I cant get my head around my money please help!

RAS

Thomas85 wrote: »

It was for paying off debt. I paid off another loan & credit cards.

Except you did not pay off debt. Just moved it around.

It appears that you have transferred unsecured laons and credit cards to a secured loan?

On what is it secured?

HappyMJ

Thomas85 wrote: »

Thanks, never thought of that!

Sorry but will the square metal lid usually be on the ground or on the wall (if its outside!?)

It'll be on the ground.

http://www.stwater.co.uk/households/water-meters/how-to-find-and-read-your-meter/

RAS

Did you read the meters when you arrived? When did you move in? Sounds like it was recently?

notanewuser

Thomas85 wrote: »

Hi, I have some debt and a loan and although I earn a good wage there seems to be nothing left at the end of the month.

I have tried to do a SOA but don't think I did it well. I have also tried to explain what some things are!

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1 (I have a company car, this is my partners car)

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2296[STRIKE]2120[/STRIKE] (paid weekly so based on a four week month)there aren't 4 weeks in a month though, so this is your calendar month equivalent income.
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 145[STRIKE]134[/STRIKE] as before
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2441[STRIKE]2254[/STRIKE]

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 305.9
Rent.................................... 750
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 156 (this is over 12 months)
Electricity............................. 63.5
Gas..................................... 63.5 (£127 a month duel, fixed until 2014)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 50 (this is an estimate as we havnt had our bill yet)
Telephone (land line)................... 5
Mobile phone............................ 43 (contract until oct)
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (includes formula & nappies)
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 180 (we have to pay petrol for two cars)
Road tax................................ 18.33 (based on one car at £220 per year)
Car Insurance........................... 61.5 (£737 for year but this will be higher if we pay monthly)
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50 (Swimming lessons, rainbows, £20 savings & after school clubs)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.23
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2166.08


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 600


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Secured Debt.................. 11013....(305.9)....6.9 The loan is over the nest 34 months.
Total secured & HP debts...... 11013.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................950.......0.........0
Overdraft......................550.......0.........0
Overdraft......................600.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........2100......0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2441[STRIKE]2,254[/STRIKE]
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,166.08
Available for debt repayments........... 274.42[STRIKE]87.92[/STRIKE]
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 274.42[STRIKE]87.92[/STRIKE]

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -11,013
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,100
Net Assets.............................. -12,513


Couple of things to add, we live in a rural area & couldn't get to school etc without a car. Everywhere is a long drive away other than where I work (the reason we live where we do) but I need my car for work. My car is a company car which I just have to add fuel.

I know there's a lot of empty boxes and I don't know how to fill them! I don't know how we can afford birthdays or christmas or any family members. I don't know how we can afford to keep my partners car but then how would our eldest get to school! Any helpful suggestions would be great. We don't drink, smoke or go out!

Have corrected some of your figures above.

Get your shopping bill down to a reasonable amount and you should be much better off. How much food are you throwing away? How old are the children?

Thomas85

RAS wrote: »

Except you did not pay off debt. Just moved it around.

It appears that you have transferred unsecured laons and credit cards to a secured loan?

On what is it secured?

Well not completely we did pay a lot off, just didn't quite estimate how much.

Oh I think I may have got confused with the soa and just saw loans, the loan isn't secured on anything it's just a loan.

Thomas85

RAS wrote: »

Did you read the meters when you arrived? When did you move in? Sounds like it was recently?

We moved in December, I did yes though I don't remember what they were off the top of my head (I'm sure they're at home some where) but we gave them to the energy company.

Thomas85

notanewuser wrote: »

Have corrected some of your figures above.

Get your shopping bill down to a reasonable amount and you should be much better off. How much food are you throwing away? How old are the children?

Very little gets thrown away, my partner cooks from scratch the only things are like the end of leeks or peelings for example. We do eat a lot of meet, probably around £20 a weeks worth so will suggest we cut back. Myself and my daughter both take a pack lunch everyday. The children are six & six months. The six month old eats what we eat for example any veg is just pureed so doesn't cost us more and eventually she will just eat what we do.

smancslad

notanewuser wrote: »

Have corrected some of your figures above.

Get your shopping bill down to a reasonable amount and you should be much better off. How much food are you throwing away? How old are the children?

The monthly income here is £2441 (assume the 3 was a mistype)???

You need to pay that loan off somehow. It's killing you and as others have said you never paid the debts off you took the loan out for, you simply just moved the debt burden (and probably lowered the payments at the time). This will have made you feel better off, but in reality you're still in the same amount of debt (if not more considering that you'll be paying interest over a longer period).

Have you been paying PPI on your loan / any past loans? If you have then this could really help you out and get rid of some / all of your overdrafts. Do not go through a claims company though. It's really simple to do it yourself. Took me about 10 mins to fill in the forms and 2 months later I had £2000 without having to pay fees to a claims company

If you do get PPI money back then you must use it to clear some of the overdrafts (as I assume you're paying the bank fees each month and this is just adding to the debt). The money you then save on the overdraft fees you need to plough into MOT (you have got to have this) and I'd also suggest Xmas as you sound like you could do with at least one week of things feeling good.

You also need to work to get those bills down and that mobile phone bill is a silly price. You can get a much better deal than that - again money saved needs to be put into paying off debts / overdrafts.

You can become debt free (I did it in 2 years) but it takes dedication and you gotta keep the faith.

rebeccatom

A lot of good comments already made. The only thing I would add is that you and your partner do a spending diary for a couple of months.

This will show you exactly where every penny is going and you will be able to see where you have missed bits or where the above surplus is going.

Also, re mobiles, even though the contract is not up until Oct, it is still worth trying to call the provider and advise you are struggling to see if they will knock it down for you or offer any cheaper options.

soontobemrsg

Thomas85 wrote: »

Very little gets thrown away, my partner cooks from scratch the only things are like the end of leeks or peelings for example. We do eat a lot of meet, probably around £20 a weeks worth so will suggest we cut back. Myself and my daughter both take a pack lunch everyday. The children are six & six months. The six month old eats what we eat for example any veg is just pureed so doesn't cost us more and eventually she will just eat what we do.

If the OH cooks from scratch you can certainly get this down dramatically. I spend less than this for a family of 5 and a dog on a raw diet (so all meat and bones) including our toiletries and cleaning products. Granted I don't buy formula or nappies.

No need to cut the meat out of your diet...slow cookers are a godsend when it comes to cheaper cuts of meat and cooking in batch will also sort out your packed lunch needs too, I always take leftovers to work to heat up!