Time to get serious...

charlies_tribe

I have tried so many time to clear some of our debt and anytime I get anywhere we end up paying out for something else. I also have a problem with a DH that is happy to put anything on the cc without even thinking about it. So now I really need to get sorted.
So to start, here is our SOA, I've been busy with them all day so will explain any changes....


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 2
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1473
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 2073 DS has a disability so includes carers, DLA CB and tax credits. I'm hoping to go back to work but after 9 years my cv not looking great
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3546
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 582
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 90
Gas..................................... 100 These need to be massively worked on!
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 55
Telephone (land line)................... 15.4 Renewed contract with talktalk today and wouldn't let me do online saver
Mobile phone............................ 44.5 I have a contract that's only about 6 months old and dd has a 7.50 Tesco sim
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 53.25 Hoping with the talk talk I can convince dh to cancel this, He had it before we even moved in together 12 years ago and he cant seem to cut the strings.
Internet Services....................... 7.5 new talktalk and tv (but still cheaoer than what we were paying for broadband alone)
Groceries etc. ......................... 1000 This includes everything from dog food to toiletorie, clothing, diesel...
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 200 Swimming lessons for all the kids and school expenses
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 19.59
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12.9
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0 Missed this one, paying £200 a month off a holiday at the minute
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2558.26

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 122000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(582)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds loan....................11596.....372.8.....0
lloyds cc......................8085......80........0
MBNA cc........................1577......25........4.9
tesco cc.......................1564......25........0
barclay cc.....................4916......110.......0
Total unsecured debts..........27738.....612.8.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,546
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,558.26
Available for debt repayments........... 987.74
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 612.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 374.94
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 122,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,738
Net Assets.............................. 4,262
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


Also £10 to credit expert. And 7 washer insurance (was only 10 months so due to end soon)
We have a perfect credit score and never ever missed a minimum repayment but still cant get a remortgage, loan, etc.. so need to work with what we have. I try to throw every spare penny at the debt and dh spends it again. Think I need to set up a new account, give him the card and cut up his Tesco cc.


I'm hoping to keep a full diary on here so I can see where everything is going.


Right I better get off to bed, my head hurts.

kayester

are you wanting help of how to save money? a lot of advice can be given on here to lower your monthly outgoings, if you are wanting advice i dont mind breaking it down.

kayester

im going to break it down anyway

charlieyates wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 2 are 2 cars needed?
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1473
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 2073
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3546
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 582
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 90
Gas..................................... 100 ring gas and electric and give upto date readings and explain you are having problems, they will spread it out better than this.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 55 really?? mines £4.40 a week!!
Telephone (land line)................... 15.4
Mobile phone............................ 44.5 ide cancel landline if have a mobile that you cant get out of.
TV Licence.............................. 12.12 should be £11?
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 53.25 cancel, get freeview
Internet Services....................... 7.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 1000 im honestly shocked, try going to the February grocery challenge on here, people have a lot less lower budgets than this and you may get tips, im on there myself
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 200
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 19.59
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 12.9
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150 per month? and you lower this?
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0 ide love to be able to go on holiday, i have no debts right now and finding it hard to save for one
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2558.26

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 122000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 90000....(582)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 90000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds loan....................11596.....372.8.....0
lloyds cc......................8085......80........0
MBNA cc........................1577......25........4.9
tesco cc.......................1564......25........0
barclay cc.....................4916......110.......0
Total unsecured debts..........27738.....612.8.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,546
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,558.26
Available for debt repayments........... 987.74
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 612.8
Amount left after debt repayments....... 374.94
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 122,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -90,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -27,738
Net Assets.............................. 4,262
Created using the SOA calculator at
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.


Also £10 to credit expert.
why? you can get a report every 6 months for a lot cheaper

Right I better get off to bed, my head hurts.

charlies_tribe

Hello Kayester. Any help at reducing bills will be greatfully received. I ve gone through what I can think of. Even if it's something I would consider, convincing the hubby is a different matter.


Dh came home from work this morning to say they are making about 20 staff redundant at the end of the week, I'm praying he isn't one of them.


I'm just looking at a Halifax account to transfer the monthly allowance to, hoping it will make budgeting easier so we don't go over and dh wont have to use the cc. Just wondering which account as I don't know if the transfer will count as income and if I will need to close the other account (was hoping to keep it as well)


Have taken the kiddies to school so toady should be a NSD.

kayester

hiya, sorry didnt mean to be so blunt when i went through your list a lot of people on here are happy to help.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4858920

this is the grocery challenge and may help you think about things, it has helped me lots and im still not where i want to be

charlies_tribe

I just posted a huge massive reply and the page stopped responding.. grr!
Try again, I don't mind you being blunt at all, I'm here to become debt free.:)
Number of cars owned.................... 2 are 2 cars needed?

One is currently off road and should be able to get a few ££££ once fixed but maybe only a few hundred as it is. My stepdad was supposed to be fixing it for us but think a garage will now be quicker and cheaper.
Electricity............................. 90
Gas..................................... 100 ring gas and electric and give upto date readings and explain you are having problems, they will spread it out better than this.
I did check yesterday and we are on lowest tariff, we just seem to have really high usage. I have replaced the extensions in the kids room with switched ones, hoping they turn things off. A major problem I think is the boiler, it is broken and heats up every radiator befor reaching a tap, it can take a good 20 minutes for a shower so we have to leave it running and throw kids in one after other (doesn't get hot enough for a bath) but we cant afford a new boiler yet.
Water rates............................. 55 really?? mines £4.40 a week!! Yep £55.01
Mobile phone............................ 44.5 ide cancel landline if have a mobile that you cant get out of. Never thought of that, thank you
TV Licence.............................. 12.12 should be £11? I have no idea, but that's the dd amount, will look into it
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 53.25 cancel, get freeview trying to get hubby to do as all in his name
Groceries etc. ......................... 1000 im honestly shocked, try going to the February grocery challenge on here, people have a lot less lower budgets than this and you may get tips, im on there myself I have absolutely no idea where it goes. I does pay for all diesel, dog supplies, treats, hairdressers, days out.. everything. I'm just looking at transferring it to another account so I can monitor where it goes, I'm looking at the Halifax but it mentions closing your old accout which I don't want to do and don't know if transferring the amount will count as income. Going to try aldi too.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 150 per month? and you lower this? Im trying, but with 5 kids birthdays and Christmases and 10 nieces and nephews to buy for we seem to go through it, but I have started buying early this year
Holiday................................. 0 ide love to be able to go on holiday, i have no debts right now and finding it hard to save for one Dh was desperate to go as he cant get holidays at the same time as children so really wanted to make most of this year, not something I would have booked, but it's done now and kids looking forward to it. I have been paying it from our weekly food money, so know I can cut the food bill down.
Also £10 to credit expert.
why? you can get a report every 6 months for a lot cheaper
Something ive just paid for years and seem to have forgotten about. Tried looking on their site yesterday but looks like I will have to phone up as it was paid on card


We also have a £25 account fee that needs changing, never used any of the benefits on it.


Thank you for taking the time to go through everything and reply.
Dh came home this morning to say they are making 20 redundancies next week so it's now even more important to reduce the outgoings.

Ali-OK

Hi there,

On the credit report side, definitely cancel the one you are paying for - but watch them, I had trouble getting them to stop taking it, even though I'd cancelled with the bank as well as the company. Took me 3 phone calls to get it sorted - their confirmation of cancellation isn't what it appears to be. So keep a very close on your bank account, if they take a payment after the date you've cancelled from, contact your bank to get the payment back and complain to CreditExpert too to fully sort it.

Use Noddle.co.uk - completely free and monthly too. Exactly the same information as you get from CE.

TV license is £12.12 a month, that is correct.

You're on a good package with Talk Talk - phone them about the line rental. If you could afford to pay the 12 months upfront, it brings it down to £10.50 a month equivalent vs the new £15.40 they've put it up to. You'll need to keep your landline for internet, unless you only use mobile for internet.

If you can't get out of your mobile contract, quite often you can phone them and negotiate a lower cost - it is worth trying, especially if you're not using up to the limit of texts, calls, etc.

Gifts is a tricky one, look out for sale items that you can put away through the year and if buying online, use TopCashBack or Quidco for cashback. Or just google for vouchers!

I think your boiler issues cover the high gas/elec/water, though our water is £33 a month on meter for 2 of us, so yours doesn't sound too high. Do you use the CFL energy lightbulbs? Not as nice for light, but are cheap now to buy and run at 9 or 11w.

Definitely get a free bank account - Lloyds with Vantage pays 3% on any credit, Santander 1-2-3 gives cashback on DDs for water, council tax, etc and Halifax pays £5 a month - so if you're not on one that pays you, then I'd consider changing.

Hope there's a few helpful bits in there to get cracking on with

StressedSteph

Hi Charlieyates.

You have made the first brave steps coming on here and posting your SOA:j.

Does your Dh know the total debt? My hubby did'nt for a long time so just buried his head in the sand and carried on spending. It took me getting brave to choose a good moment to put it all on the table and get him (and me) to see that we could'nt go on as we were and something had to change. This also takes both of you, I tried to debt bust before on my own and I was fighting a losing battle.

The way we have solved the problem, is to accept that for the next two years of debt busting, we can't TOTALLY stop all fun etc, so we have allowed ourselves a weekly FUN budget each. Hubby has £30 and I have £20. Hubby has £10 extra as he has to go to skittles every week. This is our personal, do whatever we want with it money, no questions asked. This then keeps us within a decent limit so the rest can go to debts and building up a savings/emergencies fund.

What do you use for budgeting? Can I reccommend a budgeting programme called YNAB - You Need A Budget. I have recently just started using this and it is AMAZING. It has really turned around the way we budget and look at money. You can sign up for a totally free (no cc details needed) Free trial for 34 days. There are lots of free tutorials and help to get you started.
I previously used alot of Excel spreadsheets but they most just track what you have already spent your money on, where YNAB makes you look at where you are spending your money and helps you be more careful.

As a priority you REALLY need to get yours and hubbys Credit Cards chopped up. Its hard the change spending habits, but while those cards are in your purse/wallet the temptation is ALWAYS going to be there.

Loads of luck. I have subscribed to your diary x

charlies_tribe

Thank you for your replies. Will check the challenge threads once hubby goes to work tonight. But I have already started the £1 a day and £10 a week ready for holiday so we dont get in any more debt while there.


Ali-OK-Thank you. I'm going to give them a ring and see what i can do, it's £120 a year i can pay on a cc.
I did sign up to noddle but haven't used it since so think it's time to swich.
I will check talktalk account again but yesterday I just got a message saying my package wasn't eligable, hopefully once new deal takes over I can sort it.
Lightbulbs i have no idea on, I think they are all low energy leds or something, dh sorts them. I know the hall/stairs are energy savers, take forever to light up properly. My kids all have their lights on low at night too which wont help.
Been reading up, think i'm going to try the halifax account. I have a first direct that dh wages go into and pays all bills and then a lloyds that everything else goes into and i pay a food /cc's /kids things from.
StressedSteph-Thank you, been thinking about it for a while but now is the time to make changes.
Dh knows about the debt but sees it as the cards get paid every month, still have available credit on them... so whats the harm. I just get comments about being tight and mardy. Think I need to show him a detailed breakdown of everything.
We dont have anything for us. Dh does have a few cans every so often but we haven't been out (alone or together) for over 4 years, no hobbies, I had my hair cut a few months ago for first time in over 4 years. I haven't been to the cinema in 12 years.
Thank you for the budgeting site. Will have a look at that tonight too.
I need to sort an account and remove the cc from dh. We dont have the pins for any of the other cards but need the cards as our 0% are about to end so will need to do some switching (need to giggle them about a bit).
I have had a statement through this morning so will update my signature, will only be about £17 off but it's a start.
Thank you all so much x

charlies_tribe

Had a Nsd:j
Applied for a Halifax account and got accepted, should be active for the 14th and dh gets paid on the 15th so that's when the big changes start. Need to call into branch o have dh added though, can't do a joint application online.
I'm aiming to clear 1 cc at a time starting with card 3. Was working on card 4 but that's the one dh spends on so until I can get rid of it, I'm working on the others.
Spoke to dh and told him how far in debt we are and I think he is actually listening.
Im off to have a look at the things recommended and think I'm going to join the 1% challenge. Might start the grocery challenge in march, but I will follow the thread.
Thank you all, we can do this.

Ali-OK

Well done, a really good start there and especially the chat with DH. Fingers crossed it'll sink in and he'll come on board

The grocery challenge is a great eye-opener for recipes, how to use left-overs, meal planning, batch cooking and you'll be made very welcome. I joined the challenge this year (in my sig) - might be tight for me this month, but part of it is about learning and tracking spending/usage of say toiletres and stuff, so I can plan better going forward

First question is have you got an Ald! near by and if so, do you shop there? That's where I've made big savings and the 'only buy what we need' mantra