I am a Wannabe

GemmaB1

hi all,

Not sure if this is where am meant to be posting but here goes!

Thought I would give this a go as my head is about to explode with looking at my lists and writing everything over and over again!!

I have eventually taken my head out the sand and realised that me and hubby are a wee bit in debt, I say wee I really mean huuuugggeee for the amount we have coming in! still trying to remove hubby's head though, he's getting there slowly but doesn't really understand why when he has £30 in his wallet why can't he go and buy stuff?? Eh sweetness cause we have no money!!

Here goes

Our monthy income is

£1335.00 hubby's main job
£ 320.00 hubby's 2nd job (I know he is a wee star)
£ 134.00 Family Allowance
£ 60.00 monthly pocket money from my parents for kiddies
£ 382.00 Tax credits

= £2231.00

Monthly outgoings are

£460 mort
£240 personal loan
£150 car
£116 council tax
£80 mobiles
£100 gas and elec
£90 virgin (tv, phone, broadband)
£40 petrol
£40 car ins
£30 acc interest
£22 catalogue payment

= £1368.00

Weekly outgoings are

£79 Loan
£50 food
£40 menage
£30 hubby's train and some snacks at work

= £199.00
x 4 weekly
=£796.00
+£1386.00 monthly bills

= £2182.00
= £49.00 left!!!!!

Our outstanding debt is

Personal loan £3000.00 o/s paid June 2013
Car £2000.00 o/s paid nov 2012
Provident £2504.00 o/s clear Jul 2012
Function room hire £ 550.00 o/s clear Jan 2012
Sofa £1000.00 o/s clear when I actually have disposable income at the mo its a token payment of £5.00
Halifax visa £1000.00 o/s as above
Capital 1 visa £600.00 o/s as above
Capital 1 visa (hubby) £400.00 o/s as above
Littlewoods catalogue £1000.00 o/s as above
Littlewoods cata (hubby) £600.00 o/s as above
Great Uni cata (hubby) £600.00 o/s as above
Wonga £460.00 o/s Clearing Sept 2011
Quick quid £750.00 o/s Clearing Nov 2011
Family £862.00 £362 paid back in Sept 2011 and the remaining £500 will be paid back by Feb 2012


Total = £15362.00

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! All we have to show for it is a car we don't own yet and clothes and toys we don't use anymore.

I have sat down tonight and worked out my monthly budget for the months of Sept, Oct and Nov, as my hubby gets a £600-£800 bonus every 3 months I tend to work 3 month in advance, this was my downfall before as I was keeping money from the bonus to add to his wage every month without a bonus but it was just shouting at me sitting in that bank and I would usually have spent the whole lot half way through the 1st month on nothing!!

This quarterly bonus is how we are able to pay so much to these debts and hopefully have all our normal monthly payments on debts reduced to the normal monthly fee (most payments are between £50-£100 more than they should be as we try to pay off arrears) by Feb 2012 and be debt free by June 2013.

Maybe by then we will be able to afford a wee holiday as we've been together 10 years married for 2 and have only been abroad together on our honeymoon (seriously where did all this cash go???)

Well if you got this far well done you

So as of tomorrow this is my new hobby

xx Gem

moo2moo

You spend almost as mouch each month on entertainment as you do on food. Do you really need to spend £80 on mobiles? or £90 on tv, phone and broadband, even assuming that covers your tv licence thats an insane amount.

Have you chopped up the catalogues?

In your shoes my priorities would be clearing both the Wonga and Quick Quid loans. They must be costing you a fortune. After that figure out what the interest rates are on each debt and tackle them in order of highest interest.

Its free listing on E-bay all weekend. Get rid of the clothes and toys you don't use any more and anything else gathering dust.

Your budget doesn't allow for any clothes or shoes or things for children. Dig out all your receipts for the last three months and figure out what you're actually spending. Then figure out how you can reduce that expenditure, whether its eating up the stuff you have in the cupboards and freezer before buying anything else and using this months grocery money to shift the PayDay loans and build a safety net for emergencies and things you've forgotten to include like car tax.

Good luck. Its a long hard slog.

MrsTinks

Put your SOA together using this: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
It makes it easier for us to have a detailed look at where the money is going
I would recommend putting £2 towards a note book - on the front put "Spending Diary" - you need to have in exact detail where all that money is going... if you were £49 "up" each month you wouldn't be £15k in debt You'll also find that you might shock yourself on where the money is going...

Definitely flog what you can on fleabay or the various parents websites in bundles etc.

A quick glance though I have to say mobiles are WAY too high, your phone, BB and sky... again you need to try and negotiate this down.
Menage? Who the what now? What's this?

Pollycat

Yeah, definitely transcribe your finances into the template (link provided by MrsTine).

You may have some things missing e.g:
water rates
car tax & maintenance
clothing
building/contents insurance
haircuts
presents

menage - is this pets?

Once you have the full picture, it will be easier to identify areas of savings.

theoretica

One other (fairly) easy thing to cut down on would be your husband's snacks at work. Much cheaper to buy bulk packets in the supermarket for him to take in.

DizzyDizzy

If you've got loads of kids clothes / toys etc lying around then do a couple of car boots sales. There are usually a few around in September before they stop for the winter. Will help you get in a quick bit of cash which may help ease things in the short term whilst you get yourself a long term plan.

ixia

List what you can on ebay
sell old dvds/cds etc on music magpie
sell any old gold

Then I would make meal plans- only buy what you need on your shopping list- incorporating snacks for your hubby you should be able to spend less on his snacks than you are doing now if you plan.

set a realistic budget for all your expenditure- you do have to include everything it's amazing what you forget to put in- use the budget planner on this site.

Keep a spending diary- makes you realise what you fritter money away on.

Good luck

GemmaB1

Thanks every1, I have already limited my hubby's work money, £18 for his train and he now takes a snack pack with £1 per day for a drink if he runs out of what I have put in.

The menage is where for every £10 a week I put in I get £500 on the date I request at the start of the year. This year I had 4 lots of £500 and still have 1 more to come in nov for christmas.

My broadband/tv/home phone package is getting cancelled mid oct when the year contract is up and we've already requested prices from sky for £35 a month cheaper!!
Sent hubby to Asda today with £23 and he came home with £4 change as a few good deals where on, on the things I needed. Woo Hoo!!

Cheers every1 xx

GemmaB1

Just figured out how to do an SOA!!! Here it is

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1655
Benefits................................ 516.36
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 2271.36
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 460
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 390
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 116
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 17
Mobile phone............................ 90
TV Licence.............................. 12.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 17
Internet Services....................... 17
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 10.5
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 72
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 1707

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 80000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 82000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 70000....(460)......0
Secured Debt.................. 3000.....(240)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 2000.....(150)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 75000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Wonga..........................460.......50........0
Quick quid.....................750.......150.......0
Family ........................862.......0.........0
New Sofa.......................1000......5.........0
Function Room Hire.............500.......100.......0
Provident......................2605......316.......0
Husbands Great Uni.............600.......5.........0
Husbands Littlewoods...........600.......5.........0
My Littlewoods Cata............1200......5.........0
My Halifax Visa................2000......5.........0
My Cap1 cc.....................600.......5.........0
Husbands Cap1 cc...............400.......5.........0
Vanquis Visa...................250.......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........11827.....671.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,271.36
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,707
Available for debt repayments........... 564.36
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 671
Amount short for making debt repayments. -106.64
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 82,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -75,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,827
Net Assets.............................. -4,827

I don't know what the /b stands for after some coloums though? any ideas

As you can see it doesn't look good, but I am determined to pay of family memeber this month, Wonga next and Quick quid in nov, I am going to have to default on my provident payment but its the only way I can see how to get rid of the debts I have with the payday loans.

here goes to a debt free 2013

Gem xx

becky_d_2

wow Gemma i cant believe the debt you have but i myself no how easy it can be to get into debt!!!! could you do a part time job??? as if you did tax credits would pay you abit more for working. Also i know its very hard with chrildren but i have 2 chrildren both under 8 and i work 25 hours to get working tax credits and also to keep me sane lol xxx This may help clear your debts quicker even if it is tempory!!! Rebecca xxxx

GemmaB1

Hi becky, I have been looking for a job but there doesn't seem to be any out there. Its hard as my husband works mon-fri between either 7.30 and 9pm and on a sat he works at his 2nd job 1pm till 11pm. My family don't live near me and my hubby's family all work its hard to get little miss picked up and dropped off at school and little mr watched. My job before my mat leave was 24 hours 4 days a week and 1 of those was a wed night where my wee granny watched my daughter but my gran fell and broke her hip and I have no1 else. When I went back to work after having little miss 6 years ago her nursery fee's were barely covered through the tax credits as apparently my hubby earns to much and came in at £400 a month and i just can't afford that for little mr as I earned £480 a month.