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Statement of affairs - How can I clear my debts? Can I buy a car?

I WANT to buy a small economical car before the dark, cold winters kick in, but don't absolutely NEED one. I travel to work by tube and therefore would only use a car during evenings and weekends. I recently got rid of a gas guzzler to reduce my outgoings and it has helped allot! I have been looking at the economical smart for two cars which are extremely cheap to run in comparison to my last car.

I have two credit cards (one with interest and one without) and two loans (again, one with interest and one without). Is it best for me to plough all of my extra cash into clearing my highest rate credit card and loan before getting a car? If so, how much should I clear before thinking of taking on additional outgoings?

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,430.50
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38.98
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.37
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.70
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.95
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.85
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618.40
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Ground rent and insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.89

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128.23
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.26
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362.43
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46.80
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.25
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Hair products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Boots n superdrug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Education & Courses

University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One Offs

Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,430.50


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,801.11


£2 Savers Club 2012 - Goal - Full piggy - Balance £2 :doh:

Comments

  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    Are the debt repayments you have entered the minimums?
    Do you have the £629 'spare' a month? have you been ploughing all this into debt repayments?
    If you do have this on top of the mininimum payments how long will it take you to clear the cards?

    If you don't have the £629 then maybe have another look through the SoA for what you might have missed, and try keeping a spending diary to see if you can track this money down.
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • Hi Tixy

    Thanks for your response. I am quite naughtily only paying the minimum amounts on my cards. The spare £600 has recently been spent on random bits for home improvements, which is now coming to an end. This evening I have just upped the monthly payment to £600 per month on the highest interest card so therefore should clear it by December 11. If all goes to plan I should have the other card cleared by May 12. By which point the smaller zero interest of the the two loans should have been paid off also. The larger loan will however still remain at around £8500 by May 12. I could save the £700 per month and make additional payments twice a year for the rest of the term at that stage :A or get my car :j

    What would you advise?
    £2 Savers Club 2012 - Goal - Full piggy - Balance £2 :doh:
  • los72
    los72 Posts: 42 Forumite
    Just a lil thing you should know about buying a smartie fortwo.
    What would you advise?

    Nothing on the finance side, sorry..:)

    But, was you thinking of a new fortwo, or second hand. If you plump for the second hand route, so therefore looking at the "old shape" smart, there are issues with them you should be aware off, which if not known, "could" potentially cost you upto £1k to put right.

    I've owned two of these cars, I sold one before the problem started, my second one, already had the issue corrected.

    The problem being, the engines "may" need a rebuild once they hit 30k + etc.

    Sorry for the off topic, but it's something you may want to reconsider re budgeting etc...:)
  • bottleofred
    bottleofred Posts: 2,902 Forumite
    Unless getting a car is essential, which you've indicated it isn't, I'd recommend clearing the cards first and then considering a car at that stage. Only you know if you really need it though.
    If you've nothing decent to say, perhaps you shouldn't say anything.

    £2 savings jar £300:D
    Total credit card debts £1250:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: - Will I ever learn!!
  • MattSS
    MattSS Posts: 161 Forumite
    I agree with bottleofred and I'd like to point out your username probably needs some reflection in the decision whether to buy a car...

    WantItOrNeedItFi?
    "He hopes and he wished it but it didn’t fall in his lap so he ain’t even here"
  • Unless getting a car is essential, which you've indicated it isn't, I'd recommend clearing the cards first and then considering a car at that stage. Only you know if you really need it though.


    That is a very sensible piece of advice.:T
    "There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock
  • edinburgher
    edinburgher Posts: 14,567 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 July 2011 at 2:09PM
    I WANT to buy a small economical car before the dark, cold winters kick in, but don't absolutely NEED one. I travel to work by tube and therefore would only use a car during evenings and weekends

    Then don't buy one. I've wanted, but not needed a car since I turned 16 (12 years and counting) and haven't caved in yet.

    Peers think I'm a little mad, but I'm willing to bet I've saved a fortune :)

    Also, from what I remember of living in London (sorry if it's another tube you're talking about), it's just about the warmest place in the city come winter.
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Pay off the cards first.
  • Thanks for this! I will keep it in mind for when I am ready to buy.
    :T
    los72 wrote: »
    Just a lil thing you should know about buying a smartie fortwo.



    Nothing on the finance side, sorry..:)

    But, was you thinking of a new fortwo, or second hand. If you plump for the second hand route, so therefore looking at the "old shape" smart, there are issues with them you should be aware off, which if not known, "could" potentially cost you upto £1k to put right.

    I've owned two of these cars, I sold one before the problem started, my second one, already had the issue corrected.

    The problem being, the engines "may" need a rebuild once they hit 30k + etc.

    Sorry for the off topic, but it's something you may want to reconsider re budgeting etc...:)
    £2 Savers Club 2012 - Goal - Full piggy - Balance £2 :doh:
  • Yes, I think that you are right. Hopefully by May 12 I will be in a better position to buy. I am coming around to the idea of staying in this winter...
    Unless getting a car is essential, which you've indicated it isn't, I'd recommend clearing the cards first and then considering a car at that stage. Only you know if you really need it though.
    £2 Savers Club 2012 - Goal - Full piggy - Balance £2 :doh:
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