Where to start?

crispycreme_2

The current counci lTAx is taking me to court, I have spoken to them and they said it was fine, repay them once its been and I've had a letter through fron the court. They were more than helpful as they are aware it was a problem with us going from council tax benefit to paying all & a mess up with wages. (DP started his work) We hae been up to date with them otherwise.

Old Council tax is from our old address and our fault. They want a few hundred a month.

crispycreme_2

Just looked at my credit report, and Red & Lucas Credit arent on there. Is there a reason for this?

crispycreme_2

Sorry for so many questions, just wondered do I pay the debt companys or go direct to the original source?

LannieDuck

Do you know what interest you're paying on the debts? Hopefully it won't be too bad if it's mostly government debts.

You need to do this in two steps:

1. make your incomings/outgoings balance. If you don't do this, you'll just get further and further into debt.
2. repay the debt you already have.

Is there any scope for you/partner to increase your income? I'm wondering if there may be limits on work due to disabilities or similar (given the amount you receive in benefits)? If not, is there any scope to increase work - leaflet the houses closer to home to see if gardeners are needed / see if any shops need seasonal workers?

If there is some limitations, would you nonetheless be able to do something at the computer in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed? I'm thinking Swagbucks, or other survey/review sites (see the Up Your Income board)? You won't earn much, but plenty of people manage to cover their xmas present costs by doing that.

Speaking of presents, £80/mth is high. Stop buying for everyone apart from your own children. Give yourself a budget for their xmas and birthdays, and maximise what you can buy within that (see the Grabbit board). £100 each for birthday and £100 for xmas would be £400 per year for the two oldest (the 9mo you can probably cover with £20 - I know my LO was delighted with a cuddly toy and a book for her birthday), or £35/mth.

I would also cut down your emergency fund. Not cut it out, but £40/mth is quite high. Maybe reduce to £20/mth. Have you built up much emergency fund already?

£115/mth on clothing is huge. Could you cut it out entirely for a couple of months and just live with what you've got? When something needs replacing, try ebay.

Once you can get your incomings/outgoings balanced, you need to think of ways to raise a bit of extra cash to pay off the individual debts. Do you have anything you could ebay/carboot? Do you use cashback sites?

crispycreme_2

OK once I know who I owe, who I pay etc I'm going to cut everything down to budget.

Then go from there. Thank you for all the fantastic advice so far, this is so helpful.

crispycreme_2

I realize that my SOA is an awful one. So much money we spend. I put it up because I want to change this desperately & turn it all around. The only way to do this is by posting everything up on it.

Just to say the water rates are high because I've included by wastage/ sewage bill too. So 2 different companys.

crispycreme_2

No disability here. DP works a lot of shifts, he just gets rubbish pay.

tulip28

You will get there - it does mean you will have to become 'tight mean mummy' and it will be upsetting as you will have to learn not to give in - but it will be worth it. Kids are really resilient & after some time they will soon forget - as adults - not so much! Lol

Honestly, by cutting the fags, stopping the newspapers, cutting back on haircuts, entertainment, you have already saved - hundreds! And not to mention probably helping your lungs out too!

Always a light at the end of the tunnel remember that - and somewhere on this board is some really helpful meal tips.

pelirocco

crispycreme wrote: »

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.....How many hours worked
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 This far too high
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 82 = £984 a year , again too high
Haircuts................................ 50. can be lowered
Entertainment........................... 140 you cant afford this
Holiday................................. 41 you cant afford it
Emergency fund.......................... 41 do you have an emergancy fund?
School Meals............................ 112 What is the cost per head per meal? is it value for money if so many here would say you could lower your grocery budget
School Trips............................ 21 Do you really spend this much ?
Pocket money............................ 36, Should be cut
Beauty.................................. 15. What's this?
Newspaper............................... 13.. Cancel
Smokes.................................. 304. Shocking this needs to stop
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 www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

I would assume your partner doesnt work full time ,any chance of more hours for either of you ?

tulip28

What does DP do? Just out of interest.

Could you even start Avon or something like that? Or even a shop job (I worked in my local chippy for 24hrs a week for £70 a week - and that bought the shopping - well, helped anyway)
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