Had light bulb moment

nanto3girls

Never been in this kind of situation isy, but i didn't want to read and run.I know there are a lot of people on here, who will be able to give you excellent advice.

Nottoobadyet

I agree that a spending diary is a great idea.

Looking at your SOA, a few things jump out. What is the £120 cash? Where does it go?

Your clothing and food budgets also seem quite high, but we will be at a much more insightful place once your spending diary has solved the mystery of where your surplus is going!

Welcome to the boards, hope we can save you some money

isy1011

I have done a snowball calculator for my ccs as I will feel more in control with those out of the way. the other thing Im trying to do is just have some money in my other account for emergencies because previously i have always been caught out with those e.g. boiler breaking and then I have relied on cc.

podperson

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 891.3
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 337.79999999999995
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116 - is this over 10 months or 12?
Electricity............................. 122 - seems very high, I have electric only and pay less then half this with arrears included. check comparison sites
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48.2
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 40 - is this for 2 phones?
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 450 - seems high, check os boards for some great ideas on reducing it.
Clothing................................ 45 - could be cut down a little, if the kids are small check ebay and charity shops, can get some great quality items since they grow out of them so quick.
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 21.23
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 24.14
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 105 - could cut this down a bit.
Holiday................................. 70
Emergency fund.......................... 20
cash.................................... 140 - what's this?
Total monthly expenses.................. 2667.67

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 240000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 243500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 118000...(891.3)....4.99
Secured Debt.................. 20671....(337.8)....8.3
Total secured & HP debts...... 138671....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Egg credit card................6212......123.......0
Santander credit card..........3919......90........0
Virgin cc......................2568......35........15.9
Total unsecured debts..........12699.....248.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,375
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,667.67
Available for debt repayments........... 707.33
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 248
Amount left after debt repayments....... 459.33 - this looks really good but does it generally happen? if not start a spending diary to see where it's going.

isy1011

Thank you Podperson.

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 891.3
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 337.79999999999995
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116 - is this over 10 months or 12? It is over 10 so this will be less.
Electricity............................. 122 - seems very high, I have electric only and pay less then half this with arrears included. check comparison sites I have been thinking I must do a comparison so I will do that.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 48.2
Telephone (land line)................... 25
Mobile phone............................ 40 - is this for 2 phones?This is for 2 phones.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 450 - seems high, check os boards for some great ideas on reducing it.We switched to shopping at Netto to reduce this but find I nip to Tesco to get things as well as its too close!
Clothing................................ 45 - could be cut down a little, if the kids are small check ebay and charity shops, can get some great quality items since they grow out of them so quick. I have started trying to buy work clothes on e bay but daughter is only 10 but bigger than me so paying adult prices for her.:(
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 15
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 21.23
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 24.14
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 105 - could cut this down a bit. It feels like we never go out but when I check bank statements we clearly have been out.Generally as a family not as couple.
Holiday................................. 70
Emergency fund.......................... 20
cash.................................... 140 - what's this? This is why I have started spending diary!! I was spending money on meals at work but now take sandwiches from home. One expense Im peed off about is hubbys work. Everytime someone leaves they ask for £10 and 3 people left last week.!!
Total monthly expenses.................. 2667.67

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 240000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 243500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 118000...(891.3)....4.99
Secured Debt.................. 20671....(337.8)....8.3
Total secured & HP debts...... 138671....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Egg credit card................6212......123.......0
Santander credit card..........3919......90........0
Virgin cc......................2568......35........15.9
Total unsecured debts..........12699.....248.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,375
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,667.67
Available for debt repayments........... 707.33
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 248
Amount left after debt repayments....... 459.33 - this looks really good but does it generally happen? if not start a spending diary to see where it's going. No it doesnt as some big bill always comes along. We got rid of one car last week though so that should help (Ive changed petrol, tax costs etc) I know I can definately pour £300 month into debts ontop of payments.

dancingfairy

Hi - your SOA doesn't look tooo bad at all - apart from the electric which seems very high.
Entertainment - 105
Holiday - 70
Cash - 140
Money left over - 459.

There is a lot of scope for redirecting money towards the debts here. You are fortunate in that you don't need to cut all these out completely but just by reducing each category you will start to make huge inroads into your debts.
The spending diary is also a good idea - I spend a fortune even when I think I have had a cheap week (it all adds up!).
It might be worth having a look at the structure of your debt and seeing if you can get any decent balance transfer deals - so you can transfer any high interest cards to a low life of balance deal.
df

isy1011

Thanks Dancing Fairy. Ive done balance transfers onto Egg and Santander but wasnt enough credit limit to transfer Virgin one. I suppose I could re shop about for another 0% one what do you think?Im fortunate that despite my uselessness with money we still have an excellent credit score. Its a bloody miracle!

dancingfairy

It might be worth applying for one. It depends on how long ago you did the balance transfers before as too many searches within a timeframe can look bad on your credit file and make it harder to get credit. Also you would have to make sure you were super disciplined, do the balance transfer and then cut the card up and not spend on it. Then you could pay the amount you are paying now to the card and see it reduce faster which would be great.
df

isy1011

It was only April this year I did other transfers. Will that look bad? I do resent paying Virgin all that interest.

Wee_Jo

Hi Isy! :hello:

Well done on addressing your debt challenges! You will get lots of support and good advice on here. The spending diary is a brill idea - I have found that it realy helps, now I know where my money goes each month - before I always felt a bit mystified!

You must be exhausted doing two such demanding jobs. Hopefully you can save some £££s here and there and have some more time to yourself.

Jo