'Statement of Affairs' - help find ways to cut back

markysparx

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,601.54
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,083.33
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 175.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,859.87

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,219.00

Tixy

Hi and welcome

How many people in the family? how many adults and how many kids?

markysparx wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,601.54
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,083.33
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 175.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 looks high, how many phones? can you try to drop down a tariff on them, or if not in contract look for a cheaper deal
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 consider getting combined internet & landline (deals start at under £20 for combined)
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 do you need this every month? is it actually a gardener?
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 do you have no elec? or is this the combined cost for both?
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00 have you done the online 5min check to see you are in the right ct band for your street?
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 what is this? is it interest? overlimit fees? these new daily charges?
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00 what is the balance and the apr? how much is the house work? is this interest only or repayment? are you on a fixed apr?
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350.00 how many for? try to reduce this down (£200 for a family of 4 is doable, slightly more if you are a bigger family)
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.00 is this just the minimums? what are the balances and aprs and limits?
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.00 balance? apr?
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 consider combining with landline & broadband, can get all 3 for around £30.
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 can you try to reduce this at all?
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 and this?
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 are you up to date with your income tax? made the latest payment last month?
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,859.87

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,219.00

Well you are a long way over you income each month so I think you need to be really brutal as to what is essential.

It would help if you can list your debts balances and aprs etc so we can see a clearer picture of your finances, including the mortgage.

how many cars do you have? do you have any other assets or savings?

Is there a reason for such an overspend each month (ie has your income reduced recently or is it just that you have overspent for a while and now can't get more credit) - this is just so we can help advise by the way, not a judgement on your situation.

markysparx

Hi we dont own our own house, have one car worth approx £1500 and have 2 small children and one on the way.

markysparx

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,601.54
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,083.33
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 175.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 looks high, how many phones? can you try to drop down a tariff on them, or if not in contract look for a cheaper deal We have 2 contract phones, when mine runs out in Sep then we will get rid off it
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 consider getting combined internet & landline (deals start at under £20 for combined) We have all 3(landline tv and intenet) at £45 per month that is the lowest that virgin will do us
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 do you need this every month? is it actually a gardener? We live in rented house and responsible for upkeep of garden, this is just a rough amount with replacing of lawnmower, bark and plant preservation each year
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 do you have no elec? or is this the combined cost for both? Ware actually paying £199 per month for combined gas and electric, my wifes business uses a lot of electric
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00 have you done the online 5min check to see you are in the right ct band for your street? Yes
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 what is this? is it interest? overlimit fees? these new daily charges? This is the combined monthly fee for 4 overdrafts
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00 what is the balance and the apr? how much is the house work? is this interest only or repayment? are you on a fixed apr? Rent is 800 per calendar month, we have to live in a big house due to 3 kids and wifes business.
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350.00 how many for? try to reduce this down (£200 for a family of 4 is doable, slightly more if you are a bigger family) This includes all cleaning, food, toiletries, washing powder etc etc
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.00 is this just the minimums? what are the balances and aprs and limits? yes that is minimum payments
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.00 balance? apr? 11k over 5 years, new loan taken to consolidate other borrowing
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 consider combining with landline & broadband, can get all 3 for around £30. all 3 ar combined, £45 is lowest Virgin offer us
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 can you try to reduce this at all? Have approx 30 people in close family with kids etc, have reduced how much we spend already
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 and this? As above
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 are you up to date with your income tax? made the latest payment last month? Paid when do tax return, yes up to date
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,859.87

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,219.00

Well you are a long way over you income each month so I think you need to be really brutal as to what is essential.

It would help if you can list your debts balances and aprs etc so we can see a clearer picture of your finances, including the mortgage.

how many cars do you have? do you have any other assets or savings?

Is there a reason for such an overspend each month (ie has your income reduced recently or is it just that you have overspent for a while and now can't get more credit) - this is just so we can help advise by the way, not a judgement on your situation. Reason being, setting up business, didnt realise we wuld make such a loss over the first 3 years and had to live via credit cards, only reason we over spend now is because we have to pay so much back from this

Thrifty_Pixie

Hi marky

OK, so you've justified each of your expenditures, however you came here for advice, and the truth of the matter is YOU NEED TO CUT BACK, and so have to face up to some sacrifices if you're going to tackle this over-spend. So, with that in mind:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,601.54
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,083.33
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 175.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 We have 2 contract phones, when mine runs out in Sep then we will get rid off it ---not good enough. you need to look into downgrading tariffs now (call and ask) or looking into PAYG. this is a massive bill per month for mobiles
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 We have all 3(landline tv and intenet) at £45 per month that is the lowest that virgin will do us --- then look around for offers from other companies or offer to leave and see if they'll give you a discount - even £10 per month is better than nothing.
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 --- I thought you said this was included in the £350 for groceries below?
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 We live in rented house and responsible for upkeep of garden, this is just a rough amount with replacing of lawnmower, bark and plant preservation each year --- you don't need to replace a lawnmower every year - change to £5 max which makes £60 per year, which is ample.
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 --- what is this for?
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 Ware actually paying £199 per month for combined gas and electric, my wifes business uses a lot of electric --- make sure you don't leave things on standby, don't leave lights on etc
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160.00 have you done the online 5min check to see you are in the right ct band for your street? Yes
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00 This is the combined monthly fee for 4 overdrafts --- how much are these overdrafts? they need to be included in your debts below.
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800.00 what is the balance and the apr? how much is the house work? is this interest only or repayment? are you on a fixed apr? Rent is 800 per calendar month, we have to live in a big house due to 3 kids and wifes business.
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350.00 This includes all cleaning, food, toiletries, washing powder etc etc --- but you include £15 above as well?
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 --- £120 per year is quite high. you could probably get this cheaper or use one of the 'PAYG' breakdown companies
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 715.00 yes that is minimum payments --- a breakdown of these would be useful with APRs. maybe use the other form of SOA (on sticky at top of the forum) as it's easier
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190.00 balance? apr? 11k over 5 years, new loan taken to consolidate other borrowing --- APR?
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 consider combining with landline & broadband, can get all 3 for around £30. all 3 ar combined, £45 is lowest Virgin offer us --- see above
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 --- collect vouchers and do free things like picnics, museums etc for a while
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 --- you could stop this for a while. not a necessity.
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 --- do they need new clothes every month? use eBay, freecycle, charity shops for a while
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 --- you could cut this for a while and use what you have
Big One Offs
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Have approx 30 people in close family with kids etc, have reduced how much we spend already --- then reduce more! buy for children only and limit it to, say £10 per person. you really can't afford £600 per year
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 As above --- OK, now £1200 per year for all gifts. this is way outside your means. sorry.
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150.00 are you up to date with your income tax? made the latest payment last month? Paid when do tax return, yes up to date
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 --- stop. i know it's hard as I'm nearly a month in myself, but it's the best thing you can do for your finances and your kids.

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,859.87

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,219.00


I know you're probably going to come back and justify why you spend so much on gifts or mobiles, but I'm afraid the time for justifying all your expenses is over. You need to change your lifestyle for a little while until your business takes off. You came here for advice, and that's what you'll get...even if it comes across as harsh

coldstreamalways

My mobile bill is £15 per month for unlimited calls to landline/O2 and 500 texts, there are good deals out there, this is a big area for savings as £90 a month for two(?) mobiles is massive. Make sure you go to saynoto0870 as well if your wife has to make business calls to other companies/banks etc as these numbers will put your bill up even more.

xyellowx

marky listen to the advice above you need to change your lifestle and make cutbacks when you are prepared to do that the advice on here will help no end
be very careful using a c/c to keep a business afloat (not many accountants would advise this)

gonzo127

now although you are getting good advice above i think you will have to seriously look into a debt management plan so i would contact one of the free debt charities such as national debt line, CCCS, CAB or CAP who will go through things with you. anyways here my thoughts

currently you have debt repayments of £905 a month and you are currently over spending by £359.13 a month so this actually means you have £545.87 for debt repayments

now going on what I class as reasonable the savings you can make are

£50 on Mobile phones - most people will not need a contract over £20 a month so
£30 on Smokes - go to your GP and get help from them for the replacement therapy
£15 on Eating out - sorry but this is a luxary personally havent been out for a meal in many months
£10 on Adult clothes - personally budget £5 per person per month for this, shopping at tesco asda matalan primark or charity shops and we get by fine
£9 on breakdown cover - with cashback sites and lowest level of cover you can get yearly cover for less than £10
£50 on groceries - i usualy tell people to try and budget £60 per person per month which is more than do-able (i do shopping for my family of 5 on £300 a month including 2 teenagers and a baby)
£10 on virgin - check out this http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=11039 triple pack with tv, phone + line rental and broadband for ~£35 a month

the above will give you savings of £174 which although doesnt cover your shortfall is still a good place to start and probably what will be demanded of your if you are to take on a DMP

katsu

I spent £180 on 23 people for Christmas last year. You don't need to spend so much on a big family - we don't. I achieved this by:
*using sales (I've only just got my first full price 2010 Christmas gift!)
* 99p/pound type shops - some good bargains if you hunt in there
* charity shops - great priced good condition books and some new goods
* special offers - look at the grabbit board, look for one-off weekend deals etc etc
* shop all year round - I got some 2010 gifts in the pre-christmas 2009 sales. You will save a fortune if you keep a box for cards and gifts all year round (I buy gift wrap and cards in the sales too).

You totally cannot afford £1200 on presents and you have no need to spend like that.

For car breakdown cover look at Martin's articles - Autoaid at £37p.a. equates to top-notch AA/RAC

Marisco

£90 per month for mobiles is ridiculous - especially when you have a landline as well!! I pay £20 with 600mins and 500 texts and could probably get it even lower! I pay £24 mth package with Orange which includes line rental, broadband and internet phone with free calls anytime inc international calls! For TV I have Freeserve - the clue is in the name;)

podperson

Hi marky,

Unfortunately definately need to make some cut backs, at least until the business picks up. Is your council tax spread over 12 months instead of 10? If not get this set up. I have landline, broadband and phone with Virgin and am on the lowest package of £37, also save an extra £2 by getting online bills instead of paper and an extra £5 for paying by direct debit so only £30 a month. If you're not stuck in your contract then ring up and say you're thinking of leaving.
Also since you are nearing the end of your phone tariff worth ringing up and asking if they can reduce, often more likely to do this nearer the end to keep you sweet and get you to renew!
Food shopping can definately come down, lots of ideas on the old school boards for doing this. Threads on feeding a family of four for £200 so should be able to cut down at least £50 a month.
With clothes for the kids look at ebay, charity shops and markets. Especially since they are little you can get clothes that are like new since kids grow out of them so quickly. Same principle with buying gifts for kids, can gets kids clothes and toys that are like new but a fraction of the cost.
Looks like the smoking has been cut down since that's quite low for a smoker for the month but if you can quit altogether can get lots of free help from your gp.