New and in a mess!

pickle18

Decided to make this into my little debt diary!

Tomorrow and saturday are pay days ( he gets paid twice weekly - once in the bank on a friday and overtime on saturday - big inconvieniance)

But ...... I have (in the last 5 days) done my first load of ebaying as I started the Olympic challenge and I have raised £270 so far and the biggest items were items Colin picked up at work - he is a machine driver at a waste transfer site. He gets these items in daily ,previously we have just ignored them but now he is ringing every two minutes asking to check what such and such is going for on ebay!! We are aiming to raise £500 in 31 days from ebay!

Also there is a possibility of a new job for him - should find out more at the weekend.

I'll update sig tomorrow with items I have managed to pay off - fingers crossed!!

david_hellier

Hi,

According to my figures you have £372.01 per week to spend on food and anything else. I suggest you write this amount in a little book (a spending diary) on a Monday and keep a note of what you spend by deduction. If you have any over at the end of the week use it to pay towards your most expensive debt (probably MBNA). Do this every week.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 3000.00
partner 150.00
c ben 127.00
ctc 69.00





total 0.00 3346.00 divide by 4.33
£772.16

£772.16 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 816.00
council tax 145.00
elec 19.00
gas 30.00
water 40.00
secured loans 0.00
TV licence 12.00
fines 0.00
mbna 60.00
egg 60.00
gym 42.00
nursery 150.00
fuel 60.00
car ins 90.00
car ins 2 50.00
house ins 40.00
life 10.00
bb 10.00
car tax 25.00
car repairs 15.00
mob 50.00
phone 10.00










total 0.00 1734.00 divide by 4.33
£400.15

£400.15 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = £372.01 per week

pickle18

His new job has cut child tax credit out all together now so will remove that from the SOA. I underestimated fuel also - I have moved it to £100 per month for both cars. Our council tax has just been rebanded to £170 per month which is hefty!

I will def start a spending diary TBH we have vastly improved over the past couple of weeks anyway. I have been putting all the money in envelopes on a saturday so we don't start chipping away at it. I have even been paying small amounts of left overs into the bank ie £5-£10 which is surprising how much it mounts up. Thanks for the advice. Also overtime has cut down so he is at the bottom end of his wage currently

The hardest thing at the minute is the mortgage arrears but we have come along way as in Jan we has £2200 ON TOP of additional monthly payments of £816. We are currently putting between £300-400 a week off the mortgage so thats knocking our finances considerably, when we are up to date I think we will start to see some real progress.

pickle18

Well today has been a good day - only spent £1 (not including ebay postage) all day. I have paid £127 worth of ebay cheques into the bank and sent to parcels for ebay.
I have sent letters re my other halfs phone which they are making us pay though we still haven't recieved the phone months on - I have threatened court action this time. Sent a letter re the child benefit we havent been recieving for our second child. Sent a letter to MBNA about harrassing phone calls from their sister company GVI.

I have paid off
Mortgage £300 - £663 left
MBNA £62 - got a new balance update and it is now £2670.90!!
Credit Sols (egg) £30 - £2545
Link (sofa) £20 - £740
Moorcroft £25 - £75 left

With tomorrows money I want to pay some off mum and some of the council tax! Feel quite good about payments made this week and especially pleased that MBNA finaly seems to be going down

Will update sig!

pickle18

Managed to pay £130 off the council tax yesterday plus £50 to mum for CC but alot of it is interest (though she said she'll swop to a 0% deal now) and also £20 I owed mum.:j

chevalier

well done for keeping so positive.
chev

shelovestobuystuff

I think you really need to use the budget planner and make sure you work it our properly.You have a brilliant wage, you shouldn't really be in so much trouble.It must be that you need to read up on managing the finances.I did notice that the low wage you put in the budget for your partner means that his work is costing the family more money than he brings in.Perhaps look at whether it is feasible for him to continue working, or perhaps he could look at his business costs and see if they are all really needed?
Also if your partner has the time he may be interested in a new short course that open university are offering.I dont remember the title of it exactly but it is based on household finance management.They recognise that with all the financial transactions including mortgages, loans, credit cards and such that the average household has to deal with nowadays it has become quite complex to actually run a home and family efficiently, and the new course aims at helping with that.
Dont worry about the cost either as your partner is obviously not earning enough to pay for the course he should get it for free even though you are working.
I did an OU course last year and got it all for free even though my partner is working.I had to get an N.I. annual statement of earnings to prove that I was on a low income(no income) and I signed-on as unemployed for 6 weeks before I applied for the course even though I was not entitled to any benefits just to get the form stamped by my local unemployment office.
Anyway, just an idea,might be worth looking in to!

pickle18

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

I think you really need to use the budget planner and make sure you work it our properly.You have a brilliant wage, you shouldn't really be in so much trouble.It must be that you need to read up on managing the finances.I did notice that the low wage you put in the budget for your partner means that his work is costing the family more money than he brings in.Perhaps look at whether it is feasible for him to continue working, or perhaps he could look at his business costs and see if they are all really needed?
Also if your partner has the time he may be interested in a new short course that open university are offering.I dont remember the title of it exactly but it is based on household finance management.They recognise that with all the financial transactions including mortgages, loans, credit cards and such that the average household has to deal with nowadays it has become quite complex to actually run a home and family efficiently, and the new course aims at helping with that.
Dont worry about the cost either as your partner is obviously not earning enough to pay for the course he should get it for free even though you are working.
I did an OU course last year and got it all for free even though my partner is working.I had to get an N.I. annual statement of earnings to prove that I was on a low income(no income) and I signed-on as unemployed for 6 weeks before I applied for the course even though I was not entitled to any benefits just to get the form stamped by my local unemployment office.
Anyway, just an idea,might be worth looking in to!

The reason we got into these debts was because his(he is the earner) previous wage was less than half of his current wage - he was promised a payrise and actually got 2 pay cuts. We couldn't afford to live so he had to leave without finding another job (he couldnt look for work working 60+ hrs a week) which meant no wage at all for a few months. His previous employer has actually come back to him very apologetic offering a better wage thsan he is on now but we just can't take the risk he will mess us about again.
I realise my wage isn't anything like decent but it does pay for childcare so its not a waste of money. I am doing to the job as its a foot on the career ladder in order for me to start my degree in a couple of years time - I really wouldn't have a chance on getting on the course without NHS experience. I have started an OU course but they said I am not entitled to any bursary as of the household income.
I feel a bit embarrased as I know people are reading this thread thinking how could we get into this mess with a good wage but this is a new wage for us which is great and gives us the chance to pay off things quickly, it doesn't mean I am any less stressed with the level of debt. We still have a horrendous credit report and the credit cards are solely built up on bills etc for before he had a wage increase - we don't have flash cars, posh clothes, or even a nice house etc . This isn't intended to be directed at the previous poster, I think its probably what a lot of people are thinking due to the lack of responses in comparision with other diarys.

Hope I haven't offended anyone, I just am feeling a bit low - we haven't told a single person about our debt so the only place I can celebrate the reduction in debt is here , sorry.

Verbatim

Well done Pickle. It's great to see your progress in your signature. Yuo are really on the way now.

shelovestobuystuff

So, I understand now that this is a new situation and an old debt.There was a period of no income also.That means it can only get better for you now.The last thing I wanted to do in my last post was to undermine your attempts to better yourself and your family in the long term.I did not know about the work situation.You are obviously very level headed and a great planner with definate ideas for the future as far as career is concerned.Keep at it ,well done so far and good luck with your OU course also.