Help with my debts

gje1973

Well here goes.

I am a self employed driving instructor and a few years ago had 5 other instructors working for me, however times change and now business has dropped big time I have gone from about 40 hours a week to an average of 15 and this has had a big impact on our income. The other instructors have also left. (nothing to do with the drop in business)

I am looking for a new job but so far have drawn a blank.

Most of our expenses have to be paid like mortgage etc. But of course there are the bank charges and credit cards. I only get paid if I work if I don't I don't get paid.

I charge £18 per hour which may seem a lot (learners are always moaning) but in reality I only take home about £9 of that after other business expenses.

We have cut back as much as we think we can eg stopped going to supermarket weekly (£120) now go monthly and spending (£300) changed mobile suppliers and am changing gas and electric suppliers.

Have applied for 0% credit card but no doubt it will only have a small limit and not enough to repay and close one of the others

Any way here is an idea of my problem

Virgin credit card (business debt) £3720.55 limit £4000 last pyt £100
My Lloyds credit card £8819.55 Limit £9000 last pyt £180
Wifes Lloyds credit card £9699.96 Limit £10000 last pyt £194
Alliance & Leicester credit card £1679.88 Limit £2800 last pyt £100 this is the card we use for shopping etc the others are repaid only or when we need to transfer a balance onto.

Bank accounts

Lloyds £1500 overdraft
Alliance & Leicester £500 overdraft now gone over due to charges (£200s worth)
First direct £250 overdraft

Our other monthly costs are approx

Mortgage £850 don't really want to change this as we will be mortgage free in 13 years
Council tax £85
Gas / Elec £60
Water £47
Virgin Media (tv, broadband, mobile, phone) £80 (I think as we have just changed packages this is a guess but we are going to save about £40 by dropping Orange)
TV licence £11
Insurances £100 (buildings/contents/ life etc)
Savings plan £50
Car repayments £190 (business cost ends in November this year)
Computer rental £41 (business cost ends in November this year)
Pension £65
Membership fees (business related) £15
Sofa repayment £45 ( interest free for 4 years)
Petrol is the biggest expnse after the mortgage about £50 for the wife
and about £200 a month for me but they are business miles.

Those are our main bills that I can think of.
There are others that crop up like haircut etc so probably mount to £100 extra a month.

Had a few big unexpected bills this years as well

Car repairs totalling £1500 which didn't help.

Bimble_2

Gje Helloo and welcome here, well done for getting all that down that the hardest part for most of us.

I'm not highly trained at this (as you can see by MY debts! :rolleyes: ) But Im learning all the time. So I will help where I can until someone more savvy shows up and answers you better.

The first thing I would do is try this Snowball calculator.. You need to know (or call and find out) what % interest you are paying per debt.

You enter it, and the amount owing and the min payment allowed into the Calc and it will tell you which one is stinging you the most. It offers you the chance to place them in an order of who to pay first and how much. It also tells you when your debts will be GONE! So thats a plus. It's a very nifty tool (free) and one that LOADS of us use.


Secondly Is it just you and your wife at home? Does she work? If not, even something part time will help chip away at your debt.

I know you've already said and I know you are already looking, but another job is what you really need right now, I don't know what kind of thing you are looking for, but maybe for the time being dont be too choosey at least it would be a stepping stone while you keep your eye out for something else.

Is your petrol only high because of being a driving instructor? If you had a different job would that be saving petrol money?

Hmm I'm not sure Ive helped much, You will get some more replies soon, from people much more in the *know* than me.

In the meantime.. Look into Snowballing your debts, It will give you a MUCH better idea of whats what.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx There you go.

lynzpower

I notice you are saving 50 pcm

Whats this for ? and how much is in the savings plan at this time?

Conor_3

gje1973 wrote: »

I charge £18 per hour which may seem a lot (learners are always moaning) but in reality I only take home about £9 of that after other business expenses.

Honestly?

Pack it in and get a fulltime job. £9 profit per hour and you're only doing around 15hrs a week, doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out the business isn't viable any longer in any other capacity than a side line.

Driving lessons is the last thing to be doing nowadays. Lessons are the first thing out of the window if money is tight, which it is for most people, and there are so many adverts from these "Become a Driving Instructor" companies, the market is flooded.

A guy on a newsgroup became and instructor. He made so little at it that he gave up on the idea and became a bus driver in London instead. Whilst it is hardly the highest paying job, he earned more than he did as an instructor.


As for looking for a job...

Do you like driving? Why not take your HGV? Haulage is screaming out for drivers, especially in the South East, Midlands, Manchester, South and West Yorks areas.

crawley_girl

Perhaps you need to do a bit more advertising but this doesn't have to be expensive.

How about putting up cards in local shops, colleges etc. How about 'refer a friend scheme' where the referer gets a free lesson or something? Discounts for block bookings?

Sorry if you have tried these ideas already, just what sprang to mind.

Good luck

gje1973

Thanks for replies.

Yes wife works. She pays mortgage, gas, elec and a few other little bills out of her salary.

Also have two young kids so can't charge them rent yet;)

Savings plan is for one of these ones that pay out in 10 years time etc (been doing it for a while now) This is basically to help when kids are older (car, wedding, college etc)

Advertising is not really an option as all people want is cheap lessons, as said earlier there are new driving instructors coming in all the time (charging anything from £5 per hour) on the promise of earning £30 a year, finding out that that is a pile of rubbish and leaving only for someone else to take their place.

Basically the driving instruction business is at an end. I did apply to become an examiner but due to a shortfall in demand for driving tests this was withdrawn. (not by me)

Road safety is something I would like to get into. But as said earlier I don't want to be too fussy anything (within reason) will do.

tashlovestosave

Hi there,

Hubby and I are in the RAF and he wants to be a DI when he leaves............i am still trying to talk him out of this......

Could you do say three or four evenings a week being a DI and then get a full time day job too..........just to try and get those Credit Cards down a bit. They are eating up alot of your cash and i'm not sure if you did a balance transfer that you would get a good enough credit limit to cover them.

Ideas for work..........temporarily of course.........Tesco have drivers that do the home deliveries? what about the postal service? Do you live near a Military base? What about speaking to their mechanical transport section? If not for a job then advertise for custom.......are you HGV too???? If so, agency work pay is fantastic on a weekend......i have done it before and got paid £120 for 12 hours on one sunday.........that is a credit card payment for you.

How about working at the supermarkets at night.......they pay well.

Hope you get sorted soon

gje1973

I would talk him out of it.

If the work is there then great but it is not there. A lot of the instructors around my way are always moaning about this.

The cost of starting up and running a driving school just don't add up anymore.

As a quick guide for you.

Car, grat if you already got one.
Dual controls - A must if you want to survive. around £100+
Insurance. Can be around £400-500 if you already have no claims bonus etc
Tax
Petrol - 2nd biggest expense
Wear and tear - clutches are popular;)
Roof sign - about £100
And the hidden biggy depreciation. My car is an MG Zr I bought it as a 1 year old car in November 2004 for £10k.
It now has just over 72k on the clock and is worth £3500

Advertising
Don't forget the taxman
National Insurance
Business bank account
Pension
Phone bill
Accountant (not always needed)
Stationary
Your training
Your driving instructor licence - needs to be renewed every 4 years at £200 a time.
Plus your dead time. The time you are travelling between jobs, doing you books etc where you do not get paid.
Plus so much more.