Help with budgeting..

HBRAD123

New on here but really need help and a way forward pls:-

My husband and I both work full time... My annual sal is 22k and my husbands is 28k.. We are home owners and have 2 young children.

We have our mortgage with Halifax 194k and this is on interest only (no repayment vehicle in place) the plan was to put money into savings.. Our property is worth 240k.. It is currently on SVR.. We pay £577 pm.. We have 2 credit card with 2500 on one and 2100 on the other both on 0%. We also have a personal loan which is due to be paid off in 36mths. 7500 os bal £218pm.. Other outgoings are £300 childcare. Gas and Elec 101.50. ctax 185. Petrol 250pm car ins 50pm life ins 30pm build ins 21pm mobile phones 40pm sky and broadband 33 bt 13pm tv licence 13. wtr 29 and I try to budget with food £300pm (doesn't always work out that way).. (we are lucky in the sense that my husband is a motor technician so car maintainence is nothing)..

I am really trying my best but I'm really worried that we are going to end up in trouble financially as don't think we are ever going to be able to pay any capital off out mortgage as never have any money left over at the end of the month..

Any help to get my finances in order would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks

wantabetterlife

The first thing you should do is draw up a budget that includes money for presents, entertainment, hair cuts and all the things that you spend money on not just the essentials because you wont get a true picture. From this you can work out how much you should have left at the end of the month...if you dont have this left you need to figure out where it has gone.
A really good idea is to keep a spending diary which you should record every single expense in...this will make you aware of all your spending and keep you focused.
I think you really need to start paying off your mortgage as when interest rates rise (and inevitably they will) you could find yourself in a lot of bother as you arent paying off any of the capital.
How do you propose to pay the credit cards off when 0% runs out?

You may be better posting on the DFW as they have a lot of experienced people over there. Hope that helps
WABL

Daft_Pegasus

I think you'll get better advice by posting this on the Debt Free Wannabe forum rather than this one as it's more their area of expertise.

I'd also recommend posting the financial details in a tabular format to make it easier for people to read and understand. Include your take home pay rather than gross salary as that's what people need in order to see the difference between your income and outgoings.

cha97michelle

they will ask you to do a statement of affairs. They use this one.

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

katsu

Debt Free Wannabee is a good place to get advice with lots of lovely people so do go there and post a version of your first post, plus the SOA from cha97michelle's link. You will get lots of advice on how people would make savings so you can repay the capital.

Best wishes