From the top, now with accuracy (I hope)..

Villagepig

Hello all you kindly peeps,

Light bulb moment has come and panic has subsided a little so I guess its time to face the music and ask all of you experts for a guiding hand (I promise to stop mixing my metaphors if you point me the right direction :-))..

I believe a SOA is in order so here goes my best effort:

Monthly Incomings:
My salary: £1,550.00
Hubby: £1990.00
Other: £100.00
Benefits: £112.00

Total: £3752.00

(my in-laws have offered to help us out by paying £400.00 to us until Feb when my FIL retires so it is a consideration although we wouldn't take it unless it made a singinicant difference to the action plan AND allowed us to continue with the plan after Feb)

Monthly Outgoings:
Mortgage: £1569.00
Council tax: £125.00
Lights & Electrics: £90.00
Water: £20.00
Sky: £22.00 (recently dropped to lowest plan)
BT (internet and home phone): £40.00 (international calls to SA with Liquid telecom)
Liquid Telecom: £ 8.00 (approx)
Mobile (mine): £40.00 - contract 1 year to go
Mobile (hubby) : £40.00 - contract 4 months to go
Home Insurance :£ 40.00
Car Insurance (combined) : £81.00
Hubby Car : £220.00 (economical, diesel estate)
My car: £ 65.00 (small city car, v.economical!)
Pet insurance : £15.00
Life/mortgage/critical illness : £100.00

Personal Loan (mine): £ 371.28 (£20 944 for 3 more years to go at 8.9%)
Personal Loan (hubby): £ 271.00 (£11 500.00 4 years to go at 6.7%)
Joint Overdraft : £4192
Hubby o/draft: £1500.00
Catalogue: £ 40.00 (£600.00 at 11.5%)
CC (me) : £80.00 (£2454 for 13.5%)
CC (hubby): £10.00 (£248.00 for 13.5%)


Total outgoing (without paying into overdraft) : £3248.18

Assuming we don't take my in-laws up on the temporary offer that leaves us with £503.82 for food, petrol and emergencies.

Now for the curious (and because I know it is relevant) here are our stats:

Our household consists of 3 adults, 2 toddlers and 2 cats. We have to have 2 cars (one biggish and one small) because both of us travel for work.

Neither of us go out (haven't been out for dinner or seen a movie in over 2 years). Our only luxury is Sky and a 6pack beers and a bottle of Rosé. I have arranged to do a few shifts at the local near us but have no idea what I am likely to earn from this.

Fortunately our childcare is paid for through vouchers before we receive our salary but even so having twins means that we can only cover 2.5 days a week. The third adult in my house (my sister) takes care of the kids the other 2.5 days and she does it for free (or rather in place of board and lodging).

We have been dumb, I know that and my hubby knows that and it looks as though our only real option is an IVA. Which is where you guys come in, help please??

VP

p.s. we have an appointment booked with CAB for the 16th and for the first time ever this month we have had several dd's bounce (at £25 per return!!!)

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya sweetie,

Honestly? (WARNING: I'm going to be a bit strict and kick your bottom! )

Looking at it from the perspective that we earned less than you and owed (much) more than you at our LBM I would think that an IVA would be a last resort rather than a next step for you.

It's not an easy option. They take thousands to set up and the aftermath is not great either.

Read Martin's Guide:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/pdf-iva-guide.pdf

There is plenty of wiggle room in your SOA to throw more money at the debts - and if you negotiate an interest rate freeze on your debts they'll actually start to reduce.

Take the inlaws up on their kind offer... and throw it at the debt immediately or save it up for a while and offer your creditors settlement figures.

Your sis could start to make a more realistic contribution to the household as well couldn't she? What would it cost her to live elsewhere? Round here it's £500 a month to rent a room in a shared house - plus food and bills. That's a LOT of childcare!

Dump your mobiles or at least renegotiate your phone contracts so they cost you less - tell them your looking at IVA and bankruptcy as your next step and if the first person you get doesn't instantly become more accomodating ask to speak to a supervisor.

Can you cut down on your car expenses? It seems as if they are a sizeable chunk of your outgoings - particularly if those figures don't include petrol, and the insurance is separate.

And check out this board for how to cut down your supermarket bill:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

If you cut back quite hard on your outgoings, take the inlaws up on their offer and introduce your sis to the real world (sorry, I know that's cheeky. ) you can get this under control in a few months in my opinion.

We're paying off a £96,700 debt in about 3 and a half years on a combined monthly salary of £2600 We have two teenage kids and their mates, girlfriends / boyfriends and various hangers on to feed - plus a grumpy cat.

Our bills come to £1000 a month. (They used to be closer to £2000) we pay £1200 towards the debt (more if we can) and we all live on the £400 left over after tax (plus any more we can earn doing gardening babysitting, eBay, mystery shopping etc.)

We looked at IVA, and bankruptcy, selling the house, remortgaging, an agency run DMP...all the usual suspects, and we decided that this was the best path for us.

It may not be the path for you, but I wanted to present the option.

Sorry to bang on for so long,

Love Jacks xxx

calleyw

If I right you seem to have £503.82 a month left over for food, clothes etc.

There are few things missing from your SOA like clothes, food , car tax and servicing, hair cuts etc.

You internet and phone costs should be able to come down as the line rental is only £11.50 a month. Look and see if someone like 1899 is cheaper for international calls.

Ask the council if you can pay your council tax over 12 months and not 10. Does not save you money but makes it easier to budget.

Mobile phones need to get down to the lowest tariff they will let you. Reckon you save nearly £40 a month with that.

Car insurance seems expensive at £81 joint per month. Mine cost approx £20 a month for fully comp for a 1.6L engine at I have only been driving for 7 years. (I am over 25 as well) Have you shopped around. And mine was from a local broker.

How many miles does your husband do if he clocks up £220 a month in diesel. I spend about £140 a month of fuel and that is doing approx 700 miles a in petrol car.

Also your Life/mortgage/critical illness is rather high. Does one of you have a long standing condition. If not then shop around.

Could you not drop the mortgage down to interest only for a few months to give you some breathing room to pay off some of the debts.

Also keep a spending diary to see where all the money goes.

All the best no matter what you do.


Yours


Calley