No more false starts

ditty1234

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1800
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1800

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 700
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 31
Gas..................................... 31
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 33
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 18
Groceries etc. ......................... 260
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 3
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 50
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 33
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 9
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 12
Life assurance ......................... 10
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 10
Entertainment........................... 10
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1592


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 3000

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
overdraft......................1000......0.........18
NAT WEST.......................5982......140.......18
BOS............................8778......230.......18
HSBC...........................1039......115.......9
BARC...........................8491......200.......15
Total unsecured debts..........25290.....685.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,800
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,592
Available for debt repayments........... 208
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 685
Amount short for making debt repayments. -477

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 3,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -25,290
Net Assets.............................. -22,290

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

ditty1234

So this is where the magis starts. As you can see above the -£500 is pretty much the bane of my life. I have been posting lately on some threads here but have not posted my soa before. Most months I make more than £1800, but my basic part time salary is only 1200 and last year my yearly pay was a chocking £19.000.
I am struggling to find/keep full time work. But am currently working 5 days a week by adding a day of hourly paid teaching and a day of agency work to my week. But this is only termtime. My mom just lend/gave me the money for a new car, so I don't actually have any assets, as it is basically her car. As this is in place I think I will now try to get DMP. I have never missed a payment, I am currently paying 18% on pretty much all of my loans so about 280 a month. I do not see a way out. It will take me through to Christmas to be down to about 75% usage on all 3 credit cards where some O% offers might return. But by then I will have paid £3000 in interest! and only bought my debt down with about £4000. While I am happy to do this I have not been able to get the job to match my ambition.
As I have a bit left from car that I can swop to an emergency fund I now am more confident to enter a dmp.
Some people might find things I can squeeze on my bills, but I have been at it since September and have reduced by hundreds. I have a son at uni that I have to support every once in a while. And who also comes home to stay regularly.
In the area I live I cant get a 2 bed house or flat for under 650 so moving barely seems worth it, although the rent is killing me. In 3 years I will be by my self and I will move into a smaller place.
My total debt is slightly smaller than declared as I have paid most of the March payments by now.
On top of my monthly budget I have to pay £200 for a trip, £85 for a passport and put aside £300 for a driving licence as I need to get a uk driving licence. So about £600 that I will need in the next few month.

While the phone bill might seem high, this covers 3 mobile phone numbers. I don' give my 2 boys any other regular money, except paying for resident teenagers sport club. I also pay £50 a month for resident teenager's bus pass.

So not sure if I am asking for advice. I want a £200 DMP. I want to put £200 into an emergency fund. and £50 into a car, holiday(all family abroad), larger bills, summer budget account. Having a full time job has become a pie in the sky. In many ways I should be on a £30.000 + salary, but if I'm lucky it will be £23.000 this year, and I am not complaining. But I need to be realistic, walk away from the stress, I want to stop talking about money, I am hoping to clear my dept in 5 years but this depends on my work situation.
I got a job to match my 0.6 and was taking in £2200 a month after tax in the autumn, but had to walk away because of stress. I realise this is a long post, but I am planning to keep updating this post for a long time.
The immediate plan is to set up a savings and basic current account next weekend. Move all income and direct debits to new account, slightly difficult as am walking away from the over draft and loan in HSBC, although these are my smallest debts, and I will still be paying on it, just less.
I will call stepchange the week after and write all creditors to let them know I will have to stop/slow payments from April. I am assuming I will spread the payments. Once I have some money saved in an emergency fund, I will increase my payments or keep saving and try to offer full and final payments on credit cards as and when it is possible.
I am thinking this now the best way, bankruptcy is too depressing, and if i get a manageable arrangement I will be able to start building a new life, instead of just maintaining what by now is a bit of a ruin.

WhenIam64

bankruptcy is too depressing

It may be depressing but it may also be the way forward. Bankruptcy has to be considered on the facts and not on the emotion of it. Some avoid it due to the "shame" of it but it has a practical benefit to all parties as it stops creditors throwing money at a lost cause, and debtors from running up unaffordable bills.

Other countries have a different view of bankruptcy. In the US for example, some people regularly go through bankruptcy. One notable US citizen, Donald J Trump, has been bankrupt 4 times.

Have a word with a debt charity or your local CAB (if they have debt advisors) and work out what is best for you.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

ditty1234 wrote: »

So not sure if I am asking for advice. I want a £200 DMP.

I'm not sure I follow. Normally a DMP involves freezing the interest and charges on all of your debts, plus making some lifestyle cutbacks, then agreeing a repayment plan with whatever money you have surplus, that you can maintain. It could be that you can only reliably achieve £150/mo after all factors are taken into consideration.

As WhenIam64 noted, bankruptcy is an option as it's certainly among the fastest ways to eliminate debt. It's not completely without impact - there are restrictions during your bankruptcy period, and may be knock-on results depending on your career, so it's not to be entered lightly. I'd have lost my professional certification if I'd gone that route, for example...

ditty1234

I will obviously take the advice from stepchange when i contact them. The numbers above is just how it looks in my head! Or what I think I can do. There is not much I can do further in terms of lifestyle change.

Suffolk_lass

Hello ditty, I saw you over on GC. I have a few suggestions that may help.

The immediate thing I can see is that you are not claiming any benefits - Child Benefit if you are the primary carer, assuming your dependant child is under 19 in school or further education. It is £20.70 a week. This would help a bit. That would be a four weekly payment of £82.80

And I have seen you over on the Old-Style GC thread - your grocery bill is rather high for two of you (it might be a what you include, where you buy, or how you shop thing). And I notice £20 a month for pet insurance. What pets do you have? I am guessing you buy food within your grocery shopping as there is no other reference? - If you have not looked before, it is well worth reading the posts and links before the recipes for tools and techniques to help reduce or rationalise this. Again, it may help a little. - Depending on pets I would have thought a two in three monthly reduction in the order of £60 should be attainable over time.

Your water rates seem very high - are you on a meter?

And just to check you have the 25% Council Tax discount for being the only adult in your home? £21 each month would help.

Your work pattern seems very complicated - and you allude to stress. Perhaps explore some well-being techniques to reduce the pressures in your head-space. There are lots of online clips that could be used to improve your sense of peace and calm - maybe relaxation and meditation would help you. As regular tools they might allow you to look at different employment options.

By the way, you might get more support if you ask for this thread to be moved to the Debt Free Wannabe's Diary thread - you are on the overall thread at the moment

PipneyJane

Suffolk Lass gave you some excellent advice, re learning tools to cope with stress. I’d also add some sort of daily physical activity to burn off the stress hormones. It doesn’t have to be long - just 10 minutes of walking fast through your neighbourhood will help clear your head and relax you.

Besides your debt, I think that your biggest stressor is your unstable income. What do you do for a living, Ditty1234? I get the impression from your second post that you’re working part-time and may be a teacher. Also that your job may be zero-hours, so you won’t be paid during the summer school holidays. Is that right? Could you get a full-time job in your field, at your current employers? Have you asked them? (You don’t have to give them the full back story, just tell them that you’d love to go full time with them. Always assuming you don’t hate the place, of course.)

- Pip

ditty1234

Hi yes I'l a lecturer /teacher on a o.6 contract topped up with associate hours in the same department and agency work one day a week to top up my income. This actually really helps. I have made many failed attempts at getting full time jobs so am currently taking a break for applications. As need to get finance sorted first at this lower level.
Creative industries are a lot of part time and contract work, which was great to fit around kids, but also what have now put me in a very difficult place. Also one child now has a serious ongoing medical condition that has taken priority at various times.

Suffolk_lass

Please check out these links.

If your child has a long term health condition you may need to claim DAL (PIP if they are over 16) Guide and link here.

And possibly Child Tax Credits too (although that is more complicated as it is means tested and your income clearly varies from one month to the next)

And for Child Benefit here.

ditty1234

Hi Thanks Suffolk lass, yes I am on top of child benefit, tax credits, my son has epilepsy, so more of a worry than requiring specific care. He gets a lot of support through his uni, but it just adds a level of unpredictability to life in general and trips to pick up/visit. I am looking at extra transcription work, and or care work over the summer in my actual holiday.
The pet insurance post covers random visits to vet, quarterly trims, I have a lovely little westie who generally is a very affordable creature.
On my groceries bill everything we buy is included, we barely go out so it includes lunches, toiletries, staples, food, cooking for the odd guests, sending uni son a shop every once in a while, that could be why it looks a bit high. TO be fair I am struggling to keep it at 260.
The council tax is what it is so I can't change it, and it is estimated as it might be even higher, and it is based on paying it 12 month a year.
I think my water bill is high, but we are conscious of water use and weirdly it has barely gone down after uni son moved out.
Thanks again.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

ditty1234 wrote: »

weirdly it has barely gone down after uni son moved out.

That may be indicative of a water leak. I had that in an older house, where the water meter was installed in the street-level cavity with the water company's stopcock at the front of the house, while the house riser and stopcock was at the back of the house. Is the meter continuously ticking around even when you're not using any water?