Newbie - first post, scarey!

anh1904

Was gradually getting the debt position down from its £65000 following divorce, and £78,250 at its very peak after some very badly timed share trades, but have moved to a bigger house so my children from first marriage can come and stay with me whenever they want to and have their own rooms (luxury I know, but they are at an age which is inappropriate for them to be sharing).

I think I need to find a means of additional income - sperm bank, market research, absolutely anything anyone can suggest would be hugely welcomed.

Statement of affairs (as much as I can think of, and pretty accurate (apart from the dentist which will hopefully be less this year as I spent over £350 last) from my records of the last year)...

Outgoings (monthly, or monthly equiv when paid annually):

Mortgage £987 (due to go up I guess after tomorrow interest rate decision)
Life ins £35
B&C 30
Repairs/emergencys £100
Two cars (petrol ins, mots, servicing) £394.17
Coucil tax, Elec, Gas, Water, TV lic £288.33
Cable £45 (just negotiated on phone down to £35 for same deal!!)
Mobile £36.99 (till December)
Saving policies for 3 kids £60
Student Loan £60
Food £500
Clothes £100
Dentist (loads of problems) £20
Products (hers) £30
Days out budget £75
Meals out £80
Gym (him) £40.50 (£486 paid annually)
Gym (her) £47
Monthly petty cash £50
Golf subs £83.33
Holidays £125 (£1500 a year budget)
Hair (her) £25
New baby (clothes, toys, etc.) £75
Annual present buying family and friends £30 (will surely never stick to £360 though for all birthdays and Christmas for everyone - last year was over £1000!)
Child care £100
Maintenance to ex wife £570
TOTAL £3990.32

Income
Him £2790
Her £1200

Excess to service debts -£0.32p (will have an extra £10 after the cable bill comes down)

Debts to service:
Abbey £4400 at 0.9% till March 07
Bank of Scotland £2280 at 0% till December
Capital One £1280 at 5.9% forever
Sainsburys £7100 at 5.94% forever
Morgan Stanley £8800 at 0% till December
Egg £4700 at 0% till 1st Jan
£28560 total

Clearly towards the end of the year I am going to need to rate tart (unlikely as getting refused now) or shuffling to the cheapest of my existing cards that will do a deal.

All about income income and more income, so anyone with any ideas, please shout up. Also, please feel free to say where I am being ludicrously frivolous with my spending above. I am keen to be debt free inside the next 5 years.

bonnie_2

You need to seriously look at your out goings. No bank would allow you to spend £500 on food. The holiday money could be dropped. Her stuff to be covered in the shopping money. etc.

Get a life man and start living in the real world.

SunderlandBlackCat

Look at switching your utilities to cheaper options.
For the cost of 2 months Gym subscriptions for the 2 of you, you could buy some decent gym equipment if you shop around.
Consider stopping the kids saving plans until you are debt free (or at least interest free) - they won't pay anywhere near as much interest as your debts are costing you. You will be able to catch up with them later.
Golf Subs - up to you of course but I'd say that money would be beter going towards the debts.
Present buying - use quidco to get cashback on your purchases

Make sure you use the snowball calculator to find out which cards need to be given priority

lynzpower

bonnie wrote:

You need to seriously look at your out goings. No bank would allow you to spend £500 on food. The holiday money could be dropped. Her stuff to be covered in the shopping money. etc.

Get a life man and start living in the real world.

this isnt helpful Im afriad. The OP has come here for help, not to be slagged off.

all_hours

First welcome and well done for paying £50k off your debt.

What are the minimum payments on your debts and what will the APRs be after the introductory periods?

You don't mention child benefit - is that included in the income? How many does the £500 per month feed.

If you break down the car expenses and the utility bills - other posters will be able to suggest if you can get them cheaper.

There are lots of luxuries included in your SOA. If you cut back on some of those you should be able to pay all off within a few of years.

tanith

There are loads of ways you can cut down your outgoings but its going to need a lifestyle change and only you know if you are prepared to do that...

Meals and outings out, holidays , golf, gym , savings, cable, clothes, products, hair , present buying, all these things can be stopped or at least cut down substantially its just if you are prepared to do it... if you already both work long hours do you really want be out of the house and away from your family and new baby longer or could you really do without some of these things until you get a grip of your spending... I guess the choice is yours...

elantan

reading your soa i can see loads of things that need to change ..what you have to decide is what is important to you.. getting rid of your debt or enjoying the lifestyle you currently have...it's easy for people to come on here and say get rid of this get rid of that ..but unless you really want to get out of debt it's of no use to you at all ...do you have an idea of what you are willing to sacrifice? all the best

lynzpower

Ok, let me have a look here and see what we can save you

Mortgage £987 (due to go up I guess after tomorrow interest rate decision)
Life ins £35
B&C 30
Repairs/emergencys £100 ( is this actually saved? Where is it saved, what APR?)
Two cars (petrol ins, mots, servicing) £394.17 ( you ABSOLUTELY NEED 2 cars? Can you breeak this down rwhere is the savings for the Mots & servicing , whats the apr)
Coucil tax, Elec, Gas, Water, TV lic £288.33 ( can you break this down it does seem high)
Cable £45 (just negotiated on phone down to £35 for same deal!!) ( is this just for TV? In all fairness, this expense of almost 600 per year for tv is high)
Mobile £36.99 (till December) ( is this the lowest, you can ask your provider to take you to the lowest package until december when you can make a new decision about your moibile)
Saving policies for 3 kids £60 ( sorry, there is no point in saving liike this when you have debts, its equivalent to taking a loan out too put in savings, the APR on your debt is likely to be high er than return on savings)
Student Loan £60 ( apr is 2.4 is it, how much left to roll)
Food £500 ( for 2 of you & visiting kids? No offence mate but this can be slashed, and I expect theres a saving of 300 pcm here with a little effort)
Clothes £100 ( every month? Who for? this can be put towards your debts)
Dentist (loads of problems) £20
Products (hers) £30 ( 30 a month on toiletries? No need honest, use boots points, or buy from supermarkets, get posh stuff for presents)
Days out budget £75 ( far too high, what can you do for free?)
Meals out £80 ( this has to be stopped Im afraid if you seriously want to pay your debt of)
Gym (him) £40.50 (£486 paid annually)
Gym (her) £47 ( crazy, gym over a grand a year?)
Monthly petty cash £50 ( each or for one of you? What is this spent on)
Golf subs £83.33 ( you are effectively paying this on your credit card each & every month, this could go)
Holidays £125 (£1500 a year budget) ( wheres this saved then whats in it)
Hair (her) £25 ( every month????, hairdressers at the poshest salons only recommend 8 weekly )
New baby (clothes, toys, etc.) £75 ( use toy libraries, get bits off ebay, charity shops, or scav round your mates, they mjst have stuff to swap with you etc)
Annual present buying family and friends £30 (will surely never stick to £360 though for all birthdays and Christmas for everyone - last year was over £1000!) ( well you cant afford for it to be over a grand can you?!! Take control, and just say no!)
Child care £100
Maintenance to ex wife £570
TOTAL £3990.32

Income
Him £2790
Her £1200

Excess to service debts -£0.32p (will have an extra £10 after the cable bill comes down)

Debts to service:
Abbey £4400 at 0.9% till March 07
Bank of Scotland £2280 at 0% till December
Capital One £1280 at 5.9% forever
Sainsburys £7100 at 5.94% forever
Morgan Stanley £8800 at 0% till December
Egg £4700 at 0% till 1st Jan
£28560 total


Looking at these what do you pay per month ofdf these? Are you paying ANYTHING off your debt at the moment?

If you look at the suggestions Ive made above
With some tinkering with the food budget, dumping "products"
stopping your golf & holiday subs which you patently cannot afford
meals out and clothes, there is a saving there of 642.50 which could be servicing your debt

HTH
lynz

oops_a_daisy

HI there and welcome to DFW well done for posting, you seem to have read up on here very well so I will make some comments on your outgoings that you may have already done. Are you paying off the most expensive loans first ?

Mortgage £987 (due to go up I guess after tomorrow interest rate decision) - is this interest only
Life ins £35 - is this tied to your mortgage
B&C 30 - have you shopped around for this - even if you think it is low you may still get cash back for changing
Repairs/emergencys £100 - seems high, how much have you spent in the last year per month on repairs & emergencies
Two cars (petrol ins, mots, servicing) £394.17 - have you shopped around for insurance and are 2 cars really necessary - can you get cheaper cars
Coucil tax, Elec, Gas, Water, TV lic £288.33 - have you shopped around for utilities and would you save money to go onto a water meter if not already
Cable £45 (just negotiated on phone down to £35 for same deal!!) - freeview costs that once not per month
Mobile £36.99 (till December) - can you speak to the provider and see if they will put you onto a cheaper tariff then go onto PAYG when you can
Saving policies for 3 kids £60 - as mentioed earlier you are paying too much interest on debt to save at a lower interst rate at the moment
Student Loan £60
Food £500 - are you feeding a dozen people - if not way too high - look up Old style Threads for budgeting
Clothes £100 - is this for the whole family ?
Dentist (loads of problems) £20
Products (hers) £30 - sorry but thats a lot of products when you have this much debt
Days out budget £75 - look for free days out for the family - walking, parks, beaches, etc
Meals out £80 - ask yourself if you can afford it wwhile you have so many debts
Gym (him) £40.50 (£486 paid annually)
Gym (her) £47 would a joint membership be cheaper or a council run facility
Monthly petty cash £50 - ????? get a spending diary
Golf subs £83.33 :eek: - again can you really afford this aswell as the gym with debts
Holidays £125 (£1500 a year budget) - while paying of debts cab you holiday at home and pay off another £1500 of your debt
Hair (her) £25 on top of products :eek:
New baby (clothes, toys, etc.) £75 - car boots and freecycle will get everything you need for pennies and your baby will never know
Annual present buying family and friends £30 (will surely never stick to £360 though for all birthdays and Christmas for everyone - last year was over £1000!) - if you are committed to paying off your debts you will have to stick to budget
Child care £100
Maintenance to ex wife £570
Abbey £4400 at 0.9% till March 07
Bank of Scotland £2280 at 0% till December
Capital One £1280 at 5.9% forever
Sainsburys £7100 at 5.94% forever
Morgan Stanley £8800 at 0% till December
Egg £4700 at 0% till 1st Jan

with what you are overspending per month you can pay off your debts in 5 years but the whole family will have to be on board and committed to work together as a family.

All the best and good luck

oops_a_daisy

for extra money there is a thread called great ' bit on the side' hunt which is sticky at the top of the page on Mortgage Free Wannabee threads

dudleyboy

anh1904 wrote:

All about income income and more income, so anyone with any ideas, please shout up. Also, please feel free to say where I am being ludicrously frivolous with my spending above.

Though not particularly constructive, Bonnie makes a fair point. It's not all about income, income, income. Together, you earn a lot of money and shouldn't need to increase it any further to reduce your debt, all you need to do is to reduce your outgoings - considerably - as it's these very outgoings that have caused your debt in the first place (I would assume). Reducing your debt, by maintaining your expenditure but increasing your income, will be like a game of tug-of-war at this rate. Here's some ideas...

anh1904 wrote:

Mortgage £987 (due to go up I guess after tomorrow interest rate decision)
Life ins £35
B&C 30 what's this?
Repairs/emergencys £100 put this towards your debt repayments
Two cars (petrol ins, mots, servicing) £394.17 do you really need 2 cars? could you down grade?
Coucil tax, Elec, Gas, Water, TV lic £288.33 can you break these down separately. savings could be made on Elec and Gas
Cable £45 (just negotiated on phone down to £35 for same deal!!) Get rid of it and get Freeview
Mobile £36.99 (till December) how much will it be in Dec? Could you go PAYG?
Saving policies for 3 kids £60 Freeze this until the debt is repaid
Student Loan £60
Food £500 how many is this for?
Clothes £100 You may have to go without new clothes for a while or shop at less prestigious places
Dentist (loads of problems) £20
Products (hers) £30 is this makeup? good grief.
Days out budget £75 cheap/free days out instead
Meals out £80 not for a while i'm afraid
Gym (him) £40.50 (£486 paid annually) take a jog around the streets or buy home gym
Gym (her) £47 ditto
Monthly petty cash £50
Golf subs £83.33 you may have to go without
Holidays £125 (£1500 a year budget) no holidays for a while i'm afraid
Hair (her) £25
New baby (clothes, toys, etc.) £75 consider 2nd hand stuff
Annual present buying family and friends £30 (will surely never stick to £360 though for all birthdays and Christmas for everyone - last year was over £1000!) you may have to go without buying each other gifts for a while
Child care £100
Maintenance to ex wife £570
TOTAL £3990.32

Income
Him £2790
Her £1200

It's good that the balances are on 0% or low LOB but they won't go down by themselves. You could increase your income to maintain your current lifestyle but there is so much more to life than work, money and material possessions. I really think you could meet your 5 year target if you cut down on luxuries, consider cheaper alternatives to necessities and really strip your expenditure down to needs rather than wants. These are only suggestions, of course. It's your money and your debt, but if it means sacrificing a few things to get back in the black then it will be worth it.