yet another SOA newbie (and YNAB wannabe)

m4rc

Lots of great advice, I would just add that you need to check every single item as some seem a bit too neat and rounded - 1k mortgage, 100 council tax, 100 child related. Generally that's how we work, we pay about a grand for this about 500 for that but when you look at it closely you may well find so,e are less and some are more.

You may of course be spot on, apologies if you are, but generally people will round numbers as its just easier to remember. Even if it was a few pound per line it soon adds up

andyfromotley

Ok i'm going to take you at your word that you want to clear this by Christmas and are prepared to suffer a little pain between now and then in order to do so. (because on the whole your SOA is pretty good)

You have 11 months between now and then.
11 x £408 = £4,448 So we need to find another £4,800 between now and then or another £436 pcm. However you mention bonuses. How much are they? It may be that by sticking to your current budget and using your bonuses that you will get there anyway?
Keep your CC payment at the £92 you currently have budgeted and this will reduce it by another £1012.
However looking at your SOA
Assuming that you pay your council tax over 10 months you will have two months where you dont pay. so Thats another £200 towards the debt.
Telephone/BB get for around £17 pcm (or less) use wkype, Whats app etc for calls or 18185 if you must. saving £13 pcm = £143
Keep your grocery budget as is BUT it is to include school lunches and packed lunches for work saving about £150 pcm = £1650
Double the length of time between haircuts - saving £25pcm = £275
Cut entertainment to £25 pcm (find free stuff to do theres loads) saving £75 pcm = £825
Combine unexpected and EF in one at £50 pcm saving £25 = £275

So, looking to find £4448
cc = 1012
Council tax = £200
Phone/BB = £143
Packed lunches = £1650
Haircuts = £275
Entertainment = £825
Unexpected = £275

Giving you a Grand total of £4,380, So you need to find another £68 over the eleven months.... Check the back of the sofa?

Remember this is without any bonus included abd does involve a bit of pain, but you can defoinitely do it and its over a short term too.

Ynab will definitely help. This will fly by too, and hopefully you will be so enthused by the rapid progress that you make that it will be a doddle to debt freedom. Yah!!

Darksparkle

pennies_from_Heaven wrote: »

I would think earnings are above the threshold for child benefit.

Why? Child benefit only starts to reduce at £50,000.

Petal88

Darksparkle wrote: »

Why? Child benefit only starts to reduce at £50,000.

OPs income is 51.5k pre-tax though so once you add on taxable benefits from work e.g. life insurance, bonus, childcare vouchers etc they could be over the threshold?

Darksparkle

Petal88 wrote: »

OPs income is 51.5k pre-tax though so once you add on taxable benefits from work e.g. life insurance, bonus, childcare vouchers etc they could be over the threshold?

That's making an assumption that there are any taxable benefits.

Child benefit is based on adjusted net income, childcare reduces the taxable income it doesn't increase it. As would pension contributions. The OP could easily be below £50,000 for child benefit purposes.

questionss

dcouponzzzz wrote: »

May sound extreme, but how attached are you to your house? seriously though 360k is high for 1 adult and 1 child, if you could find somewhere suitable for 150k there's 1k a month to throw at your debts. You'll need to look at this kind of decision with your brain rather than your heart.

OP has an Oyster card and is thus London based - 350k property (flat?) unlikely to be a mansion - combined with the cost of moving (solicitors, stamp duty, EA fees) it would cost almost as much as her debt is! The debt should be reasonably easy to clear whilst keeping the property & most of her lifestyle choices!

lexia

Hello all, and thanks so much for the great advice!