Affording to Live - NOW WITH SOA

DancerSupreme

hippychick1 wrote: »

Have you entered your expected incomes into www.entitledto.co.uk ? It will tell you the amount of tax credits you will get, and also if you are entitled to any housing or council tax benefits. It helped me no end when my circumstances changed.

According to that we are entitle to diddly squat. Directgov calculator came out saying we would get help but the answer from that compared to entitledto is a massive difference.

Tixy

Hi Gem

Well as rent is a priority cost so you need to slot that figure in to your statement of affairs and then look at how far short you are and what lower priority items you are going to have to reduce.
Where are you based? have you started looking at rentals? is £650 the lowest you have found?

gembaxter wrote: »

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2 needed due to work schedules and places of work

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 659.63
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1142.63 is this calculated after some deductions? only otherwise £20k should be over £1300.
Benefits................................ 230 CTC approx. are you including child benefit? have you used an online calc to work out the tax credits?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2032.26

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 249.9 is this a car? or 2 cars? how far into the agreement(s) are you? are you at a point where you can hand it back and buy a cheap car outright?
Rent.................................... 400 change this to what you need
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 40 should be able to get telephone and internet combined for less than £30
Mobile phone............................ 70 need to try to reduce these. Are you in contracts? try reducing to a lower tariff or if not in contract look for a cheaper deal or use less
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 45 keep this to a minimum.
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 is this based on your estimated commutes? its not a lot of mileage over 2 cars, considering you don't have a fixed address yet can you not see if you can live near enough to one person's work so only 1 car is needed.
Road tax................................ 26
Car Insurance........................... 120 this is high, are they both similar or is one more than the other? are they high insurance cars? is it due to your ages? do you shop around and follow the guides at renewal?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 24
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 20.25
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 8
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 25 you might be able to get this a bit cheaper once you know where you'll be living (I pay less than this for B&C insurance combined)
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Child Maintenance....................... 221 is this the recalculated figure?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1849.15


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 8500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 10630.8..(249.9)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 10630.8...-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
HSBC Loan......................913.32....76.11.....0
MBNA Loan......................1022.98...102.8.....0
Total unsecured debts..........1936.3....178.91....- Both finish in Jan 2012

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,032.26
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,849.15
Available for debt repayments........... 183.11
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 178.91
Amount left after debt repayments....... 4.2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 8,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -10,630.8
Total Unsecured debt.................... -1,936.3
Net Assets.............................. -4,067.1

Luckily your loans only have a year ago, I wouldn't be looking to extend the terms.

To me its seems you vehicle costs are very high compared to how much they are actually being used. If you really can't manage with one car (and until you know where you will be living you won't know whether public transport and one car will be sufficent) then you really need to see how you can reduce the outgoings in relation to cars, especially HP costs and insurance costs.

As it is only the year to get through are there other ways you can boost your income? selling off possessions you don't need? can you increase your hours at all? or work a second job in the evenings weekends or whenever OH can look after your child?

(Edit -sorry I hadn't refreshed the page before I responded, i see some points have already been raised or answered).

[Deleted User]

I always thought that when you left the army you got some sort of pay off,is that not the case now?

MFWannabe

gembaxter wrote: »

£400 is what I budgeted if the council will help. That is roughly what their properties are at the moment. We ideally need an extra £300 a month.

The mobiles I can drop a bit but we are in contracts. Hubby uses his for work so uses all the entitlement he has. - You really need to reduce these; even if it is getting rid of one of them. Ring them and see if they will reduce the tarriffs due to your financial situation

House phone includes internet but again is in a contract so not sure if we can actually leave this. - Ring them and explain your financial predicament and see if they can bring it down. If you are in a contract and they won't lower it, make a note of when the contract ends so you can shop around then

Car insurance will not be renewed until next year. At the mo it is £100 a month for both cars but it is slightly higher due to an accident last year. This is the cheapest we could get. - check comparison sites anyway; even if there's a fee for changing early it may be worth it if you can make a saving

House insurance again is not up for renewal until June but is that high at the mo due to kit insurance for hubby army stuff so this cannot be reduced until he de kits. - When does your husband leave the army? It might be worth ringing your insurer to see what this will change to?

For all of the above am I able to get out before the end to try and bring the prices down? I am not being stubborn just explaining and then looking how to get them down.

CSA will not reduce. They are heartless and unfortunately do not take into consideration living costs. They want their cut before anything else from my experience.

I have no idea what to do. By the looks of things we are going to struggle to live unless we are in some studio or 1 bed place which with three of us, two cats, a lizard and a baby on the way is not practical. Just feel like crying tonight

Remember you've come to the right place; there's lots of lovely people on here willing to give you support and good advice

PasturesNew

gembaxter wrote: »

Telephone (land line)................... 40 - halve, stop using it
Mobile phone............................ 70 - halve, stop using it
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 - cut back by £50 in the first instance
Clothing................................ 45 - stop buying any for now

That saves £20+£35+£50+£45 = £150

katsu

Definitely look at selling at least one car and getting a cheap car for a year or two - that would clear your loans.

Tom_Jones

Just a point, I pay a handyman 19.5k a year and his take home pay is roughly £1302 a month, so is your husband on the wrong tax code ?

Can one of you cycle to work ?

DancerSupreme

Hubby is on the right tax code. We have childcare vouchers deducted as part of a salary sacrifice. I forgot to note that on.

I have a 7 mile journey taking my son to nursery and then on to work so not an option for me to cycle and hubby is looking at a potential 40 mile round trip for work so same again. The only other option is for me to drive him in the morning, go to do my nursery run and job etc then picking him up later but not sure if this will work.

Hubby is due compensation around June/July time so will be paying the car straight off. Apparently this was going to be a surprise until I broke down in tears last night and told him I was handing it back. My car is the family car. It is newer so requires far little work doing to it for a few years. It will also be big enough for a family of 4 plus is really economical on fuel which has already saved us a fortune. I know it makes sense but I don't think he will hand her back.

Going to call all of our suppliers today though an see how we can reduce.

House phone and internet are not due to end until next Nov. BT tied us in again because we had to move house. Will see if they can reduce though but do bear in mind that is internet and unlimited calls all day every day. We were spending £20 a month contacting 0845 numbers so this has actually saved about a tenner already. However now almost all debts are paid this is no longer needed I suppose.

The mobiles are not getting charges. We stay within our usage. I cannot reduce my contract as it is cheaper for not taking a handset and only £17 for unlimited texts and 600 minutes. Hubbys is a bit more as he has blackberry but will call them today and see what they can offer and when the contract expires.

Clothes are only budgetted in as a habit from being on a DMP. The only one I will need clothes for is likely to be our son but def not this much each day. I always put it in as my "safety" blanket.

He de-kits in Jan but already asked insurer and they said no - is this something I can cancel and just buy new at a better price?

The vehicles are used every day but we are now only able to drive to work and back. The cost of fuel has gone up so much that at the mo this is all we can afford. I shop online to save the fuel costs and the delievery charge outweighs the impulse buys too!

Thanks for some starter points guys - feel exhausted today after no sleep but ready to make some calls at least.

xxx

glittermonster

Good luck with the phonecalls and be kind to yourself.
x

DeeDeeinDooDoo

I think sometimes reframing the situation is called for. Perhaps not seeing the CSA and your husbands other children as some sort of hinderance you should maybe save that for the loans and debt which has been built up. Resentment towards children who have had no say in the situation that they find themselves in will not do your health any good. Focus on your debts.