Where to start?!

looking4ahelpinghand

Hey! My debt started when I split with my son's father about 4 years ago. Had to move out and start again with nothing to my name. Hit the credit cards to get back on my feet and now here I am.

I waste money, I know I do, but I cant seem to stop. I like to go out for meals or buy nice things...which is very counter productive I know.

So, where do I start? I'm in about 8k worth of debt, two being credit cards which is around 7k and 1k to two store cards. I've done one of those expenditure things... I'm currently learning to drive which is crippling me but I want to complete it. I'm currently spending around £55 per week on lessons. (3 hours per week).

My living situation is not really as stated in belows form. I am currently in between houses whilst my new place is being completed. The form is filled with my typical months outgoings but at the moment I'm not paying rent, water, council tax.... but I'm still not finding spare cash to pay things off. In fact I've struggled more recently then I have when living alone.

I think this is because Im spending more money on being out of the house and out from under my friends feet so I dont get in their way. So, where do I begin?

Thankyou!


Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 700
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 30
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)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 980


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
halifax credit card............2400......90........0
barclaycard ...................5500......120.......0
very/argos.....................1000......70........0
Total unsecured debts..........8900......280.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,300
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 980
Available for debt repayments........... 320
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 280
Amount left after debt repayments....... 40

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,900
Net Assets.............................. -8,900

19lottie82

Hi OP, well done in posting your SOA, I know t can be quite scary. Here are a few comments, but first off, how many people live in your home? Is it just you, or do you have any kids f/t, or a partner? I'm guessing as you recieve £400 benefits a month, you must have at least one child with you.

looking4ahelpinghand wrote: »

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 700
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1300

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 80
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 40
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50 This seems expensive.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 Ditch this if you are not tied in to a contract. You can get a sim only deal for around £10 a month
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 Ditch this if you are not tied in to a contract, freeview will do
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Again, we need to know how many people this is for, to make a fair comment. If it's just for you, it can be cut back a bit. Prob even cut back a bit if it's for you + 1 child.
Clothing................................ 30 If this is for you only, cut it back to £10 a month, for essential replacements only., and buy them in primark or supermarkets
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
Does your son, not go to any clubs?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
You should have this, mine is only £6 a month
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Not realistic, you talk about a son, does he never get a birthday or xmas present? Same for other family members or friends. You need to work out a realsitic annual figure and divide it by 12
Haircuts................................ 0 Do you never pay to get your hair cut. Use same formula as above
Entertainment........................... 0
Not realistic, you have to have something in here. Surely you must go out occasionally or buy a magazine or a DVD?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Everyone has the odd unexpected expense.

In general your SOA seems a little unrealistic, you should have figures in the sections that I have pointed out.

If you don't know where your cash is going, start a spending diary. Write down EVERYTHING you spend, to each penny. You'll soon see where it all goes and where you can cut back!

Tixy

Hi

Welcome to the forums and well done for posting.

If you don't have any money left at the end of the month (especially at the moment with lower bills) then the best place to start is a spending diary. Make sure you write down everything you spend, from a newspaper to a lottery ticket to new clothes - down to the penny. After a month or so (or maybe after a week) you'll see where you are spending more than you have in your budget.

The first problem I can see if you haven't got anything budgeted for
your driving lessons or anything for entertainment/presents/haircuts.

If you are paying £238 on driving lessons then instead of a £40 surplus after minimum payments you have got a £198 shortfall. Are you still spending on any of the cards or are they cut up?

Given your existing situation it really doesn't look like you can afford driving lessons at the moment. Unless you are due to take your test in the next month or so I would seriously reconsider stopping these until your debts are much lower, or at the very least reducing it down - 3hours a week is a lot. Could you cut it to a 2hour lesson a fortnight.

Even if you did pass your test you cannot realistically afford to run a vehicle at the moment.

Other areas to consider trying to find savings
Council tax............................. 80 do you claim the 25% discount? do you get any council tax benefit?
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 40 have you any arrears for gas & elec? the elec in particular seems high. If not on meters have you shopped around for
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50 this looks very high. Will you be on a meter at the new place? do you have arrears?
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 40 can you drop to a lower tariff?
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40 switch to a lower package or consider ditching
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 If there are 2 of you, you should be able to work on reducing this a bit.

How old is your son? I'm guessing you work part time at the moment? is that due to fitting round school? Is there anyway you could increase your earnings?

Andos_2

First and foremost - Realising you have a problem that needs to stop.
Coming on here is a great start.
I have just done this and will be taking the steps to get back debt free..
My girlfriend has a son and she made sure she sorted her debts out... If anything for the benefit of him.
I recommend you do as above people have said, make sure you have all the help you're entitled to and then for the timebeing atleast, cut back on that money wastage you admit to doing.

Remember, if you borrow now, you pay for it later in life! and don't I know... Debt is crippling. I have generally missed out on so much in life through being in debt. That extra expenditure could of allowed me to go travelling, go on holiday, have a deposit for a house or a nice car... But instead I'm paying off debts. No doubt it's the same for you.

I wish you luck and hope you realise that this is something you need to be stringent with now so you and your son can feel the full benefits later in life.

looking4ahelpinghand

Hey, thanks for the replies already!

Yeah looks like i've missed some things. I do tend to go out alot with my boyfriend at the moment..pictures...meals and what not to get out of my friends house so at the moment I'd say im spending about £150 a month going out. This isnt usually the case but because of the current living situation.

Hair cuts I dont pay for as my friend is a stylist =]

I am on a mobile phone contract until oct this year so not too long...then I'll be doing a tenner a month jobbie.

Yeah i was with virgin media at my last prop and intended to be again when i move into my new place (in about a month). Now I don't tend to watch a lot of TV but I felt bad for my son (one son, 6 years old) not having any decent channels with freeview.

I use the internet alot so does it work out better keeping free view then getting a cheap phoneline/broadband deal? I dont use a home phone generally....well...i never did with virgin.

Again, shopping wise, I should be spending for myself and my son but my brother is in an even worse financial position so I tend to feed him alot. I also have my sister stay over alot (teenager) then there's my boyfriend staying so it's not just the two of us eating what I buy.

The driving lessons.... I am about ready to do my test so yes, I think if i maybe drop it down to one a week for now?

It's so difficult at the moment because I'm late paying things so you incur those charges, and because of this i cant get a bank loan to consolidate the debt with a cheaper rate.

Any advice on managing high credit card repayments?

Thank you sooo much!

Verbatim

There's no magic bullet unfortunately.
I think you've got it sussed when you say the late charges and interest make everything worse. Although a lot of things would be nice to have I can't see how you can sustain your current lifestyle much longer. Are you still spending on the CCs? How close are you to not being able to pay the minimums?

I'm sure there are good children's channels on freeview, but in any event how can you afford to keep paying for anything else? or driving lessons unless passing would enable you to get a better paid job.

I guess your starting point has to be to get your basics in under your income, and then see what you have left to pay off debt. Have you got any arrears on your rent, gas, water or electric or any CCJs?

Lastly is your boyfriend contributing at least to the food bill?

It must be really tough for you right now having to stay with friends while you're waiting for your next flat. Perhaps it's also a good time to decide start afresh in a new place. New flat, new (realistic) budget.