Secretly Poor

Secretly_Poor

I would be grateful for any advice from members of this forum. I am a new member and have chosen the name "Secretly Poor" as I have a good job, live in a nice house in a decent area but have recently had no income at all during April and a significant reduction in income.
None of my friends and family are aware we are in these difficulties and assume we are doing ok. However, I have added up my debts and have £51k of debt with some crippling interest charges such as 34% and 29.9% to MBNA. I have considered IVA and even bankruptcy but for professional reasons (I am a solicitor) I cannot go down that route.
I have a few defaults on my credit file due to arrears over the last few months. Am actually catching up with arrears at present. However with the interest as it is, I struggle to see a way out of debt. I need to know that I can become debt free one day and am trying to address spending and seeing where i can make overpayments etc. I wonder if I am being realistic thinking I can do this without a DMP, IVA or bankruptcy. I would be grateful for your thoughts

Tixy

Hi and welcome

Best way to get the best advice is to post up a statement of affairs to show your full financial position. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Plus you can then use that info to do a snowball calc to give you a debt free date, that will give you a starting point and then we can see what suggestions we can make to bring that date forward.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/snowcalc.html

bottleofred

Hi Secretly Poor,

Post your statement of affairs and you will get loads of help/advice about how to save money. After doing this people with more knowledge than me will give more advice on how to get sorted

nogoodwithmoney11111

You have made a great step forward in actually taking stock of your situation and preparing yourself to do something about it. I was in the same position as you just over 5 years ago. We ended up with 77k of debt and had our household income dramatically cut due to my wife stopping when we unexpectedly had twins. Again as both professionals the bankruptcy/negotiate with creditor route was not an option for us so we had to come up with a way to repay everything.

We had 2 mercedes on HP and various credit cards. We had to make drastic lifestyle choices including moving to a cheaper house to release some equity, getting rid of the cars and now running about in a golf diesel 6 years old but great little car, selling a load of clothes/handbags/anything we didn't really need on gumtree or eBay or boot sales. The game is to repay the debts by whatever means you can WITHOUT taking out more debt!!! If this means a downsize in the short term of car or house then that's just what you have to do. If anyone thinks less of you for doing this or because you don't keep up with the jones' then they are not worth listening to. We have changed our lifestyle for the better, don't have any debt apart from a much more manageable mortgage, we still have our professional qualifications that we worked so hard to achieve and are so much the better for it. We repaid 67k of debt in 5 years then were helped earlier this year wih a 9k inheritance so are now clear. It feels great.

You should do an SoA first and foremost then the maths can take over and you will get lots of help with suggestions for trimming monthly costs as well as let you make informed choices about what you may be able to realise from any assets you own.

Good luck and keep posting to update on progress - you would be surprised how sharing your debt in your signature gives you a greater accountability and incentive for dealing with it. It can be done!!!

Secretly_Poor

Dear All

Thank you for the posts to date.

I set out below a list of my current debts and interest rates - the SOA is below the debt list. It is compiled after having gone through Martin Lewis' budget brain software.

Any comments gratefully received.



1. HBOS
AMOUNT OWING (28TH JULY 2010) - £7,094.99
12 MONTHS ARRANGEMENT (RUNS OUT 16 JUNE 2011)
UP TO 15TH AUGUST EVERY MONTH TO PAY
APR - 24.9% (interest accrues during arrangement)
Monthly payment: £75




2. BARCLAYCARD (0844 811 9111)
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £6,611.11
3 MONTH ARRANGEMENT - 1/8, 1/9, 1/10 then qualify for 11 month arrangement
APR - 14.9%
Paying £101 per month

3. MBNA
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £10,242.21
APR - 34.9%
£287.43 DUE DATE: 31 JULY (VARY A DAY OR SO)
(£259 INTEREST PER MONTH)

VIRGIN
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £4,667.83
APR - 29.9%
1st AUGUST - £306.55
£179.19 (ARREARS)
TYPICAL MINIMUM - (ABOUT £95 INTEREST , £10 TOWARDS DEBT)

ATTEMPTED TO DISCUSS INTEREST RATE REDUCTION , REVIEW EVERY 3 MONTHS - CALL IN 2 MONTHS

4. HSBC PERSONAL LOAN
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £6,738.60
APR - 7.9%
MONTHLY INSTALMENTS - £344.43
DATE PRODUCT TAKEN OUT: 30TH NOVEMBER 2005
DATE OF REPAYMENT IN FULL -
20 PAYMENTS LEFT
72 MONTH LOAN ORIGINALLY
I HAVE MADE 52 PAYMENTS AS AT TODAY
ARREARS - £194.43
ARRANGEMENT: OF £50 PER MONTH TO MANAGE ARREARS
PAYMENT DUE: 3rd AUGUST & 3rd of Every Month

5. HSBC ACCOUNT (32316234)
£279 OVERDRAWN



6. SANTANDER
AMOUNT OWING (20 July 2010) - £3,044.43
TOTAL MONTHLY £75
DUE ON 2ND EVERY MONTH
APR - 16.61%
APPROX £40 INTEREST PER MONTH

7. M & S MONEY CAR LOAN
AMOUNT OWING (28 July 2010) - £8,471.78
APR - 11.9%
FINALLY PAID OFF - 40 MONTHS LEFT (ASSUMING THAT I DON’T PAY THE BALLOON PAYMENT)
1ST PERIOD - 30 JULY 2012
THEN PAY BALLOON PAYMENT: £3229.52
NO ARREARS


8. SVENSKA - £3000 OVERDRAFT


1. HBOS
AMOUNT OWING (28TH JULY 2010) - £7,094.99
12 MONTHS ARRANGEMENT (RUNS OUT 16 JUNE 2011)
UP TO 15TH AUGUST EVERY MONTH TO PAY
APR - 24.9% (interest accrues during arrangement)


2. BARCLAYCARD (0844 811 9111)
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £6,611.11
3 MONTH ARRANGEMENT - 1/8, 1/9, 1/10 (WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT?)
APR - 14.9%
11 MONTH ARRANGEMENT -

3. MBNA
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £10,242.21
APR - 34.9%
£287.43 DUE DATE: 31 JULY (VARY A DAY OR SO)
(£259 INTEREST PER MONTH)

VIRGIN
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £4,667.83
APR - 29.9%
1st AUGUST - £306.55
£179.19 (ARREARS)
TYPICAL MINIMUM - (ABOUT £95 INTEREST , £10 TOWARDS DEBT)

ATTEMPTED TO DISCUSS INTEREST RATE REDUCTION , REVIEW EVERY 3 MONTHS - CALL IN 2 MONTHS

4. HSBC PERSONAL LOAN
AMOUNT OWING (28 JULY 2010) - £6,738.60
APR - 7.9%
MONTHLY INSTALMENTS - £344.43
DATE PRODUCT TAKEN OUT: 30TH NOVEMBER 2005
DATE OF REPAYMENT IN FULL -
20 PAYMENTS LEFT
72 MONTH LOAN
I HAVE MADE 52 PAYMENTS AS AT TODAY
ARREARS - £194.43
ARRANGEMENT: £50 PER MONTH
PAYMENT DUE: 3rd AUGUST & 3rd of every Month

5. HSBC ACCOUNT (32316234)
£279 OVERDRAWN

6. SANTANDER
AMOUNT OWING (20 July 2010) - £3,044.43
TOTAL MONTHLY £75
DUE ON 2ND EVERY MONTH
APR - 16.61%
APPROX £40 INTEREST PER MONTH

7. M & S MONEY CAR LOAN
AMOUNT OWING (28 July 2010) - £8,471.78
APR - 11.9%
FINALLY PAID OFF - 40 MONTHS LEFT (ASSUMING THAT I DON’T PAY THE BALLOON PAYMENT)
1ST PERIOD - 30 JULY 2012
THEN PAY BALLOON PAYMENT: £3229.52
NO ARREARS

8. BANK OVERDRAFT - £3000 OVERDRAFT

9. SOLICITORS BILL - £900

10. CLEANERS - £700

11. TMOBILE - £136

TOTALS:

£51,749.95


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,300.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.27
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.41
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.80
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,168.50
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.20
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.21
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.88
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643.43
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394.43
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209.69

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
Child Trust Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223.92
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Contact Lens Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.50

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.48
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
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). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,380.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,194.12

Many Thanks

WRINKLES

What area do you work in , littigation , criminal law ,conveyancing,

Secretly_Poor

Corporate law

slummymummyof3

Get rid of the cleaner for a start and save £100 per month. Can you renegotiate your mobile phone to lower the monthly costs? Look at meal planning to reduce your monthly food shopping and try Aldi/Lidl. Can your wife/partner work part time when the child is at nursery?

Marisco

Hi SP, the 2 that struck me as ripe for cutting is the cleaner and meals at work, that's 200 quid saved straight away. Have a look at the comparison websites for your gas and electric, possibly go down a couple of tariffs with your mobile. Does your work involve a lot of travel? Petrol costs are high - is there an alternative? You could shave a bit off the groceries as well, by buying generic brands instead of "named" ones, meal planning etc, there are lots of ideas on the Old Style board. Good luck:)

Foundational

Some ideas (and queries), hope they help. I'm sure others wil be along soon to share their thoughts too... Well done for posting and a warm welcome!

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,300.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 This is very high, go PAYG or get a new contract
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.27
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 You can't afford a cleaner!
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.41
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 Might be difficult with overdraft but aim to move to free banking
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.80
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,168.50
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08 Is this worth it? Better if you can identify a local GasSafe guy
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.20
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 Could aim to cut this back to £250, gradually
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 Seems high - long commute to work? Still, cut unecessary travel
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.21
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.88 Seems high - on a contract?
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643.43
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394.43
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209.69

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
Child Trust Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 Just stick with what's in there - you can't afford this

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223.92
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Contact Lens Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.50 Wear glasses -easy for me to say, but you've got to make savings

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.48 Ditch it, you can't afford it
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Cut right back, only do free stuff, stay closer to home
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). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 Take packed lunches, this would be a big saving
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,380.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,194.12


Keep posting. You'll do this...

Best wishes

Foundational

Ames

Secretly_Poor wrote: »

Dear All

Thank you for the posts to date.

I set out below a list of my current debts and interest rates - the SOA is below the debt list. It is compiled after having gone through Martin Lewis' budget brain software.

Any comments gratefully received.



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

How many people in the household? Doesn't your partner work?

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,300.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 this is really high if it's just one, and still high if it's two. cut down and go payg asap.
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.27
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 :eek:this is really high, I'm sure you could do it yourselves, especially if one isn't working.
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08 what does this cover?
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00 these two seem high, how big is your house?
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.41 have you looked into getting a meter? There should be a calculator on your supplier's website, and you can have it removed for free if it's not saving you money within a year.
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.75 is this interest or a fee for being in your overdraft? Are you within it or have you gone over?
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 I'm sure you don't need to pay this, I doubt you're getting anything that's worth what it costs you.
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.80 ouch this seems high
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,168.50
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.08 do you really need this?
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.20 this seems high, make sure you shop around on renewal.
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 if you have kids you probably need something here, probably instead of the mortgage one but I don't really know about them.
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00 unless you're a family of 7 this seems high. Aim for around £60 per person for week if there's more than 2 of you, if it's just one then about £100 is about right, and a bit on the high side.
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.21
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.50
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73.88 :eek:this is really high, especially for a car which is so cheap on tax and insurance.
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643.43
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394.43
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209.69

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
Child Trust Fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223.92
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Contact Lens Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.50 I think you can get this cheaper online.

I'm surprised you don't have more kids expenses, how old are they/he/she?

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.48 this can be cut, get freeview instead
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 there's loads of free stuff to do
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). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 what's this for? You can get free anti virus.
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 really nothing?
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 no buying on clothes for anyone ever?

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 you need a little bit here
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 you need a little bit here

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 :eek:this can go, on top of your high food budget it really is just throwing money away
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,380.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,194.12

Many Thanks

Hi, it's not the format we're used to but I've put a few comments. It's hard to know if you're overspending without knowing how big the household is, but there's definitely lots of scope to cut down. I also think you've missed a few bits off, like clothes and xmas, which will creep up and throw the budget out.