£42,000 unsecured debt, what do I do?

Jules1324

Hi all

below is a statement of accounts taken from the budget planner.

As you can see I am currently spending £500 per month more than I get in, what else can I do to make ends meet.

I am a single parent with 2 teenage children, 1 of them has medical issues that restrict my ability to do extra work

I am currently full time with a protected pay band so no prospect of any pay rise.

I have unsecured debt with a number of store and credit cards and a consolidation loan that total nearly £42,000

I suppose I am confronting these for the first time and would be grateful for any help in how I can reduce my spending and start attacking the debt.



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,870.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 471.25
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
mantenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.70
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.08
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33
Children,s lunch expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.67
Julie,s travel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68.00
Car Repayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.00
Petrol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
gym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.24
Next. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00
Debenhams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Capital One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.00
Nationwide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Sainsburys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00
Barclaycard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00
Nationwide Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.00
Groceries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Cash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Road Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,641.25


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,138.02


Thank you

ianbalby

Jules1324 wrote: »

Hi all

below is a statement of accounts taken from the budget planner.

As you can see I am currently spending £500 per month more than I get in, what else can I do to make ends meet.

I am a single parent with 2 teenage children, 1 of them has medical issues that restrict my ability to do extra work

I am currently full time with a protected pay band so no prospect of any pay rise.

I have unsecured debt with a number of store and credit cards and a consolidation loan that total nearly £42,000

I suppose I am confronting these for the first time and would be grateful for any help in how I can reduce my spending and start attacking the debt.



Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,870.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 471.25
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
mantenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.70
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.08
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33
Children,s lunch expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.67
Julie,s travel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68.00
Car Repayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.00
Petrol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
gym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.24
Next. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00
Debenhams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Capital One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.00
Nationwide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Sainsburys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00
Barclaycard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00
Nationwide Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.00
Groceries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Cash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Road Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,641.25


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,138.02


Thank you

Jules, at lease you have a good system in place managing your outgoing... £42k is not nearly as bad a lot of other people, and looking after 2 kids on your own... Very difficult. Keep your chin up

vjacx

Hi, I'm no expert but clearly you need to cut back if you're spending more than is coming in, the things that jump out at me are children's lunches - is that school meals or packed lunches? Either way on top of your grocery spend that seems excessive. Groceries - can you cut back anywhere? Buy cheaper brands? Hair - is this every month? £50 a month seems like a huge expense - is it necessary? Gym - can you cancel this and exercise for free? Ie running/walking locally? Similarly dancing, and what is the £200 cash for? Mobile phones - is that more than 1 contract - eg for kids too? Maybe shop around for better deals? I'm sure people with more experience can comment better than I can, but just my thoughts?

barbarawright

I assume £55 is for phone and internet combined but you should definitely be able to knock at least £20 off that.

sistafromanothermista

Jules1324 wrote: »

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,870.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 471.25
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
mantenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 THIS IS REALLY EXPENSIVE-SWITCH TO PAYG
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.70
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00 REALLY EXPENSIVE CHECK THE FORUM AND SWITCH
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.00 ARE YOU IN DEBT WITH THESE? THIS IS REALLY HIGH-LOOK TO SWITCH
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 WHY NOTHING HERE?
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.00 SWITCH AND LOOK FOR A FREE ACCOUNT
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.08
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 NOTHING FOR FOOD???????
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 YOU CANNOT AFFORD THIS
Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33 YOU CANNOT AFFORD THIS
Children,s lunch expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.67 :eek: HOW MUCH????? PACKED LUNCHES WILL SAVE HERE
Julie,s travel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68.00
Car Repayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.00
Petrol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
gym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 YOU CANNOT AFFORD THIS
car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.24
Next. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00
Debenhams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00
Capital One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.00
Nationwide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00
Sainsburys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00
Barclaycard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00
Nationwide Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.00
Groceries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00
Cash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00
Road Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00




Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,641.25


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,138.02


Thank you

You can make quite a few savings as highlighted. Cut back on the shopping (i saw the groceries add in after editing)
What are the Aprs on the debts?
Can you switch these to 0%?
Also what is the 'cash' that you allow £200?
You can easily reduce your outgoings and start living within your means.

[Deleted User]

Jules1324 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,870.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 471.25
mantenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00This is high - if/when out of contract downgrade - look at SIM only either PAYG or Pay monthly, take a look at the bundles on offer from GiffGaff - I saved a lot by switching to them, but do compare with other providers. You can get £10 pm/per phone (inclusive of calls, data and texts), so even if this is for x3 phones, you could still half it.
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.70
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00What does this include? If TV too, then downgrade or cut TV package when you're out of any tie-in period (look at freeview/freesat options instead), you should be able to get home phone and internet for approx £20-£25 per month by shopping around (depending on who is available in your area)
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00??? Included above?
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00Included in groceries?
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00nothing ever?
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.00Shop around - use comparison sites to see if you are on the cheapest tariff with the cheapest company for your area - sometimes duel fuel and pay by DD are the cheapest. Also switch things off instead of on standby, use energy saving bulbs, dont leave lights on in every room if only using one room etc
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.00Switch down/off heating in rooms not being used, switch thermostat down by a few degrees, also switch thermostat down on hot water boiler by a few degrees - you're unlikely to notice.
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00Don't you pay for this? Are you in NI or Scotland where this is included in CTAX?
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116.00Is this over 10 or 12 months? Are you getting 25% discount for being only adult in house (this will depend on ages/status of your teenagers)
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.00Switch to a fee free bank account. Check what "Benefits" you are getting with this account, and if you are using any/all of them - calculate the spend if you got them from elsewhere. If paying £17 per month is cheaper then continue, otherwise switch
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.08
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.00Is this necessary? Some will say yes, some not? Can you get this cheaper elsewhere?
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Dental plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00Is this necessary?
Hair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00Go less often? Find a cheaper hair dresser?
Dancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33necessary? Can you get the same/similar for cheaper elsewhere?
Children,s lunch expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151.67What does this cover? Packed lunches could work out much cheaper if you make them yourself
Julie,s travel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68.00What does this cover?
Car Repayment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161.00When will this be fully repaid? is this included in your £42,000 debt? Can you downgrade for smaller/older/cheaper car?
Petrol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195.00
gym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00Does this get used? Would PAYG be cheaper elsewhere? Are there alternative gyms that would be cheaper? Can you use fitness DVD? Go running? other alternative?
car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.24
Next. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.00What is total debt? What is APR?
Debenhams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00 as above?
Capital One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.00As above?
Nationwide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45.00As above?
Sainsburys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.00As above?
Barclaycard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165.00As above?
Nationwide Loan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321.00As above?
Groceries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400.00For three this can easily be cut back - meal plan, batch cook, cook from scratch, try lidl/aldi, shop from a list and stick to it, only buy what you need, don't shop hungry.
Cash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 What is this for? Where does it go?
Road Tax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00Are either of your teenagers at an age that they can get paper round and/or saturday job?

Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,641.25

Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,138.02

Some comments above, HTH,

D9

dancingfairy

How long have you got left on the car?is there anything finishing soon?
I think you may want to consider a dmp (debt management plan). I would be tempted to have a word with Stepchange or National Debtline or your local CAB.
When you go through your budget with them you may wish to consider other items not on your budget so far ie christmas, a small family holiday in the summer, birthday presents, car expenses etc etc. Make sure your budget is realistic.
IF you could get interest and charges stopped you would be debt free in approx 48 months at the rate you are currently paying. Obviously it may take a while for creditors to stop interest and charges so could take a bit longer than this but it is certainly a possible option.
Obviously this will trash your credit rating though.
Other options which you may wish to consider include an IVA or bankruptcy. Make sure you chat through all the options with your choosen charity. You can even put your figures into the Stepchange website and it will give you a suggestion as to what it thinks (obviously bear in mind it is a computer and can only give you a rough idea).
Best of Luck
df