Don't really know where to start!

catjohn0909

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1060
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 970
Total monthly income.................... 3030

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 555
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 170
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 72
Electricity............................. 111
Gas..................................... 161
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 75
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 65
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 48.5
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 260
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 142
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 2411.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 135000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122000...(555)......4.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4000.....(170)......18.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 126000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit cards...................5000......50........18
Loans..........................21000.....600.......18
Total unsecured debts..........26000.....650.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,030
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,411.5
Available for debt repayments........... 618.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 650
Amount short for making debt repayments. -31.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -126,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,000
Net Assets.............................. -17,000

I have contacted CCCS with a SOA and am waiting for their information pack. Hopefully I'll be able to sort something out!

Sarsie

Have you checked your eligabilty for any benefits or tax credits? Can't hurt to.

catjohn0909

Hi Sarsie

I have checked the calculators etc and I even applied for DLA (I have a herniated disc which means I've been off work for 2 months and am now on half pay). I'm not entitled to diddly squat unfortunately and as I have not been long employed by the NHS their pay structure means that come July I go on to SSP which is really scary! My hubby is self employed so I have to guesstimate his figures but I think they are accurate enough. Thanks for asking though and taking time to read my SOA (hugs)

catjohn0909

Maybe we should just apply to go bankrupt (( am scared of losing the house and as my hubby is a legal rep it may affect his business too. Does anyone know whether it will or not? He is a single self employed defence solicitor.....

andyboyo

I haven't got any specific advice for you. Looking at your SOA your utility bills seem very high. I don't know your situation obviously but we have the same number of people living in our property which is large and detached. Our combined elec/gas bill is £80 per month.

Sarsie

There are still loads of options open too like unenforcibility, IVA's and stuff. I don't know much about it but I am learning.

There are also ways to make a bit more money listed here, and even more ways to avoid spending what you already have.

It's not all or nothing Cat, there's a range of stuff between the extremes and if you wanted to find out about it there are definately worse places to start.

Herewego

catjohn0909 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1060
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 970
Total monthly income.................... 3030

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 555
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 170
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 72
Electricity............................. 111 these are very high I pay 98 for both
Gas..................................... 161 on a 4 bed house for 3 of us
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 75 is this a meter ?
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 65 can you reduce ?
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 48.5 look into reducing your package
Internet Services....................... 30 maybe combine with tv
Groceries etc. ......................... 350 I spend £200 for 3 of us
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 260
Road tax................................ 30
Car Insurance........................... 142 is ths correct £1704 a year
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 6
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 50 probably not priority
Emergency fund.......................... 100 reduce this pay off debts
Total monthly expenses.................. 2411.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 135000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 122000...(555)......4.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4000.....(170)......18.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 126000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit cards...................5000......50........18
Loans..........................21000.....600.......18
Total unsecured debts..........26000.....650.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,030
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,411.5
Available for debt repayments........... 618.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 650
Amount short for making debt repayments. -31.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 135,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -126,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,000
Net Assets.............................. -17,000

I have contacted CCCS with a SOA and am waiting for their information pack. Hopefully I'll be able to sort something out!

Hi and welcome,
I have left a few comments with a few changes and you could easliy change this and have extra for repayments, you may have answers to everything i have put but you never know.
Good luck you have made the right steps by posting on here, there are some great people around and im sure they will offer more help.
HWG

savingwannabe

Hello Catjohn, do welcome to MSE.




People are nice here and we are all here for the same reason. I am sure the above posts will be of help to you. Mine is going to be basic. I saved money by taking lunches to work, not buying from vending machines (as much, as i still succumb sometimes), walking/bus rather than travelling by taxi, keeping a spending diary of where my money went. I thought i used to be quite savvy but i was wasting £100s on rubbish where i had nothing to show for it. I hope this helps, it will help you to feel more in control.

goodluck, sw.

tyllwyd

You can definitely move the figures around to make the budget balance - you've got £100 down for emergency fund, which could go for now, your utility bills look very high, so I'd check those figures, and you could look at mobile phone/internet/sky to get the best deals.

A large chunk of your money is going on running two cars. Can you go down to one?

KingElvis

Your car insurance and petrol bills seem to be quite high.

I would guess by the £142 PM insurance you are paying, that you are running a high power / luxury car. Obvious savings there.

Your mobile, Internet and TV packages also seem to be at the high end, maybe some savings there?

Good luck from me

catjohn0909

Hi guys and thanks for your lovely comments.

The situation is that two years ago I was earning £40k and had been for some time so money was never really an issue for us, despite the fact that we have 6 kids between us! I was made redundant and took a job paying £15k working for the NHS and the reality of how much things cost has really just hit us!

I know it sounds bourgeois (or however you spell it) but it's hard to change when you're used to taking £200 out of the bank and just frittering it. I look back with a sense of regret that I did not appreciate how much normal life costs.

As for the costs, the kids have grown up and pretty much moved out (one still lives with us but is going to Uni in September) but two of the children are recent nest flyers and still regularly require topping up with shopping, phone top ups and that kind of thing. I'd say on average about £20 a week each and that is sort of what the emergency stuff was for.

The gas/electric are high but we live in a four storey, five bedroom, delapidated pile that I cannot afford to renovate. I can do a bit of decorating here and there but it doesn't make much difference. Hubby doesn't want to sell (hates the stress of moving). As for the shopping, he hates frozen and tinned food so it just ends up being wasted.

We do have two cars. Mine is the family work horse and is not worth selling, his is the saloon which he really takes pride in and I can't see him considering selling it in a million years, plus as we live in a rural area he does need transport for work. I think part of it is that he has not really appreciated that we are heavily in debt with a massively reduced income. Until I can open his eyes to that, I think I'm doomed costs-wise.

Sorry for rambling but I wanted to explain some of the costs (probably have not covered all) and to say that by joining MSE, I honestly believe I have taken the first step towards becoming debt free. Contacting CCCS was (hopefully) the second step.

Thanks again so much for your support. I'll keep working on him!

The Cat