Don't Know Where to Begin!!

SBarras

Thank you for all advise I think we will defiantly start meal planning and being more thrifty with our food along with sorting bloody sky out!! Anyways based on a few different things ive done a new SOA im sure there will be still a lot wrong with it but once I start doing a spend diary I will have a more clear view of what im wasting money on

SBarras

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1266
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1266

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 170
Rent.................................... 212.5
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 90
Electricity............................. 28.25
Gas..................................... 28.25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 9.5
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 6.5
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 44
Internet Services....................... 10
Groceries etc. ......................... 125
Clothing................................ 40
Petrol/diesel........................... 475
Road tax................................ 2.5
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 13.33
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 1.7
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 9
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1525.53


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5000


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 5000.....(170)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 5000......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft, Moorcroft...........1744.71...0.........0
Credit Card, Moorcrof..........381.85....0.........0
Credit Card, Moorcrof..........350.77....0.........0
Payday Loan, Moorcrof..........585.83....0.........0
Payday Loan, BW Legal..........149.3.....0.........0
Shop Direct, Very..............666.55....0.........0
Shop Direct, Littlewo..........144.19....0.........0
Gym, Zinc......................450.......0.........0
EE, Moorcroft..................170.......0.........0
Next, Fredrickson..............347.08....0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........4990.28...0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,266
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,525.53
Available for debt repayments........... -259.53
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount short for making debt repayments. -259.53

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -5,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,990.28
Net Assets.............................. -4,990.28

thriftylass

SBarras wrote: »

Petrol/diesel........................... 475

Really? Or typo

SBarras

ooops yes a type should be £45!!

bexster1975

OK. Now there is a problem.

Options: you need to remove completely sky, entertainment and the holiday ( I know you've explained this, but you are actually £260 per month away from meeting your obligations) and half your share of the food budget. This would just about cover your debt repayments based on your calculations. Depending on how long this would be for, it's not likely to be realistic.

Get another job ( additional, not replacement - although a promotion may be enough). Depending how much more you can earn thus will be a possible fix. You need about £70 a week extra minimum.

DMP. I'm loathed to suggest it, but based on this SOA, if it's more accurate, it's now clear why it was a consideration.

A spending diary is definitely a good place to begin.

Bexster

MrsSave

Going ahead, this is how we deal with bills, etc. To start I use YNAB. Have done for 2-3 years now and it's great.

We have a bank account for bills only. We transfer all our wages into a joint account at the end of the month. From this we transfer enough to cover our bills to the bills acc (including the annual bills split into monthly amount). We then transfer our grocery/petrol/entertainment/Christmas/other planned spends to a separate account. YNAB comes in handy here, I budget for each category. Savings get sent to a savings account (emergency fund, holiday, etc). Then, we have our personal budgets. They get sent to our peronal accounts that the other doesn't have access to.

This works for us. It may not work for everyone, but I know I always have enough for the bills, I update ynab daily and I check our accounts often. It may sound like a lot of work, but it literally takes minutes every day.

I've tried monthly food shopping in the past. It doesn't work for us. We're now back to weekly shopping. I always keep 'quick/I can't be bothered/I want a takeaway' food in the house such as pizzas so that if I am being tempted by a takeaway, throwing a pizza in the oven is quick and easy.

Definitely phone up sky. Know what you want before you phone so that you're not tempted with 'this fantastic offer for only..........'!!

La_escocesa

Hi there :wave:

So if you fix the typo with your petrol your expenses will be £1095.53, leaving £170.46 for debt payments. Does that cover your min repayments for debts? Hopefully you can cut sky out and that will be another £44 saving. Stop buying clothes until you are in a better position and that is another £40 saved per month. Groceries - I think you could get this down to £90ish - so another £35 saving.

I can totally understand that you want to go to the wedding/holiday but could you cut costs with it in any way? Don't buy a new outfit, take less spending money..?

And do you actually need a car? You spend more on insurance and maintaining it than you do on petrol...

Once you know how much you have for debts each month - try a snowball calculator and see the best way to pay things off. http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

I use YNAB for budgeting too - you can try it free for 34 days - even if you just tried it for the free trial it would be good to track all of your spending for a month (but obviously you just need a notepad and pen for this...).

Good luck!

grecianmax87

How much is the holiday going to cost in total? I'm actually going to be harsh and say perhaps you shouldn't go.

I've been to a number of weddings over time last 5/6 years if close friends/family and I have to say they are all quite samey and once the day is over everyone forgets about it. It might be gutting not to go, but ultimately you could be paying off a big chunk of this debt.

I had a stubborn amount of debt in my early to mid 20s through poor money management so I know how you've got there. Once I started to be more ordered with my spending and just more aware of the frivolous purchases it started to come down... and then build as savings as your mentality towards money changes. I bought a house in June so it is possible even though it's a long path Oh and Sky were also screwing me over around the same time, I called up and said I couldn't afford it and they put me on the base package and saved £60+

enthusiasticsaver

Once the typo for the petrol is fixed the soa will show a surplus of £170.

Groceries shopping is best done weekly especially if you are throwing food away. Every week plan out meals, lunches including packed lunches for work, breakfasts, dinners and snacks. Buy basic ranges rather than premium brands and use Aldi or Lidls. Batch cook and freeze leftovers or take them to work for lunch the following day.

Cancel sky and cut out clothes shopping and make do with what you have.

I think you also need to allow for an emergency fund and presents but allowing £150 for entertainment and holiday (even for a wedding) is a bit much when you cannot repay your debts. Can you sell stuff or take on a second job to make up the money for the wedding trip? If you don't use the car that much can that be sold?

Now is the time to get to grips with your spending habits or this will affect your future for many years to come. A spending diary is a good idea so you can see where you are overspending.

Debtslayer

If you haven't already ring Sky today!! It's madness to be spending that amount on Sky when you're not paying debts.
As others have said you need to stop buying clothes and not go on holiday.
You need to sort the debts as they will affect your future for a very long time.
You say your oh is also very bad with money so now is a good time to make s joint effort to improve things