In a big mess and need help!

What_a_Mess_3

I've been here for years but have changed my name because I'm so ashamed it's got this bad. When I was a SAHM I could easily meal plan, cook from scratch, keep paperwork in order, shop around for best deals etc.

Since I started my business a couple of years ago things have started to slide. My once 990 score credit rating is no more. I've missed credit card payments because I forgot to tell them I'd moved. That's sorted now and I have a direct debit to cover the minimum payment. I moved over a year ago and still haven't cancelled the old contents insurance because I can't find the paperwork.

My bank account is overdrawn by 1K,my overdraft was £100 for years and I very rarely even dipped into it but now I extended it and extended it until they won't extend it any more.

I have about £200 owing on a credit card and that is all of my debt.

I need to cut my outgoings drastically and save up to move somewhere cheaper because the rent is killing me.

The business takes up so much time and I'm a single Mum with 2 children as well. The business has just started to make money and hopefully will grow quite rapidly now I've got a cheaper supplier and higher profit margins.

I'm going to go and do a SOA and see how bad it is.

I have a bad habit of leaving things undone until they become a massive problem.

[Deleted User]

Post the SOA as soon as possible.

There's little anyone can do to advise you, until we've seen the SOA.

Tixy

Hi and welcome back in disguise!

Its easy to let things slip and I am sure trying to build up your business and bring up the kids takes up a massive amount of time.
But time to get on top of things now

Doing the SoA will definitely be the starting point.

The contents insurance - as its been more than a year did you set it to auto renew? Have you tried phoning the insurers for copies of the paperwork? or at least to provide details of your new address?

The debts are not massive but obviously you want to make sure they start coming down, not carry on creeping up.

What_a_Mess_3

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 1,493.49
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Maintenence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Monthly Expense Details
In Your Home
Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.75
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.49
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.89
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Motoring & Public Transport
Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.25
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32.89
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Debt Repayments
Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Savings & Investments
Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family
Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Entertainment
Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.99
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Clothes, Health & Beauty
Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.83
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Education & Courses
University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big One-Offs
Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Odds & Sods
Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106.17
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,593.49

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,982.88

What_a_Mess_3

SOA posted. A massive overspend of £389! and a yearly overspend of £4,673!

Robin_TBW

Food and School Meals should be looked at firstly. If you're spending £400 on food at home then why another £78 on school lunches too? Cut down on the brand names and waste. Make some large meals that can cover the whole family and give the kids packed lunches. You could probably do a full monthly shop (inc. packed lunches) for £300 if you shop around a little. Saving of £178.

£66 on Internet seems very high. Try to cut it in half. Must be better deals around!

Tell the kids Pocket Money is cancelled and because of that you'll start the road to quitting smoking. This would save £166.17

It's probably also time to cut out 'Shopping For Fun' - If you don't need it, don't buy it.

randomnut

Sorry if I am jumping to conclusions but it sounds like you could be easily just sorting this out for yourself. It seems like you know exactly what you should be doing?

You have not cancelled old contents insurance because you can't find the paperwork... why do you need it? Sounds like an excuse. Can you not remember who you signed up with? Your direct debit should say. or you can contact your bank and they will tell you who is collecting the money. Then just call them and cancel the policy. Simple??

Tixy

That is a big overspend - however - how long has your situation been as it is now? Does that equate to the amount your debt has increased over say 6months?

The food shopping seems to be the big item to look at first - can you remember how much you used to spend when you were doing meal planning etc? Hopefully you could trim £100-£150 of your overspend from that?

You haven't included any earnings from your business - is that right? that you are not able to take any money out of the business at present?

Other items
Internet. . . . . . 66.50 - can you find a better deal?
School meals. . .. . 78.00 - could they take packed lunches much cheaper? or would they qualify for free school meals?
Pocket money. . . . 60.00 - how old are kids? could this be reduced?
Shopping for fun. .. 40.00 - what are you actually spending this on?
Birthdays . .. . . . 20.00
Christmas . .. . . . 50.00 - £840 a year on these - could you work on reducing these, either reducing who you buy for, or how much you spend on each?
Smokes. . . . . . . 106.17 - Could you try giving up? or cutting down? (better for your health as well as your bank balance!).

What_a_Mess_3

Robin_TBW wrote: »

Food and School Meals should be looked at firstly. If you're spending £400 on food at home then why another £78 on school lunches too? Cut down on the brand names and waste. Make some large meals that can cover the whole family and give the kids packed lunches. You could probably do a full monthly shop (inc. packed lunches) for £300 if you shop around a little. Saving of £178.

£66 on Internet seems very high. Try to cut it in half. Must be better deals around!

Tell the kids Pocket Money is cancelled and because of that you'll start the road to quitting smoking. This would save £166.17

It's probably also time to cut out 'Shopping For Fun' - If you don't need it, don't buy it.

The shopping is so high because I live miles away from a supermarket. I do a couple of online shops a month and then spend a fortune in the little shop topping up at £10-£20 a time. That adds up to a lot a few times a week. I think I need to do one online shop a week and stay away from the little shop. Also I've got out of the habit of cooking from scratch and find shoving something in the oven a lot easier.

Dinner money is for convenience, my youngest hates bread so finding non bread ideas for packed lunches was driving me insane. The eldest is almost 16 and won't eat packed lunches, he'll go all day with no food and I don't like that. I have just told them that they will be having at least 1 day a week of packed lunches from now on.

Pocket money is going to be cut. The eldest gets £50 a month and it's supposed to be for clothes. toiletries, travel etc but gets spent on his hobby and nothing else.

Internet covers phone and sky too, i'm tied into a contract so can't move yet.

I gave up smoking last year and then had a bad break up in the summer and started again. I gave up last time on the electronic cigarettes so will do that again.

The shopping for fun is basically popping into the charity shop once a week for bargains.

OneLife_OneShot

Please format it, its hard to read.

What_a_Mess_3

randomnut wrote: »

Sorry if I am jumping to conclusions but it sounds like you could be easily just sorting this out for yourself. It seems like you know exactly what you should be doing?

You have not cancelled old contents insurance because you can't find the paperwork... why do you need it? Sounds like an excuse. Can you not remember who you signed up with? Your direct debit should say. or you can contact your bank and they will tell you who is collecting the money. Then just call them and cancel the policy. Simple??

I need a kick up the backside I really do. Looking at my bank statement it doesn't look like i'm paying the contents insurance still but I will go back and double check properly.