And so it begins

Jazee

Good luck with the debt busting. We owed over £50k and cleared it all - it can be done.

With regards to the work/life balance, you may set a better example if you work less hours, otherwise you are transferring the pressure of working silly hours onto your staff. Just my view.

Sadmonkey

Do you fancy a debt buddy? Just registered after several years of lurking, our debt is < Years of burying our heads in the sand, after several family disasters basically. We both earn reasonable money, and should be able to live within our income, but our debt repayment minimums are now £1400 a month, so we need to get on top of this.

chester81

Sadmonkey wrote: »

Do you fancy a debt buddy? Just registered after several years of lurking, our debt is <gulps> fifty seven grand. Years of burying our heads in the sand, after several family disasters basically. We both earn reasonable money, and should be able to live within our income, but our debt repayment minimums are now £1400 a month, so we need to get on top of this.

Yes let's do this!!!

Puddylove

Ok, so HOW do you plan to do this?

StrugglingYouth

Put down all your thoughts and fill in a Statement of Affairs if you want MSE type people to look at it. They might suggest something you have overlooked. Could be useful.

ETA: http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

chester81

Puddylove wrote: »

Ok, so HOW do you plan to do this?

Hi,

We need to spend less on the things that we don''t need and use that money to service the debt more quickly! Our debt was almost 10K higher last year so we have paid some off, just too slowly.

We can afford to pay this debt off fairly quicky but up until now we failed to see the urgency of it.

Puddylove

chester81 wrote: »

Hi,

We need to spend less on the things that we don''t need and use that money to service the debt more quickly! Our debt was almost 10K higher last year so we have paid some off, just too slowly.

We can afford to pay this debt off fairly quicky but up until now we failed to see the urgency of it.

We need more detail than this!

Have you posted a SOA or a budget? The good people of MSE will be able to make suggestions to frugalise your entire life.

P x

chester81

Well here it is... It isn't pretty reading and I didn't enjoy producing it one bit, but I know that is essential in facing up to it all.

I have included balances and interest rates as accurately as I can. I have also included the payments that I actually make, as opposed to minimum payments as I have been overpaying for a while now and have already managed to reduce some of the debt.


Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1015
Benefits................................ 82
Other income............................ 800
Total monthly income.................... 4697

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 497
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 103
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 83
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 170
Road tax................................ 6
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 80
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 35
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 100
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1978


Assets
Cash.................................... 7000
House value (Gross)..................... 150000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 161500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 82000....(497)......1.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 82000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Car loan.......................2000......180.......4.2
Barclaycard 1..................6000......140.......6.9
Barclaycard 2..................6000......141.......0
Asda...........................3000......150.......16.9
Creation.......................8000......200.......0
Barclaycard 3..................6000......165.......0
MBNA...........................2500......200.......18
Halifax CC.....................3800......40........0
Tesco Credit Card..............4600......250.......18
Total unsecured debts..........41900.....1466......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,697
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,978
Available for debt repayments........... 2,719
Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 1,466
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,253

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 161,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -82,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -41,900
Net Assets.............................. 37,600

Puddylove

At first sight, your landline plus internet costs look a little higher than they might be.
I'm with Plusnet, and it's less than £20 per month.

Also, mobile phones - are you stuck in a contract or could you go SIM only? Again, it's much cheaper.

Entertainment at £100 and presents at £100 look to be on the high side (but then I have no social life ). Perhaps some of this money could be redirected to an emergency fund, so that you don't have to hit the credit cards for every little thing.

I presume you are paying extra on the cards in the order of highest interest first?

P x

chester81

Puddylove wrote: »

At first sight, your landline plus internet costs look a little higher than they might be.
I'm with Plusnet, and it's less than £20 per month.

Also, mobile phones - are you stuck in a contract or could you go SIM only? Again, it's much cheaper.

Entertainment at £100 and presents at £100 look to be on the high side (but then I have no social life ). Perhaps some of this money could be redirected to an emergency fund, so that you don't have to hit the credit cards for every little thing.

I presume you are paying extra on the cards in the order of highest interest first?

P x

Hi, we are stuck in mobile phone contracts for the next year or so.

We decided to put £100 away for presents with the view to not spending it all. Whatever is left we are going to keep as a bit of a buffer.

we don't spend £100 every month on entertainment, however I do want us to be able to go out for a meal ( a cheap one!) or take the odd weekend away. We are overpaying on the debts so think I can justify that amount. We also have a small child so days out etc are important to us.