SOA & 1st time on DFW Board

miaowmiaowmiaow

Hi

Could really use some advice and support. I've been completely hopeless with money all my life and had built up a large credit card debt during uni - on going out and drinking mainly im ashamed to say - which I had paid off. Stupidly I have done it again, and Im 36 now!

I built up a CC debt whilst pregnant and on mat leave. When baby 18th months old, I had awful shock, found out partner on drugs and he asked me to give him a chance and have his wages paid into my account so he wouldnt have access to any money.

He spent all our savings, ran up a £600 overdraft and left us in mortgage arrears, but only one month and one quarter energy arrears.

I gave him one chance, and he has not gone back to his old ways but I sank into depression/almost breakdown and did what I do best - tried to shop my way to happiness. Furniture, TV, clothes (LOTS of clothes), toys for littlun, lots of meals out as couldnt stand to be at home, etc etc .

I have had a credit report not counting overdtaft or mortgage we are over £12000 in debt.

Can only just afford to pay what I have to each month. But have realised that now this is the tipping point. Any more and it is out of control so I have got to cut the cards up and get my head straight and us out of debt, especially with littuns future to consider. Its so hard dealing with this on my own.

What has made it worse is that my (cheap)classic car died a few weeks ago which I am now selling. I have been trying to manage getting to work and littlun to childminder (I work part time 4 days a week, have managed to get more hours starting Jan thanks goodness) but it has been difficult -local backstreet buses so unrealiable Ive been late for work AND childminder collection, and no one who can give me any lifts unfortunately. So I have just bought a car on HP - I am more stupid than even I thought and not only bought from Arnold Shark but it was more than I planned to spend by lots, at £4000.

I desperately want to get our heads above water. I had moved a lot of my barclaycard debt to 2 0% cards, but then respent another £2000 on the b'claycard. So now I have 3 outstanding CC debts! I finally felt broken and out of control last night when I saw HSBC have charged me £109 in fees. I phoned them to ask for help (refund!) I was refused. ALso saw I had gone over my limit AGAIN so will ave the same next month.

So, here, finally is my SOA. I think I have included everything, and have had to estimate some figures but I have tried to round up whereeveer I wasnt sure. Sorry, but I have had to do as quickly as possible while I was feeling brave (I get head in sand syndrome in the evenings for some reason) - and am also playing with littlun!

It seems we have disposable income each month - where does that go then! The snowball calculator gave it 85 months to clear it, Nov 2017. This makes me think I have missed something out, will doublecheck later.

SOrry again for the long long post but wasnt sure how much to tell and it has really helped just to write it down.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 788
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2908

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 440
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 89
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 140
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 55
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 450
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 196
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 25
Life assurance ......................... 14.5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
My overdraft DEbit interest............. 10
Partner BAnk Account Fee................ 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 2157.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88750....(440)......3.85
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4288.....(89).......5.75
Total secured & HP debts...... 93038.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................6200......150.......29
Halifax Credit Card............4600......45........0
Nationwide Credit Car..........2400......25........0
Halifax Overdraft..............300.......0.........0
HSBC Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
Partners Loan..................2000......60........NaN
Mastercard HSBC................580.......18........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........17080.....298.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,908
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,157.5
Available for debt repayments........... 750.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 298
Amount left after debt repayments....... 452.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -93,038
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,080
Net Assets.............................. 23,882

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

Tixy

Hi and welcome, and well done for facing up to things now. Its not easy but the sooner you tackle things the sooner you can start making things better.

miaowmiaowmiaow wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 788
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 120 have you checked you are getting all you are entitled to? have you checked if you could get an child tax credit?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2908

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 440
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 89
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 140 is this paying off arrears as well? it looks very high. If not paying off arrears then shop around for a cheaper deal and try to reduce your usage.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 55
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 450 This is high for 3 people, really you need to work on bringing this down (I assume it might include nappies etc for your child & pet food, but you should still be able to make some savings here)
Clothing................................ 100 you need to work on reducing this down. Only buying essentials for a few months at least.
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 196
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 25
Life assurance ......................... 14.5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
My overdraft DEbit interest............. 10
Partner BAnk Account Fee................ 15 what benefits does this give that he uses? consider switching to a free account.
Total monthly expenses.................. 2157.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88750....(440)......3.85
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4288.....(89).......5.75
Total secured & HP debts...... 93038.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................6200......150.......29
Halifax Credit Card............4600......45........0
Nationwide Credit Car..........2400......25........0
Halifax Overdraft..............300.......0.........0
HSBC Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
Partners Loan..................2000......60........NaN
Mastercard HSBC................580.......18........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........17080.....298.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,908
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,157.5
Available for debt repayments........... 750.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 298
Amount left after debt repayments....... 452.5 It looks like you have £450 spare a month - are you overpaying on some of the debts? if not then you need to work out where this is going each month - keep spending diaries for a couple of months and compare these to your budget.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -93,038
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,080
Net Assets.............................. 23,882

The big items on your SoA are your gas and your shopping. Regarding the groceries, there are people on here who manage a family of 4 and pets on around £250 so there should be some reductions you can make. Even if you drop to £350 that would be an extra £100 a month to speed up paying your debts. I'd try looking at the old style section of the board, try the drop a brand challenge, cheaper supermarkets and try meal planning for the week ahead before you go shopping.

Also try to reduce your clothes spend. You say you've spent a lot on clothes in the past - hopefully that should mean you have plenty without needing to buy much. Try nearly new sales and supermarket clothes for your little one whilst they are growing so fast.

When you did the snowball did you put in when the 0% periods end on your cards? and is one of the cards. Does partners loan not have any interest? These would both affect the snowball.

Have you now stopped all spending on the cards? cut them up (or at least stopped carrying them around)?

If you do have that £450 to put towards debts each month then you can really start making some inroads - if you don't find out where its going and try to make some savings so you can put a good chunk towards your debts.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Miaowmiaow, well done for posting the SOA, it's a hugely daunting task to actually write it all down in black & white - but once done, it's easier to tackle things as you know where you are IYSWIM.

A few comments from me - mostly already said by Tixy.....

miaowmiaowmiaow wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 788
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 120
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2908

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 440
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 89
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 125
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 140 This is huge - how long have you got until the arrears are paid?
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 18
Mobile phone............................ 55 Are these contracts? When do they finish? Switch to PAYG & use for emergencies only ASAP
TV Licence.............................. 15
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 450 Again on the high side - pop over to the Old Style board and try the grocery challenge it's great fun & loads of supporting people doing it (families of 4 manage on £220/month) and some great recipes too!
Clothing................................ 100 This needs to be cut - ebay outgrown clothes & use it to get replacements as the wee one grows
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 70:eek: Have you tried comparison sites?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 196
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 20 High for separate B&C - I pay £15/month for both (realise this varies for property & region)
Contents insurance...................... 25 As above
Life assurance ......................... 14.5
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30 Try to shave £10 off this
Haircuts................................ 20 Cut to £10 - try student nights / an extra week between cuts
Entertainment........................... 100 Sorry this needs to go - £20/month
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
My overdraft DEbit interest............. 10
Partner BAnk Account Fee................ 15
Total monthly expenses.................. 2157.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 130000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 134000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88750....(440)......3.85
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4288.....(89).......5.75
Total secured & HP debts...... 93038.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................6200......150.......29
Halifax Credit Card............4600......45........0
Nationwide Credit Car..........2400......25........0
Halifax Overdraft..............300.......0.........0
HSBC Overdraft.................1000......0.........0
Partners Loan..................2000......60........NaN
Mastercard HSBC................580.......18........16.9
Total unsecured debts..........17080.....298.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,908
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,157.5
Available for debt repayments........... 750.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 298
Amount left after debt repayments....... 452.5

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 134,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -93,038
Total Unsecured debt.................... -17,080
Net Assets.............................. 23,882

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

What happens to the left over £450?

If you're not sure, try a spending diary and write down everything - £10 here and there is easy to lose track of but soon mount up.

Have you got a car sharing scheme where you are? (we've got Tripshare but think that's Scotland only) You could advertise for someone to share with you which would help with fuel costs.

miaowmiaowmiaow

Thanks for taking the time to read through all that. I'll head over to the old style board next for some tips! Your advice is great and seeing it all on screen like that makes me think 'what IS the matter with me' . I waste an awful lot of money on rubbish.

Here's some more info - (if replying to the comments isn't what you're supposed to do on here sorry! not sure what to do.)

Gas bill - Just gone online to check, its £103 (I rounded up too much!) Not clearing arrears, I paid it off.

Mobile Contracts - Yes its v high - it is £25 for partner and £30 for me, can't cancel till next year

Groceries - It included clothes for littun and cat food for 2 cats (wet and dry). Yes, its very high. I do the worst thing - shop when hungry AND with toddler. also buy a lot of brand names and non essentials, like hot sauce and cans of pop for work - NO MORE!

THe plan is fill up first and shop at Aldi - I am also putting off the shopping by at least two days every week. Next shop has to be tomorrow.

Clothing - I havent bought any clothes for a month! I put it in the SOA to shame myself.

Car Insurance-thats me and partner combined. We live in a high risk area and I have only 2 yrs no claims. I shopped around 2 evenings on comparisons sites and by phone!

Entertainment (hangs head) - I know. No more. I have cancelled this Sats monthly nite out. This did include booze and fags money. These are also out (for me) whther I can get OH to stop is another matter.

Car share-as I work out in an out of the way place, and at odd hours it wouldnt work

Benefits -Thats all we are entitled to - child benefit, child tax cred and workng tax credit

Partners Bank account - Yes, i dont know what to do! Want to cancel it but it has a £300 O/d. I have already reduced it from £600.

Snowball - I did put the 0% end dates in and partne loan amount, but also two bits of good news - partner due £1500 compensation payment soon and a tax refund in May

At the moment I pay any spare money I can to the Barclaycard as its sucha huge debt, with the biggest interest rate.

I have stopped spending so much honestly! If I check out the old style board before shopping tomorrow and make a good list and STICK to it - wonder how much I'll spend? Hopefully less that £80 or £130 at Asda every week or so.

Thanks

Rach

Tixy

Sounds like you are ready to tackle it all Rach

(yes answering the comments is useful)

As you don't have arrears on the gas then I would have a look at seeing if you can find either a cheaper tariff with your supplier - or a cheaper supplier. Try looking on the price comparison sites to see if you coudl save by switching gas & elec. If it doesn't look like you can then try reducing your usage a bit - e.g turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees and wear slippers and jumpers/

Good luck with making the cutbacks.

mothsinmywallet_2

I have been doing my shopping online (but not completeing the purchase) so I can see all the deals and then trying to tweak it as much as possible to get within budget and then actually going to the shop and trying to replace as many things as possible with things from the whoopsie/bargain section. Meal plan first (look at other peoples weekly meal plans on old style for inspiration) and definitely eat before you go. I actually use the calculator function on my phone to add it up as I go round to check it is coming to the same as it did online. Hopefully people just think I'm texting. Managing about £260 pcm for 5 of us (one in nappies). If you want any help with it feel free to message me.

Moths x

PS Your gas is horrendous!!!!! Jumpers and hot water bottles all round and look for a switch. Ours is £77 pcm for both but we do have a woodburner which heats half the downstairs.

PPS Well done for sticking with your partner. I'm sorry you've had such a stressful time and I hope it works out for you.

RAS

miaowmiaowmiaow wrote: »

Partners Bank account - Yes, i dont know what to do! Want to cancel it but it has a £300 O/d. I have already reduced it from £600.

You are actually paying 60 per cent on that OD, so clearing that is more effective than clearing any of the credit cards.

With respect to the housekeeping, stop buying clothes for your child at all at the supermarket.

Use charity shops and e-bay and check out www.freegle.co.uk. Swell everything that you no longer use on e-bay or at carboots, per item not in bundles.

And you may want to kick start things by listing the contents of the cupboards and freezer and doing a store cupboard challenge.

rising_from_the_ashes

Also, for the pets, have a look round online - I've started bulk buying the cats dry food when it's on offer and it's significantly cheaper.

They get Royal Canin (so a great quality food) and I used to buy this at the pet shop and it worked out about £8.50 / cat / month.

I've recently got great deals online by buying both bigger bags (10kg) and when on BOGOF (4kg) which have brought the cost down to £3.50 / cat / month.

Yes, it can be a lot to spend in one go but it lasts for ages so worth it IMHO.

Also for cat litter - try Home Bar*gains if you've one near as they do it really cheap (and good quality wood and crystal stuff) - it's only in small bags but .... doesn't really matter if it's cheaper!

Look forward to seeing you on the Grocery thread!:)

mildred1978

£50 a month on petrol between 2 cars? Is it worth it? You are doing less than around 250 miles per month between you. Surely taxis would be cheaper?

miaowmiaowmiaow

Did weekly shop this afternoon as parents coming over tomorrow - result! Stuck to list completely and spent £33.71! Unbelieveable. Almost two weeks ago i spent £160 in Asda.:o

Really appreciate all the comments. THought about this all afternoon and kept me focused shopping so that i could report back.

About the cats- they LOVE royal canin, had samples from vets once, but yes its so expensive. Will do some shopping around.

The gas is high - we live in a draughty open plan detached house (nothing fancy, cold and in need of lots of work) but got free cavity wall insulation and partner insulated the loft this year, so hopefully wont need as much heating, especially now littun isnt so little. They just put the prices up as I am not on a fixed tariff too, by £20 per month! I am iin a contract till March 2012 unfortunately. Jumpers all round! (I do anyway, Im ALWAYS cold - T shirt, jumper, warm PJs, socks slippers AND blanket!)

The petrol bill is low as partner doesnt always drive to work and back every day - he is often away for most of the week travelling in company van. But, I will not give him taxi money, I dont trust him with cash at all and dont know if I will for a long time. I do about a hundred miles a week but often short trips here and there - taxi rides are usually min £5 and its so much easier to have a car to ferry his lordship around. Especially taking him to parents and back on the days they have him, twice a week which is a long trip there and back! Im really dependant on my car, especially with winter approaching and the unreliable buses of the last few weeks.

Fuel costs per month do vary according to partners working places. If he is not away in the week they go up a lot but that hasnt happened for a couple of months.

I never realised how much the bank account fee for his account work out to! Thanks for that - I will get that sorted out before I overpay the credit card then. That will be amazing, to have one debt knocked off the list!

Got loads of clothes to ebay, need to get motivated! Its daunting tho, have sold before and found it a bit stressful once the novelty wore off Deep breath...ALthough - seeing the paypal balance clock up WAS a great feeling.

I don't feel quite as scared now as i did last night - no more tears and the beginnings of a plan have helped. Partner wanted a takeaway tonight but instead of saying oh go on then like I normally would after my payday, I got up and cooked. I might transfer that money into my unused savings account, and do that every time I don't buy a bottle of wine or packet of fags, curry or pizza - or pair of shoes!

Im going to read through as much of this board as I can now for some more ideas. Thanks again.

rach :beer:

rising_from_the_ashes

miaowmiaowmiaow wrote: »

Did weekly shop this afternoon as parents coming over tomorrow - result! Stuck to list completely and spent £33.71! Unbelieveable. Almost two weeks ago i spent £160 in Asda.:o

:j

miaowmiaowmiaow wrote: »

About the cats- they LOVE royal canin, had samples from vets once, but yes its so expensive. Will do some shopping around.

I'm delighted to have got the cost down so much .... mine love RC too and it agrees with them. It does take a bit of hunting around but it's totally worth it IMHO - the £10 saving / month will pay for their boosters (and is being put into a separate pot so I don't spend it!).

Sign up for Pets at Home Newsletter http://www.petsathome.com/ - they email offers out which are often only available online (they come out weekly and each week will be different brands). This is where I got the 4kg bags BOGOF.

Also keep an eye on Medic Animal http://www.medicanimal.com/category-list/~root_category_id=MA-CATS/~category_id=MA-CATS-FOOD/~pcategory=MA-CATS A 10kg bag's RRP is around £56 :eek: but I got one for £38, again fairly recently.

Loads of others out there so worth having a trawl around:) as being able to feed them for £3.50 / month is cheaper than buying not so great food from the supermarket.



Great to hear you're feeling more upbeat - the tone of your writing has totally changed from this morning:). Always loads of really supportive people on the DFW boards, they've helped me loads when I've been down/struggling.