New here- desperate for help with my finances and debt

helen01234

Hello,

I originally posted on loans forum asking for advice on a loan and was prompted to come on here for help.

I have worked out my incomings and outgoings as follows:

Partners wage: £1400
Tax credits: £32
Child Benefit: £68
My wage: £500 (I am self employed with a pretty new business so this is an estimate but shouldnt be below this)

Outgoings:

Water: £29
Mortgage: £505
Car payments: £176 (paid in full in August this year)
Loan (unscured): £175.94 (paid up in 3 years 6 months time)
Loan which runs alongside mortgage (secured): £122
Life insurance for mortgage: £70
NTL: £60 (includes broadband and phone)
Child fund: £12
Gas: £50
Electric: £50
Council tax: £75
Home insurance: £34

By my workings out that is £1543

Grocerys are about £100 per month
Petrol is about £50 per month

I dont really think there is anything I can get rid of. The broadband is essential for my job so thats not an option.

I do sell on ebay when I can find things to sell (not sure if there is a better option) and I am hopefully starting mystery shopping too.

Getting a 'regular' job isnt an option due to partners shifts and having a baby to look after hence why I set up work from home. Although I would love to find a regular income job as well which I could do.

We have an overdraft of £1750 and one of £1250
I was looking at getting a loan of £19000 to pay off the 1st loan(unsecured) and the 2 overdrafts and have a bit left over for promoting my business in the hope of more business coming my way. The loan payments I looked at wouldnt be anymore than the £359 we pay now but would set us back another 2 years on our current loan. But I thought at least the overdrafts were actually paid off that way and we werent struggling trying to pay them off as we have done for so long.

Does anyone have any advice, I have been going over this in my head for long enough. It is now beginning to really get to me and its all I think about :-(

I would really love and appreciate any advice

Thank you

Helen

Headintheclouds_3

Welcome to DFW, Helen - you're bound to get some great advice here.

woohoo_postingid

Am I missing something obvious??

You appear to have a £300 surplus each month

Bogof_Babe

I make your outgoings £1359 plus £150 food & petrol, total £1509. Your combined income is £2,000 so I'm not sure what the problem is.

What am I missing?

Bogof_Babe

woohoo_postingid wrote:

Am I missing something obvious??

You appear to have a £300 surplus each month

Snap! That makes two of us then.

helen01234

woohoo_postingid wrote:

Am I missing something obvious??

You appear to have a £300 surplus each month

Yes but thats only if I manage to earn anything. I am self employed but I dont always earn this. Maybe I shouldnt have added my income as its hard to make anything with all my bills and all my stock I have to buy. I havent had a full years accounts yet so its difficult to tell with my income.

Sorry if I have made a fool of myself posting about my finances :-(

Helen

helen01234

I havent made it clear. I dont always earn £500 per month. I have just started my usiness and dont have a full years account yet, so maybe I was stupid putting £500 a month as this is a guess.

Sorry for making a complete fool of myself

Bogof_Babe

Of course you haven't made a fool of yourself, don't worry. But even if you only earned £100 in a bad month, you are just about breaking even.

Are there also debts in the equation that you are trying to get rid of?

oops_a_daisy

Hi Helen and welcome to DFW. I just wanted to say that I have broadband, phone and digital TV with NTL and it costs no more than £35 a month ( although I hardly use my home phone ) your costs seem high at £60 ? also have you thought about starting a spending diary ? just note down all spends so that you can see where your money is going on a day to day basis. Its easy to see where your money goes on direct debits but a lot of money goes on 'this and that' so by keeping a log of all outgoings you can see if there is anywhere else that can be cut back.

All the best and good luck - OOPS

helen01234

Bogof_Babe wrote:

Of course you haven't made a fool of yourself, don't worry. But even if you only earned £100 in a bad month, you are just about breaking even.

Are there also debts in the equation that you are trying to get rid of?

Thankyou.

I am trying to clear the overdrafts and trying to just get ourselves some money in front money. we are constantly struggling and its taking its strain.
I feel so confused on paper we do look to break even or have extra each month but the bank doesnt say the same.
Helen

CLAPTON

no, dont apologise as being self employed makes it very very difficult to budget. but equally makes it even more important to do so.

i would suggest that if your business is new then try to average out the income over 2/3 months and see what it is
and also and very very important work out what your costs are associated with running the business and only include the diference as extra income (if any of course).


also i think your budget leaves out quite a few things....you have left out all the yearly and one off costs...with these you need to work out what you will spend over the next 12 months, divide by 12 to get a monthly figure and add to your monthly budget so you can see what you really have spare...also its important to save these monthly figures so when the bill has to be paid you have the money saved up and so dont need to spend on CC.....so whats missing....car tax, MOT, Insurance , servicing , emergency fund for repairs, allowance for xmas (next years) present, holidays, clothes... as i said you need to add all these to your budget and actually to save up these amounts each month.

also you dont have anything in the budget for socialising, haircuts, dental/medical/optical, magazines/newspapers, any hobbies/interests etc.

to see where the money goes start a spending diary and write everything down that you spend and you'll soon see where it really goes.

good luck