Been here before...

Alcofrolic

I have posted an SOA before as wanted to become debt free however never actually did anything about it. Kinda put my head in the sand really.

Im due to have a baby on the 8th Oct and will only get my full pay for 2 months then will go down to half pay, we are already struggling with our monthly spend so im so worried about what will happen. My partner already has 4 kids which we have recently taken custody of so that has pushed up our spending.

Here is my SOA, I know there are things that I can cut down on already but is saving an extra couple of quid a month really going to help.

I was thinking of getting a small consolidation loan to pay off some of the smaller debts and reduce the monthly outgoings but everyone seems to think that doesnt work. Any help would be appreciated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 4
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1219
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Benefits................................ 436
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2855
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 138
Rent.................................... 595
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 127
Electricity............................. 72
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 62
Telephone (land line)................... 12
Mobile phone............................ 70
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55.1 (we have multiroom to keep the kids happy and sport for the Rugby but will cancell when sport finishes)
Internet Services....................... 25.53 (Can maybe lower this by a few quid to the next package down but cant change as with Kingston Communications)
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 60
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 90
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 10
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 19.99
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 26
Total monthly expenses.................. 2005.12

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 600

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 8000.....(138)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 8000......-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Vanquis Credit Card............2556......100.......34.4
HSBC Credit Card...............1958......49........22
Littlewoods....................672.......155.......0
Next...........................287.......35........0
Provident Loans................400.......90........25
HSBC OD........................500.......0.........0
Barclays OD....................300.......0.........0
Mum............................730.......50........0
Nanna..........................500.......100.......0
Court Fine.....................220.......40........0
Aqua Credit Card...............400.......17........0
Capital One Credit Ca..........200.......10........0
HSBC Loan......................6568......172.......0
Very...........................418.......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........15709.....843.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,855
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,005.12
Available for debt repayments........... 849.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 843
Amount left after debt repayments....... 6.88
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -8,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,709
Net Assets.............................. -23,109
Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Also we are having to use credit cards every month for extra food and bits so this probably isnt that accurate. We dont put any money away for MOT or Car tax and just pay it as it comes somehow.

Hovel_lady

Sorry things are tough for you at the moment. I can relate to the head in the sand thing.
Water seems high - is it on a meter? Is 70 for mobile phones for 2?
If things are difficult maybe you'll have to reduce the £100 entertainment budget.
Have you spoken to any of the free debt advice charities?
Have you been over to the OS (Old Style) board - really helpful advice for making the pennies stretch.
xx

deepoo

I think that you need to look first at how you lower your expenses:
See if you can use less electricity and gas.
Are you on a water meter? that might be cheaper if there are two of you. Wash up by hand and Shower at the gym.
Use the mobile less - change contract - consider Pay as you go.
Send back the Satellite TV (don't give Murdoch your money).
Change your phone provider - get phone and internet combined - my average bill is £22 for phone + internet.
Cook more from fresh ingredients - make your own bread (30p per loaf). Don't buy ready meals. Get own brand food. Shop at Lidl or Aldi. Eat at home rather than going out. Don't buy coffee from Starbucks etc, take sandwiches to work.
Drive less. Change insurance to 3PFT, cycle where you can.
Don't go out so much (entertainment), find free things to do - visit friends and relatives at their home. Take turns to do a dinner party.
Run around the park/cycle and hand in the Gym membership.

Next, pay of your most expensive dept - see if you can switch your Vanquis and HSBC cards to something with lower ARP. Use any spare money and savings from above to pay these cards off first.

You will soon see the difference. Redo your SOA every month and print it so you can see the difference you are making.

You have to make sacrifices now for a dept free future.

smartiedriver_2

Car insurance also seems high?

And as for consolidation loan, a lot of the ppl on here are against them, but I find they are highly beneficial for a lot of my clients - the caveat is you need to be able to afford the repayments, otherwise you're just setting yourself up to fall.

smartiedriver_2

deepoo wrote: »

You have to make sacrifices now for a dept free future.

Dept? Department?
Or debt?

deepoo

thanks for the correction - be debt free

Alcofrolic

Car insurance is for 2 cars. Just renewed one of them and £64 a month was the best I could find, wanted to stay fully comp for that car as its on finance. The other car insurance is due in Sept so will look at really brinigng that one down. Will have 6 years no claims on that so hopefully will get a good price.

The mobile contracts are for 2 and were both still in them for another year. Mine is with Orange and I think I can drop down a tariff however the other halfs is with T-Mobile and not sure they will allow it. I suppose its worth asking.

Entertainment is high and we really should look at that, having 4 kids to entertain however can be difficult so have been looking for cheap days out and getting groupon offers.

I went on uswitch to see if us getting a water meter would help, however it said we would be paying an extra £192 a year. Probably due to the fact I do 3 to 4 wash loads a day and will no doubt do more when new baby comes.

Were are hoping to get around £800 for back pay of Child Benefit and was thinking of paying off the littlewoods one and maybe the court fine. This would then save us around £190 a month wich we could then push onto another debt.

I can see a way out of this and I know there are people in a bigger mess than I am, im just very impatient and want to be able to get it all done now.

deepoo

Your Littlewoods and Court figures say there is 0 APR interest payments on them, so I would just continue with your minimum payments and pay of the highest APR first. Pay of £800 from vanquis at 34% and you will be £272 a year better off - or have an additional £22 to overpay your cards every month.

I can see with so may kids that your water bill would be high. Can you think of any money making schemes - like running a market stall at the weekends where the kids can help (if they are old enough).

Can you borrow any more money from Nana and Mum to pay of your credit cards. You can cut up your credit cards so you can't use them - then you can't just get back to the same credit problem that you currently have.

GAH

I would cancel the sky subscription, i know you say it keeps the kids entertained but that is a luxury that can save you £660 a year.