My SOA - KATCHAMBERS

katchambers

tyllwyd wrote:

I think you should have a good hard look at your business. Am I right in thinking that it makes a profit of £400 per month but currently you keep that money in the business? If you are earning £1000 per month part-time, then running your business is costing you a lot if you think in terms of the money you could be earning if you worked full-time. My feeling is that you need to sit down and think hard about it - either you need to put more time into it so that you can increase it to a level that will give you an hourly rate that reflects the time you are investing into it, or you need to think about winding it down and work full time hours to pay back the debts.

Since you have got these big debts hanging over you, every £500 you don't earn per month is actually costing you £500 plus however much interest on the money borrowed.

Well £400 has been the average but it has been increasing each month, last month it was £600. If I worked full time I would only make an extra £300 a month for 2 extra days of work, whereas now I spend about 1.5 days on my business and can make double that, so I do feel my business is worthwhile, I just need to put some if it into our debts rather than buying more things for the business. I do want to get a smaller part-time job like 10 hours a week and then work really hard at my business to get a really good income from it, but it is risky with our financial situation, this is what me and hubby have been talking about for a long time and a decision has not been made until I find that perfect 10 hour job. I am about to apply for one, so if I get it then that will help me make the decision.

katchambers

lynzpower wrote:

Can you get another job , 400pcm isnt a big income from your business, you could get a full time job and if you are near MK then surely you qwould pull 800pcm after tax???

I have a part time job that gives me 1000 a month and I spend 1.5 days on my business that brings in, at a minimum, £400 a month, I do believe £400 a month on just 1.5 days a week work is very good and as I said that is the minimum, last month it was a lot more.

A_Nice_Englishman

Your biggest luxuries are your TV, cinema and entertainment. Your biggest potential earner is your business.

If you could spend more time on the business and less time (and therefore money) on the above that should make a significant difference. For example if you spent 3 evenings a week on the business rather than going out or watching TV you could earn an extra £500 and spend, say, £100 less. You would be about £500 a month better off, taking tax into account.

katchambers

bonnie wrote:

I take it sky and the cinema are more important to you than your house being reposesed when the interest rate goes up in january. As you are on a tight budget and haven't included council tax which is at least £100 a month, have you any idea how you are going to make the extra payments.

My house won't be repossed we haven't missed a single payment and we have just reduced it to a more manageable level, our rate is fixed for 3 years so the interest rate increase won't affect us. I missed off council tax but it is in my budget the one martin made, I just forgot it in my soa.

Currently we are breaking even, and that includes cinema, sky, entertainment and everything, however reducing some areas wil help us pay off our debts more quickly. Carrying on as we are at present won't increase our debts as we have made a budget have cut down on a lot already and are meeting all our debts and outgoings, but I do want to free up some areas so that we can pay off our debts a bit quicker. That is why there are some areas that I won't negotiate on because I don't think I need to. If we were minus £300 every month then sure I would have to cut back on loads of areas.

Thanks for the advice

katchambers

youngandreckless wrote:

I personally think that £22 a month on cinema isn't bad, especially because of how much she goes. Surely one treat to make life a bit more enjoyable is ok?
With regards to the holiday situation, you probably will find that you'll be able to shave down the 8 years you will be in debt for once you've implemented all the money saving things you can, so maybe a holiday could wait for a couple of years? What I mean is could you make a pact with yourself that for the next two years (for example) you will live extremely frugally and see if you can make some big dents in the debt, then reassess your finances and if circumstances allow, then start to incorporate a holiday or other treat budget?
I'm a firm believer in having one treat at least to make life a bit easier, but I think to start with you are going to have to be quite tough with yourself - remember it won't be forever and as you and your husband sound like such a strong couple I'm sure you will be able to handle it.
I wish you lots of luck and remember people on this board may sound like they're being overly critical but they do have your best interests at heart and we all hope that you can be debt free as soon as possible x

Thank you, that was the kind of comment I was hoping for, and it is also similar to how I see things. I am happy to forego the alaska thing for a few years but I can't give up the cinema, I love it, we go twice a week at least which if we didn't have the cinema subscription would cost around £72 a month, but we only pay £22 so I think that is a very big saving. Before I did a budget that I what I used to spend, plus I used to buy nachos or icecreams or drinks everytime, now I take something from home, so I am learning.

katchambers

Here are my figure with APRs

£177,000 mortgage APR = 5.8% Fixed for 3 years
£29,000 loan at same rate as mortgage APR = 5.8% not secured
Pay £1,100 a month for those two

£17,000 loan APR = 8.3% (flexible loan, we can overpay, apr high as our credit history isn't the best) - Pay £250 a month
£23,000 loan APR = 5.3% - Pay £350 a month
£3,000 hubby student loan APR = 3.0%ish - Pay £93 a month
£11,000 my student loan im guessing APR = 3.0%ish - Don't earn enough so pay £2 a month
£600 store card - Next Directory, this is where I buy our clothes, APR = 18%ish - pay £50 a month (under clothes)

Kat

katchambers

tomstickland wrote:

The business is not bringing in any income at the moment and the car is costing you. Bit of thought needed there.

BTW MK has a lot of bike tracks etc which you can use. I've cycled around the place. No good for delivering goods though unless you have a bike trailer.

My business is bringing in income!

lynzpower

I sesne you are gravitating towards those who agree with you, and I dont blame you. I personally would not like to be in your position, it looks somewhat untenable from where I am sat.

However, No one is saying, live like a hermit and dont have the odd treat.

eg I bought myself a treat this month ( less than 20 quid though) and tonight im off to a party and will be drinking which will cost, we MAY get a taxi home too. Life isnt crap you know when you dont spend a lot of money, Id say lifes crap when you overspend - hence the situation in which you find yourselves.

the odd treat is fine. Spending well over 100 a month on treats when you are 80k in debt really is not going to get you out of debt, and may lead to the ultimate demise.

I suggest you go back and read what I wrote about what will happen in March if you do get made redundant.

lynzpower

£600 store card - Next Directory, this is where I buy our clothes, APR = 18%ish - pay £50 a month (under clothes)

For a start this is pure madness. Why not just go into a next shop & buy them there??? At least youll pay the label price, and not the over inflat4ed one. Actually the next website itself says that its apr is APR 26.49% (variable). http://order.next.co.uk/WinTC.asp?Flg=1

sandralovescats

Black Saturn - I had a read of your menu for a month.

What happened to FIVE portions of fruit/veg per day?

You will all be ill eating all that stodge!

I have never seen such an unhealthy menu!