Where to start?

crispycreme_2

I have come to the point where enough is enough. I am in a lot of debt, probably more than I realise.

I want it all paid off as soon as possible. Where do I start? How quickly can it be done?

Its overwhelming me and I dont know where to begin with it all.

Mrs_Cheshire

You need to do an SOA ( statement of affairs). http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php Well done for taking the first step!

splodgethefirst

As Mrs Cheshire says, you need to do a SOA - use your bills and reciepts to give a good idea of how much everything costs.

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

its_maths_not_magic

As the others have suggested, start with a soa (statement of affairs). This will give us a good idea of where you are financially speaking, and how much debt you have. This way the lovely people here can advise on how to manage your debt, give you ideas where you can cut back, etc. Working out how much debt you have can be the worst and most confronting part of becoming debt free. However, once you have it all worked out and on paper, its A LOT better from there on. Welcome to the board and good luck with your journey.

crispycreme_2

So I will sit down and work it all out tomorrow. Then post S.O.A here.

Thank you for the supportive messages. It is very scary & some thing I have been pretending will be fine for far too long.

crispycreme_2

So here it is. My SOA.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 677
Benefits................................ 1182
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1859

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 600
Council tax............................. 148
Electricity............................. 54
Water rates............................. 46
Telephone (land line)................... 60
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 115
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 82
Haircuts................................ 50
Entertainment........................... 140
Holiday................................. 41
Emergency fund.......................... 41
School Meals............................ 112
School Trips............................ 21
Pocket money............................ 36
Beauty.................................. 15
Newspaper............................... 13
Smokes.................................. 304
Total monthly expenses.................. 2433


AssetsNone

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Housing Benefit................276
Council Tax....................652
H.B O.P (Old Address)..........2337
Electric Company...............300
Family.........................300
Lowell ........................407.48
Lucas Credit...................386.93
Red ...........................579.41
C.T (Old Address)..............1210
HMR............................1320
Total unsecured debts..........7768.82


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,859
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,433
Available for debt repayments........... -574
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -574

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -7,768.82
Net Assets.............................. -7,768.82

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

National_Debtline

Hello there. Thank you for posting up your statement of account. Do you know how much debt you have in total?

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

crispycreme_2

I'm just working it out now. I didnt include it in the SOA calculator as it wanted a repayment plan amount and I have no plan.

Dont know if that was the right thing to do, I'm confused with it all.

tulip28

Straight away I can see this:

Smokes - need to go!
Food - 500 - cut this down.
Entertainment - 140 - what's this pub/clubs? - That needs to stop.
Newspapers - 13 - stop this.


Any chance of overtime - (guessing that's your partners work)

What benefits do you receive?

Don't worry - we can help, don't let this get you down you have made the right first step.

x

National_Debtline

crispycreme wrote: »

I'm just working it out now. I didnt include it in the SOA calculator as it wanted a repayment plan amount and I have no plan.

Dont know if that was the right thing to do, I'm confused with it all.

Don't worry, just a total approximate balance would be great.

As far as the budget goes there are two key areas that need to be considered. Firstly, your overall housekeeping figure is too high. This includes Food, groceries, cleaning products, clothing, smoking and newspapers. Do consider finding ways to try and reduce this amount if you can. You do not have to give up smoking, but creditors will often want to see that people are taking steps to reduce their outgoings.

The second area is known as 'other spending'. This includes things like haircuts, socialising, emergencies, holidays, school trips and school meals. This is an area that you should look at reducing also.

At the moment, you have a deficit. Generally where people have a deficit budget they would look to offer the creditors a token payment of £1 each. It's best to negotiate in writing, there are sample letters that you can use on our website: www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

The sample letters are designed to get the creditors to agree to the freezing of interest and charges. It can sometimes take a few attempts to convince them, though.

If you can free up sufficient money to have some spare to offer the creditors, it is generally the case that you would make pro-rata offers - which means that the biggest creditor would get the biggest share of the money.

We have a self-help guide which outlines the process in more details here: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/debt_advice.php#4

In addition, you'll get a LOT of help and support via this forum!

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

crispycreme_2

Entertainment is meals out, LoveFilm, Family days out, kids hobbies etc.

What is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries ?

This is so awful.. I cant believe how much we spend.