Just had a LBM... Help & hints welcome!

Newyorkdreams

Welcome to the forum chiefsfanuk and congrats on your LBM. Life is not going to be the same from now on....for positive reasons! :j

I've been on the forums for 18 months now since my LBM and I have to say, it's full of great advice and support to help you reach your goals. I've managed to clear a fair bit of debt and it's down to the challenges, support and advice from these forums (and a little bit of me and the DH efforts chucked in too!!!)

I wanted to post, not because I am an expert in debt busting, but because I successfully quit smoking after a 20 year, 20-a-day habit. When I was drinking alcohol, it was more like 40, or even 50 a day. Ugh. Stick at it, it's the toughest thing I've ever done (even tougher than trying to get out of nearly £60K of debt!!!) but it can be done. I tried over 20 times to quit, maybe more, but it finally worked. Please send me a private message if you want any further info, if that would help. I'm also addicted to diet coke! It's an addiction in it's own right, it's the caffeine, so not so silly. Some people cut down bit by bit, others cut it out completely, it's really a personal thing. I've not managed it yet but let me know if your hubby succeeds and any tips that I could pinch!! Good luck and all the very best.:)
NYD x

chiefsfanuk

Thank you NYD!

I know what you mean about it being more with alcohol, I used to be 20 a day, gave up with each pregnancy and always returned to it but I hope having a financial goal will really help me with this! Thanks for the support

DH is going to try replacing it with iced tea, so he still gets the caffeine fix (he doesn't drink hot tea or coffee at all so it really is about the caffeine!) I think that will work out quite a bit cheaper than a constant supply of pepsi!

I'm glad to be here and finally starting my journey to a debt free life

[Deleted User]

chiefsfanuk wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1050
Partners monthly income after tax....... 700
Benefits................................ 475.11
Other income............................ 206.27
Total monthly income.................... 2431.38

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 308.9
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 278.29999999999995
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 170
Electricity............................. 67
Gas..................................... 70
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 80 - This seems high. Are there arrears?
Telephone (land line)................... 15.5
Mobile phone............................ 75 - How many phones?
TV Licence.............................. 12.54 - This should be £12-12 (£145-50 divided 12)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 - You can't afford this. Reduce or, better yet, dump and go Freeview/Freesat.
Internet Services....................... 2.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 325 - You might be able to trim a bit (say £50) off this.
Clothing................................ 16.67
Petrol/diesel........................... 130
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 31.47
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 56.17
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 25
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 29
Buildings insurance..................... 29.1
Contents insurance...................... 0 - You need this. Shouldn't cost more than about £10.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 91.67 - This is £1,100 pa. Can you reduce it?
Haircuts................................ 8.33
Entertainment........................... 13.5
Holiday................................. 33.33
Emergency fund.......................... 0 - You need something in here, especially being a homer owner.
Eating Out.............................. 40 - You can't afford this.
Shopping for fun........................ 50 - You can't afford this.
Smokes.................................. 115.58 - You can't afford this.

Total monthly expenses.................. 2175.56


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 212500
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 217000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 24500....(308.9)....10.75
Secured Debt.................. 9300.....(159.2)....11.75
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 4125.....(119.1)....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 37925.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................800.......30........30.34
Credit Card....................1200......50........34.9
Credit Card....................700.......25........35.9
Catalogue......................217.63....80........0
Catalogue(DH)..................474.2.....40........37.68 - This is an :eek: APR. You need to clear this ASAP.
Catalogue......................114.24....15........0
Catalogue......................547.67....50........37.68 - This is an :eek: APR. You need to clear this ASAP.
Credit Card (DH)...............495.......20........34.9
Total unsecured debts..........4548.74...310.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,431.38
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,175.56
Available for debt repayments........... 255.82
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 310
Amount short for making debt repayments. -54.18

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 217,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -37,925
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,548.74
Net Assets.............................. 174,526.26

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

The two 37.68% APR catalogues are you priority.

Although barely £1,000 between them, the APR means they will cost you a lot in interest before they are cleared, ie. nearly 1/4 of the current balances, and they're going to take you 14 months to clear.

However, if you put the money from the pay TV, eating out, shopping for fun, and the smoking, toward these two catalogues, you could have them cleared in 3 months, for just £32.00 in interest.

That would then give you £355 pm extra, to put toward your other debts.

You can clear these debts, but it's going to require determination, and a willingness to cut back on non-essentials.

mum2one

chiefsfanuk wrote: »

Hello all,


3
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,050.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206.27
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 475.11
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.00 - the contracts - ring and see if you can get them down a level, make sure you give notice asap, at the mo giff gaff seems a good deal, so in theory you should get a good deal for £10 each
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.50
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.50
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67.00 -High this needs to be looked at from little things like making sure lights turned off, phones not left on charge over ngt, items off standby - also worth shopping around to see i you can get a better deal
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70.00
if your heating is gas based, turn the thermoter down so the heating doesn't cut in, - again batch cook, turn rings down as once the flame goes up side of saucepan - heat wasted
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.00 -Are you on a water meter?? look at this
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00 - Is this over 10 or 12 months,
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.60 - is this the only charge
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . does that include contents and building, - also shop around for renewal29.10
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308.90
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.13
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325.00 -does that s this include everything - have you looked at batch cooking
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43.33 - at the moment there a luxury

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.47 is that for one car - not bad, but always try to swop at renewal
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.67
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26.53 - does the insurance have any cover that you could then upgrade to

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117.10
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119.13
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.15
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Secured Loan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.29
Catalogues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.00

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
You should have an emergency fund, I would say £10 per person, per month

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.17
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.00 -could you look at packed lunches if this would be cheaper
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00 with a shortfall this is an asset that could (should be reduced), a basic package £25 a month
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.50
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.33
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.67
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 - no new clothes for the adults, the sum for the children loojs too low.

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33.33
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67 - you need to look at reducing this bill - look at culling list, smaller presents rather than main presents, lots of extras, if you buy adults and children, just buy foir children, set budgets
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ok I appriciate your trying to give up, this will make a massibve difference i debt repayment:eek:115.58:eek::eek:
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,431.37


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,652.19

At a rough look your short of £220 a month, so it does mean some cuts that aren't too bad
Main ones -
Cigs - £115
Council tax (based on this fig £120 (pay over 12 mths £100 pm) save £20 (now upto £135)

Sky - Say £35 instead of now £60 - £25 (£160)

Christmas - Trim £10 off (£170)

Mobile phones - Max £40 (saved £35) - £195

Drinks £20 instead of £43 (£23)

£218 so far xx

tealady

Hi
I found doing small things helped.
Things like never leaving anything on standby
Making a shopping list - and sticking to it
Going down a brand
Or you could set your self a car mileage challenge. Note how many miles you do in a week then try to do less the next (or at least not significantly more). I knew someone who drove to the local shop (a five minute walk away!) but stopped that bad habit when petrol prices rocketed.
Also I thenk there are places on t'internet where you can check out your cheapest petrol price locally. It might be worth a look.
Good luck with the debt busting, it can be done.
Just remembered - quitting smoking. If you decide to use nicotine replacement speak to your GP. I got 8 weeks worth of patches for the cost of one prescription, a huge saving.

Monkeyballs

Hi Chief,

Some good advice above already so I'll try to not duplicate but a couple of things which you might want to try or I would like to push are;

1. Your gifts budgets are quite generous... I'm not saying you need to go without but you could shave maybe 20% off them and still be in a good place even if it's just for one year to help you get rid of some of the debts in the short term...

2. Satellite TV costs a bomb, one trick is to call your provider as you're "looking to cancel due to cost" at which point they'll likely put you through to the retention team to either offer the same package for less or reduce the cost significantly for 3-6 months even if they don't play ball, it needs a trimming!

3. Shopping for fun? No idea what this is? If it's just an allowance for the sake of it then I'd either scrap it or reduce it... If it's a contingency then I'd still consider reducing it - maybe make an additional payment credit cards with a view to re-using it if your spot something? This will need the will power to not spend more obviously LOL

4. Mobiles, there are some great packages out there from just £7 pcm on SIM only and you might want to consider this as opposed to PAYG for the kids?

Hope this helps

MB

[Deleted User]

OK, so I've run all your unsecured debts through the Snowball Calculator.

At your current rate of paying, it will take you 19 months to clear them, and cost you £1,186 in interest.

If you cut out the items I mentioned earlier (ie. the pay TV, eating out, shopping for fun, and the smoking), you would have an extra £265-68 to play with.

If you put £200 of that toward your unsecured debts, you could have them all cleared in 9 months, for just £491 in interest.

Even an extra £100 will knock off 5 months, and £402 of interest.

BTW, Is there a reason you are paying £80pm, on a Catalogue with a balance of just £218, and a 0% APR?

Fixed contractual payment?

Trying to clear it before the 0% runs out?

If neither, then I'd cut the payment down, to the minimum required to clear it just before the 0% runs out, and spend the difference on one of the 37.68% catalogues.

chiefsfanuk

Wow! So much wonderful help, hints and support - Thank you all

I was going to try to answer each individual point raised but part way through realised I was writing a full on essay haha!

So a condensed version...

First I have to say Bob - Those figures are amazing!! I can't believe how quickly I could have some of this paid if I make these cuts it's such a motivational read - Thank you so much!

Catalogues - You are correct the 80 pm on the 0% catalogue is to get it paid before the interest free term ends, so I shall stick with that and it will soon be gone And I will definitely make the high interest catalogues an absolute priority to pay and then I will be closing them as soon as I can!

Emergency fund - Something else that became very clear here is I need an emergency fund! The comments made me realise yes!! I do need this!! We need to replace the tyres on our car, but unless pocket lint becomes an excepted currency I cant afford it right now, also I am going through some major dental work and have to pay the remaining NHS fee £150 balance) by end of July. These are things I could have used an emergency fund for had I one. So I am going to use the £10 per person per month figure used here, and take it from my smoking savings. Not only will it keep me motivated to stay off them but it will mean I will have that to fall back on

Insurance - I do have contents but it is combined with my buildings so not to worry on that one.

Shopping for fun - I will wipe this out as I just put that there as a contingency.

SKY - I have actually just reduced my sky bill from £100 to £70. With summer approaching I will speak with the family and see if we can make a family effort to make this saving even more (but I am chuffed with my £2.50 pm broadband haggle haha!)

Mobiles - I will deffo look at the sim only deals upon contract renewal, DH is due for renewal in July and DD1 in October... The other two are not until late next year.

Energy - I have tried so hard to reduce this bill over the past few years, I have done many of the changes suggested here. I fear the lack of energy efficiency is in no small part to do with the old draughty 1930's semi I live in. I've looked into grants but dont think they are right for me.

Well this turned into an essay anyway!! Sorry

I hope I covered most of the points raised, sorry if I missed anything... I just want you all to know I appreciate your advice very much

Willowpop

Just a couple of thoughts regarding drinks.
We switched to Sainsburys basics diet cola and it is perfectly drinkable...something like 17 for a 2l bottle, Lidl do a similarly priced one as well.
Also, not sure what alcohol is in the drinks for home section, but both Aldi and Lidl do great alcohol options...unbranded alternatives of branded drinks that are much cheaper, but really nice.

chiefsfanuk

Thanks Willowpop... DH is deffo a pepsi snob - he wont even touch coca cola brand lol But I will certainly look at the cheaper options for the likes of mixers - Thanks. As for alcohol, don't really drink unless its a special occasion but I have tried the Lidl amaretto and it is exactly the same as Dissarono. Also I use cheapest gin around when making sloe gin for Xmas so I certainly don't mind using those options