Advice please! - SOA included

Doorman2014

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1130
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1200
Total monthly income.................... 2330[/b]

Monthly Expense Details
Rent.................................... 500
Council tax............................. 88
Electricity............................. 58
Water rates............................. 29
Mobile phone............................ 58
Lloyds Bank Account (covers travel insurance, breakdown, mobile insurance etc).. 17.00
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/TV/Broadband...................... 45
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 967


Assets
Shares and bonds........................ 3000
Car(s).................................. 1500
Total Assets............................ 4500[/b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Lloyds CC......................4500......100.......0
Lloyds CC OH...................3100......100.......0
Very...........................300.......0.........0
Tesco Loan.....................7200......155.......0
Tesco Loan OH..................8200......170.......0
TV Payment.....................450.......29........0
Very...........................300.......0.........0
Lloyds Overdraft… 300……0…….0
Total unsecured debts..........24350.....554.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,330
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 967
Available for debt repayments........... 1,363
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 554
Amount left after debt repayments....... 809

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,350
Net Assets.............................. -19,850


Hello all.. I am looking for some help dealing with my debts. I currently use a tailored version of Martin's Money Budget spreadsheet each month detailing my pay and outgoings to see how much money I have left.

Although I do not feel I have addressed my debts correctly and now they feel as if they are spiralling out of control and I’m getting nowhere!
I am looking to get some advice on what to pay off first to get us out of this predicament.

Lloyds CC......................4500......100.......0 --- interest free
Lloyds CC OH...................3100......100.......0 -- interest free
Very...........................300.......0.........0 --- interest free
Tesco Loan.....................7200......155.......0
Tesco Loan OH..................8200......170.......0
TV Payment.....................450.......29........0 – Not interest free
Very...........................300.......0.........0 --- interest free
Lloyds Overdraft… 300……0…….0 --- interest free part of the account package

For October pay day I am looking at paying off the TV repayment due to paying interest on this and not getting anywhere with it. Once that’s out of the way then I think I will concentrate on the credit cards. Any advice would help.
I haven’t budgeted any money monthly to pay Very as they are buy now pay later and I pay once due. Also I do not budget for birthdays, holidays or Christmas monthly as I set aside that money as and when.
I’ve read time and time again how having savings when you have debt is pointless because of the interest on the debt. However the majority of my debt is 0%. I also want to keep my savings in case we need to move as we will need savings to pay for another place its my emergency fund if you like.

Any suggestions will be welcome and thank you in advance.

asparagus1968

Groceries etc. ......................... 100 Very impressive if correct, do you keep a record if this is actually all you spend?


[ Also I do not budget for birthdays, holidays or Christmas monthly as I set aside that money as and when.]-


Maybe "setting this aside as and when "has contributed to you getting in debt in the first place? .....see further comments...

Is the shares and bonds the savings you mention? you have no emergency fund though? No car maintenance? No car insurance? No contents insurance? No clothing? No entertainment? No meals/coffees/lunches out? Think you need to re-do the SOA, keeping all the categories intact.

nearly £900 "spare" a month, you could make massive inroads to paying off debts if your SOA is truly correct.

have you looked a t "snowballing" ? eg. minimums to all, except that with the highest interest rate-to which you pay absolutely all you can, until paid off. Then move to the 2nd highest interest etc and so on down the list. however, I'd also look at getting rid of the overdrafts as they can be recalled at short notice

getmore4less

Amount left after debt repayments....... 809

How many month have you had this much left?

you really need to add in these addhoc expenses if you want a better picture of how long it is going to take to clear these debts

go back and do a SOA based on the last 12months true spending on things that will be closer to reality and you can look for cutbacks based on that.

How much have you increased/decreased the debts during 1 Oct 2013- 30 Sept 2014?

JasX

Doorman2014 wrote: »

Assets
Shares and bonds........................ 3000

Very unusual to hold shares when you have so much debt -they are not going to shoot up at as fast a rate as the interest unsecured debts rake up (even if they are shares in wonga.com!)

Unless there is something preventing you selling these to pay off debt (eg they are only tax free if you hold them for 5 years sharematch type scheme) you should do this


Or to put it this way -would you think it a good idea for someone in £19,000 of debt to borrow £3000 to buy some shares? -that's the situation you are in and should likely look to reverse.

blueneleh

Just a quick couple of things - your mobile bill seems a little high. Is this for two of you?
Also, are you tied in to the Lloyds bank account and do you use the benefits available from it? I found that I wasn't actually using what I paid for, therefore, cancelled that account for a standard one. you can get breakdown cover for cheaper than what you are paying yearly for the account.
Just a thought.

Doorman2014

Groceries etc. ......................... 100 Very impressive if correct, do you keep a record if this is actually all you spend?

yes we do usually stick to this amount.. sometimes we spend over by £20 but not oftern.

[ Also I do not budget for birthdays, holidays or Christmas monthly as I set aside that money as and when.]-
Maybe "setting this aside as and when "has contributed to you getting in debt in the first place?

Quite possibly and thats why I'm on here to get some help!

Is the shares and bonds the savings you mention? you have no emergency fund though? No car maintenance? No car insurance? No contents insurance? No clothing? No entertainment? No meals/coffees/lunches out? Think you need to re-do the SOA, keeping all the categories intact.

We have premium bonds which we could use as an emergency fund if needed. Car insurance is paid annually and so is contents. We each buy clothing if needed out of our spending money. No we don't eat out at all and we don't go out either.

nearly £900 "spare" a month, you could make massive inroads to paying off debts if your SOA is truly correct.

And this is what I'm looking at doing and the snowballing idea does sound interesting.

How many month have you had this much left?

- Just this month coming.. my OH didn't work a lot over the previous year leaving us with not much money.

Very unusual to hold shares when you have so much debt -they are not going to shoot up at as fast a rate as the interest unsecured debts rake up (even if they are shares in wonga.com!)
Unless there is something preventing you selling these to pay off debt (eg they are only tax free if you hold them for 5 years sharematch type scheme) you should do this
Or to put it this way -would you think it a good idea for someone in £19,000 of debt to borrow £3000 to buy some shares? -that's the situation you are in and should likely look to reverse.

I completely understand although I'm worried that if I used my savings then it would take forever to save the money up again.

Just a quick couple of things - your mobile bill seems a little high. Is this for two of you?
Also, are you tied in to the Lloyds bank account and do you use the benefits available from it? I found that I wasn't actually using what I paid for, therefore, cancelled that account for a standard one. you can get breakdown cover for cheaper than what you are paying yearly for the account.
Just a thought.

The mobile bill is for two phones, I'm not tied into the bank account at all. I have this because I want all the insurances that it offers, phone, breakdown, travel insurance and it covers mine and my OH also.

Thanks for all your responses.

Moneymash

I don't see any categories for entertainment, birthdays, Christmas, insurances, car payments and maintenance(just fuel), holiday, clothes, prescriptions and any hobbies.

Doorman2014

Moneymash wrote: »

I don't see any categories for entertainment, birthdays, Christmas, insurances, car payments and maintenance(just fuel), holiday, clothes, prescriptions and any hobbies.

As I said before I didn't used to budget for christmas, birthdays. I pay my insurances off annually so I don't have any at the moment. I own my car outright and I don't set aside for maintenance as I do it myself as and when needed. I we have no hobbies, I only get one prescription every 3 months and my OH gets free prescriptions.

Moneymash

Ok, I have just re-read your posts and see that some of the categories I've listed, you pay for annually and out of your personal spends. However if you pay for things as and when they arrive, doesn't this leave you cash short for that month, hence the need to use the credit cards.

It is difficult to get to grips with your budget if what you have left isn't the same every month because of the one-off payments, for example we could give you advice on what you have left, but we don't know when birthdays are coming up or when you intend to start buying Christmas presents or how much you want to spend on Christmas.

asparagus1968

Doorman2014 wrote: »

As I said before I didn't used to budget for christmas, birthdays. I pay my insurances off annually so I don't have any at the moment. I own my car outright and I don't set aside for maintenance as I do it myself as and when needed. I we have no hobbies, I only get one prescription every 3 months and my OH gets free prescriptions.

So, really what you need to do is start budgeting


take the amount your car insurance was, for instance ,for the year, then divide this by 12 to give you a monthly amount you need to put away somewhere (savings account/ piggy bank/envelope) then when it is next due, you have it there ready.
do this same thing for everything you "pay as I go along".


I really do think if you re did the SOA using the above method, you will have a much clearer idea of where your money goes etc.


keep posting

[Deleted User]

Doorman2014 wrote: »

And this is what I'm looking at doing and the snowballing idea does sound interesting.

To Snowball, you will need to find out the actual APRs.

Also, I agree the mobile phone costs are high, even for 2 phones.

There are some good PAYG/sim only deals, for around £10 per phone.

You should also have something going into the Emergency Fund.