Day 1

Working_Mum

Hi Wheely,
Well done for taking this first step and deciding to change things!!

Have you kept a budget before? Do you know where you currently spend your cash/cards??

I started by writing down a list of all of my direct debits, expriy dates of insurances and if it was necessary or a luxury. I slowly refined everything so that I saved money at renewal on all of my insurances by looking for renewal prices a month ahead of renewal which reduced the likelihood of a panic buy.

I keep a journal of all of my cash and card spends so i know where I spend money (and also when!).

I have a "control centre" in my kitchen where I plan everything from birthday card/present spends for the forthcoming month, weekly menus etc - having all my home finance stuff in one place means I can add to my shopping list as I run out of something and plan for any spends I need to make.

I did a huge inventory of everything - from toiletries through to my kitchen store cupboards and freezer - this way I wasn't buying duplicates of stuff - I have a "shop at home first" mentality which helps keep an eye on the pennies.

It took a mental shift for me to realise that this debt reduction job was doable and that I could influence things every single day.

I would face your fears and get the log in details for your bank and credit cards and ensure you track when payments are due and pay them in a timely manner to avoid charges.

Register for a free credit score via Noddle or someone similar - this is a good stake in the ground!!

Track your progress towards your goal and be kind to yourself if you slip up every now and again.

Read the Boards here as daily motivation to chip away at your debt. There is so much awesome practical advice from people who have been in your shoes and really care!

Good luck on your debt free journey!!

[Deleted User]

That SOA is hard to follow, so, using the OP's own figures, I've redone it (see below) and, while there are some items that could potentially be improved (Pay TV and some insurances jump out at me), there are other items that seem unreasonably low (food for example).

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2600
Partners monthly income after tax....... 450
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 3050

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 650
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 142 - If over 10 months, switching to 12 months will reduce this to £118-33 per month.
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 43
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35 - How many phones, and how long before the contract(s) end?
TV Licence.............................. 12.25
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 63 - This is £756 per year, which is a lot. Cancel and go Freeview/Freesat instead.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 25 - This is very low. Are you sure this isn't per week?
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 300
Road tax................................ 24
Car Insurance........................... 31
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 94 - This is £1,128 per year, which is a lot. Check comparison sites for a better price.
Buildings insurance..................... 21
Contents insurance...................... 16
Life assurance ......................... 43 - This seems quite high. Check comparison sites for a better price.
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0 - Nothing at all? Not even a card or small gift for each other?
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0 - Not even a day out at the seaside or zoo?
Emergency fund.......................... 120
Total monthly expenses.................. 1815.25


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 185000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 8500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 193500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 100000...(650)......1.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 100000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Santander Everyday CC..........7000......225.......18.9
Tesco Card.....................10735.....214.......18.9
Halifax........................1834......109.......18.9
Car Loan.......................3500......300.......0
MBNA CC........................11100.....141.......NaN - What does NaN stand for?
Natwest........................2700......56........18.9
Total unsecured debts..........36869.....1045.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 3,050
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,815.25
Available for debt repayments........... 1,234.75
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 745
Amount left after debt repayments....... 189.75

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 193,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -100,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -33,369
Net Assets.............................. 60,131

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

I suggest the OP takes a look at the above, and sees if it really does represent their situation.

Also, I've added my observations in red.

Do you actually have around £190 left each month? If not, you need to figure out where it is going to.

fatbelly

Bob - Has the car loan

car loan 3500 300 0

disappeared?

OP - is it definitely an unsecured loan and not HP?

[Deleted User]

fatbelly wrote: »

Bob - Has the car loan

car loan 3500 300 0

disappeared?

Oops, missed that.

Now added.

wheely

Thankyou all.

To clarify a few things.
The additional £450 is my wife's contribution towards bills.
She also funds purchases, such as holidays and presents etc
I have one mobile phone that is about out of contract (Makeover day job)
We have 4 dogs, hence steep insurance. But we have used it numerous times and effectively saved thousands.
Council tax is over 10months.
NAN on MBNA card was meant to be a mixture of 0% and 6%
Thanks

[Deleted User]

wheely wrote: »

The additional £450 is my wife's contribution towards bills.
She also funds purchases, such as holidays and presents etc.

Then you should either include those expenses in the SOA, or leave out your wife's contribution. Including the £450, but leaving out what it is spent on, is giving a distorted view of your situation.

Indeed, it probably explains where the "spare" £190 is going.

I have one mobile phone that is about out of contract

I suggest you then keep the phone and go PAYG/sim only, for ~ £10 per month.

Pixie5740

Have you sat down and discussed your debts with your wife? What exactly have you been spending your money on that has led to almost £37k of unsecured debt? It might be that you and your wife need to sit down and look at the total household income and the total household expenditure if you are finding that that your share of the expenditure has resulted in that much debt.

PrettyKittyKat

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Then you should either include those expenses in the SOA, or leave out your wife's contribution. Including the £450, but leaving out what it is spent on, is giving a distorted view of your situation.

Indeed, it probably explains where the "spare" £190 is going.



I suggest you then keep the phone and go PAYG/sim only, for ~ £10 per month.

I think he means that she gives him the £450 as well as paying for the things he hasn't listed. So he can include the £450 as this goes towards mortgage, council tax, utilities etc which he oays and has listed but doesn't need to include those other expenditures (eg presents) as his wife covers these.

wheely

That is correct. The £450 contributes to the outgoings on the SOA, and the remainder of her salary pays for groceries, and holidays etc.

I've tried to list the items I currently pay for out of the funds I have available.

This may seem like a daft question....I have paid off over £50k of mortgage over the last 10 years, the house has appreciated (certainly not depreciated) in value, and I am on a base rate (plus about 0.5%) mortgage. Is there any possibility, or sense in re-mortgaging against the equity? I do not know if this is feasible, or even an option.
Whilst i realise the overal cost of he repayment may be higher, and it would take longer to pay off, even if I paid 50% extra a month on my mortgage , the additional amount would be a third of my current debt repayments.

[Deleted User]

I would not recommend turning unsecured debt into secured debt.