Help pls.. £16.5K debt & counting...

ThePinkDahlia

Any help gratefully recieved!

I don't know what we are doing that is so wrong. We hardly ever go out, we holiday at our friends house, I scrimp and save, but may be spend too much on food as I eat organic for environmental reasons mostly (save the bees!). We've cut dining and going out, but its hard when you get invited to wedings etc and have to eat in resturants while trying to get cheapest thing on menu and water but now have baby, managing to get out of it more and more..)

Have been trying to reduce my debts for about a year & a half now but seems to be getting worse. We owe about £16,500 now. I have been budgeting for this time, and trying to reduce paayments of everything but it is hard. I have taken a 6 month average of our outgoings and income, we have a 10month old baby so I have deducted the childcare fees from our joint wages:

INCOME
Wages£2,107
Miscellaneous£416
Income totals£2,562

Home
Mortgage/rent£787
Utilities£90
Home telephone & broadband £36
Cellular telephone£20
Home repairs£6
Home improvement£91
Home insurance£39
Garden supplies£14
Home totals£1,016

DAILY LIVING
Food£349
Health Food£2
Dry cleaning£0
Dining & going out£35
Rabbits£5
Greengrocers£6
Daily living totals£366

TRANSPORT
Gas/fuel£193
Car insurance & purchase of car£407
Repairs£115
Parking£1
Public transportation£3
Transportation totals£720

ENTERTAINMENT
Cable TV£0
Video/DVD rentals£4
Concerts/cinema£0
Entertainment otals£13

HEALTH
Insurance£0
Prescriptions£1
Dentist£2
Toiletries£20
Veterinarians/pet medicines£16
Baby £125
Nappies (inc. purchase of terry nappies)£72
Health totals£271

VACATIONS
Savings for vacation£0

RECREATION
Gym fees£10
Sports equipment£12
Team dues£3
Toys/childcare£7
Recreation totals£32

DUES/SUBSCRIPTIONS
Magazines£0
Newspapers£1
Internet connection£0
Public radio£0
TV licence£11
Lottery£2
Charity£1
Dues/subscription totals£4

PERSONAL
Clothing£40
Gifts£20
Hairdresser£20
Books£6
Music (CDs, etc.)£3
Personal totals£112

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS
Council tax£116
Credit card payments£114
LIFE Insurance£9
Student Loan £158
Overdraft payments£6
Financial obligations total£404

MISCELANEOUS
Misc, postage, selling fees £200
Lunch£9
Cards for Sp. Occa£1
Stationery£0
Flowers£2
Misc. payments totals£270
Total expenses£3,208
Cash short/extra-£563

Amount owing
Credit card (0% at mo)£2,100
Student loans£4,300
Owe parents£9,100
£15,500 total plus Overdraft (coop)£1,000

Fuel costs are high but these are recouped through work in misc income. I use to travel everywhere through public transport, but nede car to get to work in time and drop baby at nursery. Hopefuly my hubby is geting a new job soon and we can sell a car but then we'll still have train fees! At the moment we have £127,00 owing on our mortgage (4.99% for 25yrs) we have 4 months left of the 5 yr fixed term. We also have a secoond mortgage for £10,000 tracker around 6.5% which is hugely worrying how much it is going up every month. Now we have to get a new mortgage and the monthly outgoings will get bigger. I am starting to think about selling the hosue and living in a caraven, may be buying abround or building one - think its cheaper?!

Have now stopped lottery and trying to convince hsband to get rid of his mobile phone, or switch to a lower package. Now got misc spending down to about £90. Hopefuly my husband is getting a new job and we can sell a car and have a £100 extra per month! Plus a fee of £750 bonus for getting job.

Any help gratefully received....

Shall we sell up? Move somewhere smaller? House is worth £165K but bought for that much 2 yrs ago s hoping will go up over next year...

tyllwyd

Sorry, your SOA has lost its formatting and it is very difficult to read - could you edit it? Many thanks!

Floss

ThePinkDahlia wrote: »

INCOME
Wages £2,107
Miscellaneous £416
Income totals £2,562

Home
Mortgage/rent £787
Utilities £31 is this including gas / elec / water?
Home telephone & broadband £36
Cellular telephone £20
Home repairs £6
Home improvement £91 is this a home improvement loan?
Home insurance £39
Garden supplies £14
Home totals £1,016

DAILY LIVING
Budgens/Co-op £349 you NEED to cut this down - see the Old Style board for help
Health Food £2
Dry cleaning £0
Dining & going out £35 if you want to get out of debt, you need to cut this
Rabbits £5
Greengrocers £6
Daily living totals £366

TRANSPORT
Gas/fuel £193
Car insurance & purchase of car £407
Repairs £115 is this an estimate or repayment?
Parking £1
Public transportation £3
Transportation totals £720

ENTERTAINMENT
Cable TV £0
Video/DVD rentals £4
Concerts/cinema £0
Entertainment totals £13

HEALTH
Insurance £0
Prescriptions £1
Dentist £2
Toiletries £20
Veterinarians/pet medicines £16
Baby £125 This can be cut down
Nappies (inc. purchase of terry nappies) £72
Health totals £271

VACATIONS
Savings for vacation £0

RECREATION
Gym fees£10
Sports equipment£12
Team dues£3
Toys/childcare£7
Recreation totals£32

DUES/SUBSCRIPTIONS
Magazines£0
Newspapers£1
Internet connection£0
Public radio£0
TV licence£11
Lottery£2
Charity£1
Dues/subscription totals£4

PERSONAL
Clothing£38 has to be cut if not gone
Gifts£20 ditto
Hairdresser£20 try your local college
Books£6
Music (CDs, etc.)£3
Personal totals£112

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS
Council tax£116
Credit card payments£114
LIFE Insurance£9
Student Loan £158 - Seems high - is this with Student Loans Co? Or other?
Overdraft payments£6
Financial obligations total£404

MISCELANEOUS
Misc, postage£200 What for?????
Lunch£9
Cards for Sp. Occa£1
Stationery£0
Flowers£2
Misc. payments totals£270

Total expenses£3,208
Cash short/extra-£563

Amount owing
Credit card (0% at mo)£2,100
Student loans£4,300
Owe parents£9,100
Overdraft (coop)£1,000
Amount owing total £16,500

quote]

Ok, that should be easier to read!

redballoon_2

Home
Mortgage/rent£787
Utilities£90 - have you tried shopping around for quotes?
Home telephone & broadband £36
Cellular telephone£20
Home repairs£6 do you pay this out every month?
Home improvement£91- reduce to zero, only do essential repairs
Home insurance£39
Garden supplies£14 - reduce to zero
Home totals£1,016

DAILY LIVING
Food£349- reduce! see old style board for ideas. should be £200 for 2 adults.
Health Food£2 - zero
Dry cleaning£0
Dining & going out£35 - minimise, meet afterwards for drinks
Rabbits£5
Greengrocers£6
Daily living totals£366

TRANSPORT
Gas/fuel£193 - reduce, use bus, train, walk etc...
Car insurance & purchase of car£407 -can this be decreased or is it fixed?
Repairs£115 do you pay this out every month?
Parking£1
Public transportation£3
Transportation totals£720

ENTERTAINMENT
Cable TV£0
Video/DVD rentals£4 - join pigsback and get vouchers for free rentals at blockbusters
Concerts/cinema£0
Entertainment otals£13

HEALTH
Insurance£0
Prescriptions£1
Dentist£2
Toiletries£20 - reduce, only buy what you need, buy value ranges
Veterinarians/pet medicines£16
Baby £125 -what does this include? if it is wipes, use a flannel!
Nappies (inc. purchase of terry nappies)£72
Health totals£271

VACATIONS
Savings for vacation£0

RECREATION
Gym fees£10 -cancel, go running or jogging for free!
Sports equipment£12 -reduce to zero
Team dues£3 what is this for?
Toys/childcare£7
Recreation totals£32

DUES/SUBSCRIPTIONS
Magazines£0
Newspapers£1
Internet connection£0
Public radio£0
TV licence£11
Lottery£2
Charity£1
Dues/subscription totals£4

PERSONAL
Clothing£40 reduce, you probably have some clothes that you can wear!!! and sell the stuff you dont!
Gifts£20 shop around for these in the sales/charity shops/ebay
Hairdresser£20 go to your local college for cheap cuts
Books£6 go to the library
Music (CDs, etc.)£3 go to the library, collect vouchers from pigsback site.
Personal totals£112

FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS
Council tax£116
Credit card payments£114
LIFE Insurance£9
Student Loan £158
Overdraft payments£6
Financial obligations total£404

MISCELANEOUS
Misc, postage, selling fees £200 can this be reduced?
Lunch£9 take packed luch to work
Cards for Sp. Occa£1
Stationery£0
Flowers£2
Misc. payments totals£270
Total expenses£3,208
Cash short/extra-£563

tyllwyd

I don't quite understand why under health you have baby £125 plus nappies £72 per month, on top of your groceries shopping budget? Have you maybe counted something twice?

Floss

First thing to do alongside looking at all the above, is to start a spending diary, then you can see exactly where your money goes.

Do a "stocktake" on your freezer & cupboards, and plan as many meals as you can using what you have before buying anything apart from fresh fruit & veg.

Then start to plan your meals BEFORE shopping, and only buying what you need, preferably online to stop any "impulse buys".

Do the same with your garden supplies - £14 a month? It must be a huge show garden for that (or you keep killing things off! :rolleyes: )

You could also try making baby's food from what you have if old enough? or by pureeing fruit & veg (not together :eek:) and freezing the portions.

There is lots of advice to be had on these boards, we're really a very helpful friendly bunch! :hello:

ThePinkDahlia

Thank you everyone! I think this will be really helpful for me to show my husband, as I keep saying to him that with a budget you shop to your constarints, rather than just buying whatever and writing it down! Not that he is the only guilty one. It's been really useful to have your fedback. I am going to implement it over the next 6 months and hopefully, fingers crossed, thinks will start to look better.

findingmyownway

ThePinkDahlia wrote: »

Thank you everyone! I think this will be really helpful for me to show my husband, as I keep saying to him that with a budget you shop to your constarints, rather than just buying whatever and writing it down! Not that he is the only guilty one. It's been really useful to have your fedback. I am going to implement it over the next 6 months and hopefully, fingers crossed, thinks will start to look better.

Welcome and well done :beer:

Your husband may have done you a favour becasue by writing down exactly what you spend while the problems are occuring it makes it easier to 1) spot the problems and 2) feel proud when you make changes.

However, now really is the time to change - you can easily cut back the spending in several areas and the spare cash will soon add up. For example, if you stop the home improvements and trips to the garden centre you have over £100 month extra to throw at debts. What is the £125/month 'baby healthcare' for? Sounds like a lot of money for a 10month old!

If hubby finds it hard, how about taking out a set amount in cash each month - for his spends, your spends, food spends etc. Then when its gone its gone.

In_Search_Of_Me

Just wanted to say welcome aboard! It is hard but CAN be fun saving money! I never would have thought I would get a buzz from finding a 20p coupon!!

Mad_old_tory

Without wanting to sound harsh, I'd go back to buying "normal" food rather than organic, as organic food really is a unnecessary and unsustainable luxury for someone in your position. I also echo the comments re the Old style board, that food total can be cut down drastically. Best of luck!

pinkkat8910

Wlecome Pink Dahlia

Hopefully you'll learn a lot from here, I did notice before you edited your post it said Co-op / Budgens for food shopping ... both very expensive - is there no larger supermarkets close by you could do your shopping? You would save a fortune!

We've a Budgens near us and its hellishly overpriced