Can't seem to escape this debt

GreenSaints

Hey,

We've all been there - try not to feel too disheartened or overwhelmed by what others are doing on here. I used to get depressed when I read people paying off £1000s and I only managed £10, but it all adds up.

I totally recommend The Resourceful Cook website, which I was pointed to on here. Gives you meal plans, shopping lists and how much it would cost a week.

Plan plan, plan is the way to save money on food. Make a list, stick to it and you'll be amazed

Good luck

Omg

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income 2,801
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans) 2,115
Available for debt repayments 686
UNsecured debt repayments 1,144
Amount short for making debt repayments -458
Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 1,500
Total Secured & HP Debt -0
Total Unsecured Debt -11,439
Net Assets -9,939
Household Information

Number of adults in household 2
Number of children in household 1
Number of cars owned 1
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 2720
Partners monthly income 0
Benefits 81
Other income 0
Total monthly income 2801
Expenses Amount(£)
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan payments 0
Rent 800
Management charge (leasehold property) 0
Council tax 83
Electricity 30
Gas 70
Oil 0
Water Rates 33
Telephone (land line) 12
Mobile phone 26
TV Licence 12
Satellite/Cable TV 29
Internet services 20
Groceries etc. 340
Clothing 60
Petrol/diesel 140
Road tax 0
Car Insurance 0
Car maintenance (including MOT) 0
Car Parking 0
Other travel 0
Childcare/nursery 168
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) 30
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 0
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 12
Life Assurance 0
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 30
Haircuts 20
Entertainment 80
Holiday 120
Emergency Fund 0
Total monthly expenses 2115
Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 0 - -
Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Credit card 1 4120 102 0
Credit card 2 3800 110 0
Credit card 3 1440 54 0
Payday lender 339 339 0
Payday lender 500 500 0
Overpayment 800 25 0
Store card 1 440 14 0
Unsecured Debt totals 11439 1144 -
Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 1500
Car(s) 0
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 1500
Comments on the results



Sorry about the bad formatting. Using the website on my phone and wasn't working properly.

Just to explain a couple of things:
• Gas is very high, was put up from £40 a few months ago as I owed about £300 on the account
• Holiday was the cost of our last holiday divided by 12
• The £800 overpayment was from a previous employer

shellyruby

so sorry,i dont have any advice.am in similar situation with the dreaded payday loans myself,but compleltey sympathise with you,xx

poppasmurf_bewdley

Bloody hell!!!

Hairdressing £20 a month. Presents £30 a month. Nothing for Road Tax, Car Insurance or MOT/repairs???? Do you have a company car? Entertainment £80, Holiday £120, Clothing £60 a month???

You can't afford a holiday or presents for people (except your own kids). And I'm sure you don't need any new clothes if you've been spending that much over the past few months.

And as you have said in a previous post, your spend on groceries in horrendous. Time for a visit to Lidl or Aldi.

tiggerbodhi

Hi,
Slightly confused on your SOA, are you the only wage earner in the household and pay all the bills? as PSB says some of the figures are very high and could be cut back, if the groceries at £340 are for all three of you it can be cut, if it is for one can I come to Tea??

Apologies if this is intrusive but what were the PDL's for?

even if you have a company car the private use fuel at £140 seems high, and the TV/Internet/Telephone should be lower.

Good luck...:)

Omg

Hmm yes there was a little bit of guesswork involved but I thought some of the costs were quite conservative.

Haircuts: for me £10 per month, the missus around £60 a go but much less frequent.

The holiday was the costs of our last one worked out monthly.

Presents, well, i agree but Christmas is such a killer.

I honestly don't know how we spend so much on groceries. We try and eat well, healthy meals made from scratch but we do waste a lot (very fussy 2 year old). We stock up on meat from costco and farm shops and deep freeze it. I know we spend a lot on nappies too. We tried using cheaper nappies but found it false economy compared with Pampers.

And yes I have a company car hence just the fuel costs.

I think we just need to live super frugal for 1 month to escape the PDLs because it almost seems routine now to use them halfway through the month

RAS

OK

if you went on a DMP, the provider would probably not pull you up on much but you do have car costs missing.

Picked up on the point about the holiday costs from last year - when does that end?

Why do you have child care costs but only one income?

However in DFW, we help people shred their expenses short-term so that they can get their finances back on an even keel.

Whoever is responsible for food buying etc need to make full lists of the contents of the fridge, freezer and cupboards and go over to the Money Saving Old style forum to put together a meal plan for the month which costs as little as possible. Consider a deleivery of budget grades from a supermarket to cover everythign except fresh goods - you may find a free code in the freebies section here.

I am going to skin this now

Omg wrote: »

Statement of Affairs & Personal Balance Sheet

Summary

Monthly Budget Summary Amount(£)
Total monthly income 2,801
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans) 2,115
Available for debt repayments 686
UNsecured debt repayments 1,144
Amount short for making debt repayments -458
Personal Balance Sheet Summary Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own) 1,500
Total Secured & HP Debt -0
Total Unsecured Debt -11,439
Net Assets -9,939
Household Information

Number of adults in household 2
Number of children in household 1
Number of cars owned 1
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details

Income Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax 2720
Partners monthly income 0 - no income but child care costs - why???
Benefits 81
Other income 0
Total monthly income 2801
Expenses Amount(£)
Mortgage 0
Secured/HP loan payments 0
Rent 800
Management charge (leasehold property) 0
Council tax 83
Electricity 30
Gas 70
Oil 0
Water Rates 33
Telephone (land line) 12
Mobile phone 26 - can you reduce the package?
TV Licence 12
Satellite/Cable TV 29 - get rid ASAP and use freeview for a year
Internet services 20
Groceries etc. 340 - The reckoning was £60 per adult but I think £70 is more sensible now - so £200 max.
Clothing 60 - The only thing you should be buying is shoes for the child.
Petrol/diesel 140
Road tax 0 ?????
Car Insurance 0 ?????
Car maintenance (including MOT) 0 ????
Car Parking 0 - never???
Other travel 0
Childcare/nursery 168 why???????????
Other child related expenses 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians etc.) 30
Pet Insurance/Vet bills 0
Buildings Insurance 0
Contents Insurance 12
Life Assurance 0
Other Insurance 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc.) 30 - you need to pull back on this - how mmuch have you saved towards Christmas?
Haircuts 20
Entertainment 80 - you simply cannot afford this
Holiday 120 - when does this end??
Emergency Fund 0
Total monthly expenses 2115
Secured & HP Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Mortgage 0 (0) 0
Secured & HP Debt totals 0 - -
Unsecured Debt Description Debt(£) Monthly(£) APR(%)
Credit card 1 4120 102 0 - you need the APRs
Credit card 2 3800 110 0
Credit card 3 1440 54 0
Payday lender 339 339 0 - try hit this first
Payday lender 500 500 0
Overpayment 800 25 0
Store card 1 440 14 0
Unsecured Debt totals 11439 1144 -
Asset Description Value (£)
Cash 0
House Value (Gross) 0
Shares and bonds 1500
Car(s) 0
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc) 0
Total Assets 1500
Comments on the results

Omg

Yes I am the only earner and pay all bills. £340 is for all three of us. I honestly don't remember what the first PDL was for. I think it was running out of money at the end of the month and needed food etc.

Fuel costs are mostly for my 30 mile daily commute

The costs for Tv etc were divided up from the £60 a month I pay to Virgin Media. The contract ends in feb at which point I will find a cheaper option.

Thanks guys

thehappybutterfly

Honestly omg - you're not being unreasonable in some of your expenditure if you didn't have the debt to service. £340 isn't that much on groceries so don't fret about it. It would seem that also includes cleaning products and toiletries? I spend waaay more than that for a family of four.

The good news is there are lots of places you can cut back and yes your groceries is one of them but it doesn't mean starving yourselves. While you're in this debt hole, you do need to curb the spending on entertainment and holidays especially - you clearly can't afford to go on holiday this year. Use this money to whack on your Payday loans - that's far more important than a holiday. The world will still be there in 2 years!

Good luck!

tiggerbodhi

Think RAS asked a relevant question, if your partner does not work why £168 childcare costs?