Need to reduce expenditure

welsh_bristolian

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1100
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1100

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 550
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 120
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 80
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 150
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1095


Assets
Cash.................................... 150
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 150

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................10000.....200.......3
Total unsecured debts..........10000.....200.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,100
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,095
Available for debt repayments........... 5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 200
Amount short for making debt repayments. -195

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 150
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,000
Net Assets.............................. -9,850

Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.
I work from home, I have at 1 computer and at least 1 device plugged in between 8 and 6, Monday to Saturday.

I've spoken with the council and they can't give me any sort of benefits over than a few hundred per year.

I live in a village, north of Cardiff, no super markets.

SuziQ1962

Hi how many live at the house? Are you on your own?If so could you reduce the amount you spend on food ,batch cooking and freezing,using approv*d foods to buy in bulk at cheap prices ,also do any supermarkets deliver as it may be cheaper for you to do a monthly shop for all your food and top up at the local shop for milk and bread?Do cheap tins meals for a couple of nights ie cheese on toast with beans,also meal planning helps bring down costs too.Can you get the council tax reduced if on your own-think they do if you are single occupier?Not sure though ,someone else will be able to help on that :-)

dancingfairy

Hi. I did reply on your other thread on the housing board but this one is definitely more suitable for you.
I suggest you start by filling in the SOA at makesenseofcards and posting it here.
You have missed out many things so far including tv licence, insurance, birthday presents, entertainment, clothes, any car costs/travel costs etc.
I'm sure when we have a fuller picture we can help more.
df
P.S I'm fairly sure you will need help with the debts as none of your costs look too excessive so far. Aa debt charity will need your SOA to go through things with you as well.

lemonpopsicle

Does your partner not get Job Seekers Allowance or any other benefits?
Your gas and water seem high to me, is your water metered or could it be, we are a family of 4, including 2 teenagers that love showering and our metered water is £40 a month.
Your mobile also seems to be high.
You are doing well with your groceries.:)
What was the loan for if you don't mind me asking? Could you sell whatever you used the loan money for?

welsh_bristolian

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

Does your partner not get Job Seekers Allowance or any other benefits?
Your gas and water seem high to me, is your water metered or could it be, we are a family of 4, including 2 teenagers that love showering and our metered water is £40 a month.
Your mobile also seems to be high.
You are doing well with your groceries.:)
What was the loan for if you don't mind me asking? Could you sell whatever you used the loan money for?

Gas is a guess as I haven't been billed yet. Water is unmetered, currently applying for a meter. Mobile is two contract phones (it would cost £400 to £600 to cancel). The loan is my partners name and she got it to start her own business, it failed, the remaining amount was used towards renting here.

She's not on JSA, as she's technically self-employed but her clients haven't paid her yet. She's in a similar position to me, I'm doing 48 hours + up to 20 'voluntary' every week, with no chance of ever getting a pay rise. We're both be abused by companies but we need the money.

HappyMJ

welsh_bristolian wrote: »

Gas is a guess as I haven't been billed yet. Water is unmetered, currently applying for a meter. Mobile is two contract phones (it would cost £400 to £600 to cancel). The loan is my partners name and she got it to start her own business, it failed, the remaining amount was used towards renting here.

She's not on JSA, as she's technically self-employed but her clients haven't paid her yet. She's in a similar position to me, I'm doing 48 hours + up to 20 'voluntary' every week, with no chance of ever getting a pay rise. We're both be abused by companies but we need the money.

If you have the dates and meter readings for the gas meter you can enter those on this website http://www.ukpower.co.uk/tools/smart_meter_calculator/ and it will tell you what your daily cost would be. You can multiply that figure by 30 to get your monthly figure. For example it'll say....

"On average you used 28.0kwh a day costing you £1.48 Your average CO2 footprint is 5.8 kg a day"

You then multiply £1.48 by 30 to get £44.40 then round it up to the next pound and enter £45 for your monthly gas. It will not be £80 that is far too much.

You can also do that with electricity if your electricity amount is also a guess.

pmlindyloo

As Dancing Fairy says you have missed out a lot from your statement of affairs which is giving a slanted look to your expenditure.

You must be realistic and include money for entertainment, TV licence, travel etc.

Is the loan in your OH's name or yours?

Have you done a combined SOA or just for you?

The reason I am saying this is because I think you might need the advice of a free debt management company.

There is a sticky at the beginning of this forum of people who you can call who will give you free advice.

I know you have paid your rent up front so at the moment you have extra money so things may not seem so bad.

You are being very sensible because when you have to start paying rent again there is going to be a bigger deficit (as I am sure you are aware).

It is important to get your SOA as realistic as possible because the debt management people will need to know.

At the moment you do not have sufficient income to manage your expenditure. (sorry to state the obvious!)

1. Your joint income is low.
Your OH is bring in no money.
If her self employment is not producing any income then she may need to think about trying for another kind of work. If she has been paying Class 1 NI contribtuions for the last 2 years then she could give up her self employment and apply for contribution based JSA until she finds a new job.
You need to think about a 2nd job (evenings/weekends)and stop doing the unpaid voluntary work.

You need to apply for any benefit (I'm guessing HB/CTB) no matter how little (remember every little help)

Sort out your water, utility bills, bank fee (or have you done this? No mention on the SOA - or have I missed it?) and be frugal (I'm sure you are)

For the moment, you cannot afford the repayments on the bank loan using the SOA figures (you need to 'pretend' that you are paying rent) so I suspect that CAB/whoever will suggest that you write to your creditor enclosing a SOA and offer a token payment until your income increases.(They will help you do this)

The problem is if you go this route then your credit rating will suffer.

If you can maximise your income during this ''rent free'' period then you might survive without going down the debt management route.

welsh_bristolian

pmlindyloo wrote: »

As Dancing Fairy says you have missed out a lot from your statement of affairs which is giving a slanted look to your expenditure.

You must be realistic and include money for entertainment, TV licence, travel etc.

Actually I have included everything, I don't go anywhere as I'm working 6 days a week from home. We don't have a tv and don't spend anything on entertainment.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Is the loan in your OH's name or yours?

It's a business loan in her name.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Have you done a combined SOA or just for you?

Combined

pmlindyloo wrote: »

1. Your joint income is low.
Your OH is bring in no money.
If her self employment is not producing any income then she may need to think about trying for another kind of work. If she has been paying Class 1 NI contribtuions for the last 2 years then she could give up her self employment and apply for contribution based JSA until she finds a new job.
You need to think about a 2nd job (evenings/weekends)and stop doing the unpaid voluntary work.

If I stop the unpaid work, I will lose my job (I'm in my probation period). We've decided to give up on getting her clients to pay for now and she's going to change to umployed and get JSA.

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Sort out your water, utility bills, bank fee (or have you done this? No mention on the SOA - or have I missed it?)

Sort them out how? (Bank fees for what?)

Skint_yet_Again

Hi have just read your thread. I think "Sort out" means amend your SOA to show correct water costs by entering new meter charge to soa,
Add partners JSA once she starts to claim
Enter a realistic estimate for gas & electric
Check APR for loan - is this correct on SOA ? These changes may make a difference to your meeting debt repayments.

HappyMJ wrote: »

If you have the dates and meter readings for the gas meter you can enter those on this website http://www.ukpower.co.uk/tools/smart_meter_calculator/ and it will tell you what your daily cost would be. You can multiply that figure by 30 to get your monthly figure. You can also do that with electricity if your electricity amount is also a guess.

welsh_bristolian wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................10000.....200.......3
Total unsecured debts..........10000.....200.......-

Skint_yet_Again

welsh_bristolian wrote: »

Mobile is two contract phones (it would cost £400 to £600 to cancel).

btw, have you tried contacting the moble phone provider and asking if you can reduce the cost ? I did this mid-term with orange and got a better deal for less money. hope this helps.

pmlindyloo

welsh_bristolian wrote: »

Actually I have included everything, I don't go anywhere as I'm working 6 days a week from home. We don't have a tv and don't spend anything on entertainment.



It's a business loan in her name.



Combined


If I stop the unpaid work, I will lose my job (I'm in my probation period). We've decided to give up on getting her clients to pay for now and she's going to change to umployed and get JSA.


Sort them out how? (Bank fees for what?)

Re: Bank fees - apologies - I got you muddled up with another poster

When I said 'sort them out' I meant check that you are on the cheapest tariff for your electricity and gas. At the top of this page there are articles by Martin Lewis with tips for reducing utility bills - have a read.

You have already reduced your food bill from £250 in your original post to £150 so you are on the right track.

I agree that getting your girl friend to see if she is eligible for contribution based JSA is a good idea. She won't be eligible for income based JSA as you earn too much (never thought you'd hear that, did you )

I understand about the voluntary work if you are on probation. Are there good prospects there?

I suppose the other route, as discussed on your other thread, is for you and your OH to find a house share - not ideal I imagine - but would give you some breathing space until things inprove financially.

When you checked about your benefits were you entitled to any Working Tax credits or do you earn too much?

I think you can do this without going to a debt management company. Your OH could offer a token payment to her creditor (for the business loan) but it would damage her credit rating. If you can keep up the payment between you that would be the best option.

Good luck!