Lightbulb moment and SOA, PhD student with family.....

oxondaemonfeurer

Hi everyone,

I am nearing the end of my PhD and starting to panic about work next year but the thought of all my old outstanding debts are really starting to stress me out. I divorced in 2002/3 and had bad legal advice basically, and ended up with half my ex husbands debts as well as my own, and a pittance in child maintenance which has decreased rather than increased over time (another story there..)... anyway, I met my current husband and got married, then towards the end of my 1st year of my Phd we had a baby, who is now 22 months old. This has impacted my time to work on my phd and also the additional expenses, including childcare as we have no family nearby. I need more time to work, my husband works full time shift work and looks after our baby often but I am the default carer and need to find additional money to increase the childcare from 2 half days and a full day to as much as possible for 6 months...

the main issue is my outstanding debts.... back in 2003 I had monthly payments agreed and the interest frozen and they have gone down a bit but they are just lingering and the money is getting worse each month. Below is my SOA, I would really appreciate as much advice as possible!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1240
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 500
Other income............................ 160
Total monthly income.................... 3000

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1000
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 80
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 44
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21.5
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 500
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 30
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
uni costs (printing, stationery, etc)... 40
storage unit (temporary)................ 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 2985.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital one....................250.......10........19.34
Studio Cards...................220.......20........44.9
Tax Credits overpaymt..........1800......10........0
Student Loans..................17118.....0.........1.5
Scotcall.......................1800......25........0
Robinson Way...................8302......30........0
Equidebt.......................3789......30........0
gas and electric bal...........974.......0.........0
Housing Benefit Overp..........2000......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........36253.....145.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,000
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,985.5
Available for debt repayments........... 14.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 145
Amount short for making debt repayments. -130.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,253
Net Assets.............................. -34,753

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

dancingfairy

Can you husband get childcare vouchers through work?
Can you help with tutorials/undergraduagtes at all?
Private tuition in your subject?
Typing/proofing essays?

Basically I think something has to give - either you take longer to do the PHD as you have a partner, a baby etc etc or you accept that in order to get the PHD and a good job it will necessitate getting into more debt. Are you able to get a career development loan or anything like that to help with things? Have you looked to see if there are any bursaries etc in your area?
Are you able to move somewhere cheaper? bearing in mind extra costs to get to uni,childcare and work of course.
Are you able to take in a lodger - not ideal but maybe somebody Mon - Fri? Obviously family friendly - perhaps a fellow student that you know and trust or someone who works with your husband.
I think it's about trying to think creatively about how to balance work/PHD with earning money etc - it's not easy so best of Luck
df

Tixy

Hi,

So hopefully we need to find at least £150 savings to cover your shortfall and have a little left for additional payments.

A few suggestions below

matureoxstudent wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1240
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1100
Benefits................................ 500
Other income............................ 160
Total monthly income.................... 3000

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1000 is this competitive for where you live? any chance you could consider somewhere cheaper? or if lots of properties up for rent in your area and change landlord would agree to a shortterm reduction?
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 80 this looks very high - do you have arrears? are you making sure you give actual readings each quarter? have you tried shopping around for cheaper supplier/tariff and tried to reduce usage
Gas..................................... 80 also looks quite high - have you shopped around to see if you can cut the cost?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 44
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 90 can you drop to lower, cheaper packages (even if still in contract you can often drop 1 tariff down).
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 21.5 could you cancel and use freeview
Internet Services....................... 20 look for a cheaper combined deal with telephone (or tel & sky)
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 this is quite high for a family of your size, some on here can manage on about £250 for a family of 5. Try meal planning before you go shopping or the drop a brand challenge. Lots of tips on reducing this on the oldstyle board and in particular the grocery challenge. Maybe you could aim for £300 next month
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 70 do you shop around at renewal time?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 500 do either of you get childcare vouchers from work to save tax?
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 30
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
uni costs (printing, stationery, etc)... 40
storage unit (temporary)................ 40 how long is this for? is it essential? could whatever you are storing be sold to raise some cash?!
Total monthly expenses.................. 2985.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Capital one....................250.......10........19.34
Studio Cards...................220.......20........44.9
Tax Credits overpaymt..........1800......10........0
Student Loans..................17118.....0.........1.5
Scotcall.......................1800......25........0
Robinson Way...................8302......30........0
Equidebt.......................3789......30........0
gas and electric bal...........974.......0.........0 Does the £80/each above include payment for these arrears or is this a previous property?
Housing Benefit Overp..........2000......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........36253.....145.......-
Have you stopped all spending on the cards/accounts?
How recent did you default on the debts with debt collectors?

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,000
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,985.5
Available for debt repayments........... 14.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 145
Amount short for making debt repayments. -130.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,253
Net Assets.............................. -34,753

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Hopefully some of the above will help you find some savings, groceries seems to be the place that has the most to save and is often one of the quickest you can change.

dancingfairy

Another thought - do you absolutely need the car? how local are things to you - ie school,childcare etc? Obviously the car is quite a large expense at the moment and if you can sacrifice it for a bit it would certainly help - although with a family I understand it may not be possible.
df

Tixy

Another thought - Is the other income maintenance? I think I'm interpretting it right that only 1 child is from this relationship? If its not maintenance have you tried to get the other parent of the older 2kids to pay up?

dancingfairy

In which case depending on how often other children are around the grocery figure looks pretty high - especially for 2 adults, a 22 month old (o.k I presume it inlcudes nappies, wet wipes etc) plus a couple of others for how often?
df

oxondaemonfeurer

Hi,

Thanks for the replies so far, i'll try and answer the questions so far...

The storage unit is just while i try and make room for my husbands daughter who is 16 and is moving in this month, not ideal but i can't really say no and i dont have time to sort everything so have set a 3 month deadline on this

My son is from my first marriage and is 12, he is here 80-95% of the time, my step daughter will be here about 95% of the time and our daughter is here 100% of the time

We do get childcare vouchers through my husbands work, can't for my bursary nor working tax credit help on that as thwy don't class my work as work

I can't take any longer as funding runs out march 2012 and my supervisors are adament that i finish by then and i need to finish to work in academia but i will take any job i can when the funding runs out

Mobile phones - just switched one of the phones and that should bring that figure to about £60-70

Likewise just moved from virgin to bt for phone and broadband and will save about £15 a month on that

Rent - this is low for here, should be £1300-1400 but as we have been with same landlord for 5+ years he lets us have it cheaper and doesnt hassle us if rent is late etc. Location is perfect for all school, uni and work. Moving would mean extra travel costs of around £120 a month. No room to take in a lodger, pretty squashed as it is and step daughter moving in...

Gas and electric - arrears are for current property, used alot to heat over winter and am catching up

Groceries - this is definately an area i will cut down on, i have loads in the cupboards and freezer so will try and empty them down with creative meal plans and then new menu/meal plans from then on

Car - we needed a larger car for all the kids and got a japanese import - toyota lucida which is 16 years old, it has some problems but is good for what we need which is regular trips up to hubbys family and his daughters mum/ my sons dad none of whom live in this city. I dont uae it for small trips

oxondaemonfeurer

Oh and sky, i phoned up to see about cancelling and we have it half price until Xmas at which point i would like to cancel but husband and kids want to keep it plus step daughter is expecting it in her room on multi-room as my son currently has that...

Car insurance, i shopped around and not due now until feb2012, ita harder with an import and it costs more each month as i couldnt pay in one lump

I use quidco whenever i can but am waiting for that to come through

oxondaemonfeurer

And no paid teaching available but i did work as an a level examiner for some extra cash...

One problem i have is that hubby doesnt see why he should cut down fir me to pay debts from before we met especially connected to my ex...

RAS

Both kids need to go without multi-room. really, you are going to allow that to wreck your future career?

What CSA is going to be paid by your step daughter mum when she moves in?

Have you calculated for the increase in CTB and WTC when the SD moves in?

RAS

And what do you have l;ying around that you no longer use that can be sold to cover the Studio cards debt, as clearing that is a priority.