Biting the bullet (soa)

[Deleted User]

Satellite/Cable TV is costing you £660 pa, which you can't afford.

Reduce to minimum or, better yet, go to Freesat.

Entertainment is high. Reduce by at least 50%.

Given how much you are spending on "Other Travel" (and how little on petrol/diesel), do you really need the car?

marathon_man_3

£80 per month for entertainment seems to be somewhat excessive. By all means go out but reduce the times and the expenditure. If you want to reduce your debt position then you either have to increase your income, sell things or reduce your expenditure to some extent. The entertainment is simply not a "must have" cost.

chevalier

Excuse me being blunt, but its the end of a long day. Stop being a door mat, and let others work for you rather than you for them. So your current OH HAS to work more hours SOMEWHERE either in the cab or min wage stacking shelves.,

Likewise ex OH can come and get your DS one week and you the next or something. Though you do imply that your DS is a teenager, so does he REALLY need you to TAKE him. Could he not get the train/ bus on his own to see his dad?
chev

FatVonD

Another update with new figures (I still need to adjust the totals which will be easier to do once it's in colour so I'll come back and edit.)

The mortgage amount I quoted before was the amount when it was still variable, it's now fixed for 2 years.

As I said before, the cheapest phone/internet WAS Tesco but they don't serve our area so I have stuck with Virgin which works for us also because both DS and I have our mobile son Virgin so we get free calls. Virgin TV has gone though and I just watch EastEnders on the iplayer instead.

I've cut out entertainment altogether, whittled down the shopping and DH is taking over paying the council tax. I've changed energy suppliers and am waiting on a rebate for overpayment.

I'm still having a block on cancelling the boiler insurance , I called about downgrading and it would only save about £6 and we're currently covered for pipes/drains etc as well which I've had problems with in the past.

The tax bill was bigger than I thought and I owed £4132. I paid £1,000 from my overdraft and put the rest on a Santander CC then transferred as much of it as I could (I already had debt on there) to the MBNA 22 months 0% deal which left about £700 on the original card. I have put my season ticket and shopping on a Tesco 0% on spends card (until March) to reduce the overdraft so I can use it to clear the £700 on payday so I don't pay interest on it (it's 0% deal had just ended.) Santander have offered me a years 0% balance transfer so, as soon as I've cleared the £700, I will then move the Tesco balance to there while I pay off the overdraft (again) and then pay down the Santander then finally the MBNA.

I've added in a £50 allowance for presents as we have 3 big birthdays coming up.

So, in short, lots of robbing Peter to pay Paul but I can't see any better way but if anyone else can I'd love to hear it!




Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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................ 1911.04
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 81.2
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1992.24

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 789.1/731.13
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 190/0
Electricity............................. 40/43
Gas..................................... 62/41
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.58
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 0
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 55/23
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 280/190
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 22.57
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 235/245.8
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 28
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 14.99
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 18.99
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0/50
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 80/0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1511.18




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

FatVonD

the_cat wrote: »

Is there any reason why your ex can't pick up or drop off DS. Seems like something else you have got a bit too used to doing for the benefit of others. Apologies if I've got it wrong but it reads that you are the one doing ALL the to-ing and fro-ing

He usually collects and I then go to bring him back, I'm happy to do that as it was me that moved out of the area so I feel I should do some of the running around. At the moment my ex has just had an operation and is on heavy duty painkillers so can't drive so I will have to do it both ways this week!

FatVonD

chevalier wrote: »

Though you do imply that your DS is a teenager, so does he REALLY need you to TAKE him. Could he not get the train/ bus on his own to see his dad?
chev

His dad lives in a really dodgy area (one that I moved away from) and I wouldn't be comfortable with DS travelling there on his own on public transport (though he does where we live.) Not that I would be able to offer much protection other than having grown up in that area and being a bit more street wise!