I think i have just had a LB moment!!

Newmummy_3

:mad: Hiya Ladies and Gents.

As I sit here waiting for divine intervention and frantically ready posts for money saying tips I think i have had my lightbulb moment!

Quick bit of history from me... got myself into some debt problems at 18, basically my own stupidity for the most part.... I was a student working part time 2 c cards plus an overdraft with halifax. drunk driver hit my car i wasnt seriously hurt thank got but my part time job as a shelf stacker was gone cause i bust my ribs collar bone and wrist.. I got behind on repayments and even though i contacted companies concerned (capital one and barclycard) i ended up with 2 defaults registered against me in spring time 2001. 4 months later compensation came thru from insurance companies and i cleared o/s default amounts as well as my o/d.

Move forward 5/6 years and I'm in it again up to my neck and I only have myself to blame.

I bought a flat last May but because of the iffy marked on my credit file from 4 years previous the mortgage lender would only lend 90% of valuation so instead of biding my time and saving i borrowed the additional 10% from Welcome finance!!! Can you spot where this is going?? I also have a car on HP thru them (yes i know totally stupid :mad: ) Dp has his own loan with RBS we have 4 cataloge accounts one c/card tv and sofa on HP not to mention 2 sets of car insurance etc.

Now here lies the problem I am pregnant and indeed overdue... had some issues with complications the last 4 months and have been off work sick. the PPI i took out on welcome loan and car finance say because i am female pregnancy complications are not covered and i'm currently trying to fight with them. As a consequence money has been tight and payments have been missed. :embarasse I am now on maternity leave but that is slightly better than sick pay so now is the time to stop playing ostrich and get down to the serious business of setting up a realistic budget and sticking to it as well as attacking all o/s debts and trying to improve my credit history before i get hit with another default!

I am in the middle of doing an SOA for you all to look over.. I'm very very keen to avoid debt management or consolidations and more than willing to pay back all we have borrowed

I will post my SOA once I have finished it but it isn't making plesent reading. I also have a note of the snowball link so i get sort out a debt free date.

In the meantime if anyone has any other advice/tips/suggestions please feel free to post.


:mad: :mad: I cannot believe i have let this happen and not did anything about it for a long while... The pregnancy has brought it to a head but in all honesty we have been living beyond our means for alot longer and it HAS to stop now.

oo any suggestions on how i could make a little extra cash while on mat leave would be great too.

Newmummy_3

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,174.26
Partners salary - £874.00


Total - £2,048.26
Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £196.44
Council Tax - £104
Gas - £14
Electric - £23
TV License - £11.37
TV/Phone/Internet - £72
Food - £312
Home Insurance -£23.45
Car Insurance (2 cars) - £97.16
Petrol (2 cars) - £120
Car finance £276.26
Home loan - £222.48
Partners loan - £134.35
HP on TV -£ 16.41
Hp on Sofa – 32.34

Total £1655.26

£393 spare per Month. From this we must pay at least the minimum payments on 4 catalogs (next £412 o/s, littlewoods £134 o/s, Additions £202 o/s , Kays £327 o/s ) at a 5% minimum pyt = £54 give or take a few pennys. The intrest rates on there vary between 29.9% and 32.9% so minimum payments don’t really may that much of a dent into the balance o/s. Partner also has a capital one platinum card with £170 o/s and we pay at least the minimum there too but once again it has a highish intrest rate of 19.7% I think. So all in all that’s around another £65 ish off the amount spare each month.

We also have 2 overdrafts we are to the maximum on £500 on his private account and £900 on his joint account. We are not currently reducing them by anything each month.

From what I can see we spend way way way to much on food and groceries. So any way to slice that down would be fantastic…. What would be a realistic weekly food budget for 2 adults and 2 cats?? I can cook but we seem to have fallen into the ready meal/take away trap.

From the ‘spare’ cash we have to cloth ourselves cover any emergencys, try put money aside for car tax, vets bills etc. ARRRGH we seem to be in a pit with no way out in the foreseeable future help!!!

littlelily

Hi Newmummy,

First - congratulations on your imminent arrival and second, well done for taking the first step to getting sorted!

I am a newbie myself so suggest that far wiser folks will be along soon to pick over your SOA but one thing struck me - you list your salary as £1174.26. My children are admittedly nearly teenagers but I don't remember SMP being that generous when I had mine! Are you still working and receiving full pay? How much pay will you receive one you go on maternity leave? And have you any idea how long you plan to take after the baby is born?

CLAPTON

firstly income

can you outline what happens to your income over the next 6/12 months?
you OH income is relatively low...can he increase his income, new job, overtime, second part time work?

spending
you need to list and total ALL your spending, i.e. that include car tax (divide by 12 to get a monthly figure), any RAC/AA, what about car servicing/allowance for new tyres/exhaust/repairs, obviously you've stopped holidays but what about xmas/presents/clothes/haircuts/ going out, any work related lunches/coffees etc etc

also list all the debts and the minimun payments, the APRs and add them up so you can see the complete picture... i would think you are actually spending more than your income but its not really possible to see unless your write everything down.

depending upon whether you are (will shortly) be spending more than your income will depend upon what you need to do.

obviously food is very expensive for only 2...you could expect to half that, can you itemise phone/tv/internet or is it a package...seems expensive

do you really need two cars? they are costing you more than a quarter of your income

gallygirl

Newmummy, welcome!!! The 'special ones' will be along shortly with great advice, I just wanted to say hello, and don't worry, we've seen a lot worse! One thing that will be suggested is for you to redo your SOA (cut & paste, don't start from scratch!!!!!). Look at Southern Scousers sticky at the top of this board - e.g you need to list APR's & minimum payments on all loans, ccards etc.

You are right - food is the obvious area for cut backs. Am not sure what budget you should set, will let others with knowledge of bubba feeding etc to advise. But stop ready meals etc!!!!!

Some general points:
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx
this is a link to your new best friend - the snowball calculator. Feed in all your debts and calculate your debt free date - it will be our mission to bring this forward!!!

Money saving old style board for recipes, cleaning tips etc. Cook from scratch (not easy when you'll be up all night, use a slow cooker and bung everything in!). Great for cheap cuts of meat, bulk out meat with pulses & beans. Also great for using up manky veg!!!! Batch cook & freeze portions.

Use www.freecycle.org to ask for a slow cooker if you don't have one, also look out for baby stuff if you need anything.

Sign up to quidco for insurance renewals etc and pigsback for other stuff. For cash - look for threads on mystery shopping, also sign up to all survey sites (does anyone have any links????). http://www.bobsfreestuffforum.co.uk/forum/index.php
this site contains great freebies, also try other forums on here.

Too tired to give any better advice, like I said the ones who know their stuff will be along shortly! Welcome again, don't stress and look forward to bubba arriving!

lynzpower

the TV phone & internet package is massive. I dont have time to chat now ( its late ) but we have a freeview box ( 23 argos) for our tv, bt line rental 40 inc vat for quarter, and calls through primus 2 ( evenings & weekends free, free package) and day calls about 7 a month.
We have internet thru tesco to get clubcard points back

We pay a month about 20pcm for that lot

Newmummy_3

Thanks for the replies..

Little lilly - I wish SMP was that generous but no it isn't unfortunatly... my employer gives 90% salary for 26 weeks and the 1174 is the 90%. I am taking the full 26 weeks and return to work last week in Feb 2007.

Ali007 I will redo my SOA with apr's etc as soon as i can get all that info together... probably tomorrow am when i can get the other half to pull down the files from top of wardrobe. Thanks for the other links. I'll need to pop over to the money saving old style boards looking for grocery tips.

Clapton. OH is activly looking for another job however with bump arriving in next 9 days at the latest (being induced 9th October) and the cost of childcare it isn't easy. My salary will increase 10% when i come of mat leave at end of feb 07. I take on board what you say re the car tax. Regarding aa/rac we have greenflag as part of benifits in kind from my employer so that costs nothing. Father in law is a mechanic and my uncle owns a motor factors so car servicing/repairs are pretty much free. We do need both cars as we live in a semi rural area and work in opposite directions and our shifts overlap (when im working). phone tv internet is a package of £60 p/m plus we are around £10 on calls. This is with telewest BT don't have lines in this development and want £££ to install them (around 1k) The damm hills around us mean no freeview either and because our home is in a converted farm building it is listed as a conservation area and sky dishes are barred. so its basically telewest or nowt I think i will look into reducing the channel package we have and the speed of broadband.

lynzpower - i'm afraid we are pretty much over a barrel with the phone/tv/net package. No bt lines no free view reception and from what i can see the call companies will only take you if your a BT customer.

For some reason i just don't know where the £300 ish goes. we havent charged anything to any of the cataloges or his c/card since June but each month we seem to only be hitting the bare minimum payments and ending up at the maximum or our o/draft each month I am determined we will get this sorted tho.

Thanks for all advice so far

xx

lynzpower

http://www.telewest.co.uk/websales/service.do?id=4

the family bundle is only 35 a month on here??

Newmummy_3

Hi again Lynz.

When you get into the T&C the £35 familly bundle is for 3 months then the price increases to £70... basically it one of the 50% off deals that they don't make 100% clear so you think your getting a better deal than your current provider.

Anyway im still here so time to re do my SOA with apr's to find out exactly whats what and try trace where the money is being lost.

lynzpower

hi there

Ive had another look at it. its 35 for the 1st 12 months, then 40.49 thereafter

http://www.telewest.co.uk/websales/product.do?id=8598

lynzpower

from the above page

†Family Bundle offer
Offer ends midnight 30.09.06. In order to get Broadband, Essential TV and Talk Weekends for £35.00 a month for 12 months and free installation (worth £25), customers must take each of these services for a minimum of 12 months. After 12 months the standard monthly charge will apply (currently £40.49 a month). If a customer wishes to change any part of this package, Telewest's standard rates will apply. Available to new customers and existing customers taking at least one new service. Telewest reserves the right to withdraw this offer at any time. This offer cannot be taken in conjunction with any other Telewest offers.