Introduction and SOA

mattfiona

Hello everyone,

I am new to this board and have been reading through the threads over the last couple of days and it looks great.

We are in need of a bit of help - my husband and I took out a mortgage based on joint salaries just 3 months ago and we have always had a few debts. We were not well off, barely comfortable before, but now my husband has had long term sickness (2 months) from work and is only getting statutory sick pay and we need to find a way to cut back and survive on my salary alone.

Over the last few days, we have already done a big financial review! and this is what we have come up with so far - any further suggestions welcome!

All figures monthly

(Total debt = £10,000 unsecured consolidation loan, about £2,800 on an egg card,£2,800 to a debt management firm)

My income - £1113.00 per month after tax etc.
SSP - £280.00 -per month
Total - £1393.00 - per month

Outgoings

Mortgage - £564.80
Council tax - £100.00
NTL - £30 (reduced already from full to "3 for 30" deal)
Cat insurance - £3.67
TV licence - £15.00
Car insurance - £30.00 (estimated - can't remember)
Buildings and contents insurance - £15.00 (reduced already from £30)
Life insurance - £5.00 (for us both - reduced from 19.00)
Egg Card - £41.66 (need to move this to 0%- just paying minimum and apr of around 14%)
Other Debt (Lewis Group) - £50 (need to renegotiate this)
My mobile - £30.00 (planning on cutting down usage)
DH mobile - £30.00
Loan - £285.99 (this has been consolidated in the last few days from 2 separate loans with payments totaling £400 a month)
Shopping for 2 people - £120 a month

Total - 1294.92
Leaving disposable of £98.08 for 2 people per month

This is a lot better than it was - our previous outgoings total was around £1800 so done a lot of improvements to the above list but any further help would be much appreciated!

tanith

Hiya, looks like you have done a good job so far well done and welcome.. the only thing that leaps out at me is the mobile phones and there don't seem to be any utility bills , electric gas water?
I am sure others will be along to offer good advice but congrats on making a good start and I hope OH is on the mend now....

mattfiona

Yes, I just realised after I posted that I had missed a few things off!

So, from the remaining £98.08, there is the following

Gas (paid quarterly but approx per month is:) £15
Electric (same) £15
My travel to work monthly - £60
Petrol for the car - £40 a month

Thankfully, we have paid our water bill for the year already back when we had some cash.

So thats £130 a month extra that I hadn't mentioned leaving about -£32.00 disposable.

CLAPTON

your SoA is unrealistically tight.

will your OH be on long term SSP or is the current situation only tempory.

i would suggest you start a spending diary to see where all the monthly money goes. also sit down and think about all the annual/quarterly/one off spends...e.g. car tax, mot, rac/aa? the odd present,xmas
although you have paid the water bill already but you still need to budget for it so you can pay it next year.

can you do without the car..is it essential ?

can you increase your own income...part time job/overtime

mattfiona

Yes, I know - hopefully this will be short-term solution, I know we wouldn't realistically be able to manage on my salary alone for any long-term period. Basically, this is a tight budget as a short-term measure just to manage.

Hopefully it should be temporary - my OH is off work with depression and has been signed off for 2 months so far - I can't see it being any more than 1 further month and then we would need to budget for 2 more months while we get back on our feet. So, 6 months in total, say.

Once we get our consolidation loan through on Friday, we will pay off our other loans and the repayments don't start til October which will give us a bit of leeway. Then we should have about £1000 remaining cash from the loan plus about another £1000 surplus in the bank so I'm hoping this will help us to manage for 6 months.

lynzpower

Hi there
the thing that sticks out for me is this "£2,800 to a debt management firm"

is that a consolidation loan, or is it a DMP paid to a company

Big welcome :wave:

mattfiona

That is a frustrating debt, Lynz - and one that I wish like anything had never happened but I'm sure we all feel like that, don't we?! It was an overpayment from my husband's previous firm - when they found out they had overpaid him, we couldn't afford to pay it all back and they passed it to a debt collection agency. We agreed to pay them £50 a month.

lynzpower

ah i see now! Nightmare

I dpo agree with Clapton it does look very tight.

Can I ask, is he in SSP off due to stress or anything like that?. Basically, hows it looking for him going back to work? Or getting another job? Is this something thats possible?

I wonder can you liaise with them to see if you can have a few months off maybe? Or reduce it?

Hugs

mattfiona

He has been quite depressed over the last few weeks but now things do seem to be looking up. He is talking about getting another job and seems quite positive so I am hopeful that it will only be 2-3 months before we are back to 2 salaries again.

In_Search_Of_Me

Just wanted to say hi & welcome! Is DH getting some practical help with managing his depression? Hope you sort this as it is tight but as you say hopefully a short term situation...big hugs!

calleyw

mattfiona wrote:

So thats £130 a month extra that I hadn't mentioned leaving about -£32.00 disposable.

I know it is very tight but you are going to have to do a slash and burn for the short term.

And that means cutting everything back to the bone. Call up NTL and tell them that things have changed and you really need to cut back again. Tell that you will go back to BT as you want to be able to get really cheap calls etc.

Mobiles you don't say if they contracts or not. And if your husband is at home all the time what is spending £30 a month on his mobile for. If they are contract the ring them up tell them that you have reduced income and need to reduced your tariff. If they are PAYG then stop using them now. As that is £60 a month saved.

Food could you not shave off £20. Also try the store cupboard challenge that is going on at old style money saving board. You shop in your cupboard/fridge/freezer rather than the supermarket.

With those two savings that gives you an extra £80 a month.

Is there any items that you can sell on ebay or and I know this is asking a lot could you take on a second job for the next few months.

Also you need to ring around everyone you owe money to and tell them that your have reduced income and can't pay what they want.

I wish you all the best. And hope that your husband feels better soon. As I know that depression is not nice. And it is not like an ear infection which is easy, take a couple of tablets and it is gone. While he is off work it might be time for him to re-think his career. If his job is causing the depression then does he want to go back. If not you need a back plan. Because if he is getting stressed at the thought of going back to work, because of money worries and paying the bills it may cause him to be off work with depression even longer.

Yours


Calley