What a mess

Skintmum86

I am really really struggling at the moment.

My outgoings are more than my incomings and all available credit is within pennies of being maxed out. I have never missed a minimum payment.

On my SOA it says 2 adults 2 children my children are only with me 50% of the time and my partner is included just as the food bill covers their food aswell but all the outgoings are just mine and incoming just mine, our finances are separate. They have no debt and a very low income and give me £100 a month towards upkeep however this is hopefully increasing to £200 this month and £300 after christmas.

I don't actually spend £105 on gifts a month that is christmas and birthdays added together and split across the year, I would normally use a credit card for christmas but obviously cant now as they are full.


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1037
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 822
Other income............................ 100
Total monthly income.................... 1959

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 695
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 29
Gas..................................... 29
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 45
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 6.4
TV Licence.............................. 12.95
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 364
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 115
Road tax................................ 2.91
Car Insurance........................... 44.75
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 3.33
Car parking............................. 2
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 23
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 9
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 5.33
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 3.66
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 105
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 73
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Ipad.................................... 16.11
Pet food/Hay............................ 20.51
Table................................... 19.11
Total monthly expenses.................. 1764.06


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 4500

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Santander CC...................2681......61........18
Santander2 CC..................4199......110.......18
Next...........................2824......145.......23.9
Very...........................1195......20........0
MBNA...........................1785......41........18
Total unsecured debts..........12684.....377.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,959
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,764.06
Available for debt repayments........... 194.94
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 377
Amount short for making debt repayments. -182.06

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -12,684
Net Assets.............................. -8,184

Created using the SOA calculator
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

lopsyfa

Well done for coming out and trying to address the issue.

Firstly, your partner need to increase their income so they can contribute more. I will say the same to you.

Also, you can’t afford spending £1260 on Christmas and birthdays. Most people whose income are much higher and with similar households don’t even spend half that in birthdays and Christmas presents. If the debts is not addressed now, you may not be able to afford any gift at all in the future.

You also can't afford the £73 a month spent on entertainment. While you are in debt, this need to be cut down significantly.

Is your water metered, £45 a month is a lot. If no, consider getting a meter. If yes, you need to reduce your water use. We are a similar size household with the kids here 100% and only pay £25 for water.

Lastly, the groceries a bit high for a family of 3 people (2 children 50% of time is approximately 1 child groceries). Consider batch booking, meal planing and shopping at Aldi/Lidl to cut cost.

Also, consider selling some of the things you bought (eg the iPad) to get into the debt to pay down some of the debts.

All the best.

sourcrates

I think £1200 on christmas/birthday is not doable given the financial state your in, a quarter of that would suffice, also your shopping bill could be cut by at least £100 just by shopping more savvy, your rent is the stumbling block nearly £700 but i guess thats par for the course these days.
Well there are different ways of dealing with this, if you want to maintain your creditworthness, which i expect would be the case due to the fact you rent, then cutting back on your spending, and trying to increase your income, is the only option.

Anything else will affect your credit file, even asking the creditors to reduce or freeze interest can result in arrangement to pay (AP) markers placed on your file, so if you intend to go down the debt mangement route, you might as well go hell for leather as it will have the same effect on you creditwise.

Debt mangement requires you to pay back what you owe, at a reduced rate, over a longer period, its an informal solution, hopefully with creditors approval to stop all interest and charges, that is not always guarented, but they normally do so eventually.

More information is available from the debt charities listed in my signiture below.


Those are your available options, anything more formal would not be appropriate due to your income levels, so its your call really.

redpete

Regardless of whether the presents aren't every month you are spending far too much on them. I'm not sure I've ever spent that much (family of 5 and a good income). Also you can't afford the £73 a month on entertainment.

£40 a year on car maintenance sounds very low.

JayRitchie

Does your partner live with you full time? If so why are they only paying £100 a month? Thats not enough to cover their share of food, council tax etc.

Willing2Learn

Hi Skintmum86 and welcome to the forum

The following are the things that immediately stand out to me:

• I would definitely rethink your monthly budget for presents.
• I would also rethink the amount your partner is contributing to your monthly budget
• Is the iPad @ £16.11 a debt or a monthly subscription?
• Is the Table @ £19.11 a debt or some kind of subscription?

Karonher

Is a large chunk of the benefits claimed for your partner? If so, then unless they are overwhelmed with debt themselves they really should be able to give you a lot more.

D_M_E

Can you ditch the sat/cable tv and go Freeview?

Have you listed the i8nterest rate for Next and Very correctly - these are usually far more than what you have put.

What is the ipad payment - is it to but the thing, and is it already accounted for in one of the other credit items, such Very/Next or one of the cards, or was it a standalone purchase somewhere else?

Do you pay council tax over 10 months? If so, ask council for next year if you can pay over 12 months.

Your partner needs to contribute more but I see you have said their input will increase. Is there any reason why they cannot find another, possibly part time, evening/weekend job to boost income?

Skintmum86

D_M_E wrote: »

Can you ditch the sat/cable tv and go Freeview?

Have you listed the interest rate for Next and Very correctly - these are usually far more than what you have put.

What is the ipad payment - is it to but the thing, and is it already accounted for in one of the other credit items, such Very/Next or one of the cards, or was it a standalone purchase somewhere else?

Do you pay council tax over 10 months? If so, ask council for next year if you can pay over 12 months.

Your partner needs to contribute more but I see you have said their input will increase. Is there any reason why they cannot find another, possibly part time, evening/weekend job to boost income?

Hi Thank you for your reply.

The TV is in a contract and includes the internet and line rental and they are both watched and used a lot so worth the money I reckon.

The Very everything gets paid off in the buy now pay later period so I don't pay interest and the Next is 23.9%, I checked on my statements.

The iPad is on interest free credit with my childs school, they all have to have an iPad its ridiculous. The table is on credit aswell but that is finished in about 3 payments. I pay council tax over 12 months already, it will be £122 or more come April but they owed me a refund so its £100 for now.

my partner has just got a new job last month (but previous to that only earnt about £250 a month part time alongside Uni) and they are going to start paying more but they have their own car to run and mobile etc, like I say they will be giving me much more soon.

SM

Skintmum86

Karonher wrote: »

Is a large chunk of the benefits claimed for your partner? If so, then unless they are overwhelmed with debt themselves they really should be able to give you a lot more.

Hi thank you for replying

the benefits are just for me and kids my partner doesnt live with me full time but they will be giving me more soon as have just started a better paid job but previously only earnt about £250 a month so that was as much as they could afford.

SM

Skintmum86

Willing2Learn wrote: »

Hi Skintmum86 and welcome to the forum

The following are the things that immediately stand out to me:

• I would definitely rethink your monthly budget for presents.
• I would also rethink the amount your partner is contributing to your monthly budget
• Is the iPad @ £16.11 a debt or a monthly subscription?
• Is the Table @ £19.11 a debt or some kind of subscription?

Hi, thank you for replying

The iPad is on interest free credit with my childs school, they all have to have an iPad its ridiculous. The table is on credit aswell but that is finished in about 3 payments.

Partner should be increasing to £300 very soon which will help a lot. they are younger than me and first full time wage started last month, I feel bad taking too much.

I am hoping to be able to afford token gifts for the children and my partner and not buy for anyone else at Christmas

SM