Please help! I'm not sure where to start...

saraht86

We both work fulltime, have a mortgage, two kids, childcare, bills, debts & not enough money.

I really feel quite overwhelmed and I don't know where to start. We are right on the edge this month...

Its our own fault, its our blind spending and me thinking we will worry about it another day. Well today is that day!

We have two credit cards almost maxed out, we have a loan we are repaying (finishes next year), we have booked a trip abroad for our friends wedding.

We have not really thought things through properly & now its all starting to backfire. Please dont lecture me too much, we know we have messed up but I need to get this sorted once and for all or we will just spiral downwards in a pile of debt.

So, where do I start please?! x

Tixy

Hi and welcome and well done for deciding to tackle your finances and asking for help.

You really need to start by setting down your income, expenditure and list of debts to see how your monthly finances stack up and how far short you are of meeting your monthly repayments.

We use this calculator http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html and if you post the results on here it will help people to advise you best.

saraht86

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................ 980
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1800
Benefits................................ 271
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3051

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 525
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 175
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 80
Mobile phone............................ 140
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 900
Other child related expenses............ 70
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 60
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 33
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym Membership.......................... 30
Bank Account Fee........................ 5
Total monthly expenses.................. 2944


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 147000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100000...(525)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1200.....(35).......0<
Car............................4500.....(140)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 105700....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mastercard.....................1500......40........0
Virgin Creditcard..............4200......40........0
Overdraft......................850.......0.........0
Bank Loan......................3150......210.......0
Total unsecured debts..........9700......290.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,051
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,944
Available for debt repayments........... 107
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 290
Amount short for making debt repayments. -183

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -105,700
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,700
Net Assets.............................. 36,100

saraht86

I hope I've done that right, I've just put in rough figures for birthdays and car maintenance. Our trip abroad is tied up on a credit card which has recently been transferred to a 0% card until 2014.

The mobiles cannot be reduced. This is a very stupid mistake on our part

I've also taken an average for the childcare, as it will be less than this when its not school holidays!

My husband also has the opportunity to earn overtime

dorisday

Do you really spend £500 a month on clothes or is that a miss type!!

saraht86

Haha definitely a mis type! Have updated it now, meant to be 50 to cover school uniforms, kids shoes, clothes etc

caz128

and the other big expense is the childcare, is it really £900 per month?

FireWyrm

Clothing at £500 and groceries at £300 would be be my first questions. I feed 4 on £120 a month (yes, seriously) and we eat very well indeed. The clothing? I'm sorry, this has to be a mistake. If it isn't, stop using it and there is £2000 in 4 months for debt repayment. I could probably drop a coule of your utility bills and someone has to sacrifice a mobile phone. Just off the top of my head, I think I could release at least £750 of additional money just be restructuring (although my iPad wants to change that to 'restricting'....who knew spell check had a sense of humor) your life somewhat. Others will be along shortly I'm sure to tackle your SOA in depth.

saraht86

I pay £138 per week to a childminder in term time only, this increases to £270 per week during school holidays. I also pay £40 per month to the school for their breakfast & afterschool club and £105 per month to a nursery

Childminder works 4 days per week
Daughter attends breakfast & afterschool club at the school on a Monday. Son attends nursery (hes 4)
Tues - Thurs both children are with the childminder however daughter only charged for from 7.30-9am and 3.30-4.30pm as shes at school, during school holidays shes charged from 7.30-4.30pm, same as my son.
Fridays daughter attends the childminder son attends nursery.

Nursery is funded for 15hrs per week in term time only so they have worked out the cost as £105 per month, every month.

So for instance if there were 2 weeks holiday in a month I would be paying 138 + 138 + 270 + 270 + 105 + 20 (2 wks of school club) = £941

saraht86

yes the clothing was definitely a mis type, I meant £50

I cannot cut down mobiles as there are 3 mobiles & 1 ipad all tied up in contracts. Its stupid I know but its done now.

yes £300 per month for groceries, £75 per week. I have done an Aldi shop on £60 this past week and obviously want to get this down....

Tixy

Hi

Well done for posting.[STRIKE] Is the clothing figure a typo? or what you used to spend?[/STRIKE]

At the moment you are showing a shortfall of [STRIKE]£633 [/STRIKE] £183 a month and so the first thing is to try to find places you can reduce your outgoings.

I think that you might find you can make nearly enough changes to your spendng habits that you could manage your minimum debt repayments without a shortfall. I've put some comments below as to where you could look to see if you can make savings - you won't be able to make them all but they are things to consider.

saraht86 wrote: »

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................ 980
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1800
Benefits................................ 271 are you getting all you are entitled to here? what is this as well as child benefit? child tax credits? are you children eligble for childcare vouchers?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3051

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 525
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 175
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 80 this looks high, does it include internet? is there any particular calls that make it high? have you tried shopping around for a cheaper deal?
Mobile phone............................ 140 this looks very high - how many phones is this for? are you in contracts? if not try shopping around for cheaper deals, even if in contract its worth seeing if you can drop down a tariff and reduce your usage. You can get almost unlimited everything for around £35 a month these days
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 300 This isn't massively high, but maybe try having a read of the article on supermarket shopping (I'll add the link below) to see if you can cut anything from this.
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 900 how old are the children? is this due to reduce anytime soon (eg are they about to go to school?) - at the moment its taking up almost all your income and making it hardly worth working financially. Is there anyway to reduce this cost?
Other child related expenses............ 70 what does this relate to?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 60 have you shopped around recently to check this is still a good deal?
Other insurance......................... 20 what insurance is this - and again have you shopped around?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40 can you try reducing this? especially if children are young?
Haircuts................................ 33
Entertainment........................... 15
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym Membership.......................... 30 do you use it?
Bank Account Fee........................ 5 what benefits do you get from this account and do you use them?
Total monthly expenses.................. 2944


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 147000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 151500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100000...(525)......0 what APR is this? is it fixed rate and if so when does it finish? it is captial repayment or interest only?
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1200.....(35).......0<
Car............................4500.....(140)...... is 4500 the current balance or original balance? how long until this finished?
Total secured & HP debts...... 105700....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR what are the APRs on all these?
Mastercard.....................1500......40........0
Virgin Creditcard..............4200......40........0
Overdraft......................850.......0.........0
Bank Loan......................3150......210.......0
Total unsecured debts..........9700......290.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,051
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,944
Available for debt repayments........... 107
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 290
Amount short for making debt repayments. -183

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 151,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -105,700
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,700
Net Assets.............................. 36,100

Is the wedding holiday paid for? if not how much do you need to spend on that? and when?

EDIT - sorry a lot of these things you've already answered whilst I was typing!.