Advice Needed

ezzauk

Hi All, i need some advice my OH is planning on going on maternity the beginning of December so our income will be taking a hit and we have alot of outgoing payments on Credit cards/HP etc. Im not sure what the best way to save money is, i was thinking of getting shot of my car that is on HP and getting the bus to work as the OH wont be needing me to drive her to work for the next year. Also I have included my SOA below.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1564
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1160
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2724

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 306
Rent.................................... 695
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 133
Electricity............................. 24
Gas..................................... 34
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 53
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 38
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 120
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 75
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 14
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Gym..................................... 5
Slimming Club........................... 20
Total monthly expenses.................. 1813


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 9000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 9000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 9000.....(306)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 9000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin Money...................3516......35........0
Tesco CC.......................3847......100.......18.9
Barclaycard....................5035......150.......0
Bank OD........................300.......50........0
Bank OD........................800.......50........0
OH Friend......................115.......58........0
OH Dad.........................850.......30........0
Vanquis........................500.......50........39.9
Marisota.......................1500......100.......39.9
Total unsecured debts..........16463.....623.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,724
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,813
Available for debt repayments........... 911
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 623
Amount left after debt repayments....... 288

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 9,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -9,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -16,463
Net Assets.............................. -16,463

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Thanks in advance

Eric

McKneff

Water rates are really high, can you get a meter installed, it would probably halve your cost.

Im in a 3 bed semi, 2 of us in all day and we pay £18.00 a month.

What is other travel.

Looks like you'd save a fortune getting rid of the car.

ezzauk

McKneff wrote: »

Water rates are really high, can you get a meter installed, it would probably halve your cost.

Im in a 3 bed semi, 2 of us in all day and we pay £18.00 a month.

What is other travel.

Looks like you'd save a fortune getting rid of the car.

Just looked at the Water bill and the DD is set up for payments between apr-Nov so i should be having a payment break soon, would it still be worth getting a meeter with a child on the way as their would be 3 of us in the household.?

Tixy

Hi

At the moment it looks like you have £288 spare a month - though it also looks like you perhaps haven't budgeted for all costs (clothes, haircuts, entertainment, presents etc). How much of the £288 do you actually have spare a month - and are you putting that towards your debts in addition to your minimum payments?

Do you know what wife will have coming in from maternity pay and child benefit? have you looked at an online calcualtor to see if you will be entitled to child tax credits and how much they will be?

Normally people are advised to focus any extra money to their most expensive debts, but sometimes in a situation like yours its worth trying to clear some of the smaller debts first, so you'll have a reduced total monthly payment when your income drops - and will hopefully be able to afford those payments.

With the benefits/maternity etc it may be that you will only be down around £400 a month? in which case if you really did have £288 spare you only need to reduce payments by just over £100 a month to still be able to meet repayments. If you cleared the 3 smallest debts your payments would reduce by £158 a month.

bargainbetty

You need to look at the SOA with details of what your partner will bring in while on maternity leave - see how much you need to shave off the total to break even.

Between then and now, you need to have a good clear out and sell things on ebay, do boot fairs etc to raise month to throw at the monst expensive debts of Vanquis and Marisota (stop using catalogues too, too expensive). Do everything you can to clear the debts to reduce your outgoings.

Go through all your cupboard and do inventories of your stash. Use it to meal plan and work out the absolute minimum you can get away with spending on household stuff, and throw the extra at your debt or bring your overdrafts down.

Can you or she do overtime for a bit, or take on a second job (bar work, deliveries, cleaning etc) just for a few months to bring in some extra cash to throw at the debts?

Rememeber, you don't need to buy everything new and expensive for the little one, and most stuff will be ready to put back up for sale in a few weeks, as they grow so damn fast!

Good luck

Edit: Tixy - you got there first!

onamissionEU

Have you checked out what you will be entitled to in benefits once the baby is born? Also what maternity pay you will be receiving? I am not expert on UK benefits but I believe you will get child tax credits and child benefit.

Getting rid of the car would certainly help but you also need to address your unsecured debts. Make getting ride of the high APR debts like Vanquis a TOP PRIORITY. Can you move them to a 0% credit card at all? I would not want to advise debt consolodation though you will need to look at reducing your debt servicing costs very soon - perhaps other here can advise?

McKneff

So do you pay £53 a month for 8 months Apr/Nov inclusive.
Thats a whopping £424 a year. Mine is not much over £200.

Speak to the water authority, you can have a meter taken out after a year if its not cost effective for you.

The general consensus on here is that meters are cheaper, and they do make you think twice before running a tap for a long time or wasting water.
Have a think about it anyway. You would probably have to ask your landlord.