30k debt and stuck

treadlightly

Craig1981 wrote: »

you need to keep track on your "cash misc" expenses at £200 a month - its a lot to have down as a misc expense.
use your savings to pay off your overdraft, that there saves you £15 a month
are you sure £98 each month on CC debt is correct? thats about 1% of balance total? i would have expected around 2.5 to 3.5%?

if you working 2 days a week and earning £1750 a month, i would recommend trying to go to at least 3 days a week - paying for childcare for that day will still see you net an extra £400 or so monthly

I totally agree about the misc cash - that has been basically hubby not keeping track and he has vowed to do so from now on.
We have two 0% CCs:
Tesco which stands at £6214.40, min payment this month £62
Virgin Money balance 3575, min payment £35.75

Youre probably right about the savings its just Ive had savings all my life and Im finding it really hard to let it all go, screwed logic I know...I do have another CC (historic one I've had for 20 years) which is set to pay off in full each month and that has a £4k limit so I guess I should just use my savings and have that as my emergency fund...

Re working more days, yes I had thought of that the last couple of days, I just hate leaving my babies for just the 2 days as it is, my eldest in particular is struggling with it since we moved house etc, but just got to take the bull by the horns. We aren't paying for childcare at all as hubby has the baby when I'm working and the 4 yr old is on free nursery hours. Its not that simple for me just to increase my hours, as I said I'm on a 3 month notice period in my current job and looking for a new position, but I could maybe sign up with a locum agency to try and grab some extra days in the month.
Thanks for your input @Craig

treadlightly

John_G_Jones wrote: »

Is your husband’s work likely to become more profitable or dependable at some point? He’s on a low amount at present which is going to make it harder than it would otherwise be for you to get on top of things.

Could he cover child care more, allowing you to up your days, or could he take on a salaried job in addition to his self employed work? Either he has lots of spare time at the moment or he’s earning less than the minimum wage, suggesting that changes could be made here.

thanks John, as I said he is going back to supply teaching on my non work days as we have come to the realisation that his business is just not viable at the moment, so hopefully will have some stable income from him soon it's just unlikely to be enough on its own so we still need to cut back. He is currently doing the childcare on my 2-3 work days so at least we are not paying for that, and hes quite willing to do more

treadlightly

buythedip wrote: »

Have you cleared the tax liabilities?

It seems quite suboptimal based *on what you have posted* for you to be working only 2 days per week and your partner working (I assume) full time for approx. minimum wage?

thanks for your input buythedip, realised i missed a few bits of info when posting as tired and stressed: hubby has been working 3 days on his business and doing 2 days childcare, his income has been so unpredictable it has been difficult to predict his tax bills also (even the accountant was out by £8k on one memorable occasion :eek: ) he was VAT registered and the VAT bills were the killer but he has now deregistered. We are planning for him to do supply teaching and let the business (he sells things) just tick over and pay for future tax bills and if there's any surplus that is a bonus...

treadlightly

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Definitely worth double checking on the tax calculation to make sure it's right. Is he now putting aside the relevant proportion of all his income each time he receives it to ensure that this year's tax will be covered?

Might be easier to fill in the SOA using the standard format - see the link in my signature then "format for MSE" and it'll give you a far easier to read/follow version. For now though and just looking at the variables:

Variable expenses
Mobiles 14.34
Food/toiletries 286.79 Any scope for dropping brands, buying value, utilising the Super 6 and Pick of the Week type deals more here?
Petrol 408.46 Yes this definitely needs to reduce!
Household 30.23 What's this?
Hobbies; music/photos/garden 18.98
Exercise/sports 9.4
Medical 60 what is this? If any of it is prescriptions does a pre paid card work out better/cheaper?
Savings 0
Entertainmnt incl eating out 78.39
Treats/presents incl beauty 11.2
Charity 10.5
kids 163.38
Pets 35
Cash misc 199.26 You need a spending diary for this then allocate it to proper categories - I bet a lot will come under "entertainment" making that budget look altogether more top-heavy!
xmas misc 50
car maint 12 Is this honestly realistic? Allowing for 2 vehicles, that's not even going to cover servicing.
transport 30 On top of that fuel bill for the cars?
clothes 12
holiday 150 [COLOR="red"Unless you're tied to this I'd suggest that it needs dropping for now - that money can be better used elsewhere for the time being[/COLOR]
xmas gifts 15 Again - you're sure this is realistic? £180 a year doesn't seem like a lot for 2 kids, yourselves and any extended family?

And the fixed stuff:

Fixed expenses
Mortgage 823.98
Gas/elec 133.75 Have you checked you're on the best deal?
Water 33.4 Metered? If so look to cut use - time showers etc (this will also help with power use) and make sure the kids turn taps off while tooth brushing etc.
Car tax 32.5
Car ins 50
Car b/down 4.03
Internet 25
House ins 14.62 Is this buildings and contents combined?
Life ins 13.79
Pension 20
Council tax 234 Phew this is very high - do you pay over 10 months or 12? if 10 remember to track down the payment for this month and March that won;t be going out and pay it straight against the debt - then ask to be changed to splitting across 12 months from the new financial year.
Charity 1
TV licence 25.08 Why do high? if this is the 6 month advance payment when does that end?
Prof subs 13
Income protection 39.64 Is this for you or your OH? If your OH check it will definitely pay out allowing for him being SE.
Church 20 "Charity begins at home" when you are owing 30k, I'd suggest.
HMRC 30 Is this National insurance?

thanks Essex Hebridean, I realise there is a lot of info missing in this, again was tired and stressed about it all when posting and didn't have the time to use the MSE SOA but will attempt to populate it with next month's figures for a clearer idea of where we're at.

Household means like furnishings/DIY materials/fixing appliances
Medical -OH has a pre pay certificate, that has been high as there were some prescription glasses to buy this year

We are on a CHeap Energy Club deal, just insulated the loft so hopefully that will help there
Xmas gifts - yes I bought 2nd hand books + one new thing for my family and made fudge for my friends, just had to send cheques out for the nieces - hence me saying we're not extravagant by nature!! Just in an awful mess that a few homemade gifts aint going to fix :o
house ins is buildings/contents combined
income protection is mine and is veterinary specific, ive questioned continuing it for a long time but my FA always frowns when I suggested stopping it, i think it might be time now tho
TV licence 6 month advance payment ends in June when it drops to £12.56
water isn't metered...

thanks for all your guidance so far

I am going to look into getting some more work hours, when the baby is 2 at the end of the year he can go to nursery but in the meantime we'll keep balancing childcare between us as I don't want him going to a stranger
we have vowed not to eat out or do day trips at all except on Clubcard vouchers
ive just applied for the Santander 123Lite
have a job interview tomorrow and the baby has already been up 3 times so I need to get to bed now!! will post an update next month, thanks all

treadlightly

oh and HMRC is actually a repayment for overpaid Tax Credits from 17/18 - wish Id never gone down that route it has been more trouble than it was worth for the 6 months we qualifed for them grrr...that will end in May

sourcrates

Hi Treadlightly,

Are you in small animal practice or do you specialise in another area ?

I work in the pig industry, within the group, there is always the potential for weekend cover at various locations, I don’t know if it’s the same where you work, this is usually quite well paid, accommodation inc too, I don’t know if that may be an option for you to increase your income at all.

Silver_Queen

Would it be possible for you to go back to working full time, and your OH take over the childcare instead? It doesn't have to be permanent but even for a year or so, it might help your finances.

treadlightly

I'm in small animal practice and hoping to increase my hours in a new job and also take on more ad hoc days during school holidays when hubby can't teach. Yeah we talked about my going F/T, it wouldn't be easy to do that temporarily in a steady job but I can locum, I've always been so against it while my babies were small, but I think once I know where we are in the next few weeks with our current job situations it does need to be looked at and maybe I just have to bite the bullet. When the youngest (15 months) can start nursery in December I'd be a lot keener. thanks all

tlc678910

treadlightly wrote: »

When the youngest (15 months) can start nursery in December I'd be a lot keener. thanks all

December will come around in no time even if you see a job soon - with your three month notice period and a few weeks for recruitment taking you to June/July. If you see a full time job soon I would go for it. I know it will be hard to make that shift from more days with your children but I think needs must. Your partner is in a good position to help with childcare and look at more work when they are both in school/nursery and you would only need wraparound childcare.

Tlc

treadlightly

Just an update as a courtesy to all those that took an interest/replied with advice.
I am feeling alot calmer than when I posted a month ago. I have opened a Santander 123Lite for our bill payments.
We have had some positive developments - I am taking up a new job in June - increased hours (not full time yet - couldn't quite make that leap yet ) but for an extra day/week and some more weekend work an extra £19K pa which is a big relief. My new employer is also happy to give me extra hours to cover colleagues' holidays in the summer when hubby won't be earning and can do F/T childcare.

Also after the big chat with hubby re budgeting we actually spent £900 less than we earned - that's not totally rosy as hubby's business cannot afford to keep bringing in the £1250 it has been, there is still an unknown amount of income tax due in June and he is unlikely to bring in over £1000 from p/t teaching but it is a massive reduction in outgoings which we haven't managed in a year of my thinking I was costcutting. We still don't really know what hubby's income is going to be this year.

However I can at least see the situation now where we can put aside a few hundred for debt repayment each month whereas that seemed impossible a month ago!

We are having a chat with one of the family members we owe the most to (£13k) and I hope we can arrange some kind of affordable regular repayment with them.

Hopefully we will see this 30K reducing slowly month on month in the next year. I will post an update next month.