Which way to go?

Jacob77

The 240 is potentially going to be Job Seekers Allowance for my Wife, she hasn't worked for 3 years since our daughter was born, but due to my salary being quite high we never looked into getting Job Seeker allowance for her, but we are going to see if its possible.

This really shouldn't be accounted for until we know whether she will get it or not.

It would be great for her to go back to work but the children are not in school yet, and both wont be until January, then the only issue is school ends at 3pm so this will limit her hours.

Pollycat

OK, so does the £3348 income include benefits for the children or is it just your income?

From a quick Google you should be getting over £33 per week for your 2.

Re the return to work for your wife, not only will she be limited to finishing at 3pm, you'll need to consider what will happen during school holidays unless she can find a job based around term-time.

I don't have any expereicne of claiming job-seekers allowance so I don't know how likely it is that your wife will be eligible.

In this link (see explanation below):

There is a fantastic online calculator (link below) that you input all your debts and the amount you can afford to pay each month, and the calculator will tell you what debt to pay first and how much to pay each month. It also gives you a debt free date which can be a great motivation and a target to work to.

http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx

If you do have some spare money left over, you can at least pay off whichever debt is costing you the most money.

Good luck.

dancingfairy

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3348
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3348
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 921
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 312
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 20
Council tax............................. 154
Electricity............................. 60 this and electric seem high - have you checked you are with the cheapest company and on the cheapest tariff?
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 35 if this is for one it could be cut down to 15 pounds
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 pretty good in my opinion but others can manage on less so maybe try the Oldstyle board or previous suggestions to see if you can reduce this
Clothing................................ 50 can you cut back on thisfor a while? and buy essentials only?
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 32 any scope for reducing this?
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 18 these might be able to be reduced - have you shopped around? sometimes joint is cheaper
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 could you cut this and shop more cleverly?
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 200 could you cut this down at all? think of cheap/free activites - get people around to your and go to theirs for evenings
Holiday................................. 60
Emergency fund.......................... 30
Total monthly expenses.................. 2602


There's a bit of scope there for cuutting back. I think I might be tempted to tackle Next first as it's probably got a high interest rate and it's a small balance to tackle first to give you enthusiasm to tackle the others.
How about car boots/ebaying any spare things around the house?
df

misscousinitt

Jacob77 wrote: »

I havejust redone this with my Partner and we think that this approach may help:

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 3348
Partners monthly income after tax....... 240
Benefits................................ 0 Child Benefit?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3588
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 921
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 312
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 20
Council tax............................. 154
Electricity............................. 60 make sure things are switched off, not left on standby, energy saving bulbs etc...are you on the best tariff?
Gas..................................... 60 are you on the best tariff?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 35 can this be reduced? PAYG?
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 Definately some savings to be made here - go on to old style for tips and tricks, should be able to reduce by at least £100 straight away...
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0 Nothing in here?
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 32 Is this the best deal? shop round at renewal time.
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 18
Life assurance ......................... 0 Nothing in here?
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Could reduce a bit here. How many do you buy for? Look at HM gifts and offers to bring down
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100 Reduce this to £50, look for voucher codes, free things to do with the kids etc...
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2352

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(921)......0
Secured Debt.................. 11945....(312)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 11945.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................10000.....250.......0
cahoot.........................9000......245.......0
Next...........................500.......70........0
Visa M/C.......................5000......131.......0
Total unsecured debts..........24500.....696.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,588
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,352
Available for debt repayments........... 1,236
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 696
Amount left after debt repayments....... 540
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -11,945
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,500
Net Assets.............................. -32,445

Just a few things above. There are some real savings to be made. I'd get rid of the Next debt first, at least that would be one ticked off the list and then concentrate on the others.

There has been some really good advice given to you by others here - with or without your wife claiming JSA savings can be made and in-roads made into your debt.

Good luck.

Jacob77

Thanks to all for the very helpful advice, it has given me a lot to think about.
Looking back at my statement from the last Six months, there seems to be lots of random spends at co-op, restaurants, toy shops and withdraws from cash points.
I am sure I can do better at managing my money, and not being so spontaneous with my purchasing.
Another thing that we have realized is that if we do have some money in the bank then we maybe should hang onto it and not just go and spend it on a day out.
To be honest we spend a lot on entertaining the kids, that is basically the main focus of our weekends and that cost a lot.

Thanks again, Jacob :beer:

miss_spooky

Just had a quick read through and I'm not sure if I missed it but I'll ask.

I'm guessing that your children are young as you mention toy shops...lol.

Child Benefit for 2 should be £132 every 4 weeks.

What Child Tax Credits do you get? Were these both included in your salary total?

Jacob77

Hi,

Actually I have forgotten to include Child Benefit that should be included

But my salary is over the required amount I therefore don’t get the Tax Credits

DVardysShadow

Jacob77 wrote: »

1) increase income/decrease expenses - This isnt possible at the moment, unless I got a weekend or evening job but the tax that I would pay would make me working not worthwhile

....

I don't want to be in debt for the next 6-7 years, but I don't seem to fall into a category that means that I can get any easier way out of this mess.:(

You are painting yourself into a corner. If you take on another job, you will be heavily taxed, but you will go home with half of your gross. You have to get out of thinking things do not work, or you will be in debt for the next 15 years.

Jacob77

I have just been through the SOA with me partner and added a few bits in a taken a few items out, and we think it's realistic.

We then did the snowball Calc and it is saying that I will be out of debt in 19 months!

The Snowball Calc is a really good, it put is all in perspective.

We both feel really determined to do this!

Thanks Guys.:j

Ex-Spendaholic

Kids are expensive but there are ways to cut down. I have 3 kids and I worked out as a family of 5 it would cost us £45 to go to see Toy Story 3 (we all want to see it) and thats before we get ripped off for drinks etc. Instead of doing this we are going to go on a Tuesday which is a cheap day in the cinema and pay £12.50.

At the weekends we tend to:

Go to parks
Go to the beach
Feed the ducks
Go to museums

All of the above are free. We do ocassionally do farms, funfairs, playcentres etc and they cost a fortune. I find that the kids don't actually enjoy a day which cost £100 any more than a day which was free.

You've got some great advice on here already about shopping etc. You mentioned the random spends. The best thing I ever did was stop using a debit card. Mine is only use online nowadays. I withdraw cash for the month and divide it into weeks. At the start of each week I have envelopes for school dinners and whatever activities are happening that week so that I know the money is there. I've also got into habit of making Monday (my day off) the day I spend money eg. Asda deliver the groceries, I put diesel in the car etc. Spending the rest of the week is therefore minimal.

Good luck in sorting things out.