Get Tink out of trouble 2011!!

Tink_04

Ok i have decided i shall start my diary after reading loads of great stories and having some great support after only recently joining this site. I had my LB moment on 01.02.11 and ill not lie i felt physically sick and massively ashamed of the situation i have allowed myself to get in.

Im 25 and live with my DH and DD who is 1, we bought out house when everything was sky high in price and have had a combination of bad luck and no common sense (roof damage, broken down cars & spending money like we had a million in the bank.)

It came to a head at Xmas when we spent money we didn't have (and lots of it) on everyone else, on Xmas day morning me and DH were sitting with our DD's presents and none for each other, no nice new clothes for Xmas day and a huge CC bill due in Jan. I just cried at how this Xmas had turned out and i vowed id never spent another Xmas like it.

So how come the LB moment came in Feb? well here is the worst bit, i didn't actually know what i owed to who and where out money was going at all i kept putting off hunting the paperwork out and seeing the final result it was just too much. After speaking to some lovely supportive people on here i did a SOA (its quite rough as still not 100% on some things) but its a start and that was the hardest bit. I have discovered some things which is great and ill include on the SOA below so im slowly working my way through the bill list and the debt its a long process as i have just buried my head in the sand for so long it could be laughable if it was some sitcom!!!!

Over the next few days im planning to work out a plan and get something put in place to help me sort this out, ive opened a new bank account but not transferred any things over yet so need to sort that out! It is taking a long time as not so easy to do with DD into everything!!!

Ok so im hoping that made sense to anyone reading ill post the SOA below and update things as i go.

Tink

twinmum07

Hi and congratulations on your LBM. It is scary to start with isn't it but once you find your debtbusting mojo there'll be no stopping you!
Look forward to following your progress

Tink_04

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 560
Partners monthly income after tax....... 950
Benefits................................ 550
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2060

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 458
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 97
Electricity............................. 37
Gas..................................... 47
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 26.88
Telephone (land line)................... 11
Mobile phone............................ 42
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 125
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 70
Road tax................................ 2.9
Car Insurance........................... 48.85 - DUE IN APRIL WILL BE 25 SO SHOULD DROP!
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 7
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 44
Childcare/nursery....................... 449.15 - GOING UP AGAIN IN APRIL SO WILL NEED TO RE ADJUST
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 9
Buildings insurance..................... 30.12 - JUST RENEWED IS NOW £24.15 + £40 CASH BACK THROUGH QUIDCO
Contents insurance...................... 0-IN WITH THE BUILDINGS
Life assurance ......................... 35
Other insurance......................... 9 - TV COVER
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 - NEED TO ADD MORE TO THIS
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 10
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1655.9


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 90000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 91500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 97000....(458)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 97000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
egg............................560.......15....... .0
halifax OD.....................490.......15........0
Natwest CC.....................980.......50........0
Halifax........................5000......160...... .0 - THIS HAS PPI ON THAT I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT
HSBC loan......................2000......100.......0
Total unsecured debts..........9030......340.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,060
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,655.9
Available for debt repayments........... 404.1
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 340
Amount left after debt repayments....... 64.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 91,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -97,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,030
Net Assets.............................. -14,530

Tink_04

thanks twinmum07 its one of the hardest things ive done trying to sit and get through it but if i dont do it now ill never be free of it and DD deserves better!!

jonjamie1970

Hi, welcome and well done for posting your SOA and aiming to do something about it, money saving and debt free wannabee becomes addictive, Im walking about with the right hump at work today as I bought some flowers from M&S for valentines but forgot to do it through quidco and lost 3% because of it :-(

Anyway, bit by bit, first thing I noticed is that your childcare costs, this is close to your monthly income as an individual, do the benefits ensure that its better to be at work, have you sat and worked out if this is the case ?

It would also be easier if you could understand the APR's on your loans and credit cards so that we can advise on which needs sorting first.

I wished I had had my LBM as young as you but the good news is youve got your whole life to look forward to debt free if you master this .

Tink_04

Hi Jonjamie1970 - Childcare is huge but the tax credits i get pay for it so if i wasnt working i would have no income and only get £200 ish tax credits so although its high i only work part time (3days a week) so its worth it to have my wage really - my little girl loves it and has loads of friends and does loads of activity's too so its keeping her entertained and she has all her meals and snacks there too rather than staying in the house all day with me doing not much!!!

Tink

Tink_04

OK so here is some sums that ive looked at:

My Big loan is £4070
2nd loan - £2000
Credit card - 955
Overdraft - £481.78

credit card - £508.12
Credit card - £530

Total = 8544.90!!!!! ..................... Big pause ...............take a breath................................ok................where do i go now???

The big loan is a story of its own and is in a bad way - this is the one that i have found out that has the PPI on that shouldn't be there. I will deal with this when i know more about it as i have just got the paper work and need to look at it all.

2nd loan is getting paid £100 a month cant do any more with it the APR isnt as high as the cards but cant lower the payments.

Credit card 0% for 12 months so leaving that for now

overdraft is on a payment plan of £15 month interest and charges frozen so that stays as it is.

That leaves my 2 cards - the interest is high on both i cannot move them or change anything so these need to go first so this is my first target £1038.12 i dont have a money plan or any extra cash really but im going to try and budget my money and save a little so that i have some extra money at the end of the month to put towards these!!!

Wish me luck!!!!!!

Tink_04

ok not a huge start but a start!!! ive paid £4.57 to one CC and found paypal has some pennies in (1.44 lol) that im going to save too!!! baby steps!!! Think i mite talk to DH about the joint finances tonight for the bills etc and see if we can tidy up the accounts a little!!!

Tink_04

eeek thought it was £40 i was getting off changing my home insurance through quidco just looked and quidco tracked £50!!! very pleased!!!!


Just gonna save save save then pay pay pay it all off!!! feeling so good at the moment!!!!

Tink_04

Ok here we are another day....

well i am officially skint till pay day ( 16 days) and my pay will be short this month as i had a week off sick and there is no overtime for me to work it back - feeling pretty sick now i owe an extra £40 prob £50 by the end of the month too so in not a great place now. Tried to do a menu plan (love the OS board) but there is seriously not enough food in and no pennies to get any other than milk for DD when ever i try to sort money out how come i always end up in a worse place than when my head is in the sand???? just dreading everyday now dont know how ill see the month out or even get by next month there is no oner left to borrow from and no extra money to pull me out this month! how can i keep getting into this mess?

On the plus side i cancelled my car breakdown cover as it had shot up so will try to get another one through quidco or something.

Tink

twinmum07

Have you thought about mystery shopping? My kids are being 'treated' to a takeaway chicken tonight!
I think it feels like things are better when you don't look at money but you are often just sneaking more onto the debt and making it worse.

Do you realise you have paid off 0.5% of your target debt in just a day? That puts you way ahead of track to pay it off this year so focus on just how brilliantly you are doing.

Congrats on the home insurance.

Do you have any stuff you could ebay to make up some of the shortfall?