Where it all goes....

Th1984

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income. 3,781.2
Monthly expenses
(incl. HP & secured loans) 2,872.87
Available for debt repayments 908.33
UNsecured debt repayments 809
Amount left after debt repayments 99.33


Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 10,000
Total Secured & HP Debt -0
Total Unsecured Debt -25,731.99
Net Assets -15,731.99

Household Information

Number of adults in household 2
Number of children in household 1
Number of cars owned 2
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 3700
Partners monthly income 0
Benefits 81.2
Other income 0
Total monthly income 3781.2

Expenses Amount(£)

Rent 925
Council tax. 180
Electricity 80
Gas 80
Oil 0
Water Rates 50
Telephone (land line) 12
Mobile phone 90
TV Licence. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV 50
Internet services 0
Groceries etc. . 480
Clothing 100
Petrol/diesel 270
Road tax. 30
Car Insurance. 100
Car maintenance (includin 30
Other child related expenses 30
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 40
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 15
Life Assurance 16
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 25
Haircuts 10
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency Fund 40
Account fee 17.5
Cash for incidentals 200

Total monthly expenses 2872.87

Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 0 - -


Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Sofa from dfs 891.99 57 0
Santander cc 190. 5 18.9
Santander loan 20000 472 8.9
Dad. 2750 250 0
Tesco cc 1900 25 17.9
Unsecured Debt totals 25731.99 809 -


Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 7000
Car(s) 3000
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 10000
Comments on the results

So,
This is my soa, I am not looking to cut things to the bone just would like an objective view of the way things are. I feel that I am on a stupidly high wage for my age (27) yet I am seemingly unable to live the lifestyle which I feel that my family should have. I am a prisoner of debt and will not borrow again, the stupid thing is that there isn't any one thing I can say I borrowed the money for, we had the debt when we got married (paid for that by cash)and it seems to just be sitting there, neither growing nor shrinking.

I can obviously justify to myself why we spend what we spend but that is kinda why I put it up there, to be challenged and maybe look at things differently for the long term benefit of my family.

Thanks for your time.

Th1984

Mods, have posted in wrong forum, meat to be in debt free wannabes, wasn't really planning to do a diary.... Can you move this please?

katsu

Th1984 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income. 3,781.2
Monthly expenses
(incl. HP & secured loans) 2,872.87
Available for debt repayments 908.33
UNsecured debt repayments 809
Amount left after debt repayments 99.33


Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 10,000
Total Secured & HP Debt -0
Total Unsecured Debt -25,731.99
Net Assets -15,731.99

Household Information

Number of adults in household 2
Number of children in household 1
Number of cars owned 2
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 3700
Partners monthly income 0
Benefits 81.2
Other income 0
Total monthly income 3781.2

Expenses Amount(£)

Rent 925
Council tax. 180
Electricity 80
Gas 80 G&E are crazy high at £160 combined a month :eek: You can cut this in half. Get your KWH consumption and check switching sites - then switch via a cashback site. Turn stuff off, wear jumpers indoors not T shirts, don't heat hot water all day, buy an OWL meter and then work to reduce the elec consumption. Draw curtains when heating on etc.
Oil 0
Water Rates 50
Telephone (land line) 12
Mobile phone 90 This can be cut. Check sim only deals if not in contract. If in contract check usage and look to drop a tarriff
TV Licence. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV 50 You don;t need this - you could go freeview/freesat
Internet services 0
Groceries etc. . 480 Again this can be cut
Clothing 100 you can make savings here - is it all really needed? Sell old kids clothes on ebay?
Petrol/diesel 270
Road tax. 30
Car Insurance. 100 This is high - use comparison sites and try and get money saved up so you can pay in full instead of monthly
Car maintenance (includin 30
Other child related expenses 30
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 40 This seems high - have you shopped around?
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 15
Life Assurance 16
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 25
Haircuts 10
Entertainment 0
Holiday 0
Emergency Fund 40
Account fee 17.5
Cash for incidentals 200 work out where this is going - £2,400 of incidentals a year - is that really good value?

Total monthly expenses 2872.87

Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 0 - -


Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Sofa from dfs 891.99 57 0
Santander cc 190. 5 18.9
Santander loan 20000 472 8.9
Dad. 2750 250 0
Tesco cc 1900 25 17.9
Unsecured Debt totals 25731.99 809 -


Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 7000
Car(s) 3000
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 10000
Comments on the results

So,
This is my soa, I am not looking to cut things to the bone just would like an objective view of the way things are. I feel that I am on a stupidly high wage for my age (27) yet I am seemingly unable to live the lifestyle which I feel that my family should have. I am a prisoner of debt and will not borrow again, the stupid thing is that there isn't any one thing I can say I borrowed the money for, we had the debt when we got married (paid for that by cash)and it seems to just be sitting there, neither growing nor shrinking.

I can obviously justify to myself why we spend what we spend but that is kinda why I put it up there, to be challenged and maybe look at things differently for the long term benefit of my family.

Thanks for your time.

You have got a good income, but that loan is a big debt. When are your debts due to be cleared?

Quite a few places you can make savings. Make savings now and then later on you can have the lifestyle without the debt.

Good luck.

hp48910

Hi,
We're in a similar position to you in terms of income and have approx £11k on Credit cards and £10k loan. I think it's a simple case of the more you earn, the more you spend, or at least it has been for us. In the past we found it easy to get credit, so did. One thing sitting on the credit card (although partly paid) Was the balance of a car after we traded in our old one... £7.5k:eek: We did this purely because at the time of purchase the card had 10 months interest free on purchases and we (in theory) had the money to pay it off within that time....Then of coursse life comes along and bites you on the bum and you realise you need to keep some cash aside for something else that's cropped up:mad:.

I'll subscribe to your thread to follow your journey and wish you all the best. I started a diary called 'Gonna get there' at the beginning of Jan and can honestly say the support on here has been amazing. Stick around, you're definitely in the right place to get some good advice andare lucky that your income puts you in a good position to tackle the debt.

Good luck:)

Th1984

Hi, thanks for the replies.

Gas and electric - combined with being on a card meter for gas (previous tenants had it, n power will install new one free, fingers crossed, a real meter!) which is massively expensive we are paying back a period of our dd being too low at the last house, nothing major but it is increasing the electric bill from the 60 it should be to 80. 20 a week is currently what I am feeding the beast in the box and that is literally 3 hrs of hot water spread through the day and 2 hours heating in the morning. We have a log burner which we feed for free that provides heat in the day/eve.

Mobile phone is mine and my wife's phones, both in contract until late this year but will definitely re think this. A flash phone is great but It will be better to get a sim only contract and buy a handset that I have saved up for rather than through contract.

Satellite tv, we live in the sticks and can't get free view, admittedly we could have freesat but our broadband and phone is all bundled in, at the moment we are on a 50% discount for the full package for a year as sky dic@ed us about so much during our house move so actually should say 33.50 for tv/phone/broadband.

Groceries is huge, and an area which in theory should be ripe for cutting but we just can't seem to manage it, should be a little easier now my son is no-longer on formula (from feb) there is £40 a month straight away. Any tips/suggestions are always welcome.

After years of not buying clothes regularly my wife and I have both lost weight and with a growing boy I'm not sure we can do much about this until we have a few outfits for every one that fit properly.

We have a cat and dog who are both insured for a combined £20 and we pay a £20pm to the vet to cover both animals de-fleaing, worming and jabs. All quite important in my opinion.

The 50 a week incidentals, that is high, how do other people do this? E.g cover random unplanned expenses, we use ours for entertainment/bottle of wine/coffee/play group etc and know we can dip into it if we need it for an extra bit of diesel etc.

The loan is a 5year loan, my dad and the sofa will be cleared next year, as for the cc's I don't know yet,,,,,

hp48910

You could put away money for the pet boosters in your 'incidentals' and get the meds online. I paid £28 last night for 12 x flea pipettes, 4 x worm tabs and 1 x dog wormer. Just put the brand you want into google and you'll be able to see the cheapest price. The site I used had free delivery. If I ever have to buy it from the vet it costs a fortune. These sites also have online vets to speak to. I was put onto a like for like formula for flea treatment that used the same ingredient as the major brand but at a much cheaper price and it's just as effective £9.35 for 4 pipettes. The wormers are the same brand available at the vet. HTH

DawnW

Vet UK are a good firm for wormers and flea treatments over the internet. It is run by a vet, but much cheaper than the local surgery. The products are exactly the same.

hp48910

Just checked my email confirmation and the company was animed. Comparing the prices to Vet Uk, I paid £9.35 for 4 x flea treatment and vet Uk is £11.46. You also need to spend over £19 to get free delivery whereas animed was free on all orders. I just googled the product name and looked for the cheapest for the brand I needed. :O)

Th1984

Hi and thanks for the replies,

I'm going to try and make this a bit of a diary, put up my spending and see how it actually compares to the soa!

First bit of good news was that I had forgotten that we all received a pay rise effective 1st jan so my take home pay has increased by £90. That will go straight to the most expensive debt, the snowball calculator was an eye opener!

So today we did the weekly shop and spent £140, this includes £35 for alcohol (having a dinner party for my birthday this weekend), £20 for extra food to feed our guests. So the underlying cost is £85.

Quite happy with that reallly.

Th1984

Hmm,

Having a small issue. We sat down and discussed the budget the other day, as reflected in the soa, and since that day at lease once a day I being presented with things that we need or have not put into it. I am concerned that we may not be able to stick with it as there does seem to be a lot of things which I have neglected to allow for, and some which have blind sided me!

Any who the last two days have gone really well and we have only spent £23, £10 on petrol, £5 on pjs for my son, £5 on a new handbag for my wife, £2 on a play group for my DS and I spent £1 today at work on a coffee and choc bar. ( terrible I know but it is all I have spent and I am on day 4/6)
We had planned to buy a take away last night but my OHs friend bought it as we supplied the wine...

Th1984

Life keeps moving forward.

My DS has had really bad croup so we have been up all hours keeping him company whil he barks into the night and I have to say that the tiredness has meant we have succumbed to laziness and ignored the food in the fridge and skipped straight to a takeaway. Bring on him getting better as I am missing the energy to get outside running again!

First month on our new restricted budget and it is tougher than we may have anticipated, £50 a week cash in hand is a lot less than we thought it would be and this week we are £6 over and it is only Friday!