Advice??? please :-)

davenkelly

Hi,

I'm new to the site and wondered if some of you nice people could point me in the right direction, me and OH both have reasonable jobs, not much debt, and in theory should be in credit with the bank. However, we are both fairly young and need to save for a mortgage, but somehow we are always in the red with our bank account every month, and our debts keep mounting, i have read other posts and i know others are in a lot worse situation than me and sorry for rambling, but i don't really know where to start saving/paying stuff off.

I have done an SOA so feel free to be really mean to me!!! (its just a rough SOA though)

sorry for rambling!!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 420
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 38
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 65
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47.5
Internet Services....................... 22.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 180
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 100
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 30
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 480
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1928

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................450.......10........27.9
Capital one (OH)...............750.......35........32.9
TV finance.....................666.......28.53.....19.9
fridge Finance.................600.......47.53.....27.9
Total unsecured debts..........2466......121.06....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,928
Available for debt repayments........... 372
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 121.06
Amount left after debt repayments....... 250.94
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,466
Net Assets.............................. -866
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

RAS

So you are sayign that you do not have £250 left at the end of the month?

Were is this going?

maybe you need to do a spending diary?

davenkelly

Yeah :-( we don't have £250 left, our OD is £1200 and on average we are at about -£600 to -£800 a month, i'm not sure where this money is going!!! sorry for sounding stupid, it's just other family members are in £40 - £50k worth of debt and have just buried their heads in the sand, and i really don't want to be at that point :-(

cherrypie556

£ 300 a month on shopping for 2 of you.:eek: I spend that on 6 of us a month!

davenkelly

Its a rough estimate, but i end up buying loads of food with the intention we will end up eating it all..i do throw some away and have been trying to write a shopping list and stick to it, but i just get stuck with writing shopping lists!!! :-( sorry :-(

poorandindenial

davenkelly wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 2 do you really need 2?? more on this in a bit
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2300
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 420
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 38
Gas..................................... 45 (£88 a month on energy, my costs here are low as I only have a one bed flat, but I only spend an average of £35 a month - and that is a generous estimate. If you haven't switched then look into it, make sure you turn stuff off when not in use (especially the heating) don't overfill the kettle etc. The kettle bit may sound picky but if one of you stands by the kettle and one by the metre as the other turns the kettle on you will see what the impact of the kettle can be)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28 (how many bedrooms does your property have?)
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 65 (downgrade your tarriff or go PAYG
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47.5 Do I really need to say ity???? you can get telly, internet and phone for £30 a month
Internet Services....................... 22.5 (see above)
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 (you can halve this with a few weeks effort of meal planning and cooking from scratch. How much food to you throw away??
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 180
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 100 (check you are getting the best deal and switch through quidco or some other cashback website)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 30 (£335 on cars, do you need both?)
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16 (you can get a decent amount of cover for about £12 if you shop around)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 you need to factor this in or else it will be part of what clobbers your £250 that you don't have at the end of the month
Haircuts................................ 0 ditto presents
Entertainment........................... 480 (reckon you can save a bit here if you want to)
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1928

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................450.......10........27.9
Capital one (OH)...............750.......35........32.9
TV finance.....................666.......28.53.....19.9
fridge Finance.................600.......47.53.....27.9
Total unsecured debts..........2466......121.06....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,928
Available for debt repayments........... 372
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 121.06
Amount left after debt repayments....... 250.94
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,466
Net Assets.............................. -866
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

With a few months of frugaldom you can see these debts off really quickly and set yourself up with the skills to keep it up so that you can have as much money as you want to save/take holidays/fritter away. I really think you need to do a bit of budget training. Start with groceries and entertainment (after you have ditched the very expensive TV package) and really think about what you are spending and work out if you can do it cheaper.

for groceries, check out the old style board and look at the advice on meal planning and perhaps something like the 'rubber chicken' thread (unless you are veggie!)

Sorry if this sounds harsh but I really do think you have options for reducing your outgoings

all the beast getting rid of this and having a lobely time with all that cold hard cash afterwards

poorandindenial

davenkelly, you won't end up in their levels of debt if you don't want to(the rest of the family that you mentioned) but you may have absorbed their lifestyles that got them into debt (wasting food, 'needing' lots of tv channels etc, but don't fret, it is all sortable.

davenkelly

Thanks so so so much for all your helpful replies, the entertainment side of things (SOA) we pay ourselves a set amount of money each week into our own bank accounts to fritter away/save/etc, we need a car each for our jobs, and i would soooo love to go to a package for tv/internet/phone etc but because of my area i cant really get it cheaper.
The property has 2 bedrooms and i questioned the cost as well, but yorks water assure me thats the cost!, my gas/leccy are paid by monthly dd, and currently my leccy bill is only £10.99 due to overpayments, but for some reason my gas is at £250???!!! (i know shocking!!!)
Oh, and i really do do the kettle thing!!! my OH doesn't but i often don't put enough water in!!
Car ins is £70 for one, £30 for other which runs out in march,
home ins is up for renewal nw, but all the quotes i seem to get show it as increasing (although i've never made a claim!!!)
I am going to downgrade my tv package though, and i think food bills could easily be cut.
The moible phone cost is for both of us, but we can't downgrade our tariffs yet :-(

I am grateful for all your help, and also just a quick question...do you wonderful..brilliant...fantastic people :-) have any advice for a good savings account once ive really budgeted and cut down???

Thanks very much :-)

poorandindenial

LOL - sadly I have nothing to save yet :rolleyes: next summer though......

Have you checked the reading on your Gas meter? All my 'estimated' bills are about 3 times what I actually use.

poorandindenial

My contents insurance was about £125 for the year I think, it is through Endsleigh (but not actually supplied by Endsleigh - get me and my Endsleigh insurance, just like my student days)

davenkelly

lol, i do my gas/leccy through edf online (nectarpoints woo!!! :-) and i keep submitting my meter readings.....i keep thinking the secret gas theif must come in my house and steal my warmth!!