Keep Going Backwards - please help

dancingfairy

Mortgage................................ 557
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 129
Electricity............................. 190 this is way, way too high. Iwould have thought 120 was high -you want to be aiming at least under 100. Either you are massively indebt and catching up, massively in credit or there is something very wrong with your meter or you are on the wrong tariff (unless some of this is high business use?). This needs checking out as a priority.
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 71
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 73 This seems quite high but not too bad as youdon't have a landline.Howmany phones is it for? Can anyone downgrade atall? Can you get free phonecalls to 'friends' (ie family memeber if you often call each other/ text each other).
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 46.83
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 216
Clothing................................ 10 Not sure this is high enough for 3 people to be honest
Petrol/diesel........................... 198 are you shopping in the chepest garage? Are you making sure you are not driving around with a roof rackheavy stuff in the boot? Can you car share for any journeys? Is any of this business mileage?
Road tax................................ 39.41
Car Insurance........................... 47.28
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 70
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 41.4
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 60
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0 This might be handy - I hopeit wouldn't cost you more than about 20 a month.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 41
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
pet food................................ 60
drinks for home......................... 34
bank charges............................ 68 Ow - what are these for? Are they for 'optional extras'? Do you need these extra services or are they for an overderaft? Canyou minimise/avoid these charges at all?
misc business charges................... 32
milk.................................... 16
takeaways............................... 0
household maintenance................... 10
tobacco................................. 50
toiletries inc feminine................. 22 I'd probably lump this in with groceries to be honest.
Total monthly expenses.................. 2119.04

best of Luck
df
P.S I'd probably tackle the store card first as it is a relativly small debt with a high interest and it'd be great to tick one off the list.
P.P.S You might not be doing as badly as you think. Many people are struggling nowadays with the price of everything going up eg food, fuel, and with small businesses struggling as well. Just think what position you'd be in if you hadn't managed to make some of the changes (ie it's be a lot worse).

daysie_2

hi, thanks for the suggestions,
the business income was based on the average ast 4 months, plus it varies so its not set in stone, nor do i know what is coming in when.
My wages do not pay all the bills, so it is difficult to separate, I am always juggling. but it is something i must try to do now i have a bit of leeway.
the electricity amount includes the gas as well so as soon as i know what is allocated to what i will update
mobile phone charges are average too. we do have a landline but its 'free' with the virgin media. we will have to make other arrangements once going to freeview
clothing is for 2 people as my daughter buys her own. Firewyrm suggested we make do with what we had for the minute so i dropped it to a minimum to see if it was workable.
pretty much all the petrol stations near me are the same price.
we have contents insurance but it is included in the mortgage payment, think its about £25 but not exactly sure
bank charges are what are happening when i am juggling not enough money, this is an average over the last 4 months - its got to be a toss up whether i paid bills and got bank charges or didnt pay bills and got late payment charges. . .
i don't always get toiletries from the same place as the groceries and so i keep them separate, i figure i need to keep an eye on what is jsut food?
thanks for all the suggestions tho :-)

its just so exhausting! pathetic i know. . .

Colin297

daysie wrote: »

Just so you have all the onfo - by the way my daughter is 23, working full time, and pays for all her own things. she has her own freesat which she hardly watches and her own wireless broadband which she pays for. She helps with the cooking, the cleaning, and buys a lot of her own food. Regarding appliances - She uses the shower, the washing machine and the tumble dryer and uses a hairdryer. She is currently saving up for a house deposit with her boyfriend.
The trouble is i am only too aware of how much my parents helped me when i was younger and hate the idea of asking her for more when she is not at fault here, and she shouldnt have to pay for my mistakes. I will see about putting it up a bit to start with and see how we go - maybe £20 or £30 more a month.

I live at home and i must admit i pay nothing.

Sounds like im a scrouger but im not - its just a lodgement cost of 40-50 a week would be costly to me but not make any difference to my parents. So there's no point. I'm trying to save etc etc. It would be different if my oldies needed the money, of course.

Anyway, in regards to your daughter i think 150 is enough. Put it up to 160 perhaps, or 40 a week which works out about 170 a month. Any more seems steep in the circumstances and will hinder he own savings. Over here you could houseshare a decent apartment for 200-250 a month (Northern Ireland) so i guess the point of living at home, is well, because it's home and it shouldn't cost you as it would if you were renting if you're living with parents.

As per your itemised spending. Some of those costs seem crazy. Car tax - seems high. Pet insurnace - surely that's an awfully high premium - twice as high as my car insurance!

Gurj247

As has been mentioned before, you need to somehow seperate the Personal and Business expenses.

Only then will you get a true idea of if the business really is worth keeping going.

Good luck with your efforts

FireWyrm

Good luck in the marathon...

chevalier

My comments are in blue.

daysie wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 3

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1415.31 Can you do surveys, mystery shopping etc to bring up your income?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1463 Is your partner charging enough for his services, ie has his prices increased even in line with inflation?
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 180
Total monthly income.................... 3058.31

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 557 Is this repayment? Could you go interest only, or ask for a payment holiday?
Council tax............................. 129 Is this over 12 months or 10. You can ask to pay it over 12 months. Also is the banding for your property correct. Many of them aren't
Electricity............................. 190 I would check what the amount is going to each of these. Have you done actual readings recently. You maybe in credit.
Gas..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 71others have mentioned about getting a water meter fitted. It maybe cheaper.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 73
Have you upgraded your phone recently, can you step down a deal to get cheaper. Could your phone be PAYG? You can sell your old handsets via websites like Mazuma.
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 46.83 well done for knowing that this has to go.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 216
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 198 is any of this business mileage? If so I believe you can claim against tax I think? Check with an accountant. Likewise any other business expense, eg maintenance for the vehicle, OH work clothes, tools etc.
Road tax................................ 39.41
Car Insurance........................... 47.28
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 70
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 41.4 If this is for prescriptions a prepayment certificate might well be cheaper.
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 60 Ouch, don't forget to take the 2 cats your DD is taking with her off the insurance when they leave your care.
Buildings insurance..................... 0 you mentioned that insurance is in with the mortgage. Might be worth checking if you are getting the best deal this way.
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 41
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
pet food................................ 60
drinks for home......................... 34
bank charges............................ 68 have you got a business account? or is it all in one pot. Might be a way or starting to separate out the business expenses.
misc business charges................... 32
milk.................................... 16
takeaways............................... 0
household maintenance................... 10
tobacco................................. 50 if he won't give up can he at least switch to rollies, which will cost less?
toiletries inc feminine................. 22 Is there anything that can be done about your condition to help with this?
Total monthly expenses.................. 2119.04


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 250000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 251500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 173356...(557)......3.43
Total secured & HP debts...... 173356....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loans total of three...........16000.....438.......13.9
barclaycard 1..................4514......53........10.9
hsbc card......................1186......30........29.9
business barclaycard...........1145......24........14
tesco credit card 1............2557......50........19.43
burton store card..............115.......5.........29.9
nationwide.....................2451......35........15.9
virgin credit card.............1499......39........25.93
barclaycard 2..................4028......85........0
tesco credit card 2............3179......35........0
Total unsecured debts..........36674.....794.......-
If you can refinance any of this debt, it will probably worth it after fees. As this debt is going to take a while to pay off, it might pay you to go for low life of balance deals rather than 0% deals that you then have to refinance again down the line. If you look at the snowball calculator on this site, it can advise you how to pay off the debts to minimise the interest you are paying. If you do refinance any of the debt. Make sure that the old credit card account is CLOSED, not that you just cut up the cards.

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,058.31
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,119.04
Available for debt repayments........... 939.27
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 794
Amount left after debt repayments....... 145.27 Not very much wiggle room here at all.

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 251,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -173,356
Total Unsecured debt.................... -36,674
Net Assets.............................. 41,470

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

chevalier

Having looked at your SOA I can see that it must be very stressful you juggling all of this. So a few observations.

1) What temperature do you have the heating set at. Above 20 degrees then turn it down. If people are cold well that is what jumpers are for. If you say do baking in the evening then that can help heat the house.

2) Do a cupboard and freezer inventory. Once you have done this, you may see that you can live out of them for a week or two (only buying milk and veggies and cat food). So this will net you a short term saving to throw at the highest debt. I live by my meal plan and shopping list. This saves me heaps because it stops me impulse buying.

3) Run the hot tap in the kitchen, is it so hot that you have to add water to the bowl to do the washing up? If so then your thermostat is too high. Try turning it down a notch or two. Any more than 50 degrees centrigrade is too hot. Likewise make sure that showers are not too long either. I have a 5 minute rule in our house, and that gets even my Ds's dirty from rugby clean.

4) I think some else mentioned turning things off at the wall. But you can also be a bit sneaky and charge things like phones at work maybe...

5) Any chance you can go for a promotion and thus more pay?

6) Would your OH earn more money if he was employed by a firm? Ie would the money be more regular? Can he upskill so that he commands more money/ can do trickier jobs? And he MUST provide receipts for business costs, otherwise you may well be missing out on stuff that is tax deductible. It is a case of whether he wants the tax man to have more of his money than he is entitled to....

If after all of these measures you still can't balance the books, then you may need to consider going on a debt management plan. This can be run for you via for example CCCS or Payplan. (Both these organizations run DMPs for free, never go with a company that will charge you).

DMPs are a voluntary arrangement between you and your creditors whereby they may freeze interest and charges, and you pay a reduced amount. The downside is that it will trash your credit rating and you are not allowed to take out additional credit whilst you are on a DMP.

good luck
chev

Gurj247

Firstly good luck with the Marathon.

Another questions i have is with regard to your mortgage, is this a repayment mortgage or interest only?

Some very good idea's about on how to reduce your debt ffurther, and you look to have made a very good start, keep it up:cool:

daysie_2

Colin297 wrote: »

As per your itemised spending. Some of those costs seem crazy. Car tax - seems high. Pet insurnace - surely that's an awfully high premium - twice as high as my car insurance!

Hi, the car tax is for the car and the van 2 lots of 6 months per year, per vehicle
can you still get car tax stamps? that would be somthing worth considering.
Its Pet Insurance/Vets Bills - we don't have any pet insurance, this is all vets bills and average over the last 4 months, so may be lower over the year.

daysie_2

Gurj247 wrote: »

Firstly good luck with the Marathon.

Another questions i have is with regard to your mortgage, is this a repayment mortgage or interest only?

Some very good idea's about on how to reduce your debt ffurther, and you look to have made a very good start, keep it up:cool:

hi the mortgage is interest only, cannot afford a repayment. yes i know we will have to sell the house to be rid of it, but cannot do anything else.