At my wits end!

traycee

kattyburger wrote: »

Hi

I have been trying to manage my debts for years but there always seems to be one crisis after another. I think I know the theory but it just hasn't been working.

Can anyone help?

Thanks in anticipation

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b]
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1200
Partners monthly income after tax....... 920
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 300
Total monthly income.................... 2420
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 114 (tell us some more info about this)
Rent.................................... 525
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117(if you pay this over 10 months use this to reduce debts in Feb & March 2011)
Electricity............................. 42
Gas..................................... 42
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 40(high! what can you do about this)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 280(Can work on getting this down with help on this site)
Clothing................................ 40(Stop this for at least a while and redirect to your debts)
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 36(have you done a price comparision, when is it due again)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 60(?)
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 5
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20(high do a price comparision)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 5
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 120(reduce this for at least a while and redirect to your debts)
Holiday................................. 80(Stop this for at least a while and redirect to your debts)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Partner mobile.......................... 40 (wow £80pm between you on mobiles, you need to address this)
Bank account charges.................... 25 (can you explain what this is? Can we help you get this going towards repaying your debt that would be another £300 per year off your amount outstanding!)
Bike Road Tax........................... 5
Bike Maintenance........................ 15
Bike Insurance.......................... 40 (seems high)
Total monthly expenses.................. 1936

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1800
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1800

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6054.....(114)......22.2 (tell us about this)
Total secured & HP debts...... 6054......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Bonus Card...............2184.07...40........17.5
MBNA Card......................1972.38...47.37.....27.26
Egg Card.......................1996.19...33.72.....19.9
GE Capital/DFS.................1000......197.3.....0
Halifax Overdraft..............250.......0.........0
RBS Overdraft..................591.......10........19.2
Loan to family member..........462.23....80........14.9
Egg Loan.......................846.......122.......7.66
RBS Card.......................380.95....8.........22.5
Barclaycard....................528.98....9.22......14.9
(Let us know your account limits, perhaps you can do some balance trfs so you have less companies to pay each month and at a lower rates)
Total unsecured debts..........10211.8...547.61....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,420
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,936
Available for debt repayments........... 484
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 547.61
Amount short for making debt repayments. -63.61
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,800
Total HP & Secured debt................. -6,054
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,211.8
Net Assets.............................. -14,465.8
Created using the SOA calculator

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/font]

The good news is that there is lots of scope for many small changes and improvements that will help get you debt free soooo much sooner. You'll be flying in a few weeks.:j

Traycee

happycrafter_2

sorry just add since we have been doing this kids and OH said they have never eaten so well!! if you want me to send you my spreadsheet to see how i set it out please pm me.

vouchersrme

Well done, you are addressing your problems before things go too far. O hope all foes well.

vintagegirl

happycrafter wrote: »

sorry just add since we have been doing this kids and OH said they have never eaten so well!! if you want me to send you my spreadsheet to see how i set it out please pm me.

hi there sorry to hijack, i was wondering if you could pm your spreadsheet? im trying to reduce groceries too and am finding it difficult

happycrafter_2

how do i add a spreadsheet to a pm? if some one can explain it to me i will happily send it out anything to help

vintagegirl

happycrafter wrote: »

how do i add a spreadsheet to a pm? if some one can explain it to me i will happily send it out anything to help

no idea im afraid. could you email it?

Trim_my_budget

Hi

I am new to this forum stuff but have finally joined and picked up lots of tips in the past. Its putting it into practice that is important. I find I start the month with good intentions but other things crop up as they naturally do. I shop weekly at Aldi and get some really good bargains and it is good quality stuff but it is the kids who seem to eat everything up before it has had chance to get into packup boxes for the week. I have starting hiding stuff now and that seems to work. Just taking the decision to sort it out is a start. Good luck with it all! remember the small changes can make a big difference.:)

happycrafter_2

vintagegirl wrote: »

no idea im afraid. could you email it?

Pm me your email address and i shall send it across to you.

londoner1998

kattyburger wrote: »

Thanks. My OH is on board in principle but in reality I struggle to control his spending as we currently have seperate accounts - soon to be rectified.

I guess what I can't get my head around (and this sounds ridiculous out loud!) is how to do a monthly shop. At the moment we shop weekly and I just can't seem to get the cost of the shop below £50 and that is not taking into account things like shampoo and the other bits you occasionally have to stock up on. How do you shop cheaply without compromising on things like fruit and veg? (I am cursed with easy weight gain which would not help my state of mind right now).

We both take lunch to work so try to minimise costs there! I will work on cutting the costs in other areas x

Right , here it is what worked for us- my oh and I had quite a bit of a shock after a disastrous holiday... and his OD got very close to the limit. We used to buy fruit and staples for the cupboiard as and when... and didn't really have much control. Since September what we do is we put 10 each in a draw 'for the week'- this is for food, toothpaste, bread, milk, whatever. Once a week (normally Saturday) we go to the market and stock up on fruit and vegetables: a few apples/oranges/bananas; three leeks, five carrots, three pepers, 5 tomatos, ... thinking ahead of what we are going to be eating (bean stewm lentil soup, mashed potato, roasted or stuffed peppers, etc...). And that's it. If we run out of milk, we get the money 'from the draw'. Sanme for everything else. I cook at home and use a pressure cooker- I use dry pulses that I get also from the market/asian shops mega cheap and get very nutricious meals very , very cheaply. If we are very, very good, that is around 80 per month for two people. Last month, we went a bit over (we both had a cold and had to buy some ayurvedic preparations and a couple of work lunches as I had meetings)- it went up to 130, for two people.
It can be done, but I would advise setting aside what you think you will need for the week, say on Monday and try to stick to it. Also, buy in bulk thinkgs like toilet paper, toothpaste, shower gel... and pay attention to markets and asian shops- it is amazing the variety of goods they have and how cheap they are. And never use Credit/debit cards to shop for food. Also pooling your resources together they go twice as far!

My OH was not really into this, but since he has realised how much better on it is on his pocket he makes sure he leaves his tenner 'for the week'

Good luck, it can be very empowering!

ETA- about onc ea month we do supermarket shopping to get things for the cupboard- pasta, sugar, tins, meat/fish, toiletries ... we buy coffee wholesale, 2 kg go on for about 2-3 months and rice, 5 kg from the market, last time I think OH got it for 5.99...

zcrat41

Hey,
Something I do to control the old supermarket shop is to go round with the calculator on my phone. My budget is £40 per week to cover everything for 2 of us. (I know people can go lower but I struggle) I take out cash and add things up as I go round. I have a meal plan and can normally get all the ingredients for it from my £40. If I can't I end up making substitutions or leaving the nice plums behind, or the diet coke that slipped its way into the trolley along with the wine.
Good luck!