New Member ... SOA

piratess

Right well brief history, Ive got alot of debt from an ex partner and some of my own doing .... niave pay it later on those type of excuses ...
Ive been with current partner 5 years and we have a son together he is 14 months old and i have two daughters from previous marraige.

My partner is sole earner and we get TC and WTC :-

Monthly Incomings

His Salary £900.00
C/T Credit £440.00
W/T Credit £300.00
Housing Ben £200.00
Child Ben £160.00

Total :- £2,000.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent £700.00
C/T £133.00
Gas £46.50
Electric £21.00
Water £15.00
Waste £36.00
Food £360.00
Car Ins £34.00
Petrol £40.00
House ins £18.00
Phone £20.00
Mobile £50.00
Internet £15.00
SW £17.00
Driving lessons £144.00
Gym £37.60

Total Outgoings= £1,652.00

Debts ....

SWW £540.00
Housing Arrears £1,300.00
Social Fund Old Loan £400.0
Catalogue £52.00
Adamscard £98.00
Provident £130.00

Total £2,520.00

This is my First step to not wiping everything under the carpet or burying head in sand hoping it will go away, We have cash left at the end of the month but it just goes! ... Please Help ! .....

jesster_2

Hi Piratess, welcome aboard. Good work on posting your SOA.

Couple of things jump out at me:
Gas - this is high. Is this all for current usage or is any of it arrears? Have you looked at one of the switching sites to get a cheaper supplier, and looked at how you use it to see if you can cut down, esp now it's summer.

Food budget: You can bring this down. Don't necessarily try to do it all at once, but just see how much you can save by planning a week's worth of meals and only buying what you need for that. Cut out the pre-prepared foods and snacks and so on, and see how much you save. The OldStyle board has loads of ideas for eating really well on a budget. It's pretty much all down to planning and cooking from scratch.

SW - forgive me if I'm being thick, but what's this?
WASTE - what is this going on?

Your mobile bill is high - any chance of switching onto a lower tariff or going PAYG?

And please please please don't borrow any more money from provident! The interest is SHOCKING.

And as for that money left at the end of the month that 'just goes'... that's what you've got to get your mitts on, and fast! Your debts are not insurmountable and every bit of cash you can throw at them will make all the difference. It's time to get tough. Work out your budget (along the lines of your SOA) at the start of each month, include budgetting for birthday presents, haircuts, everything so that EVERYTHING is accounted for and there are no surprises. Then at the start of the month you work out what you will pay towards your debts, rather than seeing what you have left at the end of the month instead. Because clearly when you leave it to the end of the month the answer is 'not very much!'.

If you're having trouble repaying any of these and need someone to talk to your creditors on your behalf, have you been in touch with your local citizens' advice?

You'll get loads of advice and support here if you keep posting. You can definitely make some savings by the look of it, which will have a good impact on your debts. Good luck!

lynzpower

Helo there and welcome to all of us at DFW!

Ill have a look theres seems LOADS of savings to be made

Monthly Incomings

His Salary £900.00
C/T Credit £440.00
W/T Credit £300.00
Housing Ben £200.00
Child Ben £160.00

Total :- £2,000.00

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent £700.00
C/T £133.00
Gas £46.50 ( this is high check out https://www.saveenergy.co.uk)
Electric £21.00
Water £15.00
Waste £36.00 ( whats this????)
Food £360.00 ( :eek: you can cut this down no boher, I take it theres 3 of you? You are spending almoist 1/2 your wages on food alone! You can easily save 200 a month here, I promise)
Car Ins £34.00 ( is this the absolute chepaest?_
Petrol £40 ( likewise, can you save journeys, walk more places etc) )
House ins £18.00
Phone £20.00 ( whats this, line rental and... )
Mobile £50.00 ( :eek: get a cheaper package or go PAYG saving at least 25)
Internet £15.00
SW £17.00 ( whats this?)
Driving lessons £144.00 ( can you relay afford to be doing these right now??)
Gym £37.60 ( likewise, can you get rid, this is a luxury you cant really afford)

Total Outgoings= £1,652.00

Debts ....

SWW £540.00 ( WHat is this?_
Housing Arrears £1,300.00
Social Fund Old Loan £400.0
Catalogue £52.00
Adamscard £98.00 ( the APRS on this and the provi are likely to be absoutely hairraising, MAKE THESE A PROIRITY)
Provident £130.00

Total £2,520.00

I anticipate with your 200 savings from food, 25 from mobile, 144 for driving lessons, about 15 off your gas hopefully and your gym you can save about 421 a month, pay these towards your debts and you can be debt free in less than 6 months. :beer:

Result? thats just my thoughts although, of course you havent budgeted there for clothes, car repairs dental etc, but this is just my first thoughts. Hope this helps

piratess

hey thanks for the lovely welcome and the feed back so soon ... Right where do i begin lol

Ok ... Food Shopping there are 5 of us .. me my partner a 12yr old 8yr old and a 14 month old ...

BT i pay for line rental and a package ...not sure which one

Gas my last bill from feb to april was 160.00 ! (nightmare)

SW= Slimming World .. i have some weight to lose and cant do it alone

Waste= Waste Water we have to pay seperatly god knows why!

Mobiles = my partners is contract £30.00 a month and i pay as i go

Driving lessons i feel are a must at the moment as im in a new area and am isolated and at 31 the time is now (some of you may disagree)

as things stand at the moment ! we havnt actually set up direct debits for monthly and just freak out when the big bills come in but i think we would be better for doing DD altho my partner cant see where the money will come out because we have money going into the back at different times during the month apart from his wages of course ....

at the moment he has £85.00 in his account until the end of the month and i have £110.00 going into mine a week for food shopping which at the moment doesnt leave alot! ..

AArgggggg im depressing myself now !!!!!!!

southernscouser

Hey piratess! Well done on posting your SOA!

If I was you I would definately keep the driving lessons going BUT are you having about 10 a month? Maybe you could reduce this by half! How many have you had and do you think you will need as "hopefully" this won't be an outgoing for much longer! :eek:

lynzpower

Hi piratess

Do you have a seperate account for the rent & bills to go out of? If so this will help lesssen that panic. I personally have an account with my rent& bills money in everythings on DDS and it all just ticks over. So it doesnt cause any stress.

100 does me & the OH for a month. Im sure you can get your food shopping right down, really. I doubt your 14 month old eats that much lol, so Im certain you still can cook for 160 a month between you all. Are you using disposable nappies? You can get some snazzy towelling ones with velcro in all the right places and theres a livley market on ebay for selling them on too. try greenbaby i know do them. Or ask your local council as they have initiatives for reusable nappies so you might be able to get them cheap.
Have a good look on the old style board and do cupbard challenges and grocery challenges, and have a look at what recipes people are making for cheap. Black-saturn feeds her and her kids ( i think she has 3 kids) for less than 20 a week for all of them, so it CAN be done. Menu planning, using up whats in and being creative with your recipes will save you a fortune, I guarantee it!

If you want to continue with your driving lessons & slimming world then fair enough. but it will take longer to get out of debt. If you dont want to give up your lessons could you make them less frequent. I dont know what you are paying but if you are apying about 20 an hour,thats 7 a month, or almost 2 a week. How close to testing are you. Could you get OH to take you out for practices instead of the lessons, for at least some of them?My dad used to take me round the industrial estates etc for a practice when i was learning.

What is SWW? Is that your waste water? I have never heard of this beofre- are you living on agricultural land or something?

Have a look at your BT package. I was paying for something like free evening & weekend calls up to an hour package. You migh thagve that they really push it. I got a better package called Primus 2 from talk talk, that does the same job but better as you get up to an hour and a half call time instead of an hour and that is FREE!!!!

Lynz

piratess

Currently im paying £18.00 an hour and because i live in Lymington its not long enough to get to Bournemouth (where my test will be) so am paying £36.00 a week for 2 hours im on my 8th hour so far
have yet to do theory so there goes another £30.00 or what ever it is ! ...

Not sure i could half them because i wouldnt then get time in test route unless maybe i could have 6 hours a month instead of 8 maybe .. have a 2 hour then a 1 then a 2 and so on ????

piratess

Thanks for all your time so far im currently sitting here taking notes

anyway! reusable nappies never tried them but definatly worth pricing up ! .. thanks for that im gonna go look in a mo,

We dont have a seperate account for bills but it sounds like a good idea currently my partner has his wages go in at the end of the month along with the WTC ... and then every 2 weeks the HB goes in also so he feels like its dribs and drabs

In my account every thursday i have 110.00 go in CTC and then every 4 weeks usually a tuesday i get 160.00 CB

SWW stands for South West water i have an outstanding debt with them for my last property

and as for the shopping i make a point of ever week writing out a list of mon tues weds etc and then what meal ill make and then buy the ingrediants ... although i have to admit it usually ends up being things i know i need plus niceys for my BF and the kids have packed lunches so buy bits for that also ...

Thanks for your help again ! i knew my notebook would come in handy hehexxxxxx

lynzpower

Have you ever heard of https://www.quidco.com

If you need a seperate bank account for your DDs try getting one from there, and then you will get some cash back for it

All the best

piratess

oo no not heard of them before thankyou off to have a look xx thanks xx

postingalwaysposting

hi piratess, i have only just got myself out of debt (just waiting for one payment to show up on my account) i did it in under a month but i gave up loads of thing, including driving lessons i have done 12hours btw. I have now got my therory on wednesday (£21 btw) paid for by my sister, if i pass i will start my driving again, if i dont i will seriously think again.

Basically what i am saying is if you have to make sacrifices be it slimming world/driving/smoking/drinking, it all pays off then once you have paid off you debt you can do/incerease these with out feeling that gulit