Not sure what our best move is.....

Debtslayer

Dinglehopper31 wrote: »

i dont know the APRs for the debt....the credit card is 0% for some but about £1500 has some APR. The loan is really low as we have looked to move it but never found a rate lower.

added hair cut to new SOA.

Mobiles is 2 phones (mine and OH)

38.88 insurance is my husbands redundancy insurance

You need to check your credit card statements and find out the APR on the £1500. It's a credit card so likely to be high. Can you get another 0% deal to move this too?
Also what is the APR on the loan? You say it's low but what is it? Would it be cheaper to move it to 0% credit card?

Mobile phones, if you're not in contract then move to SIM only as this is a huge amount to spend on mobiles each month.

You really do need to budget for everything. Also when you say there's always birthdays, who are you buying for? Do you set a budget for presents or just go out and get something?

enthusiasticsaver

I would suggest you set up some savings pots for birthdays if these are a problem and holidays if these are the other ones. Ideally you would not be using the credit card at all especially with that much apparent disposable income. Some really strict budgeting, some frank talks with your family and friends about the fact you cannot spend now as you did before as you now have a child and only work part time. Getting into debt for birthdays and wedding/hen dos etc is madness.


On the plus side you have savings and assets which could be used to clear the debt and if you are not paying 0% on them then I urge you to strongly consider this. Saving up in shares in principle is a good move but not if you are in debt.

Dinglehopper31

Debtslayer wrote: »

You need to check your credit card statements and find out the APR on the £1500. It's a credit card so likely to be high. Can you get another 0% deal to move this too?
Also what is the APR on the loan? You say it's low but what is it? Would it be cheaper to move it to 0% credit card?

Mobile phones, if you're not in contract then move to SIM only as this is a huge amount to spend on mobiles each month.

You really do need to budget for everything. Also when you say there's always birthdays, who are you buying for? Do you set a budget for presents or just go out and get something?

I don't know if we'd get the credit limit on another credit card to move the loan, we got the loan when we were both working full time, had no dependants and lived in another property (smaller mortgage)

The mobile phone is for two phones, and OH one was actually only £11 this month (cash back deal or something ) but next month will go back up to its normal price of £40ish

Birthdays.....immediate family only, parents, Grandparents, Brothers/sisters, their partners,thankfully none of them have kids yet!! but we have cut out present buying for siblings...except for big birthdays, of which we have two this month :eek:

enthusiasticsaver

If you and your husband are both saving up in share save schemes these are really risky investments. Investing in just one company is the riskiest way of investing even if you work for the companies involved especially if you both work for the same company. Presumably there is an incentive and if you had a diverse portfolio and no debt it would not be so much of an issue but just consider if something were to happen which caused the shares to nosedive, your £8k shares could suddenly be worth only £3-£4k.

Dinglehopper31

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

I would suggest you set up some savings pots for birthdays if these are a problem and holidays if these are the other ones. Ideally you would not be using the credit card at all especially with that much apparent disposable income. Some really strict budgeting, some frank talks with your family and friends about the fact you cannot spend now as you did before as you now have a child and only work part time. Getting into debt for birthdays and wedding/hen dos etc is madness.


On the plus side you have savings and assets which could be used to clear the debt and if you are not paying 0% on them then I urge you to strongly consider this. Saving up in shares in principle is a good move but not if you are in debt.

The debt isn't from the birthdays/weddings, the debt was there, and paying for it makes it difficult when extra things like birthdays/weddings come up. if that makes sense.

some of the shares are tied up, we have to hold them for certain amount of time or pay extra fees/taxes etc so not sure we can liquidate all of them.

We are about £700 shy, of having enough to pay off the credit card in full. But then next month we have building/contents insurance/MOT to pay out for so would need some of our savings to cover that :mad:

Dinglehopper31

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

If you and your husband are both saving up in share save schemes these are really risky investments. Investing in just one company is the riskiest way of investing even if you work for the companies involved especially if you both work for the same company. Presumably there is an incentive and if you had a diverse portfolio and no debt it would not be so much of an issue but just consider if something were to happen which caused the shares to nosedive, your £8k shares could suddenly be worth only £3-£4k.

We work for different investment banks.
My one, I can take the money out at any time and get my return back...my company basically hold the money each month for a year and then purchase the shares at a discount after a year....I can sell these immediately,

My husbands is similar but his buys the shares each month, but I am pretty sure he can also get his initial investments back if needed.

enthusiasticsaver

Dinglehopper31 wrote: »

The debt isn't from the birthdays/weddings, the debt was there, and paying for it makes it difficult when extra things like birthdays/weddings come up. if that makes sense.

some of the shares are tied up, we have to hold them for certain amount of time or pay extra fees/taxes etc so not sure we can liquidate all of them.

We are about £700 shy, of having enough to pay off the credit card in full. But then next month we have building/contents insurance/MOT to pay out for so would need some of our savings to cover that :mad:

Ideally annual expenses like buildings and contents insurance, car tax and insurance and maybe TV licence if you don't pay monthly would be saved for separately each month. Same goes for birthdays. Agree on an amount you will spend on each person, count the number of people you buy for and then divide the total by 12 and set that amount aside in a savings account each month.

With sharesave schemes there is often some tax to be paid if you are getting the shares at a discounted price and sell them before a fixed period is up, usually 5 years. I just question if it is worth you continuing with these considering your income is reduced and you are obviously struggling with budgeting.

As others have said you need to put budgets in for everything you buy so hair, presents, entertainment and holidays, all of which you obviously pay out for. Don't forget that not only your salary has dropped but paying for childcare etc means your expenses have increased so a tightening on both income and expenditure. Stopping using the credit card until you are straight would be a sensible move.

determined_new_ms

Dinglehopper31 wrote: »

Sorry just realised I did some figures at there annual figure, not monthly

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1406
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2074
Benefits................................ 82.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3562.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1009
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 149
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 26.5
Mobile phone............................ 81
TV Licence.............................. 147 this is surely a mistake or a one off payment not monthly
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 390 if you want to you can make some big savings here and could reduce this by 50% We are a similar set up to you. I work pt and have a 4 yo. I shop at aldi & Lidl mainly, bulk buy/cook, eat in season,
make the most of the weekly offers. We spend between £150-180pcm on groceries
Clothing................................ 0 you need something here for your child at least
Petrol/diesel........................... 90
Road tax................................ 15.41 from what I gather you aren't saving this and are paying it as a one off? That means this isn't accurate - unless some of your savings will be used to pay it?
Car Insurance........................... 15.58
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 16.66
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 185
Childcare/nursery....................... 66
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0 you need something here
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8.5
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 2.5
Life assurance ......................... 12.25
Other insurance......................... 38.88
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 again you need something here. How about looking at your bank/cc statements to see what you've spent over the last 3 months. As am example I put £45/6 away pm and I spend very little on gifts and only have a handful I buy for
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 32.98
Holiday................................. 0 how much are you setting aside for this?
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2466.26


Assets
Cash.................................... 3492
House value (Gross)..................... 320000
Shares and bonds........................ 8000
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 337492


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 240000...(1009).....0
Total secured & HP debts...... 240000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
credit card....................4300......98........0
Loan...........................6800......165.......0
Total unsecured debts..........11100.....263.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,562.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,466.26
Available for debt repayments........... 1,096.54
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 263
Amount left after debt repayments....... 833.54

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 337,492
Total HP & Secured debt................. -240,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,100
Net Assets.............................. 86,392


Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i]

you will have an extra £147 pm when you remove the tv licence from the figures and if you reduce your groceries you (try cutting it back by £50 pcm until you get to a figure you are happy with) which will give you some to play with for the areas you have missed out on.

If it were me I would release some of the shares to pay off the cc - but I'm risk adverse so after getting out of credit card/loan debt I haven't spent a penny I couldn't pay for up front - then you could throw that payment and anything spare at the loan to overpay it clear it quicker.

One thing I have found helps me stay on budget - and my income is now 1/3 of what it was before I my lo is I have an account where I put 1/12 of my yearly expenses (car tax, ins, maint, birthdays, xmas) and then I have a set amount of spending money pcm. That allows me to spend it on whatever I want to but when it's gone it's gone.

enthusiasticsaver

determined_new_ms wrote: »

you will have an extra £147 pm when you remove the tv licence from the figures and if you reduce your groceries you (try cutting it back by £50 pcm until you get to a figure you are happy with) which will give you some to play with for the areas you have missed out on.

If it were me I would release some of the shares to pay off the cc - but I'm risk adverse so after getting out of credit card/loan debt I haven't spent a penny I couldn't pay for up front - then you could throw that payment and anything spare at the loan to overpay it clear it quicker.

One thing I have found helps me stay on budget - and my income is now 1/3 of what it was before I my lo is I have an account where I put 1/12 of my yearly expenses (car tax, ins, maint, birthdays, xmas) and then I have a set amount of spending money pcm. That allows me to spend it on whatever I want to but when it's gone it's gone.

Excellent post and good approach to spending and saving.

117pauline

In your first post you mention that you don't have the cash left your budget says you should have. So my first suggestion would be to get out any old receipts or credit card bills to see where your salaries are really going.

You mention lots of "one off" events that cause you to raid your savings. That might be because your budget doesn't have anything allocated to presents etc.

Go back to the basics to understand your spending habits - it can be a pain to record every little purchase but I am guessing that's where the problem lies.

A SOA is a work in progress for the first year. The first one is the "this is what we'd like to think we are spending" and the last "this is how we really spend".

Also I would suggest that you both tackle one area at a time rather than everything at once. Build in some rewards and quality time outings so that you are still having a life.

Good luck
Pauline