£16k in 10 months & Save for house

DroidBot

Hi all, a long time lurker (~16 years) but am finally trying to get things sorted.

I've been in debt since i was 15, starting with a visa electron card which would allow me to go £10 over. Over the years i've always managed to increase my earnings, but unfortunately i felt each time i could just spend more.

I'm now in a position where i want to get debt erased and buy a house in the next 12-18 months.

As the stoozing SOA is still offline, my custom SOA is below. Any advice or recommendations welcome!

Net Income..............£4,063.00
Partner.....................£416.00
(2 Kids < 5)

Monthly Bills....... Freq....Amount....Monthly
Car Service Plan.....1......£27.00.....£27.00
TV License..............1......£12.12.....£12.12
Mobile Phone..........1......£45.00.....£45.00
2nd Mobile Phone...1......£40.00.....£40.00
Healthcare...............1......£88.00.....£88.00
Netflix..................... 1......£7.50.......£7.50
Pet Insurance..........1......£35.53.....£35.53
Energy.................... 1......£78.00.....£78.00
Rent.........................1......£850.00...£850.00
Council Tax............. 1......£152.00...£152.00
Postcode Lotto.........1......£10.00.....£10.00
Subscription.............1......£5.00.......£5.00
Groceries................ 1......£250.00...£250.00
Phone/BB............... 1......£45.65.....£45.65
Child Care...............1......£250.00...£250.00
AmazonPrime........ 12.....£79.00....£6.58
Water Rates............6......£145.00...£24.17

Debt Payments
Car Lease...............1......£370.26...£370.26
Barclay Loan(6.8%)1......£451.43...£451.43
BarclayCard............1......£111.00...£111.00

Other
Spending Money...........................£100.00

Total.........................£2,959.24
Left Over..................£1,519.76
Loan Over payment£1,200.00
Saving......................£300.00
Spare.......................£19.76

Total Savings...........£5457

Couple of notes for SOA
-Barclaycard has 0% promo which i used for car insurance and some other stupid things, £2583 balance
-Childcare is variable depending on term times, this is an average across the year
-I'm using two LISA's so want to dump £4k into each in March (so don't want to use savings to pay debt)
-I get paid bonuses twice a year, non-contracted but 90% guaranteed. These aren't shown but are worth minimum of £7k/year. These will be going into savings or pay for things like servicing/mot on our other car.
-I save £100/month into share save, this and pension have already come off income.
-£250 for groceries also covers other incidentals for my partner (hair, kids clothes etc)
-Loan is £16,200
-Council Tax is over 10 months, 2 months not paying will be saved


I was initially paying loan back with no over payments and trying to save all the money, however i realised how much i was restricted on mortgages with this hanging over.

Anything I've missed, other options, general feedback?

enthusiasticsaver

There are a few things which could be cheaper on your soa. £85 for 2 mobile phones is expensive but if you are in contract there is not much you can do about it. I personally would not bother with the postcode lotto or amazon prime. Can the pet insurance be reduced?

You are right to address the debt before savings. That is quite a hefty loan? What was it for?

DroidBot

Hi enthusiasticsaver,

It was a 19k debt consolidation loan, mainly from cards. I know it's not the cheapest way to fix cars debt but for me psychologically having a committed payment makes me pay it.

I've since stopped all stupid spending on cards and now use a Amex card for my work expenses (I used to get my expenses back and not pay off the cards)

DroidBot

I might get rid of postcode lotto but Prime is heavily used by the kids for video streaming. The pet insurance is difficult as the dog is older but I'll search around in May when it's due for renewal.