We are in a mess! and don't know what to do.

Ediths

Hi All

My wife and I have done the budget brain budget and results are below.

I am self employed in the medical profession (so relatively stable) But my business can't sustain the level of income we were taking out of it.

I had a tough sit down and look at the business and realised I would have to cut my salary so to speak. Compounding the problem is my wife has just had our 2nd child and family members who were going to help us with childcare when my wife goes back to work are now unavailable to do so. Child care will cost more than my wifes salary. So she can't go back to work.

So using our new reduced income we did the budget brain and the killler is our outstanding unsecured debts. (Totalling nearly £100,000).

We currently prioritise the debts first so we have no arrears or people chasing us however I am very fearfull that we will not be able to continue once our income drops.

Below is the print out from the Budget Brain.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have contacted payplan and given them all our details but they are due to come back to us with advice however I am worried that they will think we are too far gone.

My other fear is the fact I am self employed and its implications. Will I be forced to sell my business even though it is a stable source of income.

I can't stop thinking about all this and its really getting me down now and making me ill.

I don't know what to do.

Ediths

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.79
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
48. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.33
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,209.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.92
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.33
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lifestyle Life Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.67
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,400.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,041.38

motch

Is the £2,400 the monthly repayments for the Credit Card ?

Gas and electric seem high,and the food bill, mobile phone could be reduced.

bouncydog1

O.K. First of all visit Southern Scousers sticky at the top of this thread. Use the link for the calculator and fill in all of the details using that, then repost on here as it makes it easier for others to see and help if you use that version.

You need to make sure you include all of your outgoings and also include all of the interest rates for credit cards and other information. Prepare yourself for others to be critical - the criticism is meant to be helpful. There are other people on here who have got through debt problems that they thought were insurmountable.

Post the info and let's have a look - there are some very helpful people on here and remember nobody is judging you for anything you have done - they truly want to help.

katsu

Ediths wrote: »

Hi All

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 - if your wife is not working she can drop hers, right? Is your business meeting all business call costs from your phone?
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.79 - you should be able to get this cheaper if you do not download loads of stuff - look at Martin's recent recommendations in the weekly email.
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00 Who are you calling? Can you use an over-ride provider for cheaper calls, sign up for paperless billing, drop any packages you don't need etc. If international calls look at the advice on the main site - I saved a fortune (over £30pcm!)
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97.00 - eek! Are you in arrears? Check your meter reading against your bills. What on earth are you running to spend that much elec pcm? Reduce use of a tumble dryer, turn off lights and things you are not using. If you are not in arrears and this is your monthly usage, maybe you need to borrow or buy an OWl (or similar) meter to work out how you are using so much elec.
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109.00 eek again. See elec advice above. Close curtains at night, block draughts, line curtains, etc etc.
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129.00 - you are now in one of your two free months right? Did you put a 1/12 figure here, for budgetting purposes or is this your monthly payment?
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
48. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.33 what is this?
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,209.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.92
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.33 - you can look at the OS boards for advice on dropping this.
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lifestyle Life Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.00 - do you need this or are you over-insured?

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216.67
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67 - pretty good - check martin's article on the motoring tab. I use Autoaid for £37 p.a. for an insurance policy (pay and reclaim) that offers similar cover to £180-odd AA and RAC cover.

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,400.00 - minimums or are you overpaying any?
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 do you have this free? You can download free ones, no need to pay but it is something you should have.
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.00 - if this is contacts, switch to glasses.
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33 on a denplan or similar?
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67 do you need this many new clothes? Afraid you can't afford them so wear what you have for now.

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00 - can you read this online? you prob need to cancel whatever this is.
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,041.38

Hi Ediths,

Firstly - your house is just you, your wife and 2 kids, yes? So when we look at what you spend on heating and food it is for two small people and two big people.

I've given you some advice above to start you off.

Ediths

Hi Motch

Yes the £2400 is repayments to credit cards (totalling approx £50k and bank loans (totalling approx £40k)

Hi Bouncyd!!!!!!

I will do as you say and repost as soon as I can.

I know we have been stupid in our financial affairs and am ready to accept any constructive critiscm and advice.

I think I have been burying my head in the sand for too long.

Thanks

BringtheStoneshome

My comment would be to look at the debt. If I look at a loan for £100k over 20 years it comes out at just under £1k per month. This would give you the room in the budget you require. Even if you can't get it all out to a loan then getting some of it out to a loan might help.

Paying £2,400 per month on your cards says that you are trying to pay it off in a certain timeframe or have very high interest on it. Maybe you need to lengthen the timeframe or look to reduce the intesrest you are paying.

It is the monthly payments on the unsecured debt that needs to be addressed because looking at your budgets savuing a few quid on gas and electricity (welcome as it is) will be like a drop in the ocean.

Why not speak to credit card companies and see if you can get a long term deal at around 7 or 8 per cent. Maybe that will help.

Most of all don't chuck in the towel. These comapnies would rather look at helping you to pay them than you becoming insolvent.

The very best of luck with it

BTSH

foxgloves

Have had a quick scan, tho' as previous poster says, I find the standard MSE calculator easy to analyse. Not much of a saving, tho' we all know from experience that every little helps, is that you can get a good mobile tariff for £15 (min is with Orange & I have all that I need in this package plus a good free phone). Also, I'd be surprised if you can't get that foodbill reduced. We budget £250 a month & eat very well on that, though it does hinge on menu planning & being prepared to cook more from scratch, freeze ahead, etc. Only had a quick look. I'm sure other people will have more ideas.

Ediths

Thanks Katsu

Yes. 4 people in the house. Two adults and 2 children (3 year old and 3 month old)
thanks for your advice. I will take a look at it.

EdithS

BringtheStoneshome

May I add that you could also look at your wife maybe doing some form of employment or maybe you taking a second job (don't know how feasible this is). What about a change in housing? You could probably get a 3-bed house for less than £1.2k per month. I don't know how you need your house or, indeed, what your equity status is. it might mean living somewhere you don't totally like but at least you will have more security in finance.

Personally, I think you need to work on every aspect of your budget, as you have outlined it, because you have a good income already but you have, by your own admission, been a bit wayward in spending (as all of us have at some point). Now you recognise the mistakes you can correct them and improve life immeasurably (i.e. get rid of the worry). Keep posting the obstacles you are coming up against as you try to make changes because people on here will have met them and will be able to advise. I posted about a newly contracted T-mobile problem on here the other week and with hours someone had provided me with the solution (and it costs me nothing). There is a great wealth of knowledge here. use it.

dancingfairy

O.k so you are 1.5k short a month - you could definitely shave quite a bit off your expenses - food and gas and electric but nowhere near 1.5k.
So you could consider a dmp at you have at least 500 a month to throw at your debts after essential bills - I reckon you could probably get it to nearer 700 with cutbacks. This would take you quite a while to pay back but is a possibility and as your wife is able to go back to work when the children are older and hopefully your income will increase then you can throw more at the debts to reduce the time.
The other option I can see if perhaps bankruptcy - either for one or both of you. I'm not sure how it would affect you being self employed and it does depend on whose name the debts are in whether they are in yours or your wifes or joint.
I would deifnitely get in contact with one (or more) or the debt charities that Martin recommends to chat through your options.
df

Jo_R_2

Just a note - I notice you have 2 kids but there's no Child Benefit mentioned - possibly your wife has this into her bank account so you haven't listed it, so get that on there with your income.

Just wanted to add re: the grocery bill, agree you could work to reduce this, we're a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids aged 6, 3 and 11 months) and we spend about £240-£260 a month so that's something you could easily look at for a quick saving.