Looking for some help

fay66

Im over 50, empty nest syndrome work 40 hours plus
and looking for some help on the below

Default looking for some help
[tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0 1 car pip hp

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1456
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 374
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1830

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 156 includes 60 debt paid jan 18
Electricity............................. 28
Gas..................................... 28
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 88, ee mobile and pad contract ends jan 19
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 includes dogs cats
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 miles 250 ew
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50
Haircuts................................ 30
Entertainment........................... 60
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1490


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
capital one....................200.......10........34.9
aqua...........................500.......48....... .34.9
ocean..........................1000......27....... .34.94
118 118 loan...................2788......145.......71.3
studio.........................100.......0........ .0
fashion world..................200.......0.........0
littlewoods....................450.......20....... .0
very...........................300.......17....... .0
marbles........................4500......189...... .34.9
Total unsecured debts..........10038.....456.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,490
Available for debt repayments........... 340
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 456
Amount short for making debt repayments. -116

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,038
Net Assets.............................. -10,038

[/tt]
Debts: 118118 loan £2500,

autumn2012_2

Hi Fay66,

Well done for coming on here and asking for help! :-)

I would suggest you cut back on things like entertainment and holidays etc until you get that 118 loan at 71% APR repaid! Thats a ridiculous amount in interest that you could be putting towards other debts.

Grumpelstiltskin

You have an emergency fund on the SOA do you actually have anything in it?

There re many things you must cut back on, TV, Entertainment, Clothes, Haircuts, Presents. Whilst you have the 118118 loan it is vital you cut right back and throw every spare penny at that.

datlex

fay66 wrote: »

Im over 50, empty nest syndrome work 40 hours plus
and looking for some help on the below

Default looking for some help
[tt]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0 1 car pip hp

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1456
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 374 What benefit are you able to get on 1456 a month? Are you on PIP?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1830

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 450
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 156 includes 60 debt paid jan 18 If you are on PIP have you checked for discounts, also have you applied for single person discount
Electricity............................. 28
Gas..................................... 28
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 25
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 88, ee mobile and pad contract ends jan 19 Go sim only you will save a fortune, you don't need a new phone in January. EE have a plan for £15 You can also save up for a new sim free phone if you want and pay less than you would have on contract.
TV Licence.............................. 12 It is now slightly more than £12, If you are putting a pounds rather than precise amounts put as £13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 58
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200 includes dogs cats Review your receipts, look at what you buy brands etc and try the brand shift challenge. Also test your receipt in an alternative supermarket to see what savings you could make, You should be able to reduce this.
Clothing................................ 50 You could shave some off this. Reducing to £40 a week saves £120 a year or most of your TV licence
Petrol/diesel........................... 120 miles 250 ew
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10 Is this prepayment certificate?
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 25
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50 Again reduce this to £40 a month you will save £120 a year
Haircuts................................ 30 If you stretch your hair cuts by a week or two you will save here
Entertainment........................... 60 Given how much you spend on TV services this seems high could you shave £10 off this each month? What does it involve?
Holiday................................. 30
Emergency fund.......................... 50 reduce to £40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1490


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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly.. .APR
capital one....................200.......10........34.9
aqua...........................500.......48....... .34.9
ocean..........................1000......27....... .34.94
118 118 loan...................2788......145.......71.3
studio.........................100.......0........ .0
fashion world..................200.......0.........0
littlewoods....................450.......20....... .0
very...........................300.......17....... .0
marbles........................4500......189...... .34.9
Total unsecured debts..........10038.....456.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,830
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,490
Available for debt repayments........... 340
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 456
Amount short for making debt repayments. -116

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -10,038
Net Assets.............................. -10,038

[/tt]
Debts: 118118 loan £2500,

There is definitely room to reduce your spends by at least £113. You also need to bin the catalogues.
If you snow ball your debts you will be able to clear them. You should be able to pay off your capital card by March if you pay the savings towards that. Then put the savings plus the amount paid currently to the capital card to your aqua and then onto your ocean card, I think you could get these paid off in just over a year. In 2 to 3 years be debt free.

pennystretcher

Well done on facing the current situation and getting your SOA done and clarifying the interest rates on what you own at the moment and specifically what the interest rates are (that is the most time consuming thing to do). You'll get there, just be patient and think about the long term goal.

Cut down on food and empty your cupboards and freezer what you have in there and shop in Aldi or Lidl only to reduce the 118 118 loan...(Aldi is cheaper from my experience for pet food) and get rid of this 118118 debt ASAP. (had a bit of a splutter when I saw the interest...gulp) Then any money freed afer 118118 has been paid off, tackle the next most expensive debts...

Dobbibill

Lots of good pointers from datlex already.

The council tax will free up £60 after December which will be good.
Are you paying this over 12 months or the standard 10? Paying over 12 months could reduce the monthly cost further to give you wiggle room in your budget.

See if EE can reduce your bill with less minutes/texts/data - don't wait until January 2019 - it doesn't cost a thing to ask the question. Agree with datlex, go SIMO after that.

Satellite/Cable needs to go - switch to freeview or freesat.

You could shave a considerable amount of your groceries. My DS & his GF spend half that for a month and there's 2 of those. I'm sure even with pets to buy for, you could reduce it significantly.

Clothing can be halved, use charity shops or ebay.

Presents can be reduced too, even reducing it by £10 - £20 a month, you will make a big difference to your overall budget.

Use a local college for haircuts - the students are always well supervised and cost a fraction of the price of a salon.

What is your entertainment for? Can you replace it with something cheaper/free?

When your home insurance is due for renewal check cashback sites like Quidco and TCB - you should be able to shave some costs there. Same with car insurance - check those sites.

Forego the hoiday at the moment - you really need to throw that money at the debts.

If you are putting £50 pm in an emergency fund - why is there no figure in the 'cash' section below it?

Are Very, Littlewoods, Studio and Fashion World really 0%?

You need to overpay as much as possible on the 118 loan - that's a horrendous APR.
Have you got anything you can sell? Overtime available? second job?

fay66

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

You have an emergency fund on the SOA do you actually have anything in it?

There re many things you must cut back on, TV, Entertainment, Clothes, Haircuts, Presents. Whilst you have the 118118 loan it is vital you cut right back and throw every spare penny at that.

hi yes had an idea from debt free diary when council tax is due put the money on that and your right I can cut the present money down and holidays and not accrue til jan pay day

fay66

Dobbibill wrote: »

Lots of good pointers from datlex already.

The council tax will free up £60 after December which will be good.
Are you paying this over 12 months or the standard 10? Paying over 12 months could reduce the monthly cost further to give you wiggle room in your budget. yes agree to this

See if EE can reduce your bill with less minutes/texts/data - don't wait until January 2019 - it doesn't cost a thing to ask the question. Agree with datlex, go SIMO after that. will do but all the forums point to you cant decrease unless you have increased which I havent will give it a go

Satellite/Cable needs to go - switch to freeview or freesat. under contract for a year

You could shave a considerable amount of your groceries. My DS & his GF spend half that for a month and there's 2 of those. I'm sure even with pets to buy for, you could reduce it significantly. will try but thats what i mainly use, work long hours finish get home say 7 depending on traffic use iceland mainly spent 45 this week but can be more

Clothing can be halved, use charity shops or ebay. will try for this because im a large size 26 its hard to find and cant do all on a saturday only day off and normally not much on this day

Presents can be reduced too, even reducing it by £10 - £20 a month, you will make a big difference to your overall budget.going to try on this, got to get daughter a tv for her bedroom she has left home and some gucci bamboo thats what she asked for i dont see her much

Use a local college for haircuts - the students are always well supervised and cost a fraction of the price of a salon. normally working full time 30 is for roots colour and cut good price

What is your entertainment for? Can you replace it with something cheaper/free? i live alone and do the odd meal in the week with a social group, so would include petrol

When your home insurance is due for renewal check cashback sites like Quidco and TCB - you should be able to shave some costs there. Same with car insurance - check those sites. its direct line and included annual holiday insurance its due march i did compare and was the best at time

Forego the holiday at the moment - you really need to throw that money at the debts. no holiday planned next year only did a 3 day break this year and was £150 including most meals and booze at centre parcs

If you are putting £50 pm in an emergency fund - why is there no figure in the 'cash' section below it? its a projection of the future its not whats been done in the past i have £21 in bank til Thursday

Are Very, Littlewoods, Studio and Fashion World really 0%? yes studio and fashion world not due til Jan, Fashionworld was clothes for christmas parties

You need to overpay as much as possible on the 118 loan - that's a horrendous APR. yes going to put next years council tax free months on this
Have you got anything you can sell? Overtime available? second job?

sold ps4 and x box 360, not got anything to sell now really

Dobbibill

Definitely ring EE - I did this with my DS a few years ago and he managed to get a reduction in cost while increasing his data. Sometimes you have to be a little cheeky and ask.

If you are still under contract for a year with Satellite/Cable then do as above and ask for a reduction.

Ditch Iceland and switch to Aldi or Lidl.
Meal plan - lots of ideas on the Old Style board.

If you can't/won't reduce the cost of the hair salon then at least stretch it a week longer in between visits.

With no holiday planned, that money can be thrown at the debts.

Clothes that you can't afford for parties that you can't afford are not going to help your debt situation. You have to make sacrifices to get rid of the debt. That said, hindsight is a wonderful thing and ebay would possibly have got you nice clothes for the party at a fraction of the cost. Party tops tend to be worn once. I've had a quick look and found several at £5-£6 including postage. (This would give you over 30 tops for the amount you have paid to fashion world) Not everything on ebay is 2nd hand either, there are many shops too.

Can you get overtime or a second job?

This is going to take a major mind-set change to achieve and I'm not sure you have had a LBM yet. It's going to be hard work, there will be sacrifices along the way. The debt didn't get there overnight so there is no over-night, quick fix. I'm sure with determination you can make a significant difference.

Maysie

I have been selling little bits and bobs on Mercari app recently made about £200 on old clothes, kids stuff, unopened beauty products and random clutter. Best bit is no fees! I just pay to post it tracked usually use parcel2go as its cheapest and drop at drop off point 5 minutes away. You input tracking on the app buyer gets it they leave feedback it releases the cash to your mercari balance. I have been saving up to £50 then sending it to my bank account. Not had any problems yet must be about £200 in sales so far in last 2 months. Its quicker to list than ebay which i got fed up off so many fees through selling and accepting paypal. I do have a code for joining but i probably need to put that on the referral board.

enjoyyourshoes

Not sure of your motivation to tackle debts?

Lots of 'i will try'

How about, thats great I will definitely do this and maintain this over a long period of time?

You have over £10 K in debts, this will result in a lot of continued effort, over a long period of time with considerable changes to your attitude towards spending to clear it.

Are you up for it?