Lightbulb Moment!!

J_brown_92

Hi All,

So I posted on here earlier about a "Debt help" service, trying to get some more info before signing my soul away to the devil. Luckily some helpful people stopped me in my tracks and explained how I was going to be in a worst position for doing so. They also ask for an SOA.....which brings me here.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 4 (Living with parents)
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1492.8
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1492.8

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 150
Mobile phone............................ 50
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 225
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 50
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 12
Entertainment........................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1112


Assets
Car(s).................................. 1000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclays Credit Card...........1082.4....62.9......29.9
Lloyds Personal Loan...........1248......92........21.1
Lloyds Overdraft...............2500......50........19.94
Quick Quid.....................741.36....248.2.....NaN
Barclays Pesonal Loan..........399.......133.......0
Total unsecured debts..........5970.76...586.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,492.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 982
Available for debt repayments........... 818
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 586.1
Amount short for making debt repayments. -75.3

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -5,970.76
Net Assets.............................. -4,970.76

A few things in my SOA are estimates, like a £100 on entertainment (I need to find out home much im really spending), so I'll update when I find out.

Last month I did a hell of a lot of overtime so that I could pay off an £800~ loan with Wonga and not take another one days later. It was a horrible month, but I made it through to the other side. This was a huge leap for me and a massive struggle to pay it off, now I'm trying to get ride of the QuickQuid one next, hopefully I should start being able to manage this.

So this is it. The start of my Debt Free Wannabe cycle (a change from my usual payday cycle).

If anyone has any advise or tips, please let me know, I'd be very grateful!

Yours debt free longingly,
JB

[Deleted User]

You're about £75 short each month.

That should be easily made up.

Start by going PAYG/sim only on the mobile phone.

That'll cost about £10pm, so that's £40 extra in your pocket/account.

Next, knock £50 off your groceries (£175 is plenty for one person), and £50 off Entertainment.

That puts you around £60 in credit each month.

Putting £40 of that toward the Barclaycard, will reduce the repayment period to almost half (down from 23 months to 12), and reduce the interest from £303 to £153, saving you £150.

pmd123

Is the child in the household yours? If so there would be child benefit and possibly some child tax credits available. If not then please ignore this.

Spend on petrol seems very high, is that due to a long commute to work? Is there nobody who lives close that you could car share with, try to bring this down a little?

I would be looking to cut out the clothing spend (apart from essentials) halve the entertainment, and shave £75 from groceries if possible, freeing up £165, and putting you into credit each month, and if possible, keep up the overtime, means more money coming in, and less spend entertaining yourself.

Good luck.

tlc678910

Hi, if the additional people in the house are your partner and child could your partner work at all? Just a couple of evenings or a Saturday would make a huge difference to your budget.

No good if they're your siblings though

[Deleted User]

tlc678910 wrote: »

No good if they're your siblings though

Not following that.

If they are your siblings then, provided they are adults, there's no reason they shouldn't be working, and contributing to the household finances.

JasX

I get the impression J_brown_92 is the youngster living with their parents rather than vice versa.

So here we go

£50 is high for a mobile, can you reduce this (some contracts let you step them down within the term after the first 6 months, worth asking -see if you can ge ton to a cheap sim only deal as soon as you can and live with your current phone for an extra couple of years).

£10 for internet, if this is some mobile net thing for you get rid of it, if it's for the house how come you're the only one paying it (and if it's more expensive can you get a cheaper deal?)

£225 for groceries is monsterously high, who exactly does this cover? -even if this is covering all 4 people in the house it's rather high, if it's covering less then hopping over to the 'old style' sub forum on here for tips on cooking efficiently, planning meals etc etc will help. Perhaps you can do more to pool shopping and eating arrangements with the rest of the house?

Petrol and clothing has been commented on above

your car insurance is high -> is there a reason for that (eg recent accident?), if not use comparison sites and shop around more.

You mention a girlfriend in the other thread, does she work and live in the house too? does she not contribute to groceries etc?

You need to have fair handle on the interest you ar epaying on each debt and make sure you target the most expensive ones first (ie payday loans)

Lesson for life generally -> paying interest is is a terrible thing to do as every £1 you pay *ever* is £1 you worked hard for an earned and didn't get to spend on 'stuff' / 'holidays' / 'life experiences' over the years. Sometimes debt is a good thing (eg if you are starting a business, have a solid business plan and expect the business to grow and earn more £ than the interest you are paying on the debt you took to start it up or mortgage debt when buying a house) but you should be doing everything you can to avoid it

longtermplanner

J_brown_92 wrote: »

A few things in my SOA are estimates, like a £100 on entertainment (I need to find out home much im really spending), so I'll update when I find out.

That is absolutely the right thing to do at this point. Make the best guess you can and then firm up on it. Can I suggest a spending diary? Possibly for you and your girlfriend?

Last month I did a hell of a lot of overtime so that I could pay off an £800~ loan with Wonga and not take another one days later. It was a horrible month, but I made it through to the other side. This was a huge leap for me and a massive struggle to pay it off, now I'm trying to get ride of the QuickQuid one next, hopefully I should start being able to manage this.

Excellent. You will look back on this time in a couple of years and be able to be proud of how you got yourself out of the debt hole.

And the habits you pick up whilst you are doing this will stand you and the girl friend in good stead when you move out and set up on your own. will that be the reward for yourselves for clearing this debt? It's a great incentive!

Aphidgirl

Yes I hope the £225 on groceries isn't just for you!!

I only need to buy groceries for myself and find £50 a month is plenty.

J_brown_92

thanks for all the comments everyone. I'll try to reply to everything!

Mobile phone
So I signed up to a new 24 month contract in january. 25 a month is paying off the phone and the other 25 is for the tariff. I can't stop paying the 25 for the phone but apparently with o2 you can cancel the tariff charges whenever. I'll look into this and see if I can move over to PAYG. (work pay for a contract for me too so I might just been a bit sneeky and use that instead :beer:).
Internet
The internet service is for a usenet group and VPN provider. TBH I can cut that off. Will cancel before next payment as there's not contract!

Food
First off, I love food. I'm not fat but I loooove it!
I follow a diet of not eating processed foods, so I eat a lot of fresh chicken, beef, veg and fruit. Because its fresh it can be a bit more expensive.
What I did to calculate this was fill my basket on tescos online for a week and then times by 4. In reality this could be different but I'll find out soon....

Petrol
Again this is a rough indication.. I travel a 60 mile round trip a day to work and with weekend too it can add up.
Will monitor and update with the real monthly.
I can't car pool either as I live out in the sticks

Insurance
I don't feel that its that high, I'm trying to find my documentation for how much it is exactly atm but I'm 22 and with 2 years no claims. Had an issue before but that was over 5 years ago now (yes I was 16 :eek:)

Clothing
To be honest I don't really buy too much but when filling it in I thought that must be spending SOMETHING :P will see how this month goes and update when I've got some real data.

So I bought some software on steam a last year when it was on sale, YNAB (You Need A Budget), and I'll be using it to track what I'm spending my money on. Everything I spend will be going in here.

The first thing I need to clear off is my Payday loan with Quick quid. for some reason the interest isn't shown in my SOA but its 1400%~ :eek::eek::eek:

I'm living at home with parents, the little one is my sister and she's not dependent on me. My Girlfriend works full time but I'm trying not to bring her into this as much as possible. She knows where I am and I'm trying to be as open as I can about it but I don't want her to be paying anything for me.

Thanks again everyone!!!:A

Will update asap

Aphidgirl

I don't eat much processed food either, I stick to brown bread/rice/pasta, fresh fruit/veg, cheese, milk, salad, baked beans, cornflakes....all pretty cheap! Definately think about trying some of the own brand/value items instead of brands. Admittedly I don't buy meat, but I know alot of people on here get it when its reduced at the end of the day and then freeze it - could save you a few quid if you're a meat lover!

tealady

Hi
Try a market if you eat a lot of meat, may be worth a visit once a month, especially at the end of the day when they might reduce it.
Also ceaper cuts slow cooked (or in a pressure cooker) can taste just as good as the expensive stuff.
Bulk it out with rice , pasta or beans and it will cut the cost. Also hop over to the Old Style boards, those peeps could make money stretch till it is almost out of sight!.
Good luck with clearing the debt