Here we go Lupus Lou....

Lupus_Lou

Almost had NSD but after I got home I realised I had to get some Bazooka for my son's foot.
As I had to go to M3rrisons we cobbled together a meal plan for the week.
As we're having pasta carbonara tomorrow I needed bacon and more eggs.
Eggs were YS and 8p for 6 (free range) so I bought two boxes. We eat a lot of eggs. I also bought a 1.5kg Hammond joint for £6. We'll cook it and use half for the carbonara, OH and kids can have bacon and eggs for lunch on Friday and I will freeze the other half of the cooked joint for next time we have carbonara. We usually have it twice a month.
I also bought pizzas which are on the meal plan for Friday.
Total spend including meds was £26 as I had to get a few other things.
OH gets his pension next Friday so I will head over to A1di to stock up on basics, cleaning stuff etc.
I found a snowball app last night, debt dissolver. That promotes paying off high interest cards first so first one to attack will be OH Nationwide card. The low balance Halifax card will be later in the process as the interest rate is 7.5%.
My favourite card is RBOS card at 3.4%. I did a LOB transfer for £10k back in 2009. At one point the rate was lower than the mortgage. It's almost clear now.
Anyway, if we stick to the debt dissolved plan we will be debt and mortgage free by September 2027. One month before my 64th birthday.
Other stuff. Had to take 12 year old DD for emergency GP appt today.
Since Sunday she has had a number of episodes of blurred vision/ loss of vision and collapse.
I was terrified it was a brain tumour but he thinks it could be a cardiac arrhythmia. He is going to phone the on call paediatric team tomorrow so I may have to take time out of work to go with her.
Spoke to OH tonight about stopping use of CC's , he's on board so I am hopeful we can make progress.
I will leave it there for now, have to put the bins out and clear the kitchen

Lou

enthusiasticsaver

Couple of positives in that post.

Great news on sticking to meal plan and cutting back as far as possible on groceries.

More good news in that your OH is on board with stopping using the credit cards.

I agree tackling the most expensive card first is wise. Any savings in grocery spends I would put into savings along with a regular amount to start building some emergency savings. This is really important as it gets you out of the mindset of automatically using credit if you have an emergency or unexpected unavoidable expense. Stopping the use of the cards is crucial so you need another plan for emergencies. An emergency savings account is the answer. Some aim for £1000 initially and some £500. How much depends on the interest rate you are paying on your debt and how quickly you need to start making an impact. Post up an soa.

I hope your DD is ok.

Lupus_Lou

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 3
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 3297
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1385
Benefits................................ 650
Other income............................ 400 lodger
Total monthly income.................... 5732

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1461
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 861
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 180
Electricity............................. 133 we have an electric car
Gas..................................... 81
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 28 just moved to metered
Telephone (land line)................... 61 includes internet
Mobile phone............................ 72 5 phones
TV Licence.............................. 12.80
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 650 best guesstimatr
Clothing................................ 25 includes school uniform. I only buy mine from charity shops
Petrol/diesel........................... 25
Road tax................................ 50 old diesel car
Car Insurance........................... 75 2 cars
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... included in emergency fund
Car lease ........................... 199 ends in November
Other travel............................ 15 we use trains to visit family in London as it's quicker than driving wehave railcards
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 120 school meals etc
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.40 5 items so I prepay
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 36 includes contents
Interest on overdrafts .................... 55 3 accounts all overdrawn
Life assurance ......................... 0 comes with my job. OH has none
Church........................ 55 collection paid monthly DD
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... included in emergency fund
Haircuts................................ 30 for all 5 of us
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0 just back
Emergency fund.......................... 200 trying to build up for MOT etc
Total monthly expenses.................. 2322[/b]


Assets
Cash.................................... 450
House value (Gross)..................... 780000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2000
Other assets............................ 2000
Total Assets............................ 784450


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 201732...(1461).....3.5
Secured Debt.................. 44538....(861)......7.5
Total secured & HP debts...... 246270....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
John Lewis (oh)................6681......201.......16.9
John Lewis me..................9404......283.......18.9
MBNA...........................4140......80........12
RBOS...........................3549......36........3.4
Halifax........................404.......8.........7.5
POST office....................2649......72........17.9
Barclaycard OH.................11931.....240.......15.9
Barclaycard me.................9895......222.......10.9
Nationwide OH..................4110......105.......19.9
Nationwide me..................7997......181.......17.9
Total unsecured debts..........60760.....1428......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 5,732
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,322
Available for debt repayments........... 3,410
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,428
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,982

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 784,450
Total HP & Secured debt................. -246,270
Total Unsecured debt.................... -60,760
Net Assets.............................. 477,420

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

enthusiasticsaver

I am guessing you do not really have a £1982 surplus each month so your next task is to locate where that is going.


The groceries is high but the entertainment is low. Ideally you would separate out savings for emergencies, car maintenance and presents. Similarly if you do a holiday every year you would be best saving for it monthly. Are all those credit card repayments minimums or what you actually pay each month? Your best bet would be to pay minimums on all but your OHs Nationwide and pay as much as possible towards that. I think I would address the overdrafts as a priority too. If you have almost £2k spare each month you would be able to sort that debt out within a few years but I am pretty sure you have vastly underestimated what you spend on your soa. A spending diary would be a good step.

Lupus_Lou

Thank you enthusiastic, I can't work out where it is going either.
I am not sure it's adding up properly as I keep a monthly outgoings diary and once the bills are allocated we have around 400 left. I went through and listed all that in my SOA
It only seems to have picked up secure debt and CC repayments, not the regular outgoings on utilities etc.
If these 3 elements are included then our outgoings are £6071, hence we have built up spending on the cc's.
As we have a shiny new month starting tomorrow I will keep a spending diary for the whole month although hopefully my spending will be far lower over the coming weeks.
We haven't had any wine since Saturday, and already feel much better for it

Lupus_Lou

The CC payments are all minimums but if we can reduce expenditure then I will do as you suggest and start on OH card
In the meantime, my bed is calling źzzzzzzz

Lou

savingholmes

Hope your DD is okay.

Your grocery bill and internet bill are high.
A spending diary would definitely help with the rest. Savings pots for different things help me so may help you too

enthusiasticsaver

I have just added up your outgoings on a calculator and they come to £4455.20 so if you add the debt repayments it comes to £5883.20 which actually is £150 deficit. For some reason the soa has only added the top two figures together but that makes more sense and presumably is why the debt has increased. It is a vicious circle though because as the debt increases so do the repayments leading to an even bigger deficit so continuing as you are is not an option.

Can the church collection be reduced while you deal with this? The groceries can definitely come down and good the wine drinking has been reduced/eliminated. A DMP may need to be considered.

Lupus_Lou

Church collection cannot be reduced, OH is retired minister!
Quite an expensive day today as had to take DD to hospital.
Parking, meal and drinks cost £23.60 didn't use Cc's, anyway, they are in a tin at home.
Have told OH we will only start paying off his CC once he puts it in the tin (although I would rather just cut it in half).
Currently kn@ckered so will give up while I am ahead.

Lou

Lupus_Lou

QCI
Long day at work today, was supposed to finish at 5 to drop something off at a friend's she but finally escaped at 6.30.
Rang friend and will drop in tomorrow morning instead.
Had a shower this morning before work, first time since before the little 'uns were born due to morning rush. I must do it more often, even if it means getting up earlier, it really set me up for the day.
Not an NSD today, will have at least one over the weekend.

Lou