New member, long-time viewer

deadbeta

Morning all,

I've finally took the leap and joined.

I'm 29, in a little debt and want out of it!

The background isn't important, as I know I made some mistakes.

I'm learning from it and want to make big changes.

I will set a goal shortly for a time frame in which to complete my quest.

I've already in the past 12 months got rid of 2 BNPL from various Laptops, PC's etc, which helped me get a mortgage, of which I only have for 20 years so by the time I reach 50, I WILL be completely debt free.

It's the little debts I want sorting ASAP as it will free up much needed funds!!

Particulars in in my sig. SoA to follow;

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................ 891
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1146
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2037

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 372
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 162 (Car)
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 70 (2x £35)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 3 (£30/yr)
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70 (4x Bengal)
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 1440

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 11360
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 96360

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 63000....(372)......3.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 11360....(162)......8.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 74360.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2500......50........18
Sofa...........................1600......35........0
Barclays Loan..................10000.....212.......9.6
Total unsecured debts..........14100.....297.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,037
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,440
Available for debt repayments........... 597
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 297
Amount left after debt repayments....... 300
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 96,360
Total HP & Secured debt................. -74,360
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,100
Net Assets.............................. 7,900

cookson

Welcome to the boards

I've added a few suggestions in red below after a quick glance at your SOA.

The best two debts to clear first are Lloyds CC and then Barclays loan. Is this what you are going to do?

Good luck clearing you debts, keep your head up and stay motivated!

deadbeta wrote: »

Morning all,

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................ 891
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1146
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2037

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 372
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 162 (Car)
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 45
Gas..................................... 45
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 70 (2x £35) Can these be reduced at all? Change to Pay as you go?
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200Perhaps cut back on this to help clear the debt a bit quicker? Look at the Old Style MoneySaving board for tips
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 3 (£30/yr)
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70 (4x Bengal)
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0Something like this may be a good idea, if you're not covered at work.
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0 Maybe budget for this?
Entertainment........................... 0Maybe budget a small amount for this, as a treat to keep you motivated/sane?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25
Total monthly expenses.................. 1440

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 11360
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 96360

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 63000....(372)......3.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 11360....(162)......8.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 74360.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2500......50........18
Sofa...........................1600......35........0
Barclays Loan..................10000.....212.......9.6
Total unsecured debts..........14100.....297.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,037
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,440
Available for debt repayments........... 597
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 297
Amount left after debt repayments....... 300
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 96,360
Total HP & Secured debt................. -74,360
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,100
Net Assets.............................. 7,900

Tixy

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Well done for getting on the housing ladder last year.

Your statement of affairs looks pretty reasonable to me. Pet Insurance looks quite high but obviously for 4 pets that makes sense - have you also allowed for things not covered by Insurance (vaccinations, wormers etc).

You might find it better to include small amounts for clothing, haircuts, entertainment etc - unless you really do spend nothing on those.

The areas I would look at to see if you can make further cutbacks if you did want to throw more at the debts would be
- groceries (although how much of that relates to pet food).
- landline/internet/paid tv - could you get a cheaper deal if you got a combined package? could you switch to freeview? or if the tv is sky have you tried to haggle the price (threaten to cancel).
-mobiles - may be able to get slightly better deals when your contracts end

Have you tried putting your debts in the snowball calculator (excluding the mortgage!)? If not thats worth a go to see how quickly you can hopefully clear all your other debts.

tallyhoh

I really have nothing to suggest as your SOA looks quite reasonable. You could get rid of sky but £25 for entertainment is okay, shave a bit off your grocery bill & cut down the £25 prezzie cost.

Do you really have £300 left over each month?

rebeccatom

deadbeta wrote: »

Morning all,

I've finally took the leap and joined.

I'm 29, in a little debt and want out of it!

The background isn't important, as I know I made some mistakes.

I'm learning from it and want to make big changes.

I will set a goal shortly for a time frame in which to complete my quest.

I've already in the past 12 months got rid of 2 BNPL from various Laptops, PC's etc, which helped me get a mortgage, of which I only have for 20 years so by the time I reach 50, I WILL be completely debt free.

It's the little debts I want sorting ASAP as it will free up much needed funds!!

Particulars in in my sig. SoA to follow;

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................ 891
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1146
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2037

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 372
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 162 (Car)
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 45 Have you compared to make sure you are on the best tarriff. If not have a look at the articles on here.
Gas..................................... 45 As above
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 32
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 70 (2x £35)Give them a call and see if for what you use can you drop a tarriff? If in contract you might not be able to but say about financial issues and they may give you a deal.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25 Depends on how quickley you really want to reduce your debt. Freeview box may be an option. Or call and threaten to cancel can make good savings
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 3 (£30/yr)
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70 (4x Bengal)
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0 Never?
Entertainment........................... 0 you never go out or do anything? Might be worth putting a small amount in here so you feel like it's not taking over your life
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25 Is this saved somewhere seperately?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1440

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 11360
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 96360

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 63000....(372)......3.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 11360....(162)......8.9
Total secured & HP debts...... 74360.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2500......50........18
Sofa...........................1600......35........0
Barclays Loan..................10000.....212.......9.6
Total unsecured debts..........14100.....297.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,037
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,440
Available for debt repayments........... 597
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 297
Amount left after debt repayments....... 300
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 96,360
Total HP & Secured debt................. -74,360
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,100
Net Assets.............................. 7,900

Well done for deciding to deal with this!! It's a good club to be in and saving money and paying off debts can become addictive in a good way!! :rotfl:

You have a good amout left at the end of each month and could free up a little more if you choose to.

I would do a spending diary to make sure these figures are true. Then put all the spare money to pay off the Credit card first as that is going to cost the most in interest.

deadbeta

Thank you for the suggestions,

My loan and the CC are definately a priority for me!

Sky is soon getting cancelled in favour of Freeview (Via Skybox).

In June I can upgrade my Thee contract, which I am keeping current iPhone and dropping to a SIM only for £12pcm! (G/F's phone is too new to drop yet).

Food bill does include all cat food and litter, RE Insurance, these are pedegree cats worth a small fortune so I want them fully protected £17.50 each PCM, worth it for the joy they bring. Vaccines are once a year and are around £100 for 2 cats including worming.

RE: Phone etc, it's all with Sky, but I split them up for the categories lol.

We're already wanting to try the brand downshift challenge!

thanks for all the replies so far.

deadbeta

tallyhoh wrote: »

I really have nothing to suggest as your SOA looks quite reasonable. You could get rid of sky but £25 for entertainment is okay, shave a bit off your grocery bill & cut down the £25 prezzie cost.

Do you really have £300 left over each month?

Often yes, if not more. As I use a fuel card at work I can top the G/F's car up as I am on a £120 PCM allowance and pay tax on £120 regardless if I use it or not!

RE: Haircuts, I use clippers which I got given years ago, so I never pay for haircuts.

We rarely go out at the moment as we're still settling at home with the new kittens and just enjoy eachother's company.

We don't buy DVDs etc as with BB there's always a means!

already done a comparisson for Dual Fuel and only could save £50 a year by switching..!

I just don't want the debts lingering so all systems go for the CC this year!

[Deleted User]

deadbeta wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 891Any way to increase? Overtime?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1146as above?
Other income............................ 0Any way to put something here?
Total monthly income.................... 2037


Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 372
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 162 (Car)How many payments left?
Council tax............................. 88IS this over 10 months, or 12 months? If 10 remember that (I think Feb and March) will be CT free months and you can pay the equivalent towards highest interest rate debt
Electricity............................. 45Not bad, but remember to check comparison sites ever once in a while to make sure that you remain on the lowest tariff available to you.
Gas..................................... 45as above
Water rates............................. 32Are you metered, if not consider if this would be cheaper
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 70 (2x £35)When are these up for renewal? Look at PAYG and SIM only contracts, try GiffGaff to see if you can get the same/similar usage for cheaper
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25Does this get watched? If not consider freeview, freesat and/or Love film
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0Is this realistic?
Petrol/diesel........................... 160
Road tax................................ 3 (£30/yr)
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12Is this realistic?
Car parking............................. 0never?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0never?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 70 (4x Bengal)
Buildings insurance..................... 10
Contents insurance...................... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0Is this realistic?
Entertainment........................... 0Is this realistic?
Emergency fund.......................... 25Does this actually get saved somewhere for when it's needed?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1440

Assets
Cash.................................... 0Where's the cash for emergencies and any other non-monthly expenses, expenses that are quarterly or yearly? (or is this an SOA that you've just started?)
House value (Gross)..................... 85000
Car(s).................................. 11360
Total Assets............................ 96360

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 63000....(372)......3.69
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 11360....(162)......8.9has this just been bought, so no payments made so far? How many payments in total to make?
Total secured & HP debts...... 74360.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................2500......50........18This debt should be your priority for overpayments until gone. Also, depending on your credit reports/history, is there any possibility to switch to 0% or low life balance?
Sofa...........................1600......35........0
Barclays Loan..................10000.....212.......9.6After CC gone (or switched to lower interest rate) this should be your priority, but do check whether or not you can make penalty free overpayments
Total unsecured debts..........14100.....297.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,037
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,440
Available for debt repayments........... 597
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 297
Amount left after debt repayments....... 300Is this genuinely what you have left at the end of the month? There is nothing in your SOA that seems extortionate (although I think you can save a fair bit on the mobiles when out of contract), but do consider whether you have genuinely included all spends (clothes, hair entertainment etc) as you don't want to leave yourself short by having an unrealistic budget - otherwise put this surplus towards CC debt

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 96,360
Total HP & Secured debt................. -74,360
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,100
Net Assets.............................. 7,900

A couple of comments above, HTH, and good luck,

D9

deadbeta

Domino;

Regarding your comments.

I only put in my basic wage, likewise for my G/F, as it's every month. We both work on bonus' so we often have more coming in, but I don't include them as I won't rely on them.

My whole budget is done on basic wages, that's how we know where we're at each month roughly.

Regarding G/F's car, We just bought it in September on a PCP so there's a fair few payments left LOL. 4 payments made, 32 to go.

We pay our House and Building insurance and TV Licence yearly, aswell as car insurance. But we save for them.

Regarding clothes. We have select items for best but generally don't go out much so never NEED new clothes lol.

The emergency fund is withdrawn and stored at home as CASH.

The SoA has just started today so ATM, I only have £220 saved outside of the emergency fund which is going as a CC payment on Monday.