holy moly soa

freshtimes

Can you ask your local council if you can spread the cost over 12 months instead of 10?- never thought of that- will ask. thanks

Are you on the cheapest deals, have you checked this?-
this is a big bug bear of mine as i think we pay too much, but, we are on one of these spread over the year payment plans that 'should' even out over the year. this means that we are always in debit with them and if i changed i'd have to pay off the outstanding balances which we cant really afford to do. think gas runs about 200 in debit and elec 150 in debit there or there abouts.

Sometimes if you threaten to leave then your current provider will offer you a better deal, try this if you can't do without- going to ring tomorrow

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5 This seems very low- ye it is but i'm not sure i can afford anymore? used to go on credit cards

Are your prescriptions free?- yes at the moment as i've not long had a baby so free for 12 months post birth

No contents insurance?- sorry 13 covers buildings and contents

x

Debt_free_soon_2

I'm rubbish with these things, but just wanted to say good on you for facing up to things!

You'll find you get as much as a buzz from saving money & hunting bargains as you did spending after a while.


Good luck on your mission! :-)

Debt_free_soon_2

P.s. LOVE your thread title! :-)

Cornish_piskie

Hi OP

Just a quick observation - it might be me being daft but if your day to day bills (shown in the main part of your SOA) come to £1825 then surely your partner should be putting a little more than £880 in the pot? Perhaps the £880 was based on a quick 'tot up' of bills and now that all the expenses are down on the SOA it might be time to revisit this amount together. It would also explain why you keep having to have the £100 top up from him

I can see on the 'debts' part of your SOA only one entry listed as joint. Are the remainder of the debts all yours? If more of them are joint then this is more evidence that your partner should be putting a bit more in. Also, and it's only a query and I would never try to say how anyone should split their finances, but is the 50/50 split of bills fair - ie; do you both earn round about the same amount as each other per month?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

Lastly, congratulations on getting a grip on the finances - there are people on this board who will have lots of advice, support and reassurance for you. Good luck x

[Deleted User]

freshtimes wrote: »

okay, here goes. as mentioned, normally cars/presents etc would go on credit cards but cant do that anymore so hopefully the figures below will be enough. scrimp from now on!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1770
Partners monthly income after tax....... 880
Benefits................................ 81
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 2831

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 884
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 128
Electricity............................. 72 - check for cheaper tariffs & try getting much more energy efficient
Gas..................................... 57 - as above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 21
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 29 - one or two phones?
TV Licence.............................. 11
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 79 (sky, internet and phone) - reduce to free channels only & a cheap bundled internet & landline package at around £25pm
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280 - could skim a bit off this by downsizing brands, meal planning, batch cooking etc
Clothing................................ 0 (enough clothes to last me a lifetime!) - but allow for essentials like children's clothes, underwear, essential shoes etc
Petrol/diesel........................... 110
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 25
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 16
Buildings insurance..................... 13
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 50 (mgt repayment protector)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 5
Total monthly expenses.................. 1825

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 210000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 700
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 210700


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 175000...(884)......4
Total secured & HP debts...... 175000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
nw cc..........................3700......82........6. 2
barclaycard....................6500......129...... .16.9
barclaycard....................2000......68....... .24.9
joint cc.......................3000......90........0
loan...........................7200......291...... .6.9
very...........................1300......65....... .32.9
next...........................200.......15....... .29.9
halifax........................500.......14....... .15.9
overdraft 2 ...................1000......15........17.9
overdraft 1....................2800......49........17.9
asda...........................950.......23....... .24.9
capital one....................450.......14........20.9
vanquis card...................500.......24........34.95
Total unsecured debts..........30100.....879.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,831
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,825
Available for debt repayments........... 1,006
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 879
Amount left after debt repayments....... 127

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 210,700
Total HP & Secured debt................. -175,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -30,100
Net Assets.............................. 5,600

according to your SOA & adding in the savings I've suggested, you could easily recoup another £150 pm to chuck at debt.

The tv/broadband/landline deal is very high. We have freesat channels from a sky box (no subscription), our 60GB broadband & landline with free evening & weekend calls is with Plusnet at around £23 per month inc line rental.

My first suggestion is to cease using the cards, chuck away the store cards and cut them all up - keeping just the 0% joint one for absolute direst emergencies.

Please have a good honest chat with your OH & show him your financial figures & ask them to support you through getting to grips with your overspending.

Finally - good luck! It's not scrimping, it's taking control of the consumer culture & giving it a good hiding. It becomes a good challenge - and you do get a real buzz from *not* spending money on krapp

[My OH & I live on much less than the national average wage, but these days we have zero debt, 4 figure savings and travel to Asia every year to see family. We may not have the fancy gadgets but we do share our aims and financial habits. And we spend quality time together cooking, walking and doing simple stuff which costs £0.00 - priceless!]

mildred1978

So you live together, and have a child together, youve got linked credit files but your debt is for you alone to deal with? Where is the rest of his money going every month?

mum2one

I would suggets keeping a spending dairy for a month and see where every penny is going, you may find that by saying to yourself you habve to write down £3 for a coffee but if you stay for a 2nd - thats £6 - or a magazine those things add up.

The debts - can you pay the min amount on the lowest apr and chuck everything at the highest apr and work that way. xx

freshtimes

Morning everyone, thanks for all the input. I'll try answer some of your points.

we have a joint account that all our household bills and food and utilities come out of. This totals 1730 per month and my partner puts 880 into the account and i put 850 in. the joint cc comes out of this account as well.

we then have seperate accounts for our own monies. yes we do have a baby but to be honest he pays for most of the baby stuff and take aways etc as he does earn slightly more than me and has considerably less debt than me.

apart from the joint cc all the other debt is mine, and he doesnt know about all of it (tho most of it). most of my debt stems from an expensive hobby i used to have and my general stupidity. none of the debt i have is house related/child related stuff. all my own doing, hence why i dont think he should be bearing the burden for this. he doesnt have pots of money but he is sensible with his money and pays most of the child related things or things around the house. i think he pays more than his fair share?

i'm a dreadful waster of money. let me give you some examples-
home insurance was due for renewal. renewal was high so i shopped around and got a lower deal but forgot/couldn't be bothered to cancel the old one so now about to pay 2 lots of home insurance!

got loaads of stuff i have bought and never use- still with lables on (will sell on ebay)

spend about 20 quid a week on the lottery

freezer full of nice food but still go out and buy lunch

freshtimes

mum2one- the last few days i have spent 15.66 on food (on a credit card) from the local shop. even tho i have a fridge full of food. this is a major part of my problem!

the only plus point i can think is that i have 26 payments left on my loan. once that finishes i'll have nearly 300 month more so can really hammer the debts down

mildred1978

freshtimes wrote: »

mum2one- the last few days i have spent 15.66 on food (on a credit card) from the local shop. even tho i have a fridge full of food. this is a major part of my problem!

the only plus point i can think is that i have 26 payments left on my loan. once that finishes i'll have nearly 300 month more so can really hammer the debts down

Right. Cut up all but 2 cards (keep 2 for emergencies). Get 2 plastic tubs big enough to hold 1 card each. Put the cards in, cover with water and put in the freezer.

If you need to use the cards in the future you'll have the time it takes to defrost one to decide whether you really need whatever it is you're going to buy.