SOA - Where do I start?

lil'H

Hello and welcome! :T

Just wanted to ask a couple of things regarding your income. You say in one post that you perhaps overestimated how much profit you'd make, wel did you overestimate to child/working tax credits when you put in claim, if so you may be entitled to more. Give them a call and make sure all the figures are up to date, and as long as you are doing 16 hours you'll be counted working, whether or not your making a salary. Also child benefit, is that included in your amount you've classed as benefits, if not where is it going?

How old is your child (guessing 2ish?) are nursery fees going to drop at any point, when children turn 2 and then again at 3 the ratio rules for staffing change, some nurseries alter fees as a result, (less staff required less pay goes out = lower fees) Most however lower them aged 2 and then are cheaky and leave them for the three year olds. Double check, I was lucky as DSs went down, may not effecgt you now but it will help making a decision re nursery. Also regarding Lynz suggestion of childminders, just really closely check before making a decision, as some areas of the country childminders are much more expensive than nursery (my area included, almost double) and all the childminders in my area demand you rpovide food etc which adds to costs which are all included in nursery fees. Do you work evenings at all, if not could you do a couple of evenings whenn you OH is home, and that way cut childcare?

WestEndGirl wrote:

Mortgage/Rent - £900 (about to remortgage at 5.19% fixed for 2 yrs)
ISA savings plan for mortgage - £250 necessary?
Council Tax - £169
Gas - £40 (DD)
Electric - £40 (DD)
TV License - £10.99
Sky - £36.00 (lowest cd be £25 inc £10 for SKY+ (in 12 month contract)ignore the whole i'm in a contract thing, ring them and see if you can get it down in price, believe me this works. Simply say you can't afford it, which lets face it you can't at the moment. THey can't do any worse to you than say no, sorry
Phone - £18.50 (DD)
Broadband £14.99 (Not in SKY free area, don’t trust Carphone Warehouse service – need uninterrupted broadband for work)Again who are you with, how long for, can you threaten to leave, say you can get it free with talk talk and see if they'll reduce the price, that way you save without loosing service
Mobile Phone – c£15 PAYG
Supermarket - £350 (inc cat food, nappies)really watch this, challenge yourself for a couple of weeks to only buy fruit/veg and see how long you can live out of freezer/cupboards, you'd be surprised!
Car Insurance - £33
Home Insurance - £12.73
Annual Travel Insurance - £7 (for family)this could be cheaper, if you really think you need it that is
Petrol - £50are you making any unnecessary journeys, watch out for trips to shopping centre etc, petrol + car parking is always more than the cost of a bus fare.
Life Insurance £31.29
Nursery fees - £350 (including £250 by salary sacrifice for vouchers so reflected in lower income figure above)

There are also business expenses, which can’t be changed, like virtual office cost, loan repayment, which total about £500 pcm. Those are in my blind spot at the mo, I can’t bear to think about them adding to the above.Put these up, you may be able to make savings here which would increase your profit. I run my business on next to nothing, without detriment.

MBNA CC – Balance £3,500 (limit £3,700) APR 4% to April 07
M&S CC – Balance £3000 (limit £6750) APR 4% for life of balance
Barclaycard CC – Balance £4000 (limit £13,800), APR 6.5% for life of balance
Capital One CC - £1000 (limit £5000) APR 6.5% to Apr 07
Tesco CC – Credit balance £500 from MBNA balance transfer (limit £2,900)

M&S Loan – Balance £12,000 APR 7.9% Length of term 60 months, 42 months to go

Overdraft - £7,500 (limit £8,000) APR 12% :eek: wow! this is your higest interest rate so is your priority, use your saving, they will be paying less interest than the overdraft is charging so not worth keeping them.

Savings – ING Direct £5000 (“rainy day” savings which are being depleted almost monthly at the moment)

Query
I’ve just got a loan offer in the post from MBNA - £8000 at 7.9% APR for 60 months, nothing to pay for 3 months, at c.£160 pcm. That would get rid of my overdraft, but my knee-jerk reaction is not to get any MORE debt, but I can’t see how we’re going to keep going for much longer otherwise. If I get my overdraft sorted, and REALLY try to cut back on food etc, and fling myself at the business, will that be enough to pull us out of this? Come on you psychic people…! now i'm guessing that maybe some of your debt is due to paying off other debts, or believeing you wouldn't spend on the card...only in emergencies etc etc, more debt will end up being more debt, and a loan will tie you in. Don't do it IMHO

Any suggestions gratefully received - I simply don't know where to start.

You will get loads of help here, don't panic, start workign on it systematically and you'll get there. YOu do need to add all the missing bits off your SOA though, clothes, night out, babysitter, newspapers, magazines etc etc, every body needs a certain amount of misc cash spends and until your honsest about every penny you won't be able to get control back.

Good luck
Lil'H

WestEndGirl_2

Thanks lil'H
I have checked with Tax Credit, and we only get more if my husband's salary drops dramatically, so hopefully it won't. Govt childcare allowance came in in March, saving us about £8 a day - we get 2 sessions "paid", per day, but the "payment" is only worth £8 to us off our bill, when a full day costs £37 (just increased by £4, gee thanks...)

I've actually had a bit of good news - when looking through the mortgage vehicle stuff , I noticed that one was a £50pcm savings plan I'd set up about 15 years ago, and it's actually now worth £8,800 (about £400 more than I'd paid in, isn't the stock market a wonderful place to be...) So, I'm guessing from what you guys have said so far, that I should use a large chunk of that to pay off some of my overdraft, to reduce the interest. Would Alliance & Leicester take me if I repaid the o/d fully for a short while, and then how much o/d limit would they offer me on the account? Not that I should be looking for o/ds I suppose, but it makes me feel better :embarasse that it's there...

I plan to pass over all my cards/accounts etc to my OH anyway, to keep me on the straight & narrow (when we get there!), and to revamp the budget completely, so will update you on my plans/progress.

chevalier

Hi there
Your new rate is 5. 19%, is this the best deal you can find?
Can you join Quidco to get cash back for purchases ?

chevalier

Also, can you or your hubby claim back any bank or credit card charges, as this could help you with your debts!:j