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Beyond help???

Cassox
Cassox Posts: 23 Forumite
edited 27 August 2017 at 3:48PM in Debt-free wannabe
I have reached the point of no return. I cannot carry on like this. I have had to start taking anti depressants to get me through each day. I have extended my mortgage till I'm 65 but am still living beyond my means and amassing more debt. My statement is below. I have got each bill down to its cheapest I can get. Any advice would be welcome

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.99 contract for another 18 months
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.04 includes home phone and TVs
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.40
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 overdraft £700
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 includes car breakdown, home emergency, mobile phone, travel insurance, boiler cover. More expensive to get separately
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.96
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461.52
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.56
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00 includes toiletries. Household. 5 lots of pet food
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.18
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 total debt £5650 + £2000
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.21 debt left = 8 more payments
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.37 total debt £7900
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00 included in shopping
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00included in internet
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complementary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 contract to run for another 8 months
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 have been losing weight so replacing where necessary

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


[/font]
«1345

Comments

  • Hi!
    Couple of questions from me:
    What are you paying £15 for exactly with a bank account fee?
    You're spending £240 a year on coffee/sandwiches/snacks. You don't need these, you want them.
    You don't say how many adults/children in your household. £220 for food, if it's for one is extremely high. If it's for two it can still be lowered. I am presuming you do have children though as you give £100 pocket money. Who is this for? One child? Two? More?
    £50 a month on clothes? Is this for you? If you want to take actions, this needs to be trimmed, or gone.
    Good news is though is that you might be able to start saving a bit more on your outgoings.
    Savings as of April 2023 Savings account - £26460.50(14474.88)Current account - £2140.24(4576.79)Total - £28600.74(19051.67) £1010 (£65pm CS/BS) £250 CS/BS/JS
  • Hiddenidenity
    Hiddenidenity Posts: 5,423 Forumite
    Cassox wrote: »
    I have reached the point of no return. I cannot carry on like this. I have had to start taking anti depressants to get me through each day. I have extended my mortgage till I'm 65 but am still living beyond my means and amassing more debt. My statement is below. I have got each bill down to its cheapest I can get. Any advice would be welcome

    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00
    Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Monthly Expense Details

    In Your Home

    Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.99 When does your contract end? Switch to sim only some fab deals around for under £10
    TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.04
    Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.40
    Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
    Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00 Switch to a free account unless you actually use £15 a month worth of benefit.
    Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.96
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461.52
    Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.56
    Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00 For one adult? You could half this! This is more than I spend on a family of 5.
    Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Motoring & Public Transport

    Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00
    Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.18
    Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 Do you actually save this so its there when needed?
    Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Debt Repayments

    Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
    Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.21
    Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.37
    Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Savings & Investments

    Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Family

    Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00 This for?
    Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Entertainment

    Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Clothes, Health & Beauty

    Complementary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00 You need to cut this back until your in a better position go longer in between visits if you can't find a cheaper alternative
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50 Every month?
    Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00 Can you cut this back? Do free activities?
    Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00 Every month? Cut back to basics until you're in a better position

    Education & Courses

    University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Big One-Offs

    Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    £50 for xmas and birthdays? Can you cut back here a little? Do you actually save this?
    Odds & Sods

    Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 Do you need this?
    Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 Can you give your time or something other than money?
    Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00 Take them from home ;) Thats £240 a year


    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00


    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


    [/font]

    My comments in red to give you some ideas x
  • sourcrates
    sourcrates Posts: 31,799 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts I've been Money Tipped! Name Dropper
    How much is your total debt, you seem to of missed that bit ?
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free wannabe, Credit file and ratings, and Bankruptcy and living with it boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.For free non-judgemental debt advice, contact either Stepchange, National Debtline, or CitizensAdviceBureaux.Link to SOA Calculator- https://www.stoozing.com/soa.php The "provit letter" is here-https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2607247/letter-when-you-know-nothing-about-about-the-debt-aka-prove-it-letter
  • Geoff1963
    Geoff1963 Posts: 1,088 Forumite
    A few thoughts :

    Are the Birthday and Christmas figures, £25 / month each ?

    Charity begins at home. Pay the £5 to yourself.

    Do you need separate £28.04 Internet, or can you get it on your smartphone ?

    How long to go on the personal loan ?

    Instead of going into the gym ; run there, and run back.
  • enthusiasticsaver
    enthusiasticsaver Posts: 16,102 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Cassox wrote: »
    I have reached the point of no return. I cannot carry on like this. I have had to start taking anti depressants to get me through each day. I have extended my mortgage till I'm 65 but am still living beyond my means and amassing more debt. My statement is below. I have got each bill down to its cheapest I can get. Any advice would be welcome

    Monthly Income Details
    Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00
    Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Monthly Expense Details

    In Your Home

    Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.99
    TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
    Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.04
    Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
    Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.00
    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.40
    Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60.00
    Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
    Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.96
    Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461.52
    Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.56
    Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220.00
    Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Motoring & Public Transport

    Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110.00
    Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00
    Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.18
    Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Debt Repayments

    Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
    Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44.21
    Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.37
    Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Savings & Investments

    Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Family

    Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
    Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Entertainment

    Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Clothes, Health & Beauty

    Complementary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
    Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50
    Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

    Education & Courses

    University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

    Big One-Offs

    Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00
    Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.00

    Odds & Sods

    Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
    Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
    Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.00


    Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,690.00


    Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


    [/font]

    For some reason the monthly expenses has not totalled so I have added up all your budgeted spends and it comes up as £1740 so £50 more than your income so you will need to cut back further.

    Others have made good suggestions. You have not put your total debt or how many people are in your family. If just you £220 for food is too much.

    £50 for clothes is also too high and £100 pocket money. You need an emergency fund too so if you cut back on the above then your budget will balance. Change to a bank account that does not charge you £15 a month just for banking with them. Cut the charity donation until you are in a better place and cancel the newspapers and read online freebies. Cut or reduce the coffees out, find somewhere cheaper for haircuts or get it done less often and see if the insurances can be got any lower.
    I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Debt free Wannabe, Budgeting and Banking and Savings and Investment boards. If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.

    The 365 Day 1p Challenge 2025 #1 £667.95/£391.55
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  • Is the pocket money for a child ? If so, why no figure for child benefit ? If it's for a child no longer entitled to child benefit, then cut this immediately. This and the sandwiches, plus £5 for charity gives you an extra £125 a month.
  • Well at least your pet is eating for free! Is that £10 on the wrong row perhaps?
    Cassox wrote: »
    Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
    Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
    "The problem with Internet quotes is that you can't always depend on their accuracy" - Abraham Lincoln, 1864
  • bexster1975
    bexster1975 Posts: 1,576 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Bake Off Boss!
    Hi

    I think I'm being dim. As others have said above, I have nothing to add re SOA except: is the total of your debt really only £278 debt repayments per month? If so, I don't really understand. If you cut the gym, coffee etc, newspapers and mags, reduce by 75% pocket money and reduce grocery bill ( don't know by how much as do t know who you are feeding besides self and pet) this is all do-able.

    I must be missing something....

    Bexster :)
  • Cassox
    Cassox Posts: 23 Forumite
    Hi

    I have tried to make my SOA more detailed. Part was incorrect don't know what happened. I have 5 pets, all old and rescued years ago from abuse so it is not an option at their old age to rehome. If it means finding cheap food etc for myself then so it is. I rarely if ever put aside the money I i am supposed to for birthdays, Xmas car etc as there is always some house or car repair that needs doing so everything else inevitably goes on the credit card.

    The gym is my only form of entertainment/ social event I get to do.

    Thanks
  • Cassox
    Cassox Posts: 23 Forumite
    See my revised thread.

    Thanks
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