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cc1982_2

Hey everyone! Been browsing for a while and decided to speak up and get some fab advice.

I know im not in as bad a place as some people on here and im forever grateful for that! I have tried to get my act together a few times and always fail. We went on a rather expensive family holiday in June and we are also going to awy for a few days in a couple of months time to celebrate OHs birthday, although i do pay for most of these with overtime and am lucky that if i fancy some i normally get some which is quite well paid.

We do have a surplus each month but it goes on rubbish... days out to softplay with kids, lunches out, extra food (although i do try and stick to my budget)... you get the point.

I have done a SOA, but tbh i dont think there is much i can cut down on but any advice appreciated!

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1900
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 134 (child benefit)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3034

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 335
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 190
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 50 (gas and leccy in one payment, dd went up with last review due to very cold winter so hoping it will come right back down with next review)
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20 (phone, tv and net all in one payment too)
Mobile phone............................ 50 (for both of us, this is a new contract for 24 months)
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 56
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (new car under warranty)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 150 OH's train/bus fares)
Childcare/nursery....................... 340 (only 2 years left till youngest is at school and this can be drastically cut)
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 24
Other insurance......................... 6
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1805


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 65000....(335)......0
Secured Debt.................. 16000....(190)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 81000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................1200......30........0
Barclaycard....................4500......90........0
Kitchen........................8000......154.......0
Car............................10000.....256.......0
Next...........................1800......180.......0
Duet...........................550.......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........26050.....735.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,034
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,805
Available for debt repayments........... 1,229
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 735
Amount left after debt repayments....... 494

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -81,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,050
Net Assets.............................. -107,050

podperson

Hi cc,

I agree with you the soa is overall very good! Only minor points I could suggest is if your council tax is over 10 months then look at spreading over 12 to reduce monthly costs or use the extra on the 2 free months towards the debts. Also could maybe drop a package on the tv/phone/internet - I have the fairly basic package for £30. Also need to be budgeting for entertainment, presents etc. as at the moment is showing you have nearly £500 spare at the end of the month and I doubt this is the case.
To be honest it depends how desperate you are to get rid of the debt how strict you want to be on yourselves. I would suggest starting a spending diary to see where your surplus is actually going every month, you mentioned days out, meals out etc. Look at setting yourself a budget for this and stick to it for the month. The remainder can go towards overpaying the debts. Look at cheaper or free days out for the kids, go for a picnic, to a museum, national trust sites, there's usually lots of things in your local area that you never think about. You say you can get overtime fairly easily, maybe set yourself a challenge for a month to see how much extra money you can get and whether you could pay one of the lower debts off fully.

cc1982_2

My coucil tax is over 10 months but i do love having no council tax to pay in feb/march and my kids birthdays are feb and april so it kind of pays for that.

Might look into dropping a package, although i have done before and because i have phoned up and threatened to leave a few times its been reduced quite a bit already.

I will defo cut down on days out etc, my kids love the library and parks etc... need to make the most of them defintly.

Also have a bit of an 'ebay' pile accumulating... ill try and get those on this week at some point.

I will try and get into the extra shifts a bit more, i dont hat emy job at all but i do love my days off Its just the though of them but i know it will be worth it in the long run.

cc1982_2

Also, i havent budgeted for clothes as we all have more than enough, i am a big fan of the Next sale (hence my next balance) and we really do have plenty... theres absolutly no need to buy anymore clothes till next summer at all!

Tixy

Hi and welcome

cc1982 wrote: »

Hey everyone! Been browsing for a while and decided to speak up and get some fab advice.

I know im not in as bad a place as some people on here and im forever grateful for that! I have tried to get my act together a few times and always fail. We went on a rather expensive family holiday in June and we are also going to awy for a few days in a couple of months time to celebrate OHs birthday, although i do pay for most of these with overtime and am lucky that if i fancy some i normally get some which is quite well paid.

We do have a surplus each month but it goes on rubbish... days out to softplay with kids, lunches out, extra food (although i do try and stick to my budget)... you get the point.

I have done a SOA, but tbh i dont think there is much i can cut down on but any advice appreciated!

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1900
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1000
Benefits................................ 134 (child benefit) I assume you cannot get child tax credit? or working tc?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3034

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 335
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 190
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 50 (gas and leccy in one payment, dd went up with last review due to very cold winter so hoping it will come right back down with next review)
Gas..................................... 60 have you checked recently to see if another supplier would be slightly cheaper? are you on an online tariff - as these are a bit cheaper than the standard tariff.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0 ? Do you not have? or is this in with council tax?
Telephone (land line)................... 20 (phone, tv and net all in one payment too)
Mobile phone............................ 50 (for both of us, this is a new contract for 24 months)
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 0 need to budget here
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 56
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (new car under warranty) what about things like tyres etc? maybe put in a small budget here. Is servicing free?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 150 OH's train/bus fares)
Childcare/nursery....................... 340 (only 2 years left till youngest is at school and this can be drastically cut)
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 might need a small budget here - at least for annual checkups etc
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 24
Other insurance......................... 6
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 budget here
Haircuts................................ 0 and here unless you do your own
Entertainment........................... 0 budget
Holiday................................. 0 budget
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1805


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


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 65000....(335)......0 interest or repayment? Apr? fixed or variable?
Secured Debt.................. 16000....(190)......0 secured on house?
Total secured & HP debts...... 81000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg............................1200......30........0 find out the APRs so you know which to tackle first
Barclaycard....................4500......90........0
Kitchen........................8000......154.......0
Car............................10000.....256.......0 is this secured HP or just a personal loan used to buy the car?
Next...........................1800......180.......0
Duet...........................550.......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........26050.....735.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,034
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,805
Available for debt repayments........... 1,229
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 735
Amount left after debt repayments....... 494

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -81,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -26,050
Net Assets.............................. -107,050

Hi

Whilst you are showing a surplus of £494 I think it would be better if you actually set yourself a budget for entertainment, kids activites as well as things like presents and haircuts etc. If you have a set budget for each item its easier to keep tabs on how much you actually spend on these items, if they just come out the surplus then its easier to overspend.
I expect that your surplus is a much smaller figure but hopefully there will still be one and you need to find out all the APRs so you can start to target the highest debt first.

Once you have your APR info then you should be able to estimate how long it will take to clear all your debts. Do you have an overdraft? if so don't forget to include it. Or if you have any cash savings put them in as well.

Good luck

Hannah_10

How many children do you have and how old please?

cc1982_2

Thanks Hannah

I have 2 kids, they are 3 and 7.

I have checked around for gas and leccy and changed a few times and i cant get any cheaper, we have quite a big house and its old too, so gets very cold in the winter so we use alot then but im sure we will have made up for it over the summer.

Im in Scotland, we dont pay water rates.

Clothes - see above

Yes, i suppose i should put away a small amount for car servicing, nothing due for quite a while yet though and my dad has a good mechanic friend who will do things cut price for us (my dads quite handy too )

Medical - Only thing we need here is £12 for check up for the dentist twice yearly

Haircuts - My SIL does the kids as she is training to be a hairdresser, the only one we pay out for is me and tbh i get it done as a treat and just trim my own if i cant get to hairdressers.

Entertainment - We dont really do much, as i mentioned before this would only get spent on trips out to soft play etc which i intend on cutting down drastically but i will set up a small budget for this

Holiday - we dont have one booked for next year, only our wee trip in october which i almost paid and i will pay for the rest of this with overtime.

I will need to look out my aprs, but i have a rough idea which i need to pay first.

I dont have an overdraft