Debt Free by 2020.....

danross83

Hi all, detailed below is my SOA in so far as income and expenditure. I've 5 kids, and am the only breadwinner. To follow is exact details of mine and my partners debts (it's a mess) and any advice / support would be welcomed and appreciated.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,076.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 2,100.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000.00
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.50
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,176.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,021.83

danross83

As a taxpayer myself, my view is that if i am entitled to it, then damn right i'm gonna claim it. Bear in mind that we have 5 kids, so 300 of that is child benefit, and 600 is housing benefit. Tax credits are 285 a week. I'm sorry if my claiming my entitlements to make life liveable on a minimum wage after a 48 hour week offends you, i really am.

Yes, £60 for mobiles (2 people, pay as you go.) £165 car insurance, take it up with the insurance industry if you have a problem.....

As i said, any helpful comments??

linz

How about getting rid of Sky and going freeview?

You could also try plusnet or talktalk for a landline/internet package that would work out cheaper than what you have.

Check out Giffgaff for your mobile phones; 250 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data for £10 a month.

What about camping for a cheaper holiday ?

Those are a few things that initially stood out to me..

Sunshine22_2

Hi Danross,

On a quick look your holiday / christmas saving is approx 250 a month!! That's a lot, is there a way you can cut this down for the future until your debts are sorted.

Car insurance also seems a lot, have you searched around? Is this the cheapest quote?

Can the satellite tv go? Could be replaced with something like freeview / sat? These have kids programmes etc on.

Clothing is quite an expense, is there a cheaper way you could clothe the little ones? Ebay, car boots etc are good and places like freecycle are good for school uniforms etc.

Hope that's a bit of help.

S x

chris-j

Not getting at you personally, but as I say it is no wonder country in state it is in.
You can get much cheaper mobile deals, car insurance as well unless bad claims record. As to house rent - sounds like landlord taking advantage of taxpayer by inflating rent - although expect a reduction would not benefit you since the housing benefit would probably be reduced by similar amount. Home insurance at £40, again surely you can get much cheaper especially since this will only be contents.TV, home phone and internet - You could get Sky entertainment (no sport or movies) plus phone including landline calls plus unlimited internet for £50 per month - you are currently paying £90 for these.
Clothes and kid clothes - even growing kids can have clothes last a few months, pass them down to smaller kids and spend less, clothes from George, Matalan, Dunnes, have never been cheaper.
You have not indicate what debts you have but you actually seem quite organised and have scope to seek better value and this strikes me as being far from being a mess.

Hovel_lady

Hello danross :hello:
It will make it easier for people to comment if you post your SOA in the format for MSE.

http://makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

When you have clicked 'Calculate' on the Statement of Affairs form, click 'Format for MSE'. This gives you a popup window. Click 'highlight text', right click on the highlighted text and copy the highlighted textincluding all formatting codes.Then paste the copied text here.

danross83

Debts not yet included as yet as not entirely certain what we owe in all honesty (Yes, there has been some degree of head-burying and ignoring, before anyone says). Car insurance - yes is cheapest quote (only been driving for 18 months). SOA came from the budget brain thingy on here. Sky is our only real luxury as we NEVER go out at all, so is non negotiable from my point of view. Damn it all, if i work 48 hours plus per week and can't even watch the footie i might as well just bankrupt us both and start again, rather than do the honourable thing and try setting up a DMP on my own. Had 2 previous DMP and been ripped off twice (1st one was paying £150 a month, they were claiming they recieved £110 then taking their fee off!!! Holidays, non negotiable, 1 a year, center parcs no activities but to my eye for 7 people £1500 for 2 weeks is not too shabby.....

danross83

SOA in Makesenseofcards format...

Debts are not complete, and are estimates largely (Awaiting credit files so as to send for values on all debts....)

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1076
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 2100
Other income............................ 515
Total monthly income.................... 3691
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 1000
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 124
Electricity............................. 76
Gas..................................... 72
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 56
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 650
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 19
Car Insurance........................... 165
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 500
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...................... 40
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 190
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 125
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 3430

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 200

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Orange (Mine)..................3800......0.........0
Orange (DOH)...................3800......0.........0
HSBC (Joint)...................4000......0.........0
Cashgenie......................400.......0.........0
Wonga..........................700.......0.........0
Quickquid......................700.......0.........0
Vanquis (Mine).................450.......0.........0
EDF............................300.......0.........0
nPower.........................300.......0.........0
Scottish Power.................400.......0.........0
Weightmans LLP.................250.......0.........0
eBay...........................250.......0.........0
Shop Direct Group (OH..........2000......0.........0
Shop Direct Group (Me..........2000......0.........0
Provident (DOH)................1500......0.........0
Provident (Mine)...............1500......0.........0
MBNA (DOH).....................2000......0.........0
Capital One (DOH)..............700.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........25050.....0.........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,691
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,430
Available for debt repayments........... 261
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 261
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 200
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,050
Net Assets.............................. -24,850
Created using the SOA calculator at makesenseofcards
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.[/i]

rising_from_the_ashes

Some comments below - I know you've said Sky & holidays can't go but unfortunately when trying to pay back debts, it's a case of need and want - yes, you can have wants - but it means you'll be paying the debts for a lot longer!

danross83 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,076.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 2,100.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile Phone(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 If PAYG this should be able to be cut by a fair bit by using for essential calls only & making the most of your landline free calls - try to cut in 1/2
TV Licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Home Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cleaning Products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76.00 On the high side - check comparison sites
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.00 As above
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56.00 Do you have a meter? Obviously it will be higher with that many showers / washing etc but may be worth a look
Council Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124.00
Overdraft Cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank Account Fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 If this is contents only it's really high - check comparison sites
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000.00 Good for your area?
Plumbing/Boiler Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage Payment Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and Household Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650.00 See below
Drinks for Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 When added to food etc this comes to £700 - you should be able to get down to around £500 - try the Grocery Challenge on the Old Style board for ideas (great cost effective recipes:D)
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.33
Car Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00 Ouch - check comparison sites at renewal
Car Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Bus/Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Debt Repayments
Credit Card Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire Purchase Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal Loan Repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car Loan Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension Payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mini Cash ISAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump Sum Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
School Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry Cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Children's Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby Sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Play Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 Sorry but not essential - try downgrading if you can't do without
Family Days Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre Trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big Days Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (eg Anti-virus etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD Rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary Therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical Bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 Are these done by family?
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty Treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare Cashplans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental Insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Medical Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New Children's Clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 Try ebaying grown out clothes to raise funds for new ones / passing down / charity shops etc - sorry but needs to be cut if at all poss
New Clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Sorry to high - try to cut in 1/2
Education & Courses
University Tuition Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your Courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One Offs
Funeral Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding Expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.50 Try to cut a bit off this £5 / child would be £25 (£60 is enough for a birthday IMHO) and would save a fair bit
Winter Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer Holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00 Sorry but not essential - most people can't afford "away" holidays when trying to clear debts - I'm afraid it usually has to be one of the sacrifices, reduce to £50
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125.00 Again too high - £10 / child (again £120 is more than enough to cover this)
Odds & Sods
Newspapers & Magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular Charity Donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,176.00

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,021.83

I know you may not agree with the comments above but when added up, this comes to over £500 / month and I'm sure that would make a big debt in the debts and clear them a lot quicker.

danross83

Or alternatively, i pay £1400 and me and her go bankrupt. Credit files shot to pieces for 6 years plus either way.....

Hovel_lady

Is your car maintanence really £500 a month? :think: