Please help!

selfemployedandunwell

I knew my finances were in a mess but until I used Budget Brains I am so shocked! I have been ill for a long time and so my earnings have gone down substantially. Don't know where to start tackling this!? Please help if you can...

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 464.49
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
PIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477.53

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.49
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.28
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64.64
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.31
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.05
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186.42
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.65
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.43
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.75
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.04
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197.88
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complimentary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Health Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.70
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 992.02


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,729.35

zenthra

just from a glance Christmas and Birthdays come to £1,100 a yr! think that would be one area to drastically cut down on. i also would stop paying into an ISA until the debts are cleared. Health supps are also very high at over 2K a year.

KirstyO

I know you might not think you're buying any clothes and and 'luxuries' at the moment, it's important to put just a little aside, even if its £5 a month. At some point the clothes and shoes you have currently will wear out and you will need some money somewhere to replace them, even if it is with a cheaper alternative.

Please don't think I'm trying to make the situation worse, I am just trying to help you be realistic in what you can manage and what strains might be put on the above SOA in the long term.

Tixy

Hi and welcome to the forum.

So on your figures it looks like an overspend of £730 a month - does that feel about right? are your debts increasing each month? or are you getting behind with payments? have you been using up savings

Given the size of the overspend I would look at everything to see what can be reduced.

Are you getting all the benefits your are entitled to? how many are in the family? would you get more benefits if you were not self-employed at all?

selfemployedandunwell wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details

Income from Self Employment (before tax). . 50.00
. . . . . .
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support).. 464.49

PIP . .. . 477.53

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.50
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . 12.54
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . 30.49 can you get a cheaper package?

Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.28
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64.64 have you shopped round for gas & elec recently? does this include paying any arrears?
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39.31
Council tax . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 89.00 if you are the only adult are you claiming the 25% discount?
Overdraft cost. . . . .. . . . . . . . 36.00 is this fees? or daily charges? or interest?
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.00
Home insurance. . . . .. . . . . . . 39.05 buildings & contents? have you shopped around for it recently?
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186.42 are you renting or mortgage
Plumbing/Boiler cover . .. . . . . . . . . 15.65
Mortgage life insurance . .. . . . . . . 16.43
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.75 have you checked the cover on the 2 life insurances? are you doubled up in cover at all?
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . 260.00 how many for?

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . .. . . . . . . . 40.00 what are the petrol costs if you have no other car costs?
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.04
Car tax . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00 how much do you owe? is this the minimum repayments? what APRs?
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . 197.88 how much is owed? how soon does the loan end?
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments


Cash ISAs . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.00 how much is saved in your ISA?
Family



Health Supplements. . . . . . . . . . . . 200.00 how can you work on reducing this cost? are you buying from the cheapest place? if they are essential is there any assistance you can get paying for these?

Big One-Offs

Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . 66.67 you are going to need to cut these right down

Odds & Sods

Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only).. . . . . 11.70


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . 992.02


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . 1,729.35

You obviously can't carry on as you are, but even with cutting out all the debt repayments you will still be showing a shortfall each month. Have you spokent to any of the debt advice charities yet?

Grumpelstiltskin

Can you just confirm you live alone?


If so why is electric and gas so high?


Are you on a water meter?


Insurances are high, have you checked prices through a price comparison site?


Are you sure you need all the insurances?


Again ditch the ISA now and use the money to pay essentials.

selfemployedandunwell

zenthra wrote: »

just from a glance Christmas and Birthdays come to £1,100 a yr! think that would be one area to drastically cut down on. i also would stop paying into an ISA until the debts are cleared. Health supps are also very high at over 2K a year.

Thanks for your reply. Yes Xmas and Birthdays are a big guilt trip and I've got to get my head round the fact I'm just not earning enough to carry this on! I have ME and need the supplements to get well at the moment. I've been seeing a functional medicine doc and so far I'm improving. So eventually this expense will reduce or finish all together!:)

selfemployedandunwell

Tixy wrote: »

Hi and welcome to the forum.

So on your figures it looks like an overspend of £730 a month - does that feel about right? are your debts increasing each month? or are you getting behind with payments? have you been using up savings

Given the size of the overspend I would look at everything to see what can be reduced.

Are you getting all the benefits your are entitled to? how many are in the family? would you get more benefits if you were not self-employed at all?




You obviously can't carry on as you are, but even with cutting out all the debt repayments you will still be showing a shortfall each month. Have you spokent to any of the debt advice charities yet?

Thanks for your reply, yes that's about right!
I am just at the very beginning of trying to tackle this whole mess, so have a lot of questions left unanswered. If I could remortgage maybe(?) then I would be able to clear all my cards and loan and pay my mortgage off in fifteen years, but don't even know if anyone would give me a chance at this, in my present circumstances. Don't know about the benefits side of things, I get working tax credits and PIP for my disability.

selfemployedandunwell

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Can you just confirm you live alone?


If so why is electric and gas so high?


Are you on a water meter?


Insurances are high, have you checked prices through a price comparison site?


Are you sure you need all the insurances?


Again ditch the ISA now and use the money to pay essentials.

Thanks for your reply, I live alone but do have a partner who lives elsewhere at the moment.I had prepayment meters installed for gas and electric when I rented my house a while ago. So I see this could be changed. Insurances are on my mortgage, one on a further loan and buildings& contents. I'm only just beginning to try and sort everything so I will look into that, and I'm cashing in my ISA too. Thanks again

LittleMissGiggles123

selfemployedandunwell wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, yes that's about right!
If I could remortgage maybe(?) then I would be able to clear all my cards and loan and pay my mortgage off in fifteen years, but don't even know if anyone would give me a chance at this, in my present circumstances. Don't know about the benefits side of things, I get working tax credits and PIP for my disability.

I think people would advise against this, turning your unsecured debts in to secured.

Grumpelstiltskin

Have you applied for Council Tax Reduction?


https://www.gov.uk/apply-council-tax-reduction

selfemployedandunwell

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Have you applied for Council Tax Reduction?


Just about to since going on the benefits checker. Thanks for asking:)