My Statement of Affiars - any help???

morphette

I have always read other peoples postings but never actually had the courage until today to post my SOA in the hope someone will guide me on what to do as the light at the end of the tunnel seems way off and I am struggling to keep up with everything and with xmas looming I am spiraling into depression over our family finances. Sorry it's all so long but had better explain things incase you all come back with odd advice.!

In short back in 2005 I started of having debts of £90K - long story and I am please somewhat to have reduced this to £64k but still this is still a heavy burden and I now need help!

So here goes

This is our family sitiuation each month

OUTGOINGS
Mortgage £695
Sky TV £21
Gas/Electric £100
Phone/Broadband £36
Home Loan £356 (secured on house)
Home Insurance £29
TV LIcense £11
HP Loan for new fitted Kitchen £156
NUrsery Fees £295
Council Tax £118
Food £80 (2 adults & 1 child aged 2yrs includes nappies,clothing for duaghter, toiletries & laundry items
Water Bill £ 197 in Credit as had overpaid last year! Yippee!!!
HP on TV £48
LIfe Insurance for Partner £39
Mobile (partner on contract) £35
Repayment Loan to Gran £50
HP on musical instruments £95
Van Insurance £20
HP on Digital Camera £24
Pension(partner) £40
Petrol for Van £40
Van Mot & Tax £20
Lunch for work £20
Band rehearsal payments to hall £20
HSBC Credit Card £50
Audi Insurance £26
Mobile mine on contract £35
TSB Personal Loan £476
HSA insurance £18
AXA private healthcare £21
Petrol for car £200
Audi Tax/Mot £20
Egg Credit Card £130
Mint Card £100
MBNA £30
Capital One £150
D2 Store Card £50
Vanquis Credit Card £95
Leredoute catalogue £20
Ace Catalogue £20
Vertbaudet catalogue £20
Lloyds TSB Credit card £50
Cigarettes £80

TOTAL OUTGOINGS IS £3976 A MONTH

INCOME EACH MONTH AFTER TAXES
My Wages £1200 full time
Partners Wages £1100 full time
Rental of spare room £280
Working Tax Credits £42
Child Benefit £72
Ebay selling £250 after deducation of ebay listing fees
Partner sings in a local band and brings home approx £100 a month
Market Stall trading £200 on a saturday only - selling costume and cheap jewellery
£200 from our own business which we can only run part time printing a 30000 copy local magazine full of editorials etc - after paying out for printing, distribution, accountant we are only left with a small amount -annoying as we put in every spare moment of our lives into it but guess could be more if we were able to give up work but we can't afford to. Catch 22 as business only started in May this year and has had good reviews from local businesses who advertise. Mag is free revenue received from local businesses advertising.
£100 from mother in law to help us out financially each month even though she looks after daughter 3 days a week and we don't pay her - sweet!
TOTAL INCOME IS THEREFORE £3444 SO WE ARE SHORT EACH MONTH BY £532 which may not seem a lot but we are working all hours gods sends to pay off our debts (credit card payments are the minimum card repayments) so it will take years to clear off debt also house has secured loan on it so we can't secure anything else on it.

Add to this that my partner has £1000 overdraft and cosntantly gets in the region of £230 bank charges each month. His Bank reclaiming case is on hopld til the Test case is heard but could reclaim approx £3k by the time we add all the recent charges to the total.

I know I can reclaim credit card and catalogue late payments but I just haven't got the time at the moment to do it - as you can see I have a lot on my plate as it is so any help from anyone on how we could further reduce our bills that woul dbe a great help or any other advice welcome.

Thanks everyone and thank you to all our friends and family who have supported and helped us out these past three long years! I know we're not the only ones!

Gemmzie

Firstly, well done for posting and having cleared so much debt already!

morphette wrote: »

So here goes

This is our family sitiuation each month

OUTGOINGS
Mortgage £695
Sky TV £21 Can you get their broadband? It's free or £5 a month
Gas/Electric £100 Have you switched? Have a look at quidco.com and uswitch.com to see if you could pay less
Phone/Broadband £36 See the Sky comment
Home Loan £356 (secured on house)
Home Insurance £29
TV LIcense £11
HP Loan for new fitted Kitchen £156
NUrsery Fees £295
Council Tax £118
Food £80 (2 adults & 1 child aged 2yrs includes nappies,clothing for duaghter, toiletries & laundry items This is excellent!
Water Bill £ 197 in Credit as had overpaid last year! Yippee!!!
HP on TV £48 How long to go? Can you over/under pay?
LIfe Insurance for Partner £39
Mobile (partner on contract) £35
Repayment Loan to Gran £50
HP on musical instruments £95 Ditto the HP TV
Van Insurance £20
HP on Digital Camera £24 Ditto the HP TV
Pension(partner) £40
Petrol for Van £40
Van Mot & Tax £20
Lunch for work £20 This should go
Band rehearsal payments to hall £20
HSBC Credit Card £50 Total owed? APR?
Audi Insurance £26
Mobile mine on contract £35 Do you both need contract mobiles?
TSB Personal Loan £476 Total owed? APR?
HSA insurance £18 What's this for?
AXA private healthcare £21 And this?
Petrol for car £200 This is really high, can you make less journeys?
Audi Tax/Mot £20
Egg Credit Card £130 Total? APR?
Mint Card £100 Total? APR?
MBNA £30 Total? APR?
Capital One £150 Total? APR?
D2 Store Card £50 Total? APR?
Vanquis Credit Card £95 Total? APR?
Leredoute catalogue £20 Total? APR?
Ace Catalogue £20 Total? APR?
Vertbaudet catalogue £20 Total? APR?
Lloyds TSB Credit card £50 Total? APR?
Cigarettes £80 Needs to go, can you switch to roll-ups for now?

TOTAL OUTGOINGS IS £3976 A MONTH

INCOME EACH MONTH AFTER TAXES
My Wages £1200 full time
Partners Wages £1100 full time
Rental of spare room £280
Working Tax Credits £42
Child Benefit £72
Ebay selling £250 after deducation of ebay listing fees
Partner sings in a local band and brings home approx £100 a month
Market Stall trading £200 on a saturday only - selling costume and cheap jewellery
£200 from our own business which we can only run part time printing a 30000 copy local magazine full of editorials etc - after paying out for printing, distribution, accountant we are only left with a small amount -annoying as we put in every spare moment of our lives into it but guess could be more if we were able to give up work but we can't afford to. Catch 22 as business only started in May this year and has had good reviews from local businesses who advertise. Mag is free revenue received from local businesses advertising.
£100 from mother in law to help us out financially each month even though she looks after daughter 3 days a week and we don't pay her - sweet!
TOTAL INCOME IS THEREFORE £3444 SO WE ARE SHORT EACH MONTH BY £532 which may not seem a lot but we are working all hours gods sends to pay off our debts (credit card payments are the minimum card repayments) so it will take years to clear off debt also house has secured loan on it so we can't secure anything else on it.

Add to this that my partner has £1000 overdraft and cosntantly gets in the region of £230 bank charges each month. His Bank reclaiming case is on hopld til the Test case is heard but could reclaim approx £3k by the time we add all the recent charges to the total.

I know I can reclaim credit card and catalogue late payments but I just haven't got the time at the moment to do it - as you can see I have a lot on my plate as it is so any help from anyone on how we could further reduce our bills that woul dbe a great help or any other advice welcome.

Thanks everyone and thank you to all our friends and family who have supported and helped us out these past three long years! I know we're not the only ones!

You need to separate out the actual outgoings and the debts. You can't afford the minimums and you're definitely doing all you can to improve income so I think you need to think about a DMP.

HTH

Lemon_Tree

good luck, i'm not able to add more than has been said already, but just thought i'd show my support.

riddlesticks

morphette wrote: »

OUTGOINGS
Mortgage £695
Sky TV £21 Is this necessary. Can you go freeview!
Gas/Electric £100 - This seems like loads try moneysupermarket. I pay half that amount. Also try Uswitch.
Phone/Broadband £36 This could be reduced. There are a lot of offers out there for £20. Sky have cheap packages. I would look into it.
Home Loan £356 (secured on house) Can you get a cheaper loan? Moneysupermarket or compare.
Home Insurance £29 - You could probably reduce this. Try compare, uswitch or moneysupermarket.
TV LIcense £11
HP Loan for new fitted Kitchen £156
NUrsery Fees £295 Does your or OHs company do child care vouchers. Might save you some moo-la.
Council Tax £118
Food £80 (2 adults & 1 child aged 2yrs includes nappies,clothing for duaghter, toiletries & laundry items
Water Bill £ 197 in Credit as had overpaid last year! Yippee!!! Are you going to ask for some of the money back? They are getting all the lovely interest on your money!
HP on TV £48
LIfe Insurance for Partner £39 Again can you get this cheaper. Compare or moneysupermarket.
Mobile (partner on contract) £35 Is he out of the 12months contract. Can he swap. Surely you could get a better deal or go on PAYG
Repayment Loan to Gran £50
HP on musical instruments £95
Van Insurance £20
HP on Digital Camera £24
Pension(partner) £40
Petrol for Van £40
Van Mot & Tax £20
Lunch for work £20 Cut this out - it cost so much less to make your own.
Band rehearsal payments to hall £20
HSBC Credit Card £50
Audi Insurance £26
Mobile mine on contract £35 Same as your hubs.
TSB Personal Loan £476 Again can you change this to a cheaper company and get a better deal.
HSA insurance £18 Whats this for?
AXA private healthcare £21 Is this necessary? Would you not be better off using NHS for time being until you are straight?
Petrol for car £200 Where do you get your petrol? Asda, sainsburys and Tesco are usually cheap. I would shop around. Do you use it for little journeys when you could really walk?
Audi Tax/Mot £20

What have you got left on these CCs and what APRS are there.
Egg Credit Card £130
Mint Card £100
MBNA £30
Capital One £150
D2 Store Card £50
Vanquis Credit Card £95
Leredoute catalogue £20
Ace Catalogue £20
Vertbaudet catalogue £20
Lloyds TSB Credit card £50

Cigarettes £80 - could you give up or cut back?

TOTAL OUTGOINGS IS £3976 A MONTH

INCOME EACH MONTH AFTER TAXES
My Wages £1200 full time
Partners Wages £1100 full time
Rental of spare room £280 could you also rent your drive during the day? It is on the website somewhere. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money#flogwhat
Working Tax Credits £42
Child Benefit £72
Ebay selling £250 after deducation of ebay listing fees
Partner sings in a local band and brings home approx £100 a month
Market Stall trading £200 on a saturday only - selling costume and cheap jewellery
£200 from our own business which we can only run part time printing a 30000 copy local magazine full of editorials etc - after paying out for printing, distribution, accountant we are only left with a small amount -annoying as we put in every spare moment of our lives into it but guess could be more if we were able to give up work but we can't afford to. Catch 22 as business only started in May this year and has had good reviews from local businesses who advertise. Mag is free revenue received from local businesses advertising.Could you stop doing this and maybe put the time you would use on this into another area - like selling on ebay or doing a market stall on a sunday?
£100 from mother in law to help us out financially each month even though she looks after daughter 3 days a week and we don't pay her - sweet!
TOTAL INCOME IS THEREFORE £3444 SO WE ARE SHORT EACH MONTH BY £532 which may not seem a lot but we are working all hours gods sends to pay off our debts (credit card payments are the minimum card repayments) so it will take years to clear off debt also house has secured loan on it so we can't secure anything else on it.

Add to this that my partner has £1000 overdraft and cosntantly gets in the region of £230 bank charges each month. His Bank reclaiming case is on hopld til the Test case is heard but could reclaim approx £3k by the time we add all the recent charges to the total. Well make sure you pay off his overdraft so as he is not going over and getting charged. Why is he getting so many charges?

If you dont mind me saying you have a lot of stuff on HP. Has this been bought recently or before you started getting your debts sorted. You are paying £150 odd quid for a new kitchen when really you didnt have the money to buy one. Did it really need to be done? You are living beyond your means and really need to take a tight reign on your finances. You need to cut back on everything! Think before you spend. Budget each month and stick to it. Can you transfer any of your CCs balances to a 0% one? If so do this and try pay off your higher APR ones. Other than that I dont know what to suggest. Others have mentioned Payplan but I am not 100% on this.

riddlesticks

Forgot to say well done for reducing your debt from £90k to £64k. That is fantastic and it is obviously going in the right direction.

tallyhoh

Can't really add any more than what has already been done above.

I must say though-- partners life insurance leaps out at me--mine is £8 a month. Does he have a high risk occupation or the like?

mrsspendalot

morphette wrote: »

Food £80 (2 adults & 1 child aged 2yrs includes nappies,clothing for duaghter, toiletries & laundry items

Are you sure this is only £80 per month or do you mean per week? If it really is per month then that is amazing!

Lucie_2

morphette wrote: »

SO WE ARE SHORT EACH MONTH BY £532

Check your sums again, I make your income £3544 & your outgoings £3939, which makes you £395 short per month, not £532, so it's not quite as bad as you think.

RAS

Hi

if you are trading and in a band and printing, what provision are you both making to pay tax or are you going to get hammered by an IR bill sometime? Are you trading on e-bay or just flogging off spare staff?

Are you adding your business mileage into your household petrol costs?

And to echo other, you are living way way beyond your means and have got to stop the catalogues, HP and credit card expenditure now. Join www.freecycle.org and get things for free. And seriously consider whether to put your effort into the magazine or your debts, unless it start to show a real profit in the next couple of months.

morphette

The magazine is a LTD business and is above board and accountant deals with it all for us and the £200 quoted is after tax deducatins within the business - same for the others as we put the money aside into a seperate account for tax purposes. Business mileage i is hardly any so we don't add it into any of the businesses. We know we are living above our means and have stopped all catalogue and HP purchases - these were all my partners when we got together over 3 years ago - left to him by his ex wife and similar situation with me - majority of my debt was left to me by my ex husband! I want to put all the effort inthe magazine as I am confident it could be the turning point for us - if we had waited any longer to launch the magazine someone else would have and then we would have had competition in the area and much harder to produce and sell advertising space when other mags already out there! So we had to take the risk and launch when we did and we did it all without borrowing money off credit cards or HP - we used money given to us by our parents which they have had back within 3 months of trading. OK maybe we should have paid off some of our debts but getting the business into financial dififculties would have been a complete failure on my part so at least keeping that debt free(no overdraft on business account etc) means I feel I have achieved something - apart from reducing my bills as far down as I can possible do right now! Thanks again for your comments and assistance - helped greatly. x

morphette

Thanks for pointing out I am only £395 short each month - hadn't done my sums right - shows why I am in such a mess to begin with. Thanks again!