And so it begins

Swampy3k

Chester consider something like YNAB! (You Need A Budget) it really does help you see where all your money goes and will help you smash your debt more effectively. All the best!

thegreenone

Snowball. Snowball. Snowball. www.whatsthecost.com
Maths has never been my strong point but a few calculations show you could be debt free in roughly18 months.


From the £1253 left, I would put £253 to an emergency fund every month.
Use the £1000 to pay off Asda in three months.


Use the £150 you were paying Asda to MBNA and go on from there.


Good luck.

MoneyMission2015

chester81 wrote: »

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 - seems a bit high, start switching things off when you leave the room
Gas..................................... 83 - this is astronomical!! I pay less than this a month for both gas & electric and we have 2 children.
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 60 a bit high. Can you get a reduction on your current contract or SIM only contract?
TV Licence.............................. 14
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 30 Phone, TV & internet are a bit high. Package could maybe be reduced or switched. Have you tried Netflix for TV programmes?
Internet Services....................... 15
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50 too high if its per month, that's £600 per year.
Petrol/diesel........................... 170
Road tax................................ 6
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 80 does your work offer childcare voucher scheme?
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 0 Is this in with buildings insurance? If not, you should get something here.
Life assurance ......................... 35
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100 Could cut back while paying off debts.
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 100 This is high for every month, cut down to £75 or even £50 while paying debts.
Holiday................................. 100 I'm not going to say cut this out because I think everybody needs a break occasionally, but try finding something cheaper.
Emergency fund.......................... 0 You need something here.
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

I've made some comments above. You seem to have a good surplus leftover every month but I'm guessing this isn't the case? Keep a spending diary to see where the money is going, it could be work lunches, magazines and newspapers, treats for the children etc. You need to work out where your money is going otherwise you'll end up increasing your debt.


Have you tried using You Need a Budget? Its a budgeting software package and it is amazing. I went from being constantly overdrawn to paying off the overdraft and having savings within my first 2 months of using it.


Try it, you can have a free trial for 1 month and then after that it costs £30.00 to buy if you buy it through Steam. It's a one off price, no monthly fees or anything and it really has made a massive difference to my finances.


This year will be the first Christmas for about 10 years that I will be buying presents without using any credit at all, because I have budgeted to save for it every month.

pennypusher

When you make your over payments start with the credit card with the highest interest and pay that one off first. Then work your way down the list, that way you will pay less interest overall.

Your SOA looks good but if you don't have the money left at the end of the month that you say you should have you need to write down everything you spend your money on to see where it is going. Get a notebook and see what happens to your money.

pennystretcher

The money you owe on credit cards - worth shopping around for balance transfer deals and see if you can move it somewhere with less or 0% interest. Then concentrate paying off the loans.

Check out MSE article here for c/cards: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/balance-transfer-credit-cards

LexieLou

Hi, just calling in to say hello and wish you well on your journey.