Boo's debt diary :o

boothebirdy

We've had our "lightbulb moment" so to speak for a while now but I've lurked so now I've decided to be brave and post my sorry state of affairs We're in a bit of a mess and with baby no 2 due in 3 months we really want to sort ourselves out for our kids sake as well as our own
Heres my SOA - be kind
Monthly Income £2,456.39

£1,840.39 OH Wage
£500.00 My Wage
£71.00 Child Benefit
£45.00 Tax Credits
Monthly Expenditure £2,308.11
£750.00 Rent
£120.00 Council Tax
£7.00 Contents Insurance
£80.00 Gas & Electric :eek: I know but that should be reducing
£40.00 Water
£10.00 Line Rental (BT)
£55.00 Sky, Phone & Broadband - Our only form of entertainment :embarasse
£11.00 TV Licence
£30.00 Car Insurance
£14.00 Car Tax
£120.00 Petrol
£134.00 Train Season Ticket
£15.00 Pet Insurance for 1 cat (Already claimed over £3,500 from them when she suffered a leg injury so its a definate must have!)
£50.00 Mobiles for both of us
£40.00 Savings for son
£10.00 Savings for son
£50.00 Pension
£200.00 Housekeeping (Food, Nappies etc)
£148.05 Blackhorse Loan Payment (NO PPI)
£249.06 RFS Loan Payment (NO PPI)
£90.00 Tesco CC Min Payment
£20.00 Barclaycard Min Payment
£20.00 Capital One Min Payment
£45.00 Egg Card Min Payment


Debts
£20,864.50 :eek:

Joint
£5,625.90 Blackhorse Loan 37 Payments Left of £148.05 @ 8.9% APR

Mine
£6,973.68 RFS Loan 28 Payments Left of £249.06 @ 3.6% APR + Optional Final Payment of £4631.00 (would bring total owed to £11604.68)
£1,332.38 Barclaycard @ 24.9% APR Min Payment £25
£483.54 Capital One Card @ (not sure of percentage but probably awful)
£3,000.00 Tesco Card 0% changing to 16.9% soon I think
£1,500.00 HSBC OD
£249.00 First Direct OD

OH £1,700.00 Egg Card

We currently also own a flat which I haven't included in the SOA as we hopefully should complete the sale later this month which should release £8,500 of equity which hopefully can pay off the O/Ds and CCs leaving us with just the two loans is this the right course of action? I'm just worried I'll never be disciplined enough to raise the money back for a deposit on a house Any tips would be greatly appreciated

As to how the majority of the debt was created - it was mainly due to the fact we had run out of room in the flat (a tiny 1 bed) when my son was born but despite having it on the market for several months it failed to sell but we moved into a rented house anyway (maybe we should have just stayed put and stayed miserable) but had a few months of paying both a mortgage and a rental payment with no income to cover the mortgage until we got a tenant 6 months ago. The majority of my card debt is mainly food shopping and other essentials from that time, oh how I wish it was wild spending

emzig123

Hiya, having a look at your SOA, I would say the best things to play with would be:
Sky, can you reduce this? go freeview? i bet most of the stuff you watch is freeview anyway!
Savings for Son: I know this is horrible but can you cut this down until you are debt free, there is no point in him having a lump sum when he's older if mum and dad are struggling now!
Food: that can be cut a bit, can you go over to Old Style and get some tips for cooking from scratch?
Insurances: are they the cheapest you can get?
You spend an awful lot on traveland petrol, can you walk more/get the bus and is the train ticket best value for money?
Lastly, can you work more? do you pay childcare?

boothebirdy

We're tied into a contract with sky at the moment but we could probably lose a few packages from it but not entirely, for some reason we have no aerial in this house so we can't have freeview so sky is the only way of watching tv!
I'll consider cutting the sons savings funds but do we feel its something important for his future so we're reluctant to stop it completely.
I do agree that food can be cut so will look into that.
Car Insurance really is the cheapest I can get, I'm under 25 so that goes against me but I have 4 yrs NCD Pet insurance might be cheaper elsewhere but I'm not inclined to change insurers as petplan are reliable should I ever need to claim from them again.
Can't really budge on the travel expenses, OH works 35 miles away and commutes in by train and I have to drive him to and from the train station every day as well as my own commute into work, I'm slightly overestimating the petrol as it can vary but will go down significantly when I go on maternity leave in 2 months. I'd love to work more and get a better job but as I'm pregnant and due to go on maternity leave I can't really do much about it until after the baby arrives. Luckily OH's mum looks after my son for free while I work so we have no childcare costs but I'm not sure she would be willing to do full time.

calleyw

If you want to make savings then as has been suggested

Cut back on sky and broadband and home phone down to basics. Do they not do deals for £25 a month.

Ask to pay your council tax over 12 months and not 10 months. Same for water if not on a meter.

£50 a month on mobiles :eek: . Cut right back to the basic tariff and only use in dire straits.

Sorry this makes quote makes no sense "I'll consider cutting the sons savings funds but do we feel its something important for his future so we're reluctant to stop it completely."

You would rather not pay off things quicker than letting your son have savings for the future. The quicker you pay off your debts then you can put more back in there savings at a later date.

Housekeeping you might be able to cut back a bit say £50 a month will meal planning etc.

All the best what ever you choose.


Yours


Calley

boothebirdy

Already pay for water over 12 months, in my area you pay 2 different companies £20 one for supply one for waste/drainage etc rather expensive I know think we get ripped off around here. I'd rather not pay for council tax over 12 months as the 2 month break helps to pay for xmas without breaking the budget. We're both tied into contracts with our phone companies so we can't change the figure we pay by much, I barely use my phone apart from during the free minute times and in emergencies. I appreciate you may think I'm daft for wanting to save for my sons future, so thanks

petetidball

Don't forget that with number 2 on the way, Tax credits and Child Benefit will go up (not a huge amount, but it can make a difference). The quicker you register the birth, the quicker it all comes through.

We have the same problem with Sky as we can't get a terrestrial signal. You could ring and threaten to go to Virgin. May get you a better deal.

Stop saving for your son and stop paying the pension-these are things you can do when you don't have over £570 a month of repayments to make. Taking that £100 and throwing it at your debts will make a huge dent. Look at snowballing on whatsthecost.com and see the debts fall!

Mobiles are too much, and if you change energy providers, don't forget to get cashback-look at Martins article.

We're in a similar position to you, with one very young child and a near 3 year old, and not saving seems to be depriving them, but at least they get fed and clothed. If we scraped together the savings for them rather than paying debts etc, we'd have gone under months ago. If you can't afford it, you can't do it. It's that simple.

lynzpower

boothebirdy wrote: »

We're tied into a contract with sky at the moment but we could probably lose a few packages from it but not entirely, for some reason we have no aerial in this house so we can't have freeview so sky is the only way of watching tv!
I'll consider cutting the sons savings funds but do we feel its something important for his future so we're reluctant to stop it completely.
I do agree that food can be cut so will look into that.
Car Insurance really is the cheapest I can get, I'm under 25 so that goes against me but I have 4 yrs NCD Pet insurance might be cheaper elsewhere but I'm not inclined to change insurers as petplan are reliable should I ever need to claim from them again.
Can't really budge on the travel expenses, OH works 35 miles away and commutes in by train and I have to drive him to and from the train station every day as well as my own commute into work, I'm slightly overestimating the petrol as it can vary but will go down significantly when I go on maternity leave in 2 months. I'd love to work more and get a better job but as I'm pregnant and due to go on maternity leave I can't really do much about it until after the baby arrives. Luckily OH's mum looks after my son for free while I work so we have no childcare costs but I'm not sure she would be willing to do full time.

e dont have an ariel in our house either, so be bought a tesco value internal one for a tenner. It works perfectly and we run freeview off it.

bobbadog

Could you / OH get a season ticket loan from your / his employers and pay it back pre-tax straight from your pay? Annual ones usually give 12 months for the price of 11. xx

boothebirdy

The flat finally completed yesterday and with the proceeds from the sale we have managed to pay off and cancel all of my credit cards and overdrafts :j Our next aim is to pay off the EGG cc and then start overpaying on the loans. Still got a long way to go but its a step in the right direction

Updated SOA

Monthly Income £2,456.39
£1,840.39 OH Wage
£500.00 My Wage
£71.00 Child Benefit
£45.00 Tax Credits
Monthly Expenditure £2,168.11
£750.00 Rent
£120.00 Council Tax
£7.00 Contents Insurance
£80.00 Gas & Electric
£40.00 Water
£10.00 Line Rental (BT)
£55.00 Sky, Phone & Broadband
£11.00 TV Licence
£30.00 Car Insurance
£14.00 Car Tax
£120.00 Petrol
£134.00 Train Season Ticket
£15.00 Pet Insurance
£50.00 Mobiles for both of us
£40.00 Savings for Son
£50.00 Pension
£200.00 Housekeeping (Food, Nappies etc)
£148.05 Blackhorse Loan Payment
£249.06 RFS Loan Payment
£45.00 EGG Min Payment


Debts £14,002.47

£1800.00 Egg CC 0% til Sept 07

£5,477.85 Blackhorse Loan 37 Payments Left of £148.05 @ 8.9% APR

£6,973.68 RFS Loan 26 Payments Left of £249.06 @ 3.6% APR + Optional Final Payment of £4631.00 (would bring total owed to £11355.62)

lynzpower

Hi there

Congrats on completion. Isnt selling houses the most stressful thing in the world :eek: I sympathise, but the relief is immense!

How many kids do you have- it could be possible to bring down that shopping and household bit to 170 I expect.

have you called your mobile compnaies and asked them to lower your tarriffs?

have you thought about stopping your pension and sving plans fdor a while till you are back on your feet? An extra 90 quid per month could really chop down the length of time till being Debt free

How much is your SKy? Do you need it? I mean theres more money there too to save

pinkshoes

You still spend alot on Sky, phone and broadband (£660/year). When the contract ends, can you get rid of it?!

monopoly = £10 :-) HOURS of entertainment!! Play games with the kids, join the local library and read, play cards, go for walks, climb trees. There are so many entertaining things you can do that are free, which are far more exciting than sitting slumped infront of the tv.

Contract mobile phones are also expensive too. If you already have broadband, you could use Skype, or get PAYG mobiles and keep mobile calls short and sweet!