Warning: NLID in Pro-active Debt Destroying Mode - 10 Days On From Disaster

nolongerindenial

OK, another stressy day financially, realising yet again im a male organ head.. need to deal with these debts but im in a horrible circle.

the more I cut back and pay off, the more difficult making the payments my business requires to grow are, and without these payments the business shrinks and so there is no money to pay anyone and I end up earning less than I need to live :eek:

Time for a quick SOA to scare you all, mobiles are high because through my self employed business we make a hell of a lot of calls so require unlimited minutes, and use a ipad at all of our suppliers to give us stock lists and ensure our stock management is kept tightly under control (when we add an item on the ipad, the item gets added to our stock control systems ensuring we dont over purchase and keep costs low, great bit of kit as human error was costing us nearly £200 per month in additional stock purchases we didnt need - now its more like £2-5 per month!)

monthly income does change monthly, we do not always make a loss but have done this month, were tied into a 12 months contract wtih Sky, having just halved the bill, but as we don't go out that is basically our entertainment on our 1 night per week off..

The 19k secured loan with a added CCJ gets £1 per month (50p off each of us) as a token payment, I really want it paid off but until I can get the business working as per last year thats not going to happen.

We have no life insurance, emergency fund (had to rob peter to pay paul to fix the toilet yesterday

basically I dont know what to do, how to manage my money so im not feeling the straing 24/7, this debt is crippling my business as whenever we see signs of it growing we have to take funds out to clear out stupidity...


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 400
Partners monthly income after tax....... 400
Benefits................................ 801.66
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1601.66

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 657
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 1
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 131
Electricity............................. 70
Gas..................................... 27
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 11.75
Mobile phone............................ 111
TV Licence.............................. 35
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 28.25
Internet Services....................... 27
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 140
Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 14
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 5
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1638


Assets
Cash.................................... 12
House value (Gross)..................... 108894
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 300
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 109206


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 108000...(657)......0
Secured Debt.................. 19000....(1)........0
Total secured & HP debts...... 127000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Vanquis........................1118......100.......19.99
Kabbage........................208.17....48........65
Mortgage Arrears...............1168.3....0.........0
Google Adwords Acc 3...........57.32.....0.........0
Google Adwords Acc 2...........1020.9....0.........0
Google Adwords Acc 1...........513.73....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........4086.42...148.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,601.66
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,638
Available for debt repayments........... -36.34
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 148
Amount short for making debt repayments. -184.34

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 109,206
Total HP & Secured debt................. -127,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,086.42
Net Assets.............................. -21,880.42

nolongerindenial

Warning: NLID in Pro-active mode..

Just set up an basic cash account with Lloyds, going to be using it to have the various benefits paid in (working tax, DLA & Child Benefit), as well as paying ourselves on a weekly basis, will set it up so all bills come out of that account, getting the monthly total for all expenditure, subtracting the benefit payments from that total and dividing by 30.416 (average days per calender month) and will ensure I transfer that amount across from my HSBC accounts on a Daily basis. This should save me £150 a month in unplanned overdraft fees, and HSBC can then wait for the money from the £412 overdraft they have given me in fees the past month until I can afford to pay them.

Now to try and sort out business banking so I can enjoy a visit to the bank to give them a piece of my mind for a change!

Ninno820

Hi NLID - didn't want to read and run.


Have you heard of YNAB? Its a very logical, and extremely helpful piece of budgeting software that is more a way of life than a budget, will now run on an ipad and allows for different amounts of money coming in each money. You can have a 34 day trial for free and I can't recommend it highly enough.


Good luck x

nolongerindenial

Hi,

Thanks you for replying, it means a lot that I'm not alone in tackling this, being in debt feels like the most lonely place in the world. Everyone taking pot shots at you trying to get you to pay what you don't have.

I tried YNAB, but i found I wasn't putting everything in and being quite naughty like that. And it's getting confusing as I'm running my business through my personal account so business money, my money and bill money is getting confused

My current method is to take my bank transactions and import them into some software I've built where It assigns different companies to different needs, ie tesco to food, tesco petrol to petrol, my suppliers to stock etc

Sometimes I feel like giving up, I've spilled more tears over this than anything else bar death, I know I can't give up for my son and wife, she couldn't take the pressure of dealing with the Dca's and there dirty tricks.

I've buried my head in the sand to many times, now I need to grab this by the balls and clean up this mess and become happy rather than pretend to be happy

nolongerindenial

Right, Todays Pro-active step to changing habbits of my 30 years on this planet.. And it feels like a daily battle.

New Account Internet Banking details turned up today (woohoo ), worked out to pay all of my bills and build up a one month bill buffer over the next 12 months, with the benefits we get (Working Tax Credit, DLA and Child Benefit) we need to put in £18.88 per day to clear our annual bills and have a months surplus meaning my wife and I will have something we have never had before - a safety net and it brings tears to my eyes knowing thats what we are doing and that I wont have to say we cant afford to buy food or just buy the minimal amount to get us through the next 24 hours as the mortgage has just been taken out or is about to be taken out.

It is like this because unlike most people, I am self employed and I do not have a set weekly/monthly wage - this leads to us seeing money in the account and going food shopping when I should be using it to buy stock, or vice versa. I earn my wage daily and until now have not had any controls in place to safeguard my bills..

I have made yesterdays payment already today, later on today when I have a little more money I will make todays payment giving me a grand total of £37.76 paid towards this months bills

I cant wait to get debt free and may bore you all to tears daily reading my random thoughts and rants about how stupid I am to get myself into this mess. Im determined to get out of this mess once and for all!

nolongerindenial

What a Idiot I am. A true idiot.

I had a major explosion of all the stresses on me today, really had a go at my lovely wife over her wanting to put a table outside as she had a friend coming for a last play date between our DS and her friends DD's before DS starts school tomorrow.

midway through going off on one I collapsed in tears on the stairs, unable to hold them back, DW helped me calm down realising it was just an explosion due to the stress - but ive been in a foul mood ever since because of the guilt of doing that.

Then I go and do the worst thing I can do financially - I went back to my usual grovel and bought a curry takeaway, it was the first we have had in 8-10 weeks (used to have them weekly), and boy it was nice and on a Buy One Get One Free offer, but it was still £23.10 that I should have left in the bank especially as I am trying to get a financial buffer.

and now I basically feel like a failure 2 days into my new beginning

nolongerindenial

ok, back on track today, made the transfer of £18.88 again today, this months bills account is starting to look healthy and like I may not have an issue paying whats due...

Then this whole ebay issue flares up, my accounts been unnaccessible since around 10am this morning, on a day when my average takings are above £260, ive made £2.40.

Maybe I should write a book, and publish it as I may be able to make a living out of people laughing at my life which is more like Frank Spencers than most

Mara_uk7

Could you put your business on hold for a few months and get a job while you build a buffer ? Either you or /and your wife ? How about selling elsewhere ? Market stall, boot fairs, facebook ? Maybe a clue as to what your business actually sells might help us looking from the outside in . Also, your gas and electric spends look a bit high, is there any way you can use less power ?

nolongerindenial

Hi,

Thank you for coming back to me, We have tried over the last few months to get any work in we can do to last us until september, unfortunately due to a disability I can not do manual labour work (one of my benefits is DLA), and my wife has been unable to work due to being unable to find anything suitable.

With regards to the energy costs, these are mainly due to the business, however we have reduced them from £196 per month in january this year to the current level of £97, and looking at the bill as long as I can split the arrears over the next 12 months I may be able to get it down to £88 per month. Unfortunately we run 1 computer 18 hours a day (on standby for 2-3 of those, incase of phone calls, and fully used the rest of the day), 1 computer 8 hours a day, 1 server 18 hours a day (in the process of being decommissioned in favour of lower power Raspberry Pi's - due to be switched off permanently 1st October), 1 raspberry pi and broadband router 24/7, 1 raspberry pi 18 hours a day and a plug in phone system 24/7 with handsets being charged as required to minimise power usage.

We have replaced all bulbs in the house with energy efficient 2.5 W bulbs, apart from the strip light in the office which is on 18 hours a day as the windows so small you get eyestrain on the brightest of sunny days.

The winter is when we make 80-85% of our money for the whole year, unfortunately I cut our noses off to spite our faces in repaying people and overpaying left right and centre in a attempt to reduce the outstanding debts, should build up a nice amount over this winter and im probably one of the few people who prays for the cold weather (im also looking for nice weather business opportunities :rotfl:)

We mainly sell haberdashery, which people then turn into goods which are sold on etsy, ebay etc. I am not in any way touting for business and like this place because I have anonimousity to vent some of the stresses that on me, although I wouldnt be surprised if I have dealt with people off this forum and that is why I say with aprehension the type of business I am in.

Right best get back to work or tonights update will never be finished and I wont be in bed before 5am again

Mara_uk7

Morning NLID have you looked at face bookwith the view to joining a selling page ? Our area has a couple, just type in your town name and see what pops up. I have a friend who sells craft supplies ( mostly paper, card making stuff) on Ebay, but also uses this page, often making bundles of slow or stagnent stock to shift quickly at "reduced" prices. Might be a good way to sell off any older stock ?
Opening another account and using that purely for personal drawings is a great idea, you will never get anywhere if you are confusing personal cash with business monies. With the separate account, you know exactly what you have to spend on food etc for the month and arent tempted to say sod it and buy food with stock money. Sound s like youre really determined, so Good luck with it.

nolongerindenial

Thank you.

I know we now have 3 seperate accounts, before we had 2 with the same bank and it became more than awkward. Now we have 2 with one bank, and another with a third bank (the other is now our bills account and all fixed bills will leave that account, One I am using for business money in and out whilst I sort out a true business account (I know its wrong but circumstances like my credit file have dictated its the only account I can use), and then the third will be for personal non-fixed expense (Read Food, Petrol, Clothing), but I need to clear its unauthorized overdraft first

We are in a very lucky position in terms of our stocking levels, we don't tend to have poor selling items in stock, ive designed our systems to keep a very tight control on stock and it predicts the stock levels we need of products X Y and Z based upon forecast figures from the past couple of years trading, enabling us to get 90% of our orders out from stock within the 1 working day, and 99% within 2-3 working days as we order from suppliers. This means the investment we have in stock is kept real low (IE less than 10k) and our information gets better year on year as to what is selling.

Our suppliers are brilliant, they keep a huge amount of stock and usually have what we need in stock, out of augusts orders we only have 3 awaiting stock that our suppliers are out of stock and there due in within 2-3 working days now.

However your comments about FB Selling page is a brilliant one! I can get bundles together and do good prices on them for cash sales (through the books of course, but no credit card processing fees etc), cost of sales are virtually 0. Thank you very much

And to be honest, its usually stock eating food monies and not the other way around

It will take a couple of months to get my financial plans settled in, but I will do it, and until then im afraid my creditors are going to have to be 2nd priority, if I keep putting them first above my business then im afraid I will end up in the bankruptcy court and they will end up with nothing.