Just done a budget sheet. Oh dear.

elfen

You could lower the Sky to it's lowest package for the rest of the contract, they may be able to if you say you're having financial difficulties.
Sorry, but you don't HAVE the money to put into the CTF, you need to stop this for a bit.
Also, the papers and magazines (unless essential for work development) need to be stopped, a lot of it you can access online for free
You need to cut down the meals at work, make sure you make up extra or make up lunches when doing the evening meal.
You need to meal plan, go over to the OS (old style) thread to get ideas on how to make things go further and how to meal plan, you may also need to drop a brand to lower the bill.

podperson

Monthly Total Income (Including Tax Credit and Child Benefit)
£2764.34

Essential Outgoings

Mortgage: £550
Council Tax: £120 - check this is over 12 months not 10
Service Charges: £32.22
Building and contents insurance: £20.79
Life Insurance: £37.55 - seems a bit high, is this is with your mortgage, if not look at shopping round
Gas: £60 - seems high, if you're not in arrears check comparison sites
Electric: £55
Housekeeping: £727 - sorry but very high, check old school boards for ideas on cutting down grocery bills and look at meal planning
TV Licence: £10.87
Travelling Expenses (including money for MOT, Road Tax, servicing): £457
Meals at work/school: £40 - needs getting rid of
Clothing: £50 - is this mainly for children? check ebay and charity shops for some bargin children's clothes (can get a lot like new, especially if they're very little as they grow out of them so quick)
Laundry:£10
Phone and Mobile: £80 - really needs to come down, always worth phoning them and asking to reduce package even if you're in contract
Prescriptions and health costs: £34
Childminding:£130
Others
Sky £58.50 - needs to at least be reduced to lower package
Overdraft fee £20
Birthdays and Christmas:£50 - could be cut down a bit
Child trust Funds:£140 - unfortunately needs to go until you get sorted

Total Outgoings
£2701

Just some suggestions. Sounds like you are looking at a dmp at the moment so am sure National Debtline will be able to offer advice but think you will need to cut some of the figures down for creditors to agree to freeze interest etc. they need to see that you are only able to afford basic living expenses.

katsu

The_Muher wrote: »

Our Budget sheet.

How many of you in the family?

Monthly Total Income (Including Tax Credit and Child Benefit)
£2764.34 how is this broken down? Check you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. Are you both working (appreciate you are about to have another baby if I read your recent posts corrctly)? Any chance of increasing this - ironing, childminding, overtime, shifts in bar etc.

Essential Outgoings

Mortgage: £550
Council Tax: £120 over 12 months or 10 (I.e. do you have "free months" where you can use the £120 towards your debt clearing?)
Service Charges: £32.22
Building and contents insurance: £20.79 shop around at renewal time, check the level of cover you really need and use cashback sites
Life Insurance: £37.55 again shop around/use cashback sites
Gas: £60 both seem high - check you are on best tarrif and reduce usage.
Electric: £55 as gas
Housekeeping: £727 :eek: You can (and need to) seriously reduce this. Look at the OS boards, do meal planning etc.
TV Licence: £10.87
Travelling Expenses (including money for MOT, Road Tax, servicing): £457 break this down into the elements. Reduce non essential travel, get petrol at cheapest places in town (use petrol prices website) drive fule efficiently (read Martin's article), get cheap breakdown cover (again read Martin's articles on this under Motoring at the top of the web page)
Meals at work/school: £40 you can't afford meals at work currently.
Clothing: £50 get kids from freegle and charity shops etc and make do as much as you can.
Laundry:£10 buy from housekeeping
Phone and Mobile: £80 cut right back on anything not in contract and use less.
Prescriptions and health costs: £34 check cheapest deals, consider a pre-payment certificate (see if it would save you money)
Childminding:£130
Others
Sky £58.50 get a freeview box
Overdraft fee £20
Birthdays and Christmas:£50 this needs to be cut right down - I spent £180 on 23 people for last christmas, so it can be done. Reduce to £20pcm, less would be good.
Child trust Funds:£140 this needs to go. Appreciate you want to support your kids but you need to let it go for now. I can't imagine your creditors will freeze interest and let you put this money into a CTF?

Total Outgoings
£2701
where are your debts that you want interest frozen on? Show those too.

Whats peoples views on that?

All suggestions welcome.

Some comments above. HTH

Jesthar

Hi Muher

Just a thought, you may find it helps to try doing your budget sheet on this site:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

It helps you break things down a lot more, so you don't miss things and can work out more easily where pennies could be saved. I think it would help you a lot to try it, as you have some pretty big things lumped together (car, household) which would be easier to get to grips with if separated out.

~Jes

The_Muher

Okay, here's a revised budget sheet using the link provided.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1673
Partners monthly income after tax....... 936
Benefits................................ 140
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2749
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 550
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 55
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 10.87
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58.5
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 330
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 130
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 34
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20.79
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 37.55
Other insurance......................... 17
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 70
Haircuts................................ 60
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 2358.71

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 105000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 109500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 98000....(550)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 98000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................8600......170.......9.9
Loan...........................8400......220.......9.9
Loan...........................5900......116.......9.9
Storecard......................900.......20........0
Overdraft......................300.......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......30........0
Overdraft......................1000......30........0
Credit Card....................1400......35........0
Credit Card....................1700......45........0
Total unsecured debts..........30200.....686.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,749
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,358.71
Available for debt repayments........... 390.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 686
Amount short for making debt repayments. -295.71
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 109,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -98,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,200
Net Assets.............................. -18,700
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

What do you think would be a reasonable option?

I'm from Scotland by the way incase there are Scottish folk who have experience of the Debt Arrangement Scheme.

All comments welcome.

Thanks!

eschaton

The_Muher wrote: »

Okay, here's a revised budget sheet using the link provided.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1673
Partners monthly income after tax....... 936
Benefits................................ 140
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2749
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 550
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 55 high
Gas..................................... 60 high
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 50 bit much
TV Licence.............................. 10.87
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58.5 can't afford luxuries with debts like yours
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500 seriously, how much?
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 330
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 60
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 130
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 34
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20.79
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 37.55 seems excessive
Other insurance......................... 17
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 70 reality check?
Haircuts................................ 60 time to cut back
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 2358.71

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 105000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 109500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 98000....(550)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 98000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................8600......170.......9.9
Loan...........................8400......220.......9.9
Loan...........................5900......116.......9.9
Storecard......................900.......20........0
Overdraft......................300.......20........0
Overdraft......................2000......30........0
Overdraft......................1000......30........0
Credit Card....................1400......35........0
Credit Card....................1700......45........0
Total unsecured debts..........30200.....686.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,749
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,358.71
Available for debt repayments........... 390.29
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 686
Amount short for making debt repayments. -295.71
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 109,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -98,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,200
Net Assets.............................. -18,700
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

What do you think would be a reasonable option?

I'm from Scotland by the way incase there are Scottish folk who have experience of the Debt Arrangement Scheme.

All comments welcome.

Thanks!

few comments above