newbie gettin life back on track!

DragonflyCandy

Hi everyone ive been a bit of a lurker over the past month so thought id bite the bullet and post
My husband and i have been living with our heads in the sands spending money and not thinking about if we have enough so i had a lightbulb moment and spent the last month looking out paperwork and phoning companies and have realised that weve been really stupid with money.
im a stay at home mum who get £120 a month benefits and my husband earns £1500 after tax,
weve added up debt and between us we have £21,000 of debt, slightly shocked by this!
so now i have taken my husbands bank card (he use to spend with out looking at his account and statements!) and i am now i total control of the money, ive cueently worked out that we have £400 a month to spend on food, petrol, clothing and everything else (2 adults and 1 toddler)
so hopefully this will be the start to the end of debt, hope to make lots of friends and get lots of good tips and advice

Thanks for taking the time to read

bottleofred

Hi DragonflyCandy and welcome to the forum,

Well done on your lbm. If you want to, you can post your statement of affairs and you'll get loads of advice on how to save money, which can then go towards the debts. http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Good luck

Red

DragonflyCandy

aw thankyou [EMAIL="i@ll"]i'll[/EMAIL] go have a look at that now

Rock_Cakes

Hi DragonflyCandy

Didn't want to read and run. Well done on your LBM and for taking your husbands card, he he he. I have no doubt that you will get loads of help and support on your journey as a DFW.

Good Luck
xx

DragonflyCandy

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................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 125
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1625
Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 600
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 68
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280
Clothing................................ 30
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 38
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 5
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 20
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1348.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 300
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5300
Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0<
car loan.......................3543.27..(180)......7<
AA loan........................5714.81..(149)......6.6<
Loyds loan.....................3691.04..(160)......11<
Bank of Scotland loan..........2553.....(111)......11.95
Total secured & HP debts...... 15502.12..-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CapitalOne card................2184.14...100.......0
Argos card.....................648.29....30........0
next account...................135.08....10........0
Total unsecured debts..........2967.51...140......

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,625
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,348.12
Available for debt repayments........... 276.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 140
Amount left after debt repayments....... 136.88
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -15,502.12
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,967.51
Net Assets.............................. -13,169.63


ok i think ive done this right!
the reason i dont have mortgage water rates and council tax is because we're in forces accomodation so rent and council tax comes off my husbands pay before he gets in and we dont pay for water thanks for looking

DragonflyCandy

Thankyou Rock Cakes

MiaowMiaow

Well done on posting - its the first step - I recently did the same. Wish you well xx

[Deleted User]

Hi, welcome, and well done for posting.

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................ 0 Any way you could get a job - even one day or afternoon a week?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 125 Check that you are recieving all thet you are entitled to
Total monthly income.................... 1625

Monthly Expense Details

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 600
Council tax............................. 0 Don't you pay CTax?
Electricity............................. 40 Check that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area - often online and duel fuel tariffs are cheaper - try looking at USwitch, and if switching looks the cheaper option, check whether you can get cashback at one of the cahback sites (Quidco, Topcahback, Onepoll)
Gas..................................... 40 (as above)
Water rates............................. 0 (Don't you pay for water? - Are you in scotland (ignore if you are as not relevant))
Mobile phone............................ 70 (Very high, even for two - if in contract drop a tariff, if out of contract look at SIM only deals or go APYG)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 68 (This is high - drop to the basic package, or go freeview)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 (You can probably cut down a bit here - cook from scratch, batch cook, meal plan, shop from a list (and stick to it), go to cheaper supermarkets - Lidl/Aldi)
Clothing................................ 30 (essentials only for now)
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 (Quite high - are all journey's essential)
Road tax................................ 0 (nothing here?)
Car Insurance........................... 38
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 5
Other child related expenses............ 20 (What does this cover?)
Contents insurance...................... 0 Might need to consider this?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0 Never?
Entertainment........................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1348.12

Assets
Shares and bonds........................ 300 (Can you cash these in to pay down debts?)
Car(s).................................. 5000
Total Assets............................ 5300

Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Bank of Scotland loan..........2553.....(111)......11.95%
Loyds loan.....................3691.04..(160)......11%
car loan.......................3543.27..(180)......7%
AA loan........................5714.81..(149)......6.6%
Total secured & HP debts...... 15502.12

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR (You need to find out what the APR's are - or are they all on 0%?)
CapitalOne card................2184.14...100.......0
Argos card.....................648.29....30........0
next account...................135.08....10........0
Total unsecured debts..........2967.51...140

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,625
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,348.12
Available for debt repayments........... 276.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 140
Amount left after debt repayments....... 136.88 This is good that you have a monthly surplus - do you actually have this at the end of every month? If not then keep a spending diary to see where it all goes - noting down everything that you buy. If you do have this, then after all the minimum payments of your debts have been paid then pay this towards the debt that it costing you the most in interest every month - I suspect one of the CC's.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,300
Total HP & Secured debt................. -15,502.12
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,967.51
Net Assets.............................. -13,169.63


ok i think ive done this right!
the reason i dont have mortgage water rates and council tax is because we're in forces accomodation so rent and council tax comes off my husbands pay before he gets in and we dont pay for water thanks for looking - ignore these comments I made above for these things - just seen this (sorry)

Hope the comments are of some use to you.

D9

DragonflyCandy

Thankyou Domino9 youve given me alot of good things to start me off, with the shares ive been told to wait with them cause they say they are quite low at the moment and will go up so im kind of ignoring them in hopes that i could double them in the next 6 month to a year, also im going to see about switching gas and electric i though 40 for each wasnt too bad but your right its quite hugh so im hoping to half it.
im going to look into getting the mobile contracts down too to be honest we hardly use all the minutes and texts anyway what a waste!

this is the start of the change im hoping to be debt free by 2013 eeek!:eek: