Please Help.

AlexLK

LannieDuck wrote: »

My fault for not picking up on your later post. I had read the thread, but obviously not as well as I'd thought!

I honestly think you have room in your budget to deal with your debt. I'm still at work atm, so don't want to spend too long replying, but I'll have another look tonight.

If you can bring yourself to sell your pens, you'd 'only' be looking at £15k debt. Many, many people on this board have that level of debt and manage it well. It will probably feel quite tough (esp when you're used to a different lifestyle), but i'm convinced you can do it.

Thank you so much.

The pens are the first on my list to go (all apart from three which were bought as gifts for me). I need to try and stay pro-active about this for once. I suppose it's helping me to post my ideas up on here rather than just thinking hmmm that's a good idea ... then a day later deciding I'd rather just pretend the problem didn't exist in the first place.

Mara_uk7

Realistically Alex, If you sold the watches, Sold your car and bought a cheap runaround, you could clear almost all your debt. Then all you and your wife has to do is to learn to live within your means .. But youre probably afraid of what people will think if they see you downgrading ?

Can you afford that kind of pride if it means your marriage might fall apart ?

Sorry to be blunt, but you HAVE the tools at hand to get yourself out of this hole. Good Luck

Granariesgirl

Good to see you've still got your sense of humour!:D

AlexLK wrote: »

She is smart , it was her that married the dumb one.

Well, you're only a man after all!

Everyone who read the Bible knows men were only the prototypes for the superior model:
Man, Prototype made with lots of clay at the end of a long day...
Man Mark II =
Woman, made with less materials, more efficient, superior programming etc...
:rotfl:

Ooh, am I going to get into trouble for that?

AlexLK

As I'm feeling determined to sort this out today, I have added some notes to my original SOA, taking notes of the savings I wish to make (yet to be approved by the wife) as well as trying to fill it in with greater accuracy. Comments are very welcome, things look a lot better if we can stick to it.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 3

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1700 (2330 as from 1st October, as she goes back to work full time)
Benefits................................ 0 (need to speak to wife re. this)
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2700 (3330 from 1st October)

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 700
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 160
Electricity............................. 80 (going to see if I can reduced this by £10 per month)
Gas..................................... 80 (see above)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 65 (already done - stop calling mobile phones from the landland plus negotiated a deal of £32.75 per month for line rental, unlimited internet and calls to landlines at any time)
Mobile phone............................ 60 (speak to wife)
TV Licence.............................. 12.3
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 (stop buying alcohol, cut the takeaways down, realistically I think this can reduce to £275 per month)
Clothing................................ 200 (reduce to £100)
Petrol/diesel........................... 450 (£300. Achieved by me buying a diesel Discovery instead of the petrol one)
Road tax................................ 47
Car Insurance........................... 75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 100 (Stop buying things for the Triumph. Realistically I think this can be reduced to £60 per month to service and MOT the cars and buy a few needed parts to keep them running)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 100 (Speak to parents / forget about this for a bit)
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 (Become Mr. Scrooge and buy cheaper gifts)
Haircuts................................ 50 (speak to wife)
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 250 (not bother for this coming year)
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 3084.3 (circa 2300)


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 210000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 15000
Collectables.........................14000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 225000 (239000)


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Mortgage...................... 170000...(700)......4
Total secured & HP debts...... 170000....-.........-!

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
Loan...........................4860......305...... .12
Credit cards ...............27430
Total unsecured debts..........5000 (32290)......305.......-!


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,700 (3330)
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,084.3 (2300)
Available for debt repayments........... -384.3 (+1030)
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 305
Amount short for making debt repayments. -689.3 (+725)

AlexLK

Granariesgirl wrote: »

Good to see you've still got your sense of humour!:D



Well, you're only a man after all!

Everyone who read the Bible knows men were only the prototypes for the superior model:
Man, Prototype made with lots of clay at the end of a long day...
Man Mark II =
Woman, made with less materials, more efficient, superior programming etc...
:rotfl:

Ooh, am I going to get into trouble for that?

:rolling eyes: If you say so, my dear. :rotfl:

AlexLK

Mara_uk7 wrote: »

Realistically Alex, If you sold the watches, Sold your car and bought a cheap runaround, you could clear almost all your debt. Then all you and your wife has to do is to learn to live within your means .. But youre probably afraid of what people will think if they see you downgrading ?

Can you afford that kind of pride if it means your marriage might fall apart ?

Sorry to be blunt, but you HAVE the tools at hand to get yourself out of this hole. Good Luck

Yes, I have to admit I am afraid of what others might think. Mind, it's not like I really speak to anybody anymore so I suppose I shouldn't be that bothered.

Thank you for the good luck.

pogg000

Wishing you the best if luck. Remember that making these changes now will give you a better life forever.

DCFC79

AlexLK wrote: »

- Do we need three cars? One of the three cars is 45 years old and costs next to nothing to keep. I've had it since I was twenty years old and do not wish to sell it.

So sell 1 of the others

AlexLK wrote: »

- Mobile phone? My wife has a £40 per month contract which she claims to need for work. It has about 7 months to run. Mine is £20.

You can both reduce the monthly fees when the contracts are due to end.

AlexLK wrote: »

- £100 on wine.

Ditch it, £1200 a year on wine

AlexLK wrote: »

- Clothing? Um, no excuses there I'm afraid ... I like nice things and to be honest I'm the worst culprit for this.

You can reduce this to reduce the debt

AlexLK wrote: »

- Petrol? I had to sell my previous diesel RRS because it was on finance and we couldn't afford it and I bought a LR Disco V8 to replace it which "likes to drink". The wife has a 3.0 litre petrol 5 Series which is not so bad on fuel but worse than her previous 330D.

Sell the 5 series and buy a more economical car, same with the V8.

AlexLK wrote: »

Orange Ena - Yes I want is most certainly a problem for me. I enjoy collecting antiques (mainly fountain pens and watches), I limit myself to three of each per year but the cost still runs into the thousands. Before anyone asks, yes I do use the items I collect.

Stop buying the watches and pens.

Good luck with it.

Mrs_A_2

I still can't work out why you are attacking the loan before the CC.

Have you compared the APR on them?

AlexLK

pogg000 wrote: »

Wishing you the best if luck. Remember that making these changes now will give you a better life forever.

Going to try my best.