please help, life has never seemed so bad...

Sunnylooloo

Hi PS

your council tax seems quite high (not sure if that is just what it is where you live, are you doing this over 10 months? if so maybe you could change to 12 months? saves a little bit?? Also you house and contents - I pay £44 for both combined so maybe you could get this cheaper - I used to have it with my motgage lender and was paying £80 a month. My life insurance is only £19.44 - I am assuming yours is for you and your husband but you never know you maybe able to save a few pounds here.

Gas and electric seem a little bit high (but I know you have 4 people living there) I changed my recently and I got a cashback deal and cut my monthly DD by over half - might be worth doing?

Not sure if that is any help or not?

I have also wrote to all my creditors and told them i was struggling (I used template letters and and I & E sheet from National Debtline) and so far.... all have accepted my smaller payments - some have reduced interest or frozen it. I have to review the situation from time to time but for the time being it has really helped me - obv not great for my credit report so I am not sure if this is something you would be able to consider.

Wishing you good luck

LL

RAS

pocketshell wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 4
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1826
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1150
Benefits................................ 400
Other income............................ 200
Total monthly income.................... 3576

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 670
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 345
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 172
Electricity............................. 90 - this is very very high. Youneed to talk together as a family about reducing this - that means energy saving lamps, turing everything off at the mains when it is inopt in use,not leaving chargers, computers and TVs on etc.
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 90 - how many and whioch can you reduce to PAYG. The adult children need to pay their own.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 600 - this is massive - you need to head towards £300, although some folk here would argue for lower in your situation. Go over to the old style forum.
Clothing................................ 50 - The adult children have to buy their own. You and OH wear what you have for a while, except knockers and shoes if sessential.
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 40
Other travel............................ 100 - what is this?
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 23
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 27 - this combined witht ehc ontents is very high - check all the comparison sites and then use a cashback site to swap.
Contents insurance...................... 35
Life assurance ......................... 64 - massive. Do you need this much? Check the comparison sites again.
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2691


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 324000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 268000...(670)......0
Secured Debt.................. 35000....(345)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 303000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
lloyds mastercard..............15000.....300.......0
nationwide creditcard..........2000......60........0
barclays loan..................18000.....400.......0
littlewoods....................1200......72........0
nationwide loan................10000.....300.......0
Total unsecured debts..........46200.....1132......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,576
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,691
Available for debt repayments........... 885
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,132
Amount short for making debt repayments. -247

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 324,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -303,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -46,200
Net Assets.............................. -25,200

You can make this work but there are a few other things that you ned to talk about as a family.

The basic is that the "kids" need to know you are in finiancial straits. If OH goes of on one, you need to get them together and have a serious chat, which may include telling them that OH finds it hard to talk about, but what can you do together?

What do you have knocking round the house that is not longer used? Get that sols on e-bay, amazon or at a car boot sale and put it agains thte most expensive (highest APR) debt.

You FT educationist needs a PT job to help out. You need to talk to your worker about whether that are conributing enough - sorry it is hard but what ydo they want, you to go under as a family or to help out. It costs £250 per month to keep the roof over each person's head at the moment.

Make some of the big changes, and make the little ones as well. Cutting the water heating to 60 degrees and reducing the number of hours may only save £100 over the year but if you are borrowing that at a high APR, then that could be £250 by the time you have aoid it off.

pocketshell

Hi RAS
she isn't entitlled to anything atm, she is in last year of A levels and didnt qualify for ema. If she goes on to higher she will have to access a loan to continue I guess. She is thinking of taking a year out and working to raise the money for uni fees so she doesnt end up in debt

RAS

Ok

I know it is hard, particularly if her sibling was not required but this summer can she get work, of any sort? Enough to pay her phone, buy her clothes and pay towards any festivals or holidays she takes. And take a PT job until at least Christmas next year. I understand you may not want her working ove the following 6 months.

pocketshell

Hi SunnyLooloo
Thanks for your post, will have a think about the things you mentioned, tbh my credit score is going to be hit I know this, all I want is to keep my family together, feel like I'm standing on a cliffedge atm. Really appreciate your help. My council tax is band E, I checked it and its right apparently, wasn't difficult to pay when we moved in but now its a millstone. I will look at the contents ins and the electric etc thats a possibility. Our life insurance will always be high, to cover the cost of our silly mortgage but also because I have a bad family history medically and it was hell to get it in the first place. thank you again

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi Pocketshell, think of this as hitting the bottom and however you find a solution - and there will be one - just keep telling yourself that things will get better. Facing up to the debts is very scary but once you take control of it you will feel better.

You need to start thinking about every single penny you spend, get a diary and start writing it down. I used to find it hard to accept that small changes really do add up, and the whole family has to get on board with this.

If your shortfall is £250 then I think there is room in your budget to find this, mobile phones, groceries, clothing and insurance being the ones I would look at first.

Also try not to beat yourself up over past mistakes, I regret the financial decisions I have made in the past too but you cant go back and change things. You just have to find a way of making the best of where you are now.

pocketshell

Hi RAS
thank you for looking at the SOA, will seriously look at the points you said, really appreciate it. I do have an issue with getting my kids to contribute and realise I do need to speak to them.They have lived the life of riley really and look so offended when I say they must turn things off but youre right our electric is ridiculous, as are the phones. The £100 is my bus fares, we only have the one car and it is more expensive to use the car to take us both to work, we live in a rural area and a commute is always needed to all jobs. Have to go now as I have to trek home but will do some searching on the forum you mentioned tonight. Thank you again

pocketshell

hi Yorkshirelass
thank you for your post, the diary sounds a good start!! Dont really know where my money goes most of the time so perhaps this will be an eyeopener!

RAS

Re bus fares, are there any monthly or weekly deals that you can buy into to reduce the cost?

As for the kids, I know but unfortunately that life was paid for on credit and right now, there is no more to be had.

You have to cut your expenses by £250 to get even and then more to get the debt sorted out. You nedd to have a couple of serious heart to hearts with the kids. Am guessing that OH finds it hard to accept the business failure?

Do check whether any of the CCS have massively increased their APrs recently. If you have not spent more on them, then you can close the account and freeze the interest at the old rate.

Sunnylooloo

Hi PS

I think RAS has hit the nail on the head, this needs to be broached as family and you need their help and support too!!

One little thing I noticed, at home we stopped leaving everthing switched on in the plug sockets, you will be amazed by how much you can save by just keeping things unplugged. (This needs to apply to everyone - I think Phone Chargers are terrible the eat up electric)

Also hopefully now summer no need for tumble dryer. Only wash with a full load (although I suspect in your family you would only do that)

Why not get everyone together and see if you can have a good clear out and as RAS says boot sale it (very funny to do) or ebay etc??

I know it's really horrible - gone are the days for me of going round the supermarket Willy Nilly picking up what i wanted never thinking about it. Now I really plan for the coming weeks.

I think the diary sounds a good starting point too.

It is hard with kids you do want them to have everything I understand that.... but now they are becoming adults they need to learn that if they want their treats - then try and get a little job (I worked - many years back - whilst I was as school and college) and I always had to pay some house keeping (OKOK it wasn't proper rent but it made me realise you do need to pay to get on)

We all know how easy it is to get into such a pickle (def been there) but remeber there is some good advice here from people speaking from experience.

Good luck with everything and get your family behind you!!

LL
xx