panicking a bit _pale_

yan79

Hi everyone!

I'm due to have our second child in Feb/March 2012 and due to start maternity leave on the 3rd Feb, now I don't get a bad maternity package working for the NHS but I will however be skint!

I'm trying to get a little bit more financially stable before I leave work but in all honestly I'm cr*p with money and my husband is even more useless.
The problems which I worry about more than anything is that there's so many direct debits leaving our account that I just don't know where I am from one minute to the next and I'm wondering if there's anything I should consolidate and how

All our money goes into the same account and all our bills come out of the same account too. The reason being is my husband gets paid weekly and our outgoings are more than I earn...It used to be that my wages went into one account and paid all the bills and we lived off my husbands money but this doesn't happen anymore.

I also forgot to mention that we are £2,734 overdrawn :(_pale_ and our overdraft limit is £3900. I'm not sure of the interest rate but we pay at the moment £25 per month on the overdraft.

Arrrrg I just want my overdraft down and not as many bills to worry about _help_ I'm really panicking now as I feel like I'm a bit of a downward spiral (even though our SOA's doesnt look that bad to me)

Anyway, here goes

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1900
Benefits................................ 81
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3281

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 690
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 128
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 115
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 25
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 312
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 8
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 48
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2028.12


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 165000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 166000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 119000...(690)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 119000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
mbna visa......................5100......115.......0
next diretory..................600.......50........25.9
MA tools.......................150.......120.......0
Capital one visa...............188.......15........34.08
B&Q............................2800......125.......0
Total unsecured debts..........8838......425.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,281
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,028.12
Available for debt repayments........... 1,252.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 425
Amount left after debt repayments....... 827.88

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 166,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -119,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,838
Net Assets.............................. 38,162

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

CH27

I assume you are not left with £827 at the end of the month? Keep a spending diary & you will soon see where you are frittering cash away.

Your mobile costs are very high. Try to reduce them.

You need to clear that Capital One card & your Next account ASAP.

Swans1912

You should include your overdraft in the unsecured debt section and I don't see that £25 included in the SOA?

Mobile phone............................ 115

This is extremely high and a huge drain on your income. Drop package, cancel contract and get a PAYG... heck Orange do a £7 a month deal that I use to run my iPhone off.

Telephone (land line)................... 10
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 12

This is very expensive and a bundled deal should be much cheaper. £30 for TV is too expensive when you are in debt so downgrade or cancel.


Life assurance ......................... 48

Other child related expenses............ 312

What are these for?


Life assurance ......................... 48

This seems very high... what does it actually cover?


Haircuts................................ 30

I would rethink this... £30 a month is rather high.


Entertainment........................... 50

Try to cut this down - maybe half it.



Sit down... write down each direct debit in order that it leaves your account with the amount. Work out if you have the money to pay is doing the month and if not change the payment date. Consider switching bank account and then pay the £25 fee - that way you don't get paid and you lose it to the OD.

Swans1912

CH27 wrote: »

I assume you are not left with £827 at the end of the month? Keep a spending diary & you will soon see where you are frittering cash away.

Your mobile costs are very high. Try to reduce them.

You need to clear that Capital One card & your Next account ASAP.

Yes! Clear them and cancel them. They have a low balance but a huge APR.

natlie

Hi I am on mat leave now my advice would be SAVE as much as you can once your pay starts dropping its very stressful! I am on OMP and SMP now £900 per month I earn £1800 a month usually. I am going back to work in feb baby will be 6 months old, dont want to go back early but its too expensive to be off

Tixy

Hi - congrats on baby

First you need to work out where the £827 it says you have spare is going. Are you using it to pay down your overdraft or other debts above the minimum payment? If not then you need to keep a spending diary to find out where it goes. If you do have £827 spare and 2 more months before maternity you would be able to clear an extra £1650 off your debts before then.

You need to include the overdraft in the list of debts, and what it costs you.

yan79 wrote: »

Anyway, here goes

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.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1300
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1900
Benefits................................ 81
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3281

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 690
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 128
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 65
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 115 this is very high, are you in contract? can you drop a tariff? or find a much cheaper deal.
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 consider cancelling this and switching to freeview - or trying to find a cheaper landline/tv/broadband combined package
Internet Services....................... 12
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 maybe see if you can reduce to £250?
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 25 you are hardly using the car if you only pay £25 a month - is this right? and if so is a car really needed? it might be cheaper to sell and use public transport or occasional taxis.
Road tax................................ 0 you need to budget for this (1/12 annual cost)
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 you need to budget for service, tyres, mot etc (1/12 of annual cost)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 312 what do these relate to? can they be reduced?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 8
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 48
Other insurance......................... 13
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2028.12


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 165000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 166000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 119000...(690)......3
Total secured & HP debts...... 119000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
mbna visa......................5100......115.......0 how long til the 0% deal ends?
next diretory..................600.......50........25.9
MA tools.......................150.......120.......0 is this 0% and will it be paid off in Jan?
Capital one visa...............188.......15........34.08 this is very expensive - try to clear in full this month.
B&Q............................2800......125.......0 is this 0%?
Total unsecured debts..........8838......425.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,281
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,028.12
Available for debt repayments........... 1,252.88
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 425
Amount left after debt repayments....... 827.88 you need to find out where this is being spent.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 166,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -119,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,838
Net Assets.............................. 38,162

yan79

Hi, thanks for your replies so far.

The Mobile phone bill is extortionate I know. We are both in contracts which we can't get out of I'm afraid. Included in this is £11 per month which I pay for my dads mobile. I sometimes get this back from my dad.

The TV/broadband and phone package is a bundle but I just broke it down for the purpose of the SOA's. I have this bundle with Virgin and have just got £20 per month knocked off it as a loyalty discount.

The £315 is CSA payments to my husbands ex-wife

Life insurance is for both my husband and I and is a new policy linked to our mortgage.

Yes, we could knock the £50 entertainment on the head, this is one take away a week.

The haircuts are probably a bit less than that. I have my hair coloured every 8-12 weeks and it costs me £55. This also includes my sons and husbands haircuts.

We don't pay much for diesel as it's mainly paid for through my husbands work so we only need to top up every now and then.
Our road tax is only £30 per year so didn't include it as its only a few pounds a month.
My husband is a mechanic so servicing, MOT and repairs are very minimal costs.

The 0% MBNA visa deal ends Oct 2012.
MAC tools should be paid off within the next month or so.
B%Q IS 0% for the duration of the loan

MrWillyWonka

The biggest question really is where your £828 spare every month is going? Because this amount should actually mean you are quite comfortable and can easily pay off the debts.

By how much will your income drop during maternity leave, is it less than £828?

yan79

I'm not exactly sure where it goes, I'm going to have to go through my accounts and look but I suspect it's frittered away, I certainly know where it's gone this month, bl**dy Christmas presents