Hello, New Here!

fivemice

Hiya

Just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Nicola & I'm 20. I'm married to Ben who is 25, have a son Toby who is 2yrs2mos and I'm 18weeks pregnant with baby-two.

After Ben became self-employed last year, our finances have gone down the pan. We got married in December, and I think we resisted saving for that so much that it kind of bled into other areas and we just stopped paying for anything and spending money on stupid things. Meanwhile, everytime we get into a blunder we need a loan, and with Bens bad credit history and my neutral and now bad credit history we could only get high rates :rolleyes:

So far, this is what we need to pay off (please excuse estimated figures, we're also rubbish with paperwork, but I will get this straight this week, my lightbulb moment couldn't wait)-
Ben's Barclaycard (Head in the sand moment, from pre-2000) Remaining debt approx £800 £0% interest
Black Horse loan for DFS Sofa Remaining debt approx £1000 0% interest
Black Horse cash loan Remaining debt approx £1000 29.9%APR
Car Loan through Employer Remaining debt approx £1800 approx 12%APR
Capital One Credit Card Remaining debt £175.00 29.9%APR
Next Account Remaining debt £99.61 26.49%APR
British Gas bill Remaining debt approx £48 0% interest
Southern Electric bill Remaining debt approx £400 0% interest
Loan from Mum for Punto Remaining debt approx £600 0% interest
Loan from Mum for wedding & rent Remaining debt £2500
Loan from Ben's Dad Remaining debt approx £200

We need to sell one of our cars to pay my mum back £2500, but we need to fix it before we can sell it.
Apart from that we're looking at paying back £1000 a month on these debts.

I think our biggest problem is breaking out of those "little treats" that really add up - I'm terrible at popping to Tescos for a pint of milk and coming back with £40 worth of stuff. It's not that we don't have the money to pay the debts back and get out finances in our, it's just that we waste it!

So that's me! Looking forward to getting to know you all

Kevicho

fivemice wrote:

I think our biggest problem is breaking out of those "little treats" that really add up - I'm terrible at popping to Tescos for a pint of milk and coming back with £40 worth of stuff. It's not that we don't have the money to pay the debts back and get out finances in our, it's just that we waste it!

So that's me! Looking forward to getting to know you all

Well done on posting and i wish you the best of luck

I think youve identified the problem right there, you need to work at saying no to these little "treats" as you put them

roswell

Firstly welcome, the best option for those "Milk" Emergancies is go to tesco with £1.10 in your pocket.

If you can give a full SOA of income / out goings etc im sure someone more knowledgeable will be along to help you out, By the sounds of it you wont have a problem paying the debt but have a problem with spending, the easy fix is cut up the credit cards and store cards keep your debit cards and work out a budget accounting for " emergancies birth days / car repairs" (washing machine blowing up etc)

fivemice

Thanks for the welcome
Could you tell me what SOA stands for?

Broken_hearted

statement of affairs

lynzpower

hi fivemice! Lovely to meet you

Stick up an SOA and we'll see if we can get you out of this situation, sooner rather than later! xx

Kevicho

check out

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

for more info on creating a SOA

fivemice

Ok, but it's pretty bad.

Monthly Incomings:

Approximately £3000pcm - we're self employed so it varies from month to month, but usually around this month after tax.

Total - £3000

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent - £500
Contents Insurance £25.16
Council Tax - £111
Gas & Electric £80
Water £40
TV License - £10.99
Sky £20
Phone - £25
Internet £30
Ben's Mobile phone bill -£100, mostly business use
Food shopping - £280
Car Insurance £48
Car tax £10
Petrol £80 - again mostly business
Car loan 1 - £40
Car loan 2 - £112
Cash loan £76
Sofa loan £67
Credit card repayment £25
Next repayment £20
National Insurance £19.05
Barclaycard Repayment £50
British Gas Repayment £16
Childcare £112

Total £1897.20

So I'm losing £1104 a month on useless treats (I told you it was bad!) and I'm sure there are no further essential outgoings, but if anyone can spot anything that is missing, feel free to point it out and I'll update.

chevalier

Hi there
Welcome to the boards. You have taken the first step to debt freeness,by coming on here.
If you post your SOA you must put in everything you get as income or pay out as expenditure.
For example people often forget to include house and content insurance, or their child benefit.

If you are unsure where you're money goes then get you and your OH to keep a spending diary for a couple of weeks. In it you put down every little thing you buy, yes even that bar of chocolate or a packet of chewing gum. Once you have done this some savings might be self evident ie having a take away twice a week rather than cooking. Other things may surprise you and give you pause for thought.

Best of luck
chev

Tashja

£280.00 per month on food is a lot.

Try the Old Style board for some hints.

We pay approx £100.00 for 2 adults and 2 children per month.

Good luck !!

T xx

roswell

You have found a good start there yourself.

fivemice wrote:

So I'm losing £1215 a month on useless treats.

Internet seems high what bandwidth are you on ? do you need that amont of bandwidth ? I suspect your on 2 meg for that price if your on 1 meg id change provider ASAP.

One thing thats oftern overlooked is as your renting have you checked recently what rents are in your area for similar houses ? If more then stay where you are if less it may be worth having a word with your land loard see if you can get a reduction, if not and theres somewhere you would like to move to thats cheaper theres more savings to be made.