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schadwick

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1000
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1000
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 200
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 0
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 94
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 20
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 729

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................1500......40........0
Ambrose Wilson.................2000......10........0
Halifax credit card............1800......10........0
overdraft......................1600......0.........0
mum............................3000......50........0
DWP overpayment................335.......50........0
lloyds.........................500.......10........0
Total unsecured debts..........10735.....170.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,000
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 729
Available for debt repayments........... 271
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 170
Amount left after debt repayments....... 101
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,735
Net Assets.............................. -9,235
Created using the SOA calculator at stoozing.com
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

schadwick

Hi
I am new to MSE and I am wanting to get my debt reduced as soon as I can. My income does vary but I've entered the usual amount. Whenever I get more than this I will try to pay some extra off as ignoring the problem isn't helping. I have had a previous CCJ about 3 years ago which has been settled but I need to get on top of things and start rebuilding my credit score. any help or advice would be appreciated

UserX

What do you pay for food????

Your mobile phone and petrol expenses are very high, as is your car insurance. Are any of those worth working on?

schadwick

my petrol expenses are because I can cover a lot of miles with work, I have only had my own car insurance for almost 2 years which is why it is so high it will be renewed in april and hopefully it will drop a little and I shop around for the best deal. as for food I am back living with my mum so I pay board which includes food, apart from the odd occasion I eat out

UserX

Aaahhhhh okay! Do you get some/all of the petrol cost back in expenses? As car ins and petrol are your biggest outgoings, they have the most scope for savings. Can you increase your income in any way? Part time bar work, babysitting, dog walking etc?

schadwick

I get a mileage amount back after the first 70 miles round trip. y income is often more than this depending on the hours worked but this is sort of the base line amount for me to work with and then I can use the extra when I get it. such as this is a quiet month workwise so my income will be about £1000 but next month is very busy so it will probably be closer to £1500

UserX

Ok.

Is there scope to rein in your holiday budget? That's the other high outgoing - 10% of your basic monthly income!

Do you have much choice about when extra work is available to you? You obviously have a very modest income and I'm guessing because you are with your mum at the moment you won't be entitled to any Tax Credits etc but have you checked?

When you do have more income some months, you'll need to be very disciplined about paying extra off your debts, as you really don't have much room to manoeuvre do you. It would definitely be worth looking for a second source of income if you want to get this shifting.

schadwick

not really as that's how much I need to pay for the holiday I have booked in july (including spending money) as I haven't saved anything up yet. I will find out about tax credits.
as for when the extra work is available I don't have much control but always put down for it hopefully It should be from January until at least easter but I can't be certain which is why I didn't include it. it does mean I am going to be working about 45-50 hour weeks plus travelling time though so it doesn't really leave much time for a second income

boltneck123

Have you enquired with HMRC to see if you can get a tax rebate on your mileage?

Do you get the mileage paid back to you after 70 miles including the first 70 miles ? So say, you do 150 miles, will you get paid for all of them or just the 80 miles after the 70 threshold. I am not 100% sure but I think if the pence per mile your employer pays you is lower than the governments recommended amount you can claim this back through tax.

Just a quick link may offer you with some information.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/travel.htm

£35 P/M for a mobile phone does seem like a lot, is the phone on a contract? When is it due for renewal, maybe you could keep the phone when the contract is due to end, cancel it and move to a rolling contract and pay around £15 P/M instead.

Does your mother have virgin media? Maybe you could get one through them on her account and increase your board accordingly.

£20 a month also seems like a lot to spend on car parking, granted your job involves driving to various places so you may never be able to avoid Pay and Display car parks completely. However, if you have a smart phone, see if there are any apps that you can download which will let you know where free parking is in the area you are working in that day. Plan ahead the evening before and see if you can walk to your appointment from the free place in time. Keep the parking budget to one side for the whole month, in case you do need to dip into it. Then any left over or if it is all left at the end of the month, pick a CC and pay it towards that.

Do you really pay out £20 P/M for a hair cut, I find that amazing, could you not have one every two months instead? Then that will free up an extra £120 a year for debt payments.

You have put down £10 P/M for prescriptions and dental, do you have regular monthly prescriptions? It may be worth looking into getting a pre-paid certificate if you have more than so many items P/M. Talk to the pharmacist about that.

You haven't accounted for clothing or toiletries and such like, it might be worth looking at what you may need to spend on those P/M - so you don't suddenly find your self short one month because of a toiletry top up.

Welcome to the site and congratulations on taking a pro-active approach on clearing your debts, it can take some time to get into the swing of things. I found it hard the first few months, grappling with changes to my habits and cutting my lifestyle back. Stick to it, and you will start to see results in a few months and you will become even more motivated and come up with new ways to save money .

schadwick

I have been told by my colleagues that we can claim tax rebate on the mileage as it is less then hmrc say but I've not completed a tax year with the company yet but I have the details for what forms I need and the information to go on it.
yes it is a phone contract which I have about 5 months left on,
parking wise it depends what jobs I am doing, from February they will be mostly at supermarkets so I don't have to pay for parking but I will do what you suggested. we all use parkopedia to research parking beforehand.
a haircut with highlights costs £37 so this is every 2 months.
the money for the prescriptions is for dentist check up and saving towards new glasses, I don't pay for prescriptions due to a medical condition.
i will look further into the clothes and toiletries options as i will probably need some new clothes soon as i am losing weight too

boltneck123

Do you really need highlights?

I am sorry if I seem to be picking on your hair budget lol, I don't mean to. However, it will enable me to highlight a philosophy you need to embrace in order to save money and reduce your debts.

You need to sacrifice wants and only have needs, this is not to say you should not allow your self some fun and have a bit of social time (that in its self is a need, work/life balance). But something like paying to have hair highlights is not a need, it is a want. You could, if determined to have highlights, buy a kit for probably much less and catch your mum on a boring evening in mid week for some help.

I think it is really brilliant that you are taking steps to reduce your debts, it is a great feeling watching those CC balances reduce month on month and speed up as the snow ball effect kicks in. However, the speed in which it is done all depends on how look at things. I always ask my self, can I live without this? Yes, then I don't buy it.

Again sorry for seeming like a bit of a nag, but I personally felt that when I first started my debt reduction journey facing the harsh reality ahead of me was the hardest thing to do. Once I achieved acceptance of reality, my budgeting and thrift really started to take off and became much more easier. I still have a long way to go and much more to learn but I feel like I can do it now, more than I ever did before.

Good Luck .