No Ifs, Ands, or Buts!

moosesquirrel

Hello
New here, but not new to this debt that I am carrying around. I don't even know how much my debt is, but suspect around £25k.

A little background, I work part-time in a school. My husband doesn't work due to health problems but hopes to be able to return to some kind of work once he's had an operation. We own a bedsit that we rent out. My eldest son is at University but still living at home. My youngest daughter is at college, still living at home also. We have a dog.

I have two credit cards with debt on them. Between me and DH we have four bank accounts. A bank account for the rentals and associated costs. A bank account for the bills. A bank account we no longer use but with an overdraft on it that needs to be paid back and a bank account debts and spends.

I have a box full of bills and stuff going back 6 months that I haven't even looked at. We just stuff our bills in there and only panic if we get overdue letters or messages from our bank saying they have bounced some DDs.

We have no money for Christmas, unless we pay on the credit cards which are almost at their limits. We have holidays booked and partly paid for next year. We have endless, and I mean month after month of commitments next year, for days or weekends away which we have partly paid for but not completely paid for. Agggh!

DH has just contacted me today, because he needs two new pairs of glasses. Totally £200. He doesn't have the money to buy them and neither do I. We are well and truly stuffed and need to pull ourselves together, pull our heads out of the sand and sort this. No ifs, no ands, no buts!

I've started this thread so that I make sure I deal with this head on. Our finances are a mess and we need to sort them. Can't continue this way.

I have to go to work now. But I'm going to sort through that blasted box tonight and try to put together some sort of income/expenditure thing for here.

Thank you for listening.

-taff

Good luck

enthusiasticsaver

Good luck. Hope you manage to get it sorted. A spending diary and an emergency fund would be a good start as well as an soa.

UncannyScot

Hi and welcome

Just echoing ES above, also, put together a monthly budget planner (there is a good basic excel template, which you can edit to suit yourself, available via Office online )

You've made a start, keep the momentum going now...
if you need any info, advice help etc. Post up and someone will pop on to assist... we're kinda nice that way

kazwookie

moosesquirrel wrote: »

Hello
New here, but not new to this debt that I am carrying around. I don't even know how much my debt is, but suspect around £25k.

A little background, I work part-time in a school. My husband doesn't work due to health problems but hopes to be able to return to some kind of work once he's had an operation. We own a bedsit that we rent out. My eldest son is at University but still living at home. My youngest daughter is at college, still living at home also. We have a dog.

I have two credit cards with debt on them. Between me and DH we have four bank accounts. A bank account for the rentals and associated costs. A bank account for the bills. A bank account we no longer use but with an overdraft on it that needs to be paid back and a bank account debts and spends.

I have a box full of bills and stuff going back 6 months that I haven't even looked at. We just stuff our bills in there and only panic if we get overdue letters or messages from our bank saying they have bounced some DDs.

We have no money for Christmas, unless we pay on the credit cards which are almost at their limits. We have holidays booked and partly paid for next year. We have endless, and I mean month after month of commitments next year, for days or weekends away which we have partly paid for but not completely paid for. Agggh!

DH has just contacted me today, because he needs two new pairs of glasses. Totally £200. He doesn't have the money to buy them and neither do I. We are well and truly stuffed and need to pull ourselves together, pull our heads out of the sand and sort this. No ifs, no ands, no buts!

I've started this thread so that I make sure I deal with this head on. Our finances are a mess and we need to sort them. Can't continue this way.

I have to go to work now. But I'm going to sort through that blasted box tonight and try to put together some sort of income/expenditure thing for here.

Thank you for listening.

Hi

Can you get extra hours at work?
Can your son and daughter help out?
Can you cancell some of the commitments for next year?
Can you cancell your holiday?

Put up a SOA
You also need to know your total debt and %

moosesquirrel

Thanks for the replies folks and the encouragement.

Well last night after work I went through the box of bills. Filed them all. Made up a word list of all our expenses and then checked off all our income. Not accounting for any expenses such as birthdays, christmas, clothes and suchlike I think we are okay. But only just. I will try and fill out one of those budget planners as suggested after work today.

Our bills total £1208.00 per month

Our income totals £1454.00 per month

As for debt. Well I know my credit limits on my two cards £21,350.00. Our overdrafts total £4,700. At the moment we haven't gone over any of them but I am sure we are edging round the limit. So the most debt we could have £26,050.00. Not great when you consider the household income.

Anyway at least things are a little clearer on where we stand. I have to go to work now, but will do that budget thing later tonight and post it tomorrow.

Thanks guys.

moosesquirrel

kazwookie wrote: »

Hi

Can you get extra hours at work?
Can your son and daughter help out?
Can you cancell some of the commitments for next year?
Can you cancell your holiday?

Put up a SOA
You also need to know your total debt and %

Hi there

No extra hours at work. If I do work overtime I have to take it in lieu. The school's budget is so tight it's ridiculous.

Son has disabilities and works hard at Uni, he does pass me over a lot of money each month which boosts our income, from his benefits. Daughter is still too immature really to work, she is 16 but not great in the big wild world.

i will look at the commitments for next year and see if I can cancel some of the hotels that are not paid for. Even if we go, but don't stay over, that will save us something. Thank you

Holiday, I really don't want to cancel. Just because it's something Hubby has been really looking forward to after the godawful year we've had. It's a uk holiday and some of it's paid for so I will see what the balance is to pay and see how we stand when all the figures are really finalised. Thank you:)

117pauline

Good morning

You have taken the first hard step to starting your debt free journey.

It's so easy to bury your head in the sand and say to yourself, I'll sort it tomorrow. That's without the additional worries about your husband

Firstly I would suggest doing an SOA and an in-depth spending diary. That will be your starting point

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
You can format this for MSE

Christmas - your children are old enough to understand budgets etc. Plan a reduced Christmas with as many free things as you can

Are you and your husband able to increase your income? By overtime or perhaps surveys etc. Have a look at the Boost Your Income threads here

Do you know the interest rates on your cards and the overdraft? It may be worth your while contacting Step Change to see whether they can help you manage the situation.

Good luck and keep posting
Pauline

117pauline

Holidays

This is a difficult one.

I suggest you actually write down

- the overall cost
- your deposit
- balance to pay
- actual date it has to be paid by
- amount needed for spending money

Then work out how much you will need per month to cover the holidays

Are there ways you could reduce the costs involved? Perhaps by taking breakfast with you or going self catering

Can you change dates rather than cancelling completely?

Use the holidays as gifts to the family and buy no extra presents at Christmas or birthdays?

I understand why you want to keep them. However you all need to decide where you will cut back hard to make it possible whilst still reducing your debt.

Another tough decision for you all
Take care
Pauline

timetobefrugal

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all the best of luck!

It's taken me over a year and an increase of my debt to come to terms with how I'm going to tackle such a large amount. I'm still not one of these 'lightbulb fully on debt busting minds' BUT as long as my debt is going down and not up - even if it's at a slower pace, then I'm happy.

I think you need to have a good look at all of your figures and look at how much realistically you can pay off a month while still affording to live without using credit. As suggested above a full SAO will help give a breakdown of where all your money is going to. No matter how bad the situation there are options for you.

Hope your husband is on the mend soon

moosesquirrel

I have completed an SOA. Not looking so good.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 577
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 262
Other income............................ 1015
Total monthly income.................... 1854

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 142
Electricity............................. 48
Gas..................................... 48
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 18
Telephone (land line)................... 29
Mobile phone............................ 78
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 51
Internet Services....................... 12.5
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 5
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 25
Car Insurance........................... 78
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 15
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 18
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 32
Buildings insurance..................... 15
Contents insurance...................... 15
Life assurance ......................... 40
Other insurance......................... 112
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 40
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
netflix................................. 8
Total monthly expenses.................. 1322.5


Assets
Cash.................................... 75
House value (Gross)..................... 380000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 382075

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclaycard....................14084.....317.......18.02
MBNA...........................6492.18...121.1.....24.9
Nationwide overdraft...........750.......0.........0
Barclays overdraft.............2500......0.........0
Nationwide overdraft...........1450......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........25276.18..438.1.....-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,854
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,322.5
Available for debt repayments........... 531.5
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 438.1
Amount left after debt repayments....... 93.4

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 382,075
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,276.18
Net Assets.............................. 356,798.82


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