Debt Advice- SOA Posted

MrsSave

£78 is a lot for sky. If you've had the package for a while check what channels you're actually watching and phone them up to ask for it cheaper. I have the sky basic package, which I have haggled down to £11.25, and then have netflix on top with a massive range of movies for £5.99. Less than £18 for sky and netflix. I know we could get rid, but we don't go out often, don't go to the movies so we're happy to pay this.

Groceries you could easily cut. I have a toddler and a baby on the way so buy nappies, wipes and will soon have formula to add to the list. We budget £200 per month, eat plenty of fruit, veg and meat, but make sure we meal plan. How about aiming for £50 per week to start? Where do you shop? I jump back and forward between Tesco home delivery and Aldi (depending on how I'm feeling - pregnancy has been rough until recently and walking around supermarkets definitely didn't appeal!).

Holidays - how about cutting it to £100 per month? That's £1200 a year. You could have a couple of UK holidays for that easily if you budget when you're away, or one decent holiday. I know working in schools means you're restricted with your holiday times (I'm also a teacher), but you can have fab breaks/holidays/experiences within a budget.

Entertainment - I'm sorry if I've missed what you've already said, but what do you spend this on? £180 per month is a lot. How often do you eat out? One problem with eating out is not just the cost of the food, but the drinks can be very expensive and add a lot to a bill.

Where do you do your supermarket shop? The reason I'm asking now is that we save our Tesco clubcard vouchers and use them for days out. We're going on our third day out this Summer next week to 'expensive' places, but all it has cost us is the ice cream (we usually take a picnic).

Clothing - I bet you and your wife could go for quite a while without buying new clothes. For our son I buy from a mix of Next (sale time - I like their jeans) and I find Asda to be great for tshirts, jumpers, etc. I usually stock up during a Next sale (£100 would get you a lot, and I buy ahead for example I'll buy a Winter coat in the Winter sale ready for the following Winter), and then do a biggish shop in Asda (£40-£50) at the start of a new size/season (maybe twice a year).

Mobiles - definitely can be reduced once the contract runs out.

Presents - is this mainly for the boys or do you spend a lot on each other as well. At the moment, because we're paying off our loan, we budget £50 each for each other's Christmas gifts and the same for birthdays. Maybe one day we'll be able to spend more on each other, but we treat it as a challenge to make a list of what we'd like to buy the other and shop around all year to find them reduced/bargains. For our son has has far too many toys. We budget around £100 for his birthday and £150 for Christmas (to include stocking, Christmas Eve bits, etc.). I shop all year for him and very rarely buy full price. We bought him a bike for his last birthday, that had been sitting at the inlaws since last November as it was such a good price. I find that with the gifts he gets from other (especially his Grandparents) he has far too many to know what to do with.

Sorry - I'm going on and on here!

If you make these changes, you are easily saving £300-£400 per month which will pay off your debt far quicker (and by saving that much, your wife could keep her expensive haircuts if she really insisted - though yikes.....it is expensive. My hair costs £23 every 6-8 weeks, though I don't get it coloured).

MrsSave

Oh, and can you get your credit card onto 0%? If you can do that, and up your monthly payments to £1000 you'll be debt free within less than 2 years (providing you can overpay the loan).

westlothian

MrsSave wrote: »

£78 is a lot for sky. If you've had the package for a while check what channels you're actually watching and phone them up to ask for it cheaper. I have the sky basic package, which I have haggled down to £11.25, and then have netflix on top with a massive range of movies for £5.99. Less than £18 for sky and netflix. I know we could get rid, but we don't go out often, don't go to the movies so we're happy to pay this.

Groceries you could easily cut. I have a toddler and a baby on the way so buy nappies, wipes and will soon have formula to add to the list. We budget £200 per month, eat plenty of fruit, veg and meat, but make sure we meal plan. How about aiming for £50 per week to start? Where do you shop? I jump back and forward between Tesco home delivery and Aldi (depending on how I'm feeling - pregnancy has been rough until recently and walking around supermarkets definitely didn't appeal!).

Holidays - how about cutting it to £100 per month? That's £1200 a year. You could have a couple of UK holidays for that easily if you budget when you're away, or one decent holiday. I know working in schools means you're restricted with your holiday times (I'm also a teacher), but you can have fab breaks/holidays/experiences within a budget.

Entertainment - I'm sorry if I've missed what you've already said, but what do you spend this on? £180 per month is a lot. How often do you eat out? One problem with eating out is not just the cost of the food, but the drinks can be very expensive and add a lot to a bill.

Where do you do your supermarket shop? The reason I'm asking now is that we save our Tesco clubcard vouchers and use them for days out. We're going on our third day out this Summer next week to 'expensive' places, but all it has cost us is the ice cream (we usually take a picnic).

Clothing - I bet you and your wife could go for quite a while without buying new clothes. For our son I buy from a mix of Next (sale time - I like their jeans) and I find Asda to be great for tshirts, jumpers, etc. I usually stock up during a Next sale (£100 would get you a lot, and I buy ahead for example I'll buy a Winter coat in the Winter sale ready for the following Winter), and then do a biggish shop in Asda (£40-£50) at the start of a new size/season (maybe twice a year).

Mobiles - definitely can be reduced once the contract runs out.

Presents - is this mainly for the boys or do you spend a lot on each other as well. At the moment, because we're paying off our loan, we budget £50 each for each other's Christmas gifts and the same for birthdays. Maybe one day we'll be able to spend more on each other, but we treat it as a challenge to make a list of what we'd like to buy the other and shop around all year to find them reduced/bargains. For our son has has far too many toys. We budget around £100 for his birthday and £150 for Christmas (to include stocking, Christmas Eve bits, etc.). I shop all year for him and very rarely buy full price. We bought him a bike for his last birthday, that had been sitting at the inlaws since last November as it was such a good price. I find that with the gifts he gets from other (especially his Grandparents) he has far too many to know what to do with.

Sorry - I'm going on and on here!

If you make these changes, you are easily saving £300-£400 per month which will pay off your debt far quicker (and by saving that much, your wife could keep her expensive haircuts if she really insisted - though yikes.....it is expensive. My hair costs £23 every 6-8 weeks, though I don't get it coloured).

Thanks, the TV package has not changed in years. We use it less and less these days as usually in bed at a reasonable hour rather than sitting up watching a movie. I do have sport channels but could look to do without these for a while.

I think the grocery bill is down to being disorganised. We have no plan and often throw stuff out and have a full freezer but probably not even sure what is in it. We mostly shop in ASDA, there are ALDI, LIDL, Tesco and Morrisons within close proximity. I think we are in the supermarket mostly every day, again due to bad planning. We don't have clubcards etc.

Holidays! This was our first year of foreign holidays in four years due to age of the boys. It was expensive and to be honest far too warm for our boys and we spent so much time hiding by the door of our rather lovely apartment. We also went a few Scottish/UK breaks.

We probably eat out with the kids most weekends, usually a Saturday afternoon or evening and have a couple of favourite places.

Clothing is something we are always buying. The kids have far too much and grow out of stuff before they even really wear it especially as our family are always buying things too. Think my wife shops in Next and TK Maxx judging by bank statements. Again no plan for this, just buy as and when we see anything we like.

And presents is a mixture, we are generous in treating each other and probably ridiculous with the kids. Again we have no plan or budget for this at all.

westlothian

MrsSave wrote: »

Oh, and can you get your credit card onto 0%? If you can do that, and up your monthly payments to £1000 you'll be debt free within less than 2 years (providing you can overpay the loan).

I have not looked into any change of card for a better deal. I used to get offers when the card had a lower balance.

cms-help

As others have suggested, there is a lot that can be reduced quite significantly: mobile phone (we have two phones in contract and pay around £31 a month), satellite (do you watch this constantly? when we looked at this a few years ago, we watched 2 programmes a week on Sky 1 and decided it wasn't worth the £20+ a month charge. I am also a teacher and don't have time to watch TV with planning, marking etc!), groceries could easily be cut (we spend around £300 a month including nappies etc), clothing, presents, holiday, entertainment - could easily be reduced.

And apologies to your wife but £100 a month on a haircut is utterly ridiculous. I am very particular about where/who my hair is cut but certainly don't spend that every month and we're not trying to clear any debt.

You don't seem to be claiming child benefit?

Vikipollard

westlothian wrote: »

Hi all
not posted on MSE in a while. Finally facing up to the finances. Our school holidays end on Monday in our part of Scotland- wife and I will be back at work.I am a teacher in a management role and wife teaches two days a week having come back from two maternity leaves in quick succession.

I suppose this is where our problems started. We had drifted by on two decent salaries until the maternity leaves. My wife had been told she would find it hard to conceive, let alone twice in less than two years but we are blessed with two amazing boys.

In March, I traded in a decent car for a brand new car on HP. Why I do not know! But it has acted as something of a wake up call for me.

According to our SOA we do have a surplus. Sometimes we do have money left come pay day. It seems to disappear though.

Any advice welcome

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2451
Partners monthly income after tax....... 924
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3375

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 415
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 456
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 127
Electricity............................. 91
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 88 Ridiculously high - get rid
TV Licence.............................. 12.2
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 78 At the very least, down-package
Internet Services....................... 29
Groceries etc. ......................... 340 You have two tots...this can be reduced by a minimum of £100 and STILL eat well.
Clothing................................ 150Cut to a maximum of £30 - if you even NEED that much
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 38.8
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 14
Contents insurance...................... 0 Need this
Life assurance ......................... 0Need this
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 200 Way too high. Your kids are too young to need 'big' one offs. Cut this by at least half
Haircuts................................ 100Unnecessariy high
Entertainment........................... 180 At least £80 cut here
Holiday................................. 200 Halve this
Emergency fund.......................... 0Seriously, £200 on a holiday and no emergency fund? Minimum £100 in here
Total monthly expenses.................. 2609


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 18000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 138000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 78000....(415)......2.94
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 19000....(336)......7.9<
Subsidy of Flat................72000....(120)......4.74
Total secured & HP debts...... 169000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................12300.....226.......4
Credit Card....................7022......400.......19.9
Total unsecured debts..........19322.....626.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,375
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,609
Available for debt repayments........... 766
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 626
Amount left after debt repayments....... 140

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 138,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -169,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,322
Net Assets.............................. -50,322

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

You say that you are finally facing up to the finances, but I'm sorry to say I don't think you have reached that point yet.

No.1 - you NEED to sit down and talk to your wife. She clearly isn't facing up to anything right now and until you both do, nothing will change.

No.2 - £100 for a hairdresser and you don't think your wife will give that up..... In my world, that's a birthday treat or a Christmas present, not a monthly extravagance. That said, you have enough income to cover it, so your call.

No.3 - for crying out loud write a shopping list! Go through what you have in your cupboards/freezer/fridge FIRST, and plan your meals for the week. It's not difficult and as the kids get older, you/your wife can involve them in the cooking when you do so from scratch. Food waste is a pet peeve of mine (if you can't tell...), and there is no justification for it.

Sorry to be brutal, but unless you both move away from a laissez-faire attitude you will prolong the period of time that you have your debt (however manageable that is).

westlothian

cms-help wrote: »

As others have suggested, there is a lot that can be reduced quite significantly: mobile phone (we have two phones in contract and pay around £31 a month), satellite (do you watch this constantly? when we looked at this a few years ago, we watched 2 programmes a week on Sky 1 and decided it wasn't worth the £20+ a month charge. I am also a teacher and don't have time to watch TV with planning, marking etc!), groceries could easily be cut (we spend around £300 a month including nappies etc), clothing, presents, holiday, entertainment - could easily be reduced.

And apologies to your wife but £100 a month on a haircut is utterly ridiculous. I am very particular about where/who my hair is cut but certainly don't spend that every month and we're not trying to clear any debt.

You don't seem to be claiming child benefit?

Thanks for the reply. We save child benefit in a bank account for our boys to help towards future university costs. My wife deals with this.

I know for a fact that the TV is very underused. We used to watch lots of movies together- never do this. I do watch football most Sundays and Scottish football on a Saturday on it- but accept that it is a huge amount to pay. We pay for movies we never use.

The haircut is also a social thing I think. She goes with her sister and gets nails and things done. I don't think that she would change this.

westlothian

Vikipollard wrote: »

You say that you are finally facing up to the finances, but I'm sorry to say I don't think you have reached that point yet.

No.1 - you NEED to sit down and talk to your wife. She clearly isn't facing up to anything right now and until you both do, nothing will change.

No.2 - £100 for a hairdresser and you don't think your wife will give that up..... In my world, that's a birthday treat or a Christmas present, not a monthly extravagance. That said, you have enough income to cover it, so your call.

No.3 - for crying out loud write a shopping list! Go through what you have in your cupboards/freezer/fridge FIRST, and plan your meals for the week. It's not difficult and as the kids get older, you/your wife can involve them in the cooking when you do so from scratch. Food waste is a pet peeve of mine (if you can't tell...), and there is no justification for it.

Sorry to be brutal, but unless you both move away from a laissez-faire attitude you will prolong the period of time that you have your debt (however manageable that is).

I know. I think my wife thinks that soon she will be back full-time and we can sort any debt out then if we keep things ticking over. That was really the basis of our discussion- so you want me to up my days? That was not my thinking- I think we could use the money we have coming in better.

Our food shopping and waste is not good, especially as we eat out every Saturday and have Sundays with the in-laws. We have no plan- can have chicken breasts in freezer and still head into ASDA to buy them after work as had no plan to defrost them in the morning.

ViolaLass

You're agreeing with a lot of the posts but not expressing any intention to change. What's the plan?

tori.k

westlothian wrote: »

The haircut is also a social thing I think. She goes with her sister and gets nails and things done. I don't think that she would change this.

Then don't and compromise make it every 6/7 weeks instead of every month gives her something to look forward too and save a couple of hundred a year.