£25k loans this is my SOA...

thebaddeleys

Hi guys,

sorry if this is in the wrong place but hey here goes;


House hold bills

Mortgage- 975.4
Mortgage Life cover- 24.38
House insurance- 30.35
TV licence- 10.59
Child maintenance- 270
Council Tax- 119
Talk Talk- 20
Tiscali- 15
Gas / Electric- 43
United Utilities- 39.68

Extra items

HFC (Dinning Table) 0%- 23.17
David Llyod gym- 55
Sky- 36
Blackhorse (TV) 0%- 43.77
Sofa (Blackhorse)- 50
Car (blackhorse)- 205

Tesco car insurance- 42


Loans

Abbey Loan (9.6%)- 163.13
Tesco loan (7.3%)- 252.09

O2- 60

Food- 200
Gold HSBC card- 35


Totals Outgoing-2627
Total income- 2891.24

any advice would be great !

CosmoCat

hi there and if i haven't said it before, welcome to MSE!!:D

a couple things i can see straight-away...can you not get that new talktalk free broadband for life deal, that would be cheaper than paying them for phone and tiscali for broadband. Your food bill seems to be quite high, you could probably visit the Oldstyle board for tips on menu planning and other things to bring this down. (how many are you feeding btw?)

you may have to do without your sky and gym membership for a while, while you throw that money off your debts. have a look at other cable providers, or get freeview and then take advantage of all those dvd rental free trial offers if you need movies.

i'm sure others will be along shortly to point out some other great ways to save.

all the best!!

thebaddeleys

we tried to change our braodband but were in a 12 month contract until november- shame i know!

there is myself , my husband, our little boy and then his little boy too to feed.

I'm trying to think of some ideas to bring some cash in because i'm at home and not earning as i'm on maternity leave??? any ideas???

thank you for the advice, i wish there was some quick fix, i keep thinking one day i'll think of something amazing that will pay off the debts... but that never happens obvioulsy!

breakdown2007

do you get paid materneity leave?

thebaddeleys

no just the normal £400 par month for 6 months and then nothing!

thebaddeleys

p.s. i'm past the 6 months now so get no money

CLAPTON

your SoA shows that you have about £260 spare at the end of each month. in practice do you actually have this money?
if not, i would suggest you and Oh keep a spending diary so you can track where all the money actually goes.

also there seems to be things missed out ..you seem to have a car loan but no petrol or provision for car tax, MOT, servicing, repairs RAC/AA? etc. do you have holidays or buy presents,what about xmas ? do you go out? you need to include absolutely everything in the budget so you can see where all the money is going and hence what can be reduced.
with 25,000 of debt you really can't afford 55 for the gym or 35 for sky..this money should spent be reducing debt.

thebaddeleys

Hi clapton,

my husband gets his petrol paid for by his job that is why it is not included, we currently don't have breakdown cover but i'm getting some with my tesco clubcard vouchers as its miles cheaper. we don't have any provision for car repairs , we have been quite fortunate so far that we don't have many problems with it. we don't really go out much as trying to save , we maybe go for a meal every three months or so but thats only £30 ish.
yes we obviously do buy birthday presents etc but you knid of have to when people buy you presents!

i realise my husband shouldn't have the gym membership but he says its the only little piece of luxury he has ???

thebaddeleys

p.s i will defintely start a spending diary

CosmoCat

i understand that sometimes it's difficult when you're working very hard to not want to give up the 'one luxury that you have', but what clapton says is right, with that much debt, you sometimes just can't afford luxuries. and they are exactly that, luxuries, not necessities. like the sky subscription, it's not something you absolutely need. without those two luxuries, you'll have and extra £1092 for the year to throw at your debts. it doesn't seem like alot, but it will do something to reduce your debt.

a spending diary is a great start. have a good look at where your money is going. and do check out the old style board for some hints and tips on saving when it comes to food.

all the best.

lynzpower

A couple of points from me:

Your 02 at £60 whats that for? I suspect a mobile phone package, reduce down to the cheapest package if you are in contract, think their cheapest is 15 a month, or if not go to PAYG. Saving minimum 45 a month

Also your Gold card- whats the APR on this? If its not 0% then try to change to 0%, and then at least all your payments will go to payig off the debt adn not the interest.

Also te APRS on your furniture. Some may be 0% APR but when do they end? You need to look at the snowball calculator to work out which ones to overpay first.

Is your UNited utilities water? Is that on a meter, as it seems rather high?

you say your total income is 2891 - is that just your OHs salary or are you counting yours in as well, as you are not recieving income at the mo, then I would be using just his figures for this SOA


And a big :hello: from me too