lucky" with the twins as they both weighed under 2.5KG at birth (only just) we got their milk on prescription and have only just stopped getting it now. It's ready made in 200ml cartons. I reckon that to have bought the lot over the counter would have been £70 per month. (and to the breastfeeding police - I did try breastfeeding for a while, gave up and expressed for the vital first 6 months) .

I was surfing through the old style boards last night and realised that I buy a lot of ready meals - mainly for the kids but it is really silly sort of things - macaroni cheese, spagheti bolognese etc - the sort if thing I could cook and freeze myself.

There is a song I remember from the 60's I can't remember who sang it but the title is "take it to the limit" - does anyone remember who sang it?
There is a line in the song

" Spend all your time making money - spend all your money making time"

That just about sums me up!

I'm off to the Grocery chalenge board now - I have a query about butchers!

Thanks for reading this

UD XXX

Happytogetdebtfree

All the best upsy looks like u can make some big saves keep at it post an soa x Then maybe we can help with cutting back x

**Upsy_Daisy**

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.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2250
Partners monthly income after tax....... 880
Benefits................................ 685
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3815
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1370
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 145 - I pay over 10 months but this is the amount divided over 12 months
Electricity............................. 72 I think we were underpaying before we use approx £15 weekly (I check the meters these days
Gas..................................... 103 We are overpaying - our last statement showed a credit of 450 - I need to send in a reading and reduce the payments drastically
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 - we pay over 10 months but this is the figure over 12
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 50 This is for two phones and a mobile internet connection (locked into the latter until June 2010
TV Licence.............................. 12 I think
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 14.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 820 Way way too much
Clothing................................ 15 For me and DH
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 50 His Shogun is £400 per year!
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 90 We're not going to the main dealer again - will go to a local garage instead so this should come down
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 6 Train to London 4X yearly for hosp appt 1 parent and child
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 80 school dinners, uniform, clothing
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 50 monthly contact lenses, both still have teeth but rotten
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8 Old cat
Buildings insurance..................... 35 Combined buildings and contents
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 110
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 20 For all 5 of us
Entertainment........................... 10 We don't go out but I'm sure we spend something - circus for kids once a year, pantomime at Christmas
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 35 I know - 12 month contract ends in April 2010 but it gets me out of the office at lunchtime!
Subscriptions........................... 10 BBC Grdening, good food and Kids mags
Total monthly expenses.................. 3225.99

Assets
Cash.................................... 519 short term savings account
House value (Gross)..................... 450000 Will be a bit more when decs and tiling finished!
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 7000 Assuming Shogun at £6k and Landrover £1K
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 457519

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 270000...(1370).....5.19
Total secured & HP debts...... 270000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Partnership (Me)...............8650......258.......16.9
Mate Steve.....................3300......300.......0
Partnership (DH................5500......200.......16.9
Nationwide.....................1450......44........15.9
Egg............................259.......6.........17.9
Marks and Spencer..............1900......80........0
RBS............................9010......90........3
Total unsecured debts..........30069.....978.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,815
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,225.99
Available for debt repayments........... 589.01
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 978
Amount short for making debt repayments. -388.99
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 457,519
Total HP & Secured debt................. -270,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,069
Net Assets.............................. 157,450
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

**Upsy_Daisy**

SOA finally completed - comments/suggestions appreciated

Can anyone explain what the line toward the bottom means "available for debt repayments £589"?

The next line down says what my monthly debt repayments are so what is this extra £589 they're factoring in?

Every month we just about break even - so I'm not sure why it's saying there's a £388 shortfall

I'm therefore a bit confused but it has been a very useful exercise

I'll read the gas meter tomorrow and phone in a reading

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi I'm on nights so will have to look at soa later. Available for debt means that after all you have spent each month you have 589 available to pay thedebts. And at a quik glance you are short 300 pounds so you need to cut back on the grocery bills. More people with soa advice should post but you definatley need to make changes or you will be in deep waters x well done for posting will catch up at a more social hour x

**Upsy_Daisy**

You're as bad as me but I haven't got the excuse of being at work in the early hours.
Thanks for clearing that up - I'll re check the SOA and see where the £589 comes from.
I told DH tonight that in August that we spent £800+ on food - he was absolutely horrified and has now realised that I'm not a skinflint but just want to get on top of things. Next step is to get him to put all receipts for spending on the bulldog clip on the kitchen windowsill so we can monitor all monthly spending.
I rang Atlantic and gave them electric and gas updates, they have agreed to put me on quarterly billing. I'm happy to give them a quarterly reading. It appears that while I am in massive credit with gas (£500+) i am behind on the electric and owe them around £200. I don't really mind credits and debits - I just want to reduce my monthly outgoings.
I have joined the old style grocery challenge and have a target of £500 for Sept - I would like to get this down to £ 350 - 400 monthly by the end of the year

Thnks for your interest and advice