We can do this

[Deleted User]

OnlyPariah wrote: »

Got my first payment from Intellizoom. £3.25 for what was only a few minutes of survey. Not bad. Hopefully should have a few more of those coming although with intellizoom there is no way of knowing what payments are due.

We've got bikes for our three kids. All told we've paid out £64 for all three. Two of them were free and just needed a clean up. We're really trying to be cleverer with the money. Any eBay or Amazon purchases have gone out through Topcashback.

I hope we're all doing well.

They're generally quite good at paying within the 21 business days, I tend to work out when it should be paid and mark it in my calendar on my phone lol (if you google add on business days the timeanddate website is very handy)

OnlyPariah

It's time to take another look. With us now just relying on my wage, my partner is back to just running her own business which will cover it's own expenses but we can't guarantee a wage. I've redone the SOA and it's listed below to be pulled apart. Our wedding is now paid for apart from £400 needed for the registar.

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................ 2006
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 149
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2155

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 156
Rent.................................... 825
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 130
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 43
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 91
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 35
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 150
Road tax................................ 12.68
Car Insurance........................... 51.11
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 220
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 11
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 50
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1972.79


Assets
Cash.................................... 993
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4450
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 5443


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(0)........0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 6800.....(156)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 6800......-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Tesco Credit Card..............7488......190.......18
Virgin Money...................4183.62...50........0 (about £300 of this is at a higher interest rate. 0% ends in May.
Barclaycard....................7866.32...176.99.......0 (3100 of this is at a higher interest rate. 0% ends in March
Halifax Credit Card............2823.95...55........19.9
Asda Credit Card...............2400......78........29
Total unsecured debts..........24761.89..490.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,155
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,972.79
Available for debt repayments........... 182.21
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 490
Amount short for making debt repayments. -587.78

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 5,443
Total HP & Secured debt................. -6,800
Total Unsecured debt.................... -24,761.89
Net Assets.............................. -26,118.89

I'm unlikely to be able to get another 0% balance transfer card.

I've cancelled my direct debits to all the credit cards and was going to send out letters saying I'm seeking help and can they freeze the interest for a month. I'm seriously thinking a DMP or IVA is the best way forward but wanted to come clean on here again with it all and see if I'm missing a trick.

I should also add I've now opened up a new current account with Starling so I have a safe account away from Halifax who I owe money too.

Bizzywizard

Hi,
I've just read your diary. You are doing really well, so chin up! A couple of things popped out at me on your SOA mobile phone £91 mine is £14pcm (so maybe a saving if you contact your provider or switching). £50 for entertainment seems a lot to me....I have 2 kids and rarely go out (I still have debit) so why not try say 3 months of home entertainment movie nights (old DVD favs). Child care, have you noticed any other parent friends that are using the after school care? If so why not suggest you pick all kids up one day and they do another? I know this isn't always possible but might save you and them some cash. Council tax - are you still paying over 10 months and having 2 months free? Might be worth spreading it over 12 months, I'm doing this and has made a big difference. I am also an ebay addict, I sell everything we don't need ( it drives my kids mad). I also buy stuff at auctions (you must have a local one to you) I make sure I can double my money where ever I can, I normally make a few hundred each month (goes straight on the credit cards). Music magpie for DVDs and other bits (buts its selective on pricing, easy to do though). I would be sending at least £500 to the Asda CC so its reduces to £1900 from you efund. The IVA and DMP are not where I would be looking. Hope some of this helps, no judgement here, I am still going through my own debit...still have about £9k to go but getting there! Good luck!! Bizzy

OnlyPariah

The entertainment is including Netflix, Amazon Prime and Spotify which I'd rather not do without and even reducing that down it doesn't go anywhere near the £500 odd shortfall.

The phones were £115 but managing to get down to £91 by paying off my partner's phone and moving to Sim Only. The other phone still has £330 owing on it and an iPad that has £500 owing on it.

The childcare costs are maintenance payments to my ex for my son.

I made about £40 last month from doing surveys so will keep doing this but unfortunately, I've already sold all my CDs, DVDs and BluRays and a whole load of books. That stopped the debt getting much worse. We're still working out where else we can make money but I can't even keep up the payments as they are and half of the debt each month is interest. I could be at this for years.

bd80s

Hi


Don't get disheartened, the good thing is you have taken a good look at this again and can see exactly where you are and you understand the shortfalls.


I would contact them all and explain the situation and put forward an offer of monthly payment that you can 100% afford, this is what I did when I looked at my finances and saw I was no way going to be able to afford all monthly payments. I offered to review with them all at 3 monthly intervals and they were all fine with that.


In terms of entertainment maybe you could go with one or the other out of Netflix/Prime? Small savings can help massively.


I know I've got a few years hard slog in front of me to get my debts all down based on my current payments but I found that by embracing that fact I can deal with it as I'm not putting the pressure on myself to get it done as quick as possible, if it goes sooner great but I know I have a maximum timeline that I have to deal with.


In the future your financial position could be better, your partner may get a suitable job that works around childcare and your job as well as doing her own thing so it is doable.


Don't give up though, the hardest part is facing up to the situation and you've done that.

[Deleted User]

Hello. I entered a DMP because dealing with everything myself just felt too enormous. They have taken the pressure off me by speaking to all my creditors and sorting out the payments. I just send them a fixed amount each month and they distribute it They even said that in the future if I had a lump sum they would give final offers for me (presume this is correct). I've been there and I've had a recent separation to deal with recently (you're following my diary). For me, getting my mental health back on track was key and Step Change enabled me to do this by taking some of the pressure away. Good luck!

Lemon_Tree

No judgement but if I was thinking about a dmp etc I certainly wouldn't be spending so much on entertainment each month and having so many options. But that's just me. You have made big steps so don't give up

OnlyPariah

I'm sending out letters today to each of my creditors to offer them token payments of £10 to each one whilst I sort out my finances. I'll get these setup as Standing Orders and hopefully I can then look to raising the capital to pay off one or two of them.

I've opened up a safe bank account with Starling. The app is great and it's enabled me to setup little pots called Spaces where I can set money aside.

OnlyPariah

Finishing work today at 3pm. That should give me time to get some last minute pressies. Despite my OH saying we weren't getting each other anything it now appears that wasn't the truth. So, off to Asda it is to grab a couple of bits I know she'll like. Seems there is also some other bits to get so I'll try and be frugal though and also not murder anyone in the crowds. I hate crowds.

I've started using OnePoll and am up to £6.20 already with them. I only started it yesterday.

OnlyPariah

Just when I thought we were getting a handle on things, it really doesn't just rain it bloody well pours.

We've managed to be frugal over Christmas which has helped and we've got £400 aside for the registrar fees for my partner and I's wedding in March. Then a couple of days ago the car plays up again, engine juddering and down on power. We take it into the garage this morning and I've got a courtesy car at a cost of £15 a day. It seems there is a major with the fuel injector which needs Nissan themselves have to look at. It's being taken over there today but that's going to be £108 just to look at it. They think it might just need the whole fuel system draining which is a lot better than parts needing replacing.

Somehow we've got to find the cash for that. Oh, and we checked the registrar fees for our meeting with them next week. It seems we've underestimated. It's £470 + £38 each for it. So that's £546. So, in total this month I need to find an extra £284 at least that we need to find. We don't have it. I'm not sure what we're going to do.