Third-Life Crisis

Goingroundincircles

Hi everyone,

So it would appear I am having a third-life crisis.

Although we've been aware of our massive debt for a long time (having been in debt since being offered my first credit card by the bank at 18) it has really hit home this week how much we owe and how long it's going to take to pay off. Throw in the looming 30th birthday, the ticking biological clock, the desire to travel and experience new things, the pressures of having a 'successful job', trying to keep in touch with family and friends, trying to maintain a clean and tidy house plus look after myself - ARGH.

The running theme through all of these things is money and our lack of it.

I have been a long time moneysaving lurker. Trying to do things to reduce our outgoings. I feel we're at a point where we can't reduce things anymore and actually the thing we need to take control of is our YOLO spending. Our attitude towards money has always been that 'You Only Live Once' and there's no point being 'the richest man in the graveyard' so enjoy life while you can. Unfortunately that has meant years of overspending to the point where we are now paying around £1500 towards debt each month. That £1500 could have been paying for holidays every month if we hadn't wasted so much money over the years. And I suppose by wasted I mean on throw away items and food.

Anyway, having done our snowball last night and seeing another 5 years of paying £1500 towards debt each month, I decided this is the time to really take control and do something about it. No spending £20 in the Co-op when you only went in for milk. No buying clothes that really weren't needed (and probably rarely worn).

I'll post our SOA asap and any help would be appreciated.

That's all for now.

Scott_Weiland_2

Get the SOA done and post it up the next advice is look at the soa honestly.

Ie do you really as an example need that 55 quid sky bill or that say 40 quid gym membership etc

Too boost income i would always advise giving this a read to.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money-surveys

JoJoC

Wow £1500 is a lot to be paying every month to debts but i think it gives you excellent motivation to make these changes and come up with a plan to hammer down the debts!

Once you've posted your SOA I'm sure you'll have lots of advice from people who have been in your shoes and have lots of experience in this area.

The trick is to be completely honest and realistic with every penny of every outgoing on the SOA otherwise it's just not representative of where you're at and what you could be doing to bring your DFD forward.

All the best!

Goingroundincircles

Thanks for your reply Scott. Am going to start work on the SOA straight away. I feel like I've already reduced everything as much as I can, except Sky and mobile phones where we're still within the contract phase. I'm hoping people can help me see where I'm being stubborn though!
And thank you for the link. I've being doing onepoll for years but didn't realise there were so many others!

Goingroundincircles

Thanks JoJoC. Honesty is definitely something I have been avoiding so this is a chance to come clean!!

JoJoC

It's not easy and very rarely pleasant but once you've been truly honest and come up with the plan, it does get easier. That's why these diaries are so useful, plenty of support and advice during the good times and the bad.

UncannyScot

Hi and welcome
Doing a SOA will help to show where everything is going.
You can and will get through this.
We are all together here and will help with info, advice, support and a boot up the jacksie when it's needed...

Scott_Weiland_2

Goingroundincircles wrote: »

Thanks for your reply Scott. Am going to start work on the SOA straight away. I feel like I've already reduced everything as much as I can, except Sky and mobile phones where we're still within the contract phase. I'm hoping people can help me see where I'm being stubborn though!
And thank you for the link. I've being doing onepoll for years but didn't realise there were so many others!

Give this handful of survey sites a look, i do quite well off most of these (note my signature)

Power of opinions

Opinionoutpost.co.uk

Opiniumresearch.com

Yougov

And globaltestmarket.com

Goingroundincircles

Well, here we go:

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1537
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2600
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 4137

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 400
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 382.4
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 158
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 26
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 85
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 250
Road tax................................ 20.12
Car Insurance........................... 115
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 55
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 13.06
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 450
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Car hire purchase fee................... 171
Bank fee................................ 15
Netflix................................. 9
Spa..................................... 24
Sofa.................................... 15.7
Medical................................. 10
Pet food................................ 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 2654.4


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 126000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 12000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 138000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 86500....(400)......3.2
Total secured & HP debts...... 86500.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................1200......0.........9
Lloyds CC......................2778......100.......26
MBNA 1.........................5565......160.......24
Tesco Loan.....................12500.....400.......7
Sainsburys Loan................10974.....322.......11
Father in Law..................1000......0.........0
Mum............................3120......100.......0
MBNA 4.........................2846......40........0
MBNA 3.........................4259......43........0
MBNA 2.........................3516......36........24
Halifax........................2589......40........22
Barclaycard 2..................3951......92........18
Barclaycard 1..................8089......176.......18
Total unsecured debts..........62387.....1509......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 4,137
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,654.4
Available for debt repayments........... 1,482.6
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,509
Amount short for making debt repayments. -26.4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 138,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -86,500
Total Unsecured debt.................... -62,387
Net Assets.............................. -10,887


This is based on our current 'budget' which we have been on since the beginning of the month, not what we have actually spent over the last few months which was probably well in excess of £1,000 per month on entertainment.

Some notes;
- We pay rent and mortgage because we are in a shared ownership property of which we own 40%
- We are still in contract with Sky for phone, broadband and TV until at least the end of the year
- One mobile phone contract finishes in Sep and the other next May, so we can switch to sim only
- I've noticed we're no longer paying for contents insurance (oops) must get that sorted
- We have these pots of money for presents and MOTs but there's never anything actually in them and so when the expense comes along it goes on CC
- I am cancelling the spa (don't ask)
- We are about to sell the Land Rover sitting doing nothing to raise £1000 for each parent

Goingroundincircles

So how does everyone manage to spend so little on their food shop? I didn't need much this week since my mum had kindly bought us some meat/fish in Tesco today but I still managed to spend £48 in Aldi. I'm now £25 over my food budget for the month

Lucylocks

I've family of 4 and £65 is the lowest I can comfortably get my food shop to each week. That includes lunches fir all and dog food. I don't think that's too bad; we (I) cook usually from scratch without ready meals etc. For convenience I tend to make a big dish, like lasagne, which stretches for 2 dinners. Also roast chicken is a good one - roast one night and curry or chicken pie the next. I've tried to roughly meal plan for the week that way I avoid wastage.

I have a £20 budget for cleaning stuff - dishwasher tablets etc and do a 1-off home bargains shop for these as I find that saves me a packet.

With reference your SOA why is your car insurance so high? Could you reduce this? It looks like you've already clocked that contents insurance is an essential add