Newbie, scared to even look.

EagerLearner

Well done for coming on here and making a start!

Get in there and enjoy the feeling of finally dealing with it - once you have some piles you can identify and deal with, you can take one stap at a time and it will be more manageable.

Tetleys at the ready!

Comfort

Well I have my piles. It was scary I must admit, but I now feel quite good having actually done something.

I have a pile for my 3 bank accounts
A pile of pay slips
A pile of household bills
A pile of credit card bills
A pile of miscellaneous
And a huge bulging pile of receipts.

I'm not sure about returning goods James and shell. Most of the receipts are for food shopping and I know that is my biggest downfall. Other receipts are for services, like car repairs, washing machine repairs, plumbing. Oh and plants that are already planted.

Comfort

Sorry, may I just ask....my salary is paid weekly, yet my bills are paid monthly. should I work out my soa weekly or monthly?

And thanks for the help so far guys.

Lara44

Hi Comfort

Use Martin's budget planner - in a link at the top of this thread- it allows you to enter amounts weekly, monthly and yearly.

Go for it! Well done!

Dolly_Smith

you may not think it but you'll feel better once you can see it all in black and white. regardless of what the actual figure is, at least you'll know and then work out what to do about it

Verbatim

Yes, well done Comfort. I'm sure you'll feel even better when it's added up and worked out.

Don't know if you've been having sleepless nights but I bet you'll sleep better tonight!

Comfort

Thanks for the expenditure sheet Lara Houst....these are my results:

Overdraft Cost - £17.00
Mortgage - £440.00
Buildings & Contents Insurance £27.59
Council Tax £114.00
Water Rates / Meter £27.47
Gas Bill & Electricity £36.50
HOME TOTAL £662.56

INSURANCE
Mortgage Payment Insurance £50.70
Mortgage Term Assurance £41.89
Healthcare Cashback Scheme £10.40
Pet Insurance £7.24
Gas & Plumbing Cover £15.25
Other Insurance £41.97
INSURANCE TOTAL £167.45

EATS, DRINKS & SMOKES
Food & Household Shopping £200.00
Eating Out £10.00
Coffee / Sandwiches Out
Pet Food
Drinks for Home £10.00
Drinking Out
Smokes
Meals at Work
Other Eats, Drinks & Smokes
EATS TOTAL £220.00

TRANSPORT & TRAVEL
AA / RAC Membership £9.27
Rail / Bus / Coach / Taxi
Car Maintainence
Car Insurance £46.66
Car Tax
Parking
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £40.00
Other Transport
TRANSPORT TOTAL £95.93

DEBT REPAYMENTS
Car Loan Repayments
Personal Loan Repayments £147.41
HP Repayments £22.37
Credit Card Repayments £125.05
Other Loan Repayments
REPAYMENTS TOTAL £294.83

SAVINGS & INVESTMENTS
Saving Schemes
Mini Cash ISA's
Investments
Buying Shares
Pension Payments
Other Savings / Investments
SAVINGS TOTAL £0.00

FAMILY
Childcare / Play Schemes
Baby Sitting
Children's Travel
Laundry / Dry Cleaning
Nappies / Baby Extras
Pocket Money
School Meals £32.00
School Trips
Other Family
FAMILY TOTAL £32.00

FUN & FROLICS
DVD / Video Rental
Hobbies
Pet Costs
Fitness / Sports / Gym
Shopping For Fun £10.00
Big Days Out
Book / Music / Films / Games £10.00
Cinema / Theatre Trips
Family Days Out
NTL / Sky Subscription £62.91
TV Licence £10.99
Other Fun
FUN TOTAL £93.90 £93.90

BIG ONE OFFS
Cost of Christmas
Cost of Winter Holiday
Cost of Summer Holiday
Cost of Birthdays
Cost of Sofa / Kitchen / TV
Other Big One Offs
BIG ONE OFF TOTAL £0.00

CLOTHES
New Clothes
New Childrens Clothes
Work Clothes
Other Clothes
CLOTHES TOTAL £0.00

EDUCATION & COURSES
Your Courses
School Fees
University Tuition Fees
Other Education Costs
EDUCATION TOTAL £0.00

ODDS & SODS
Beauty Treatments
Regular Charity Donations
Tax & NI Provisions (SE ONLY)
Newspapers / Magazines
Dentistry
Haircuts
Optical Bills
Complimentary Therapies
Other Odds & Sods
ODDS TOTAL £0.00

INCOME MONTHLY


Average Income From Employment / Self Employment £575.02
Income Taken From Savings & Investments
Pension & Annuity Payouts
Benefits Including Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits £119.20
Gifts or Help From Family / Friends
Other Income £700.00
MONTHLY INCOME TOTAL £1,394.22

YOUR MONTHLY TOTALS

TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENDITURE £1,566.67
TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME £1,394.22
YOUR COLOUR -£172.45



Oh dear, I am colour red. :<

Comfort

I'm not sure where to go with this, and need to pop out right now. I've put all my piles in A4 envelopes and check back with you all later. Thanks for the help so far

bluezone

Comfort wrote:

Thanks for the expenditure sheet Lara Houst....these are my results:

Overdraft Cost - £17.00
Mortgage - £440.00
Buildings & Contents Insurance £27.59
Council Tax £114.00
Water Rates / Meter £27.47
Gas Bill & Electricity £36.50
HOME TOTAL £662.56

INSURANCE
Mortgage Payment Insurance £50.70
Mortgage Term Assurance £41.89
Healthcare Cashback Scheme £10.40
Pet Insurance £7.24
Gas & Plumbing Cover £15.25
Other Insurance £41.97
INSURANCE TOTAL £167.45

EATS, DRINKS & SMOKES
Food & Household Shopping £200.00
Eating Out £10.00
Coffee / Sandwiches Out
Pet Food
Drinks for Home £10.00
Drinking Out
Smokes
Meals at Work
Other Eats, Drinks & Smokes
EATS TOTAL £220.00

TRANSPORT & TRAVEL
AA / RAC Membership £9.27
Rail / Bus / Coach / Taxi
Car Maintainence
Car Insurance £46.66
Car Tax
Parking
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £40.00
Other Transport
TRANSPORT TOTAL £95.93

DEBT REPAYMENTS
Car Loan Repayments
Personal Loan Repayments £147.41
HP Repayments £22.37
Credit Card Repayments £125.05
Other Loan Repayments
REPAYMENTS TOTAL £294.83

SAVINGS & INVESTMENTS
Saving Schemes
Mini Cash ISA's
Investments
Buying Shares
Pension Payments
Other Savings / Investments
SAVINGS TOTAL £0.00

FAMILY
Childcare / Play Schemes
Baby Sitting
Children's Travel
Laundry / Dry Cleaning
Nappies / Baby Extras
Pocket Money
School Meals £32.00
School Trips
Other Family
FAMILY TOTAL £32.00

FUN & FROLICS
DVD / Video Rental
Hobbies
Pet Costs
Fitness / Sports / Gym
Shopping For Fun £10.00
Big Days Out
Book / Music / Films / Games £10.00
Cinema / Theatre Trips
Family Days Out
NTL / Sky Subscription £62.91
TV Licence £10.99
Other Fun
FUN TOTAL £93.90 £93.90

BIG ONE OFFS
Cost of Christmas
Cost of Winter Holiday
Cost of Summer Holiday
Cost of Birthdays
Cost of Sofa / Kitchen / TV
Other Big One Offs
BIG ONE OFF TOTAL £0.00

CLOTHES
New Clothes
New Childrens Clothes
Work Clothes
Other Clothes
CLOTHES TOTAL £0.00

EDUCATION & COURSES
Your Courses
School Fees
University Tuition Fees
Other Education Costs
EDUCATION TOTAL £0.00

ODDS & SODS
Beauty Treatments
Regular Charity Donations
Tax & NI Provisions (SE ONLY)
Newspapers / Magazines
Dentistry
Haircuts
Optical Bills
Complimentary Therapies
Other Odds & Sods
ODDS TOTAL £0.00

INCOME MONTHLY


Average Income From Employment / Self Employment £575.02
Income Taken From Savings & Investments
Pension & Annuity Payouts
Benefits Including Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits £119.20
Gifts or Help From Family / Friends
Other Income £700.00
MONTHLY INCOME TOTAL £1,394.22

YOUR MONTHLY TOTALS

TOTAL MONTHLY EXPENDITURE £1,566.67
TOTAL MONTHLY INCOME £1,394.22
YOUR COLOUR -£172.45



Oh dear, I am colour red. :<

Well done so far, I see your in the red but not by much so do you feel a bit better?.

My suggestions - cut your sky/cable down to the bare minimum if you cant cancel it and have have freeview (this will save you some dosh for starters)

How many in the family? Could you cut down on your food shopping as I notice you are paying for school dinners so you dont need so much sandwich stuff in the fridge?

Does your child/children have clothes that dont fit them or toys they dont play with? If so then ebay them or sell them on a boot sale?

Do you have any ornaments that you hate dusting etc or clothes that dont fit - then sell them as well, you might as well get something back.

You need to keep track of your paperwork now so set aside a couple of hours a week to go through and keep on top of your bills.

Phone your cards up and see what rate they would charge for a balance transer and shuffle your credit about.

See if you could maybe re-finance your loan onto a better interst rate (but for the same time period). If you are paying payment protection on your loan - see when you can stop this as this would lower your payments down - I did this when I had 2 loans and they were fine about it!.

Trust me you will get through this but you are going to have to stick to a strict budget and sel anything that you dont need anymore. When my debt was £112,000 with my ex I personally paid off £4,000 in a year through extra jobs, ebay, bootsales, overtime. AT one point I had a full time job and 3 part time ones!!

I hope I have helped you a bit. If you need a chat anytime then by all means PM me x

BlondeHeadOn

Hi, just wanted to say welcome to this site and well done for going through all those carrier bags - I've done that myself, only it was 12 carrier bags filled with absolute crap as well as the bills/statements etc., so I know what it's like! Also posting to bump this one up the list a bit, so other MSE-ers see it this evening.

Love and hugs,