Reality bites

UEM1892

Dear all

Looking for some advise on how to extract myself from the mess that myself and my missus now find myself ourselves in.

Cut a long story short, we have been living beyond our means for a long time now, and never really cared for getting ourselves straight or keeping an eye on the amount of debt we were accumulating

Anyway, we got married last June, which didn't help things financially, and it's finally dawned on us (this week) that we can't afford to start a family.

You can see from the calculator what a mess we are in

Any advice appreciated

Couple of notes on the statement below

I do some freelance sports journalism work, hence the high mobile and sky allowance, not a luxury, a neccesity and the reason I have categorised the unsecured debts is because the mortgage is in her name

I have no assets in my name, is that to my advantage or detriment?

Any help would be gratefully recieved as well as any options out

I realise I only have myself mainly to blame for the situation we are in

Thanks in advance



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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1309
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1216
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2525

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 338
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 85.92
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 49.5
Gas..................................... 49.5
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 80
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 59
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 70
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1384.92


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 153500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 131000...(338)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 131000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1 (Her)...................4186......161.......0
Loan 2 (Her)...................4992......128.......0
CC 1 (Her).....................3788......87........0
CC 6 (Me)......................2300......40........0
CC 5 (Me)......................1960......40........0
Loan 5 (Me)....................20500.....398.......0
STORE CARD (Her)...............300.......30........0
CC4 (Her)......................7155......113.......0
CC 3 (Her).....................2043......38........0
CC 2 (Her).....................3256......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........50480.....1100......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,525
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,384.92
Available for debt repayments........... 1,140.08
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,100
Amount left after debt repayments....... 40.08

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 153,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -50,480
Net Assets.............................. -27,980

joolsybools

First of all well done for taking the first step in dealing with this. Heres a few things that struck me about your soa:
mobile costs still need to come down, shop around for a better deal there must be one out there
gas and elec look high, presumably direct debit? How big is your house? Look at lowering this
Haircuts-you shouldnt need to spend this much, go somewhere cheaper, get it cut less, if either of you have it coloured then diy
cut up all credit cards and storecards NOW
Thats all I can think of at the mo, others will be along with more ideas.
Good luck with it all, you can do it if you really want to

UEM1892

joolsybools wrote: »

First of all well done for taking the first step in dealing with this. Heres a few things that struck me about your soa:
mobile costs still need to come down, shop around for a better deal there must be one out there
gas and elec look high, presumably direct debit? How big is your house? Look at lowering this
Haircuts-you shouldnt need to spend this much, go somewhere cheaper, get it cut less, if either of you have it coloured then diy
cut up all credit cards and storecards NOW
Thats all I can think of at the mo, others will be along with more ideas.
Good luck with it all, you can do it if you really want to

Thanks for the advice, I thought the energy costs were high, I think we are tied in though with nPower (She got doorstepped a while ago and signed up), although I should really check it out

In regards to haircuts, fair comment, although to be fair it is only every other month that we tend to get it done, so I should really have halved the figure on the forecast.

In regards to the mobile costs, it's as low as it possibly could be and is essential (I'm in the process of trying to start my own business and need to keep contacts sweet which often involves incredibly long phone conversations).

joolsybools

Ok good stuff. Re all the credit cards etc, you need to think about this, there are others on here who know how best to do that - anyone else?

frosty

Hi,If you have sky could you not take out a package with them?
We have line Rental,free phone calls to 01&02 numbers day and night,they do free broadband(we pay £10 a month for unlimited downloads),then sky tv plus we have multiroom(£5 a month).We pay about £50 a month.You could also say you want to cancel sky,they usually come back with great deal for 3 months.
If you had the phone package with sky you might be able to make less calls on your mobile and then be able to lower your package.Also if you look on the oldstyle board you will find lots of ways to save money on your shopping.Good luck.

sammy115

If you do freelance work - do you complete a self assessment. The sky bills and mobile can be offset against your earnings. Do the earnings above include this freelance work.

JasX

UEM1892 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, I thought the energy costs were high, I think we are tied in though with nPower (She got doorstepped a while ago and signed up), although I should really check it out
.

I believe nPower tie you in for 3 months after the switchover date. I did quite well with them over the last year

Feb 2009 doorstepped to signup, got £30 free M&S vouchers
May2009 used cashback site to switch from nPower standard rates to nPower internet rates, got £40 from cashback site.
Feb2010, due £100 fixed discount from original discount offer which suprisingly they didn't reset the clock on from the may switch.

My bills average £30 per months for both gas and electric combined so they've not made much money from me over the last year

March2010 will look around for cashback tarting again

gonzo127

UEM1892 wrote: »

Dear all

Looking for some advise on how to extract myself from the mess that myself and my missus now find myself ourselves in.

Cut a long story short, we have been living beyond our means for a long time now, and never really cared for getting ourselves straight or keeping an eye on the amount of debt we were accumulating

Anyway, we got married last June, which didn't help things financially, and it's finally dawned on us (this week) that we can't afford to start a family.

You can see from the calculator what a mess we are in

Any advice appreciated

Couple of notes on the statement below

I do some freelance sports journalism work, hence the high mobile and sky allowance, not a luxury, a neccesity and the reason I have categorised the unsecured debts is because the mortgage is in her name

I have no assets in my name, is that to my advantage or detriment?

Any help would be gratefully recieved as well as any options out

I realise I only have myself mainly to blame for the situation we are in

Thanks in advance

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1309
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1216
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2525

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 338 - repayment or interest only?
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 85.92 - could you manage this yourself?
Council tax............................. 105 - paid over 12 months or 10?
Electricity............................. 49.5
Gas..................................... 49.5 - as other people have said this seem high, for a 4 bed semi with me a SAHM with baby +2 teenagers i only pay £101 a month for both
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 80 - find out what your usage is, do you call landlines or other mobiles? how many mins and texts, i am sure there should be some way of saving money here if and when you are due for renewal
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 20 - can you get a bundled service (LLU) if not sure check www.samknows.com for availibility
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - you could cut down here, drop a brand challenge, batch cooking, meal planning aim for at maximum monthly shop of £150 to start off with
Clothing................................ 30 - do you really need £30 of new clothes a month? i would be lucky to spend that a year on myself
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 59 - is high for one car search when renewal is up and use cashback sites like quidco
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 - no maintenance costs?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 70 - whats this?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 22
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 30 - check out a local college to see if they do it, usually a lot cheaper as the students do the cutting!
Entertainment........................... 50 - need to cut this down at the moment
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1384.92

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 153500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 131000...(338)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 131000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan 1 (Her)...................4186......161.......0
Loan 2 (Her)...................4992......128.......0
CC 1 (Her).....................3788......87........0
CC 6 (Me)......................2300......40........0
CC 5 (Me)......................1960......40........0
Loan 5 (Me)....................20500.....398.......0
STORE CARD (Her)...............300.......30........0
CC4 (Her)......................7155......113.......0
CC 3 (Her).....................2043......38........0
CC 2 (Her).....................3256......65........0
Total unsecured debts..........50480.....1100......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,525
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,384.92
Available for debt repayments........... 1,140.08
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,100
Amount left after debt repayments....... 40.08

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 153,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -131,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -50,480
Net Assets.............................. -27,980

ok made a few comments on the above, the good news is you currently still have a surplus each month, yes it is only £40 however anything more you save is a bonus and not going to minimising your deficiet, HOWEVER if you do not have £40 at the end of the month you need to start a spending diary to find out where this is spent, so write down everything for a 20p newspaper to a £20 takeaway

next thing i have noticed is none of your debts have the APR's on, you need to find out these as it will help you prioritise which debts need to be tackled first (ie the highest interest rate)

the other one you say about your mobile, now i have just had a quick check about and orange currently have a tarrif which gives you 3000 anynetwork mins, 500 texts, unlimited landline calls and 500mb of internet access for £65, and one with 1200 anynetwork mins + exactly the same others for only £35

the question about assets, well this is a trickey one now your only secured debt is the mortgage so this is the only one which can be taken against assets, this being said if you get behind with repayments etc on unsecured debt and they go to court these can be made in secured through a verious means however this can only be done through a court so should not be a worry for the time being