Can I join you?

Georgiejoe

Hiya

So it is time to face up to the fact that my already huge overdraft is growing by the month and it is scary! I like to think we live quite frugally buy maybe there are cutbacks to be made.

So:

My income £1120 per month
Hubby's income £1650 per month
Child benefit £188 per month

Outgoings:

Virgin media (phone/bb/tv) £50
Mort income prot £27
Council tax £91
TV licence £37.64 per quarter
Building/contents ins £33
Mortgage £823.69
Water £31.12
Mortgage life assurance (dec term) £15.76
Gas/elec £125
Childcare £500
Mobile phones £40
Tesco card £250 (min £25 but paying as much as poss)

Debt:

Tesco CC (currently 0% until May 2012 used to buy car) £1500
Overdraft £2600/£3300 (in my defence most of it was used to buy a new boiler that died, the rest was just overspending)

With 3 children to feed, and fuel etc for the car it is a stretch and we never have enough. Added to that, I lose my job in February although we have rung tax credits and they say we will get about £340 a month (currently nothing!).

HELP!!

Duckie

Your gas/electricity bill seems a little high to me. Make sure you're on the best deal.
Is your hubby able to get childcare vouchers through work?
Your mobile phone bills also seem a bit high. If you're no longer in a contract, you could renegotiate how much you pay.
We have phone/bb/tv with Sky and it's less than you pay for Virgin. If you did consider switching, remember to do it via a cashback site like quidco. They have some good deals at the moment.

~Beanie~

Georgiejoe wrote: »

With 3 children to feed, and fuel etc for the car it is a stretch and we never have enough.

You don't have any car expenses listed? Such as petrol, insurance repairs etc.

I suggest you fill in an SOA from here: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html which will help you remember to complete everything.

Georgiejoe

~Beanie~ wrote: »

You don't have any car expenses listed? Such as petrol, insurance repairs etc.

I suggest you fill in an SOA from here:

Will have a look at that thanks. Fuel at the moment is £280 a month but this will be A LOT less when I finish work as I hardly use the car otherwise. Insurance was paid in one go but due for renewal in May, was £500 last year! I don't know how to budget for repairs, my car is ancient so could be costly but so far has been a "good" car.

Georgiejoe

Done!!


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................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1650
Benefits................................ 188
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2938
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 823.6
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 91
Electricity............................. 75
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.12
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 280
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 500
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 500
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 32.91
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 15.76
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 3
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2932.39

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 138000...(823.6)....5.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 138000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
OVERDRAFT......................2600......30........16
CC.............................1500......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........4100......55........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,938
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,932.39
Available for debt repayments........... 5.61
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 55
Amount short for making debt repayments. -49.39
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -138,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,100
Net Assets.............................. 9,400
Created using the SOA calculator at .
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

remote_control

will the job loss reduce the childcare?

Good luck!

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Georgie, warm welcome - this is a great place to be, loads of help & support.

A few comments from me below.....

Georgiejoe wrote: »

Done!!


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................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1650
Benefits................................ 188
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2938
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 823.6
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 91
Electricity............................. 75 Very high - does it incl arrears? If so, how long till they're paid. If not, shop around for a better deal - check how much you're using etc.....
Gas..................................... 50 As above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.12
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 Is this a contract / when does it run out? Switch to PAYG & use for emergencies ASAP
TV Licence.............................. 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 50 Sorry but not essential - even with your phone/broadband it's expensive (as a comparison, I pay £15 landline & £10 broadband which would save £25/month)
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 280 On the high side - essential journies only? Will this drop once you stop work?
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 500 This must be an annual figure .......
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 500 Assume this will reduce to £0 (or very nearly) when you stop work
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 32.91 Incl contents? Still quite high so check comparison sites @ renewal. Although dependent on size/area etc as a starting point, I pay £15 total for both
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 15.76
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Too high (sorry) cut in 1/2
Haircuts................................ 3
Entertainment........................... 0 Need something here with 3 kids! Even £10/20 per month
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 2932.39

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 138000...(823.6)....5.6
Total secured & HP debts...... 138000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
OVERDRAFT......................2600......30........16
CC.............................1500......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........4100......55........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,938
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,932.39
Available for debt repayments........... 5.61
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 55
Amount short for making debt repayments. -49.39 This will return to a positive once the car figure above is adjusted to a monthly figure
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -138,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,100
Net Assets.............................. 9,400
Created using the SOA calculator at .
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

Adjust the car figure to a monthly figure and it'll look much better!:)

Also, although your income will drop once you finish work, you will be gaining £340 tax credits & £500 childcare costs which goes a long way to cover the loss of salary.

You really want to try to get the overdraft down first - it's costing you a lot more than the 0% card (and you could try to get a new deal for that just before it ends).

HTH:)

Georgiejoe

remote_control wrote: »

will the job loss reduce the childcare?

Good luck!

Yes the childcare will be nothing then so I will be only £600 a month down when taking that into account. Probably knock some off for using less fuel too. But we are still not in a good position

I think the cc and OD will just have to go onto min repayments.

rising_from_the_ashes

Georgiejoe wrote: »

Yes the childcare will be nothing then so I will be only £600 a month down when taking that into account.

But you'll gain £340 in tax credits so only a real loss of £260 (and when you think that's without you working ..... it's not actually that big a drop).


Once you add the money back in from the car maintenance (£450+) you do have enough to cover all your outgoings even with the loss of £260 / month:)

If you can shave off a few £s by getting better deals on your gas & elec, get rid of the cable, a few quid on fuel etc, it will all help.

Cynical_Monkey

Georgiejoe wrote: »

Yes the childcare will be nothing then so I will be only £600 a month down when taking that into account. Probably knock some off for using less fuel too. But we are still not in a good position

I think the cc and OD will just have to go onto min repayments.

You earn £1100 and pay £500 for childcare. That leaves £600 and with the fuel and a better gas, electric and phone plan, you'll only end up around £200 a month worse off by not working.

That leaves you £250 in the black when already making the minimum payments on your cards and overdraft.

That's 6 months until the CC is cleared and potentially debt free by the end of 2012 without making too many changes.

Considering that you're on a repayment mortgage and have no other debts, I'd say the future looks quite bright.

Georgiejoe

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Hi Georgie, warm welcome - this is a great place to be, loads of help & support.

A few comments from me below.....



Adjust the car figure to a monthly figure and it'll look much better!:)

Also, although your income will drop once you finish work, you will be gaining £340 tax credits & £500 childcare costs which goes a long way to cover the loss of salary.

You really want to try to get the overdraft down first - it's costing you a lot more than the 0% card (and you could try to get a new deal for that just before it ends).

HTH:)

Thanks for your helpful comments

Oops yes not £500 a month on car maintenance :rotfl:

There is a long story about the gas/elec (it is combined 125/month I arent sure separately). It suddenly shot up from £75 to £185!! a couple of years ago. I rung them as we only have the heating on for 2 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening, have all thermostats turned down etc. I had to do monthly readings for a while then they brought it down to £125. Then at the end of the year they still reckoned I was £300 in arrears so I paid it all in one go to keep the payment down to £125. I honesly dont understand where Im going wrong. It is a 3 bed end terraced so not a huge property but is pretty drafty.

The £40 a month mobiles is for the two of us so not that bad?

Virgin TV/BB/Phone is actually £39 a month but usually ends up at around £50. I want to get rid, get cheap BB and phone and freeview. We have a freeview box but I cant seem to get a picture when I plug it into the aerial socket! (not the Virgin one, the normal one).

Insurance is building and contents combined. I will see if I can reduce it thanks.

Diesel is a lot as I work 20 miles away from where I live. I hardly use the car otherwise so will reduce substantially.