It's not going to be easy.....

FireWyrm

MrsPennyPot wrote: »

Just out of interest.........how much is about right for feeding a family of 4, (2 adults, 2 children)??

It depends. Personally, I manage two adults and two children under 10 on £120-£150 a month. £150 is slightly more comfortable for me as this includes incidental groceries. I could at a pinch (and I have done this) manage £80 but that's awfully hard and a monotonous diet to say the least. As it is, I just did our months shopping and it cost me £125 at Aldi and then an additional £10 for cat food with the rest held in reserve for other things later in the month.

Learning2Budget

wow i am in awe. Have done food shop this morning £54 inc toilettries and nappies and that will last a week. Sorry Mrs PennyPot didn't mean to hijack your thread. Off for a nose on old style boards.x

FireWyrm

To be fair, I make allot of food. For a start, all cakes and biscuits are made as well as bread. I also make basic soap and other toiletries. I just made a batch of coconut body butter last night which will last best part of 6 months. I grow herbs and mushrooms as well as buying dry goods in bulk at the local chinese supermarket. The only things I buy monthly are meat and veg from the local market and we have a budget for that. Generally speaking, it's 1Lb of meat per day split for four people and we generally make enough to freeze at least an extra portion for those nights when I really cant be bothered to cook. I've found the little foil trays used by takeaways to be absolutely fabulous for this purpose and I often make small portions of things like lasagne and stews. Milk is bought weekly and frozen if on offer and I have a full store cupboard of spices which I've built up over years. I also buy spices in bulk from ebay, so things like grain mustard are made and stored for use throughout the year. We are experimenting with brewing beer and wine so we dont buy them. Cleaning products are usually old style rather than modern commercial offerings, so cleaners generally consist of lemon juice and or vinegar. When the children were still babies, I had washable nappies and I put both through a single set.

MrsPennyPot

Thanks to all of you for your great advice about the food spends.

L2B - I agree with determined new ms - guilt and shame are not going to help us now!! Only saying because I feel a complete 'numpty' for letting things get this way and know completely how you feel!

Am home from work now and nervously awaiting Mr PP's arrival from work, because as soon as the kids are off to the land of nod we are going to tackle the SOA! Feel sick!

On a lighter note, my DS announced this afternoon he is going to live in Australia when he is older, when I asked what he was going to do for a living, he replied "I am going to be an Aborigine"!!!! Bless - it did make me chuckle. Off now for a cuppa and some steady breathing!!

Mrs PP. x

Coco114

Hi Mrs PP
Well you do sound remarkably positive - keep that going
Best of luck with the SOA , I guess that's the hard bit seeing it in black & White but it's the best place to start.
My trouble was keeping track of the little spends , ended up with a purse full of receipts (if I was lucky & kept them that is!)
Now use brilliant little App - my weekly budget , it's brilliant for me , I move away from checkout & enter transaction straight away , as yet I haven't missed anything , might be useful ?
Anyway , best of luck & I will pop in to see how you are getting on
Coco x

Wellyboots6

Good Luck Mrs PP!

I found a spreadsheet online that I use as my spending diary as it has a nifty graph function which shows how much of each 'pot' of money you have left after each spend.

It helps me because it is a lot more visual which drives it home to me how well I am doing in the month.

If you search for budget spreadsheets then there are loads of different ones that come up and you can pick which will be most suitable for your situation.

Welcome along

MrsPennyPot

Well here goes!! Now for the shame and guilt!!:(

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 448
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1500
Benefits................................ 135
Other income............................ 654
Total monthly income.................... 2737

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 840
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 166
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 70
Council tax............................. 142
Electricity............................. 38
Gas..................................... 55
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 37
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 44
Internet Services....................... 6
Groceries etc. ......................... 600
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 30
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 37
Other insurance......................... 22
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 11
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2441

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 2500
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 160000
Total Assets............................ 416500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 212000...(840)......4.95
Mortgage (2)...................140000...(166)......1.25
Total secured & HP debts...... 352000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
First Direct Loan..............13000.....238.......11
Barclaycard....................6421......144.......0
Halifax........................4000......41........6
Next...........................498.......47........25.99
Barclaycard (2)................499.......12........12
Halifax........................1000......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........25418.....502.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,737
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,441
Available for debt repayments........... 296
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 502
Amount short for making debt repayments. -206

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 416,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -352,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,418
Net Assets.............................. 39,082

I know there is gaps in places where we should have something but have tried to be as accurate as possible with what we actually spend now!! Eg. Car Insurance - paid in full but on the CC no doubt!!

Any comments from you folks would be greatly appreciated, can we pay off this debt ourselves or is an IVA the only way??:eek:

Anyway, definately time for brew now!!_pale_

FireWyrm

Well, Next and Barclaycard can be handled in two months flat by cutting your grocery bill. Halifax (1000) could be handled two months after that, so that's three gone in 4 or 5 months.

Mortgage 2 could be handled by the simple expedient of selling the house which would co-incidentally take care of all outstanding debts with money to spare, unless you're in negative equity. Alternatively, put the rent up by £100 a month.

See if you can consolidate First Direct, Barclay Card (6000) and Halifax (4000) into a combined single loan and hit that with the surplus left after the other three above are dealt with. 23K total will be hard, but not impossible. There was an update on a similar story not long ago where a couple managed to get rid of 84K by similar means in just three years. Once you have a consolidation loan, just never do it again.

I know I'm making it sound simple, but I know it won't be. You'll face some tough times and it will be hard, but I don't believe your situation is entirely unredeemable. I think you can do it without trashing your credit files frankly. IVAs are for people with no hope, I don't think you're there at all.

Oh, kill the entertainment....that's another £50 and check all your utility bills are no more than you absolutely have to pay. I suspect you can actually find at least another £600 a month if you really try.

FireWyrm

MrsPennyPot wrote: »

Have got a whole chicken to cook for tea tonight so off to the old thrift board to see about some tips for making this go further!!

MrsPP.x

Right...

1) cook chicken
2) drain chicken and make gravy from the dripping using one stock cube and flour...no granuals...paprika for taste
3) eat good parts and put carcas aside to cool and make sure animals dont get it.
4) when carcass cooled, get stuck in with fingers, strip all bones of all meat...you'll be surprised what you missed. This takes patience, but is worth it. Any left overs from the original meal get put to one side for sorting. Take any scraps of meat off the bones on the plates and ensure it is truly stripped.
5) put stripped carcass into cold water with an onion, garlic, dried herbs if you have any and any veg on the turn. Boil. Skim the scum and clarify the liquor. Once happy with result, allow to cool. Put into ice cube trays or a plastic bag and freeze for stock. Will be used later....See point 7.
6) night 2, take cooled chicken bits stripped from bone and mix with onion, garlic, bacon, frozen peas etc and bake into pasta covered in cheesy sauce. Meal 2 out of one chicken done.
7) remember that stock? Ok, fry some dry long grain rice in oil, soften onion, garlic etc and mix, pour a little stock into rice and proceed with basic risotto. Add peas, leeks, bacon, paprika and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Season and serve...meal 3 out of chicken.

3 meals, 4 people, 1 chicken. £10 tops including cost of original chicken....

fatbelly

This might just be because it's been a busy day but I'm confused (well done for posting btw).

What is the 'other assets ... 160k'

Does this relate to the mortgage (2) of 140k?

FireWyrm talks about 'putting the rent up.' Is that the other income ... 654?