Help needed from newbie... :(

immoral_angeluk

Hi, my name is Sarah and need to get our debts sorted out. We have a little girl and another on the way and things are very tight at the moment...
Here's our SOA.

Debts-
Joint:
Car loan (£4995 but end up paying £7700) £160.50 p/m

Husband's:
citi card - (£1500 up to it's limit) £50 min
Dell - (Not sure how much left approx £400) £22 a month
Rockwell collection agency (approx £400 left) £20 a month
Capital One (passed back to them from previous collection agency, £580 but not paying anything yet as they've only just got in contact)

Mine
My citi card - (£500 limit balance £480) £15 min payment
Capital One - (£600 limit, £446 balance) £21 min
Barclaycard - (£900 limit, £849 balance) £22 min
Dorothy perkins store card - (£1790 limit, £523 balance) £25 min
Mothercare - (£600 limit, £500 balance) £25 min
Black Horse loan (Not sure exactly how much, about £400 left) £22 p/m

Total Debt: £11073
Total currently going out on debts each month: £382.50

Monthly outgoings (house bills etc)
Rent £286.83
Council Tax £99
Tv license - £10.54
Water- £24.15
BT phone + broadband (Stuck in 18 month contract) - £35
Gas and electric - £65.50
Tv rental - £28 (Stuck in contract til March but have already reduced from £45!)
Car insurance - £33
House insurance - £2.20
Food - £150
Petrol - £60 (Will decrease probabaly by half as I start maternity leave in november)
Driving lessons for my husband - Currently £19 a lesson and he's been having them every week but we're going to cut those down to one every 2 weeks
My husband works 5 (sometimes) 6 days out of 7 and spends about £3 a day on lunch.

Money in -
Husbands wages - Roughly £850 min per month but he does get overtime
My wages (Based on maternity pay as I start my leave in 3 weeks) - £471
Child benefit - £69 4-weekly
Tax credits - £44 per week
(Please note we're expecting a new baby which will increase the child benefit to £117 every 4 weeks and the child tax credit to about £88 per week, baby is jue jan 22nd.)

All the credit cards have been cut up and I can't physically spend anymore on capital one as I've agreed to cancel the account as soon as I've paid the balance off as they want to up my interest to 34% from 29.9%!

I have been offered an extension of my black horse loan which I'm going to call up about on monday as they've offered my £525 without increasing my monthly payment for extending the term. I'm going to ask for more so I can clear off a couple of my debts to help us out every month.. We're really struggling at the moment as we have about £1566 coming in and £1169 going out before driving lessons or my husbands lunch money or anything so as you can see money is seriously tight and I's really appreciate any help anyone can give to help us sort our debts or reduce our outgoings each month!

Mrs_Sparkle

Hello and welcome Sarah. I'm sure others will come up with more suggestions but for me the main thing that springs to mind is your husband paying £3 a day for lunch. Can he take in a packed lunch? £3 a day mounts up over the month and will free up valuable cash if you're able able to cut this spend out.

On another note, congratulations on your expected baby! I'm due on 8th Feb so just a couple of weeks behind you. Hope you're taking advantage of all the baby freebies there are up for grabs :-)

Biffa

Is there any way you could do without the car? Or get a cheaper one? If you've paid back half of the original loan amount, check the small print in your agreement as you may be able to give it back and clear the balance. We did it a few years ago and gave back hubby's car to the loan company, cleared the outstanding balance and didn't have to pay anything else. You could pick up a half decent Mondeo for around £500 which, if you're only doing short mileage, should be reliable enough, They're also easy to get parts from a scrappy for as well.

Your gas & electric seem a bit high as well. Can you find a cheaper provider?

If you're income is going to go down, then I'd strongly suggest cutting up all the plastic! You'll be tempted to use it and get yourselves into an even bigger hole.

Like Mrs Sparkle suggested, get Hubby to take a packed lunch with him. At the moment he's spending around £20 a week, or £80 a month on buying it. Packed lunches are cheaper, healthier and you can put the money saved towards some of your other bills.

Also have a look at the Old Style board for some ideas on cutting back at home. Can you sell anything on ebay to make a bit of cash?

You haven't got anything in your budget to cover car tax, maintenance, birthday presents, hair cuts etc etc.

From looking at your rent and house insurance, are you in a council property? Either way, try claiming for Housing Benefit when you go on Maternity leave. It's unlikely that they'll pay the full rent, but they may pay something towards it. Do you have any rent or council tax arrears?

With second babe on the way, have a look on ebay or somewhere similar for re-useable nappies, as these will save you a small fortune!

Hope this helps a bit, I'm sure others will think of more ways of saving money for you.

immoral_angeluk

Thanks for your replies.. unfortunately we've only had the car a month so have still got 3 yrs 11 months to go on it.. Had to get it out of desperation as the cheap car I had before died dramatically and I was desperate for one to get me to work and had no spare money to buy one..
Have already looked at places like uswitch for the gas and electric and our current provider comes up cheapest everytime even though we only live in a 2 bed mid terrace.
The house is housing association and for some beknown reason entitledto.co.uk say we're not elidgable for any housing benefit.. but everythings up to date at the minute.. hence why we need to sort it out before we start seriously getting into arrears.

Biffa

Oh lordy - don't tell me, you went to YES car credit or somewhere equally competitive for cars? Check your agreement NOW! You might be able to give it back if you've only had it for a month. You'll be paying massively over the odds for a car that won't be worth anything in 4years time, so you need to find a way out of it if possible. Which part of Staffs are you in? Used to live there but unfortunately stuck in Leicester at the moment as we can't afford to move back yet!

immoral_angeluk

We're with Welcome car finance and yes we know we're paying over the odds for it as we'll end up paying back about £7k in total BUT like I said, we were desperate and needed a car for me to be able to work or else we would've been in an even bigger hole than we are now.

Dolly_Smith

your OH cutting driving lessons to one every two weeks will be a false economy - it is likely to take him longer to pass and if he's not practising enough (one hour every two weeks isn't enough) it will be harder to pass.

OH is a driving instructor and he said this is a problem with a lot of people - he advises two hours a week and gets them through much more quickly, saving money in the long run

my point is, can you really afford for him to be learning to drive? It's a massive expense

sophiesmum_2

If Oh took packed lunches to work he could spend the saved money on the driving lessons and get through his test quicker - freeing up this money.
just a suggestion:rolleyes:

sophiesmum

magic_pants

Just added up your figures and, unless my calculator is wrong, after the baby is born your outgoings will be £1129 and your incomings over £1700. That assumes that your OH does no overtime either! So quite a bit of scope for paying off your debts I'd say!

Dr.Shoe_2

He's only getting £850 per month? What does he do?

immoral_angeluk

My husband is a full time sales assistant with HMV, and I'm a nursery nurse due to start my 6 months maternity leave on the 3rd Nov.