Lots if issues in one! Advice needed

RAS

You will find this really useful. http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/snowball-calculator.php

It shows you how effective it is to pay off the higher rate debts (or if you have say a 0% but that reverts to chargeable soon, how to manage things).

The other thing to look at if you have good credit and are disciplined is whether you can move money around between cards (credit card shuffle)

Say you have

Card 1 = £3500 @ 5% APR max £5000
Card 2 = £1000 @ 29% (typical storecard) Max £5000
Card 3 = £2500 @ 16% max £4000

If you move the storecard debt to the 5% card and move say £400 of the debt on Card 3, you have the same amount of debt but you are paying a much lower average APR. That will make every £100 much more effective.

cfcboy

RAS wrote: »

You will find this really useful. http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/snowball-calculator.php

It shows you how effective it is to pay off the higher rate debts (or if you have say a 0% but that reverts to chargeable soon, how to manage things).

The other thing to look at if you have good credit and are disciplined is whether you can move money around between cards (credit card shuffle)

Say you have

Card 1 = £3500 @ 5% APR max £5000
Card 2 = £1000 @ 29% (typical storecard) Max £5000
Card 3 = £2500 @ 16% max £4000

If you move the storecard debt to the 5% card and move say £400 of the debt on Card 3, you have the same amount of debt but you are paying a much lower average APR. That will make every £100 much more effective.

Sadly im very much maxed out in my credit so cant shift anything around at the moment Im stuck with what i have so need to combat it. The link you sent will help prioritise

RAS

We often see these from people who who have a lot more than £18K debt. They need to cut back massively.

I am not going to gut this but you could go in harder than this if you needed to.

You might want to have a family discussion about how much you would give up for a year to put you in a situation that would allow you to buy the extension and move where you want?

cfcboy wrote: »

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.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1740 - will this change as a result of the car changing your tax code?
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1950
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3690
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 460
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 485
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 12
Council tax............................. 122
Electricity............................. 80 - both these are quite high. Are you t-shirt in winter people? Learn to wear a jumper. Install individual thermostats if they are no in each room. Wise up on the cost of stuff on standby etc.
Gas..................................... 80 ditto
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 14
Mobile phone............................ 95 - reduce as soon as you can.
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 41
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400 - you can cut £100 off this with batch cooking and menu planning. Money Saving Oldstyle forum is scary but great.
Clothing................................ 250 - sorry this is massive. None of you can possible NEED this much clothing. Go through your wardrobes and sell what you no longer wear and wear the rest for the next year. Apart from shoes and undies try to buy nothing.
Petrol/diesel........................... 80 - do you really need a car? Would a car club be cheaper?
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 56
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 30
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 80
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 150 - what is this for?
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 35 - check out the pet forum incase you can get a better deal.
Buildings insurance..................... 50
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 30
Other insurance......................... 25
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 65 - cut this back a bit
Haircuts................................ 60 - can you go a week longer between cuts, or tw weeks?
Entertainment........................... 350 - take this down to £150
Holiday................................. 0 - do you never go on holiday?
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - you need this - bust cooker, house repairs - £50 in an ISA.
Ciggies................................. 200 - well you know.
Total monthly expenses.................. 3332

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 188500

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 157000...(460)......3.5
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 1500.....(85).......15<
Loan...........................12000....(400)......9
Total secured & HP debts...... 170500....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco CC.......................2600......65........17
BarclayCard....................2000......45........18
Aqua...........................500.......20........35 - get rid of this and cancel the card.
Total unsecured debts..........5100......130.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,690
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,332
Available for debt repayments........... 358
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 130
Amount left after debt repayments....... 228
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 188,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -170,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,100
Net Assets.............................. 12,900
Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using IE browser.

When do the secured loans end?

You could clear the consumer debt in 8 months, less if you really want.

lavalamp

I am not an expert in these things, but my opinion would be to cut back really, really tightly on clothes and socialising for 6 months and pay off some of that credit card debt. That is a spend of £600 per month which I am sure you can cut down by at least half if you're really careful! And as RAS said, sell some stuff - you must have a lot of nice clothes lying around unused after spending £250 a month - ebay is great for that, especially if it has a popular label!

And £400 per month on food seems pretty high to me too - this can surely be cut with a bit of planning. As for the smoking, I know it must be tough to quit, but I think the time has come - perhaps if you're not in the pub so much for 6 months it might help with this?

cfcboy

Secure loans end in 29 months

Sorry whats meant by consumer debts? HP/store card debts?

The debts that are coming off in next few months are:

Smoking - £200pm, we both plan to quit for Stoptober (Oct), hopefully full time if that goes well. Could be a nice chunk yearly (and maybe i should put this in a pot or savings?!)

Catelogue - £86pm, finishes end of November

Car - Misses gives up HP and goes to interest free company loan of £3k to seek car. She plans to go smaller eco car so including all costs petrol etc - from approx £400pm to £200. Happening end of October.

Going out - plan to cut to max £150pm

So in total by the end of November we are probbaly looking at saving approx £600 per month... but then again I have 3 close family and birthdays so likely to put a spoke in the works!

So for any spare money would you say i save to the start of the year and then start paying off chunks of the highest apr debts? Or pay off little bits here and there where i can?

First thing first though, i better cut up all cards!! Almost forgot that!

lavalamp

cfcboy wrote: »

So in total by the end of November we are probbaly looking at saving approx £600 per month... but then again I have 3 close family and birthdays so likely to put a spoke in the works!

I am sure that close family would understand that you are in a difficult situation money-wise and trying to rectify it, so they'd accept a token gift from you in the knowledge it was helping you in the long term?

cfcboy

awpvicki wrote: »

I am not an expert in these things, but my opinion would be to cut back really, really tightly on clothes and socialising for 6 months and pay off some of that credit card debt. That is a spend of £600 per month which I am sure you can cut down by at least half if you're really careful! And as RAS said, sell some stuff - you must have a lot of nice clothes lying around unused after spending £250 a month - ebay is great for that, especially if it has a popular label!

And £400 per month on food seems pretty high to me too - this can surely be cut with a bit of planning. As for the smoking, I know it must be tough to quit, but I think the time has come - perhaps if you're not in the pub so much for 6 months it might help with this?

If im brutally honest to myself the going out is a huge killer and possibly part of the reason why im a some of this debt. I dont have a drink problem but living in a high street brings all sorts of socialising oppurtunites. I have a mentally draining job so come every Friday (and now my son is old enough to fend for himself and go out, 17) im almost depserate to get out for a much deserve drink. Misses is the same, she runs two mental health homes and by the time the week is out she is also in need of a drink. Come Saturday and im out for hair of dog, Saturday kick off game which turns into most of the day. Not only do i feel like crap the next im also so guilty ive spent a fair bit at the pub.

Time to face problems head on now and grow up i guess, i have a fincial issue and it really needs sorting!

cfcboy

awpvicki wrote: »

I am sure that close family would understand that you are in a difficult situation money-wise and trying to rectify it, so they'd accept a token gift from you in the knowledge it was helping you in the long term?

I think thats the way we are playing it this year. Me and my bother, sister have all agreed not to buy for each other (as all in same boat). My misses will say that but deep down i know she wants a pressie

Leaves only my son really but he wont be getting a lot this year as he had a Apple Mac for his bithday in June to use for 6th Form work

lavalamp

cfcboy wrote: »

I think thats the way we are playing it this year. Me and my bother, sister have all agreed not to buy for each other (as all in same boat). My misses will say that but deep down i know she wants a pressie

Leaves only my son really but he wont be getting a lot this year as he had a Apple Mac for his bithday in June to use for 6th Form work

You can buy a pressie for your wife without it costing a lot of money. It really is the thought behind it that counts at the end of the day and if she loves you, which I am sure she does, and wants to get out of debt as much as you, she will love whatever you give her. Let me know if you want some suggestions and I'll try to help

SternMusik

Some good suggestions already. Unless you get 18% APR in your savings account you should throw any spare cash you have at the credit cards. However you really need a little emergency fund in an ISA somewhere (what if the washing machine breaks?). Start with £500. Anything above that goes on the cards. And yes, cut up the cards! If don't like the idea you could put them in a plastic food bag at the bottom of the freezer :-)

I assume you don't have £228 left at the end of the month at the moment. Keep a spending diary to find out where the money goes.

Your gas and electricity looks really high, you might be able to make some savings there.

I understand the need for haircuts. I wouldn't want to go longer between cuts myself. However your local college may offer haircuts for a much cheaper price. Worth a try?

You mention your weekend socialising. Given that you have sky sports, why not invite some friends round to watch some footie at home? Everybody could contribute a bit to the snacks and drink.

I wish you good luck with it all! You seem very level headed so I'm sure you'll get there eventually.