It's time to make a change.

In_Search_Of_Me

Just to say welcome! It is gut wrenching when you start! I cried for 2 days when I had my orginal LBM and like you it was far more than I thought! Have a look round and you'll soon realise that there is usally someone who has mre debt than you! As suggested post your SOA and we'll all see what can be done! You really are not alone in this! Big hugs! You can do it!

squirrel_pigeon

Welcome! I'm also a serial lurker but found the courage to post for the first time today. Have a bash at your SOA - there are a lot of wonderful people on here who will help

LJD1_2

Hiya
Just wanted to add to the welcome. Just take your SOA one step at a time. It might make you feel sick to think about it but once I got it all on paper I felt a whole lot better. Good luck sorting out your SOA and congratulations on taking your first step to being debt free xx

Reality_Bites_2

*Sharp intake of breath*

Here is my SOA then.
I've tried to get down as much info as possible, but I'm sure I've probably missed things off so please let me know what else would need to be on there.
There's a few APR's I'm not 100% sure about, but balances and payments are pretty accurate. Also I should mention that the money coming in figure is difficult for me to be accurate with because I'm newly self employed and it obviously fluctuates.
Thanks in advance for looking and I really, really appreciate any comments and help that can be given.

Regular outgoings per month:

Mortgage - £555
Child Maintenance - £300
Council Tax - £67
Insurance building and contents - £22
BT (broadband and phone) - £38
Water - £33
Sky - £21
Mobile 1 - £33
Mobile 2 - £36
Elec - £18
Gas - £25
Tv Lic - £12
Vehicle Tax - £15
Vehicle Insurance - £28
Business Insurance - £30
Fuel - All my fuel gets paid from my Business account
Personal money - £200, which is for food primarily, but also birthdays, duty free cigs, the rare times I go out, emergencies etc etc


Loans and Credit Cards:

Nemo Personal Loan - £183p/m. 10,000 taken over 7 years. APR is 11.8%. 5 1/2 years left.
Barclaycard - min £51 p/m. Balance stands at £2305. APR 22.9% ?
Egg Card - min £35 p/m. Balance stands at £1250. APR 19.9%
Mint Card - min £65 p/m. Balance stands at 2929. APR 19%?
Goldfish Card - min £72 p/m. Balance stands at £3011. APR not sure as majority of balance was 0% but I've used it since then. I know, I know crap aren't I !

I also owe my parents £13,000, which is a combination of a loan they had for me, plus money they have been putting into my account to make sure I don't go over my overdraft.



Some notes:
The Council Tax includes a living alone discount.
My mortgage is tied until June 09, unless I am willing to pay the extortionate early redemtion payments.
BT package is a 12 month contract which ends Apr 08
Mobile 1 is my personal mobile. On contract, which includes free minutes that I use to call my girlfriend with who lives 90 miles away.
Mobile 2 is contract which ends Sept 08. I can't lower the tariff because it's used for Business and I need all the free minutes.
Vehicle tax, Vehicle insurance and Business insurance 'should' be paid direct from my Business account and once I start to build up something in there then I will transfer them over, but they still get paid every month so should be included, right?

My Business is still in its infancy and income has ranged from £1000 p/m to £2000 p/m. When it's been slow, that's when my parents have stepped in to 'top up' my bank account so at least all the bills get paid. I am eternally grateful for them, but I HATE them having to do this because it really dents my pride. There's nothing to suggest the Business wont grow and grow, which I'm always working on. Obviously a lot of my plans to get out of debt depend on me earning more money, so while I'm constantly striving to get more work in, my concentration is just as strong to focus on what I can do to cut any outgoings and do something about the Credit Cards/Loan and what I owe my parents, bless them!

I'm aware it's not a straight forward SOA and if you've got down to reading this far then THANK YOU. If there's anything that I've missed out or more info is needed then please just ask me and I'll do my best to respond quickly. I welcome and appreciate any comments anybody might have.

Thank you all again for being so welcoming to me. I can't hide away from this anymore and even though it's took a huge amount of bottle for me to post this lot up here, I know it's all for my own good.

giggal

Hi RB
I'm new here too, and like you in a lot of debt. I can understand how you feel, and you've inspired me to sit down and do my own SOA, and start my own debt diary. Things can only get better!!

Reality_Bites_2

giggal,

It's very scary yes, but it's a milestone reached once you actually sit down properly to list everything out. So yeah, my debts are high and it's been a huge wake up call finally listing them down, but the reality of it all is that finding out exactly where you stand isn't increasing them anymore than they were when you used to hide them away in the back of your head.

For me, the last few days have been horrendous and I know the only person who can do something about them is me, myself and I.
Good luck and welcome.

Fortheloveofmoney

Hi again

Well if I've got my figures right, you need to earn £1839 per month to meet your current expenditure. Obviously on the months you earn £2000 this is ok, but on the months you earn £1000 not so good.

How long has your business been running? How many months do you earn £2000 versus £1000? If it's nearly always £2000 then you have some lee-way. If it's nearer to £1000 you have some tough decisions to make.

Is there any way you could increase your income somehow? Second job, renting out a spare room? Sell your house and buy/rent somewhere cheaper?

Cutting down on things like sky, smoking (controversial I know), and reducing the personal spending. Food should be accounted for seperately as there is nearly always something that could be cut from there.

Reality_Bites_2

Fortheloveofmoney,

Business has been running properly about 5 months now.
I'd like to say the income has been closer to £2000 than £1000, but in reality it's probably been half and half.
I'm always trying to get more work in. I can't really commit to getting a second job because I need to be available for my current Business. It's not that I don't have enough hours in the day, it's more that I have hours in the day when I'm not working and promoting my Business will hopefully fill these gaps and earn me more. Put it this way, if I worked 40 hours a week in my Business then I'd earn more than enough.
I don't want to go down the route of seeling my house for a few reasons. I am tied into the mortgage and selling up before it finishes would mean a large eraly redemption payback. I also need the spare rooms for my kids when they come and stay with me. I considered getting a lodger but agaibn, this would cause me issues for when my kids come to stay.
I looked at Sky the other day. I guess I could cut it down by a couple of £ each month, but I have it for when my kids come to stay. They have the full Sky package at their own place and moaned already when I cut back from the same package to what I'm on now.
I get what you're saying about the personal spending amount. I already buy the cheap/value brands for most things and my fridge is regularly emtpy so I'm not sure where I can cut down on this, but I'll try. With regard to smoking, I've made huge cut backs already and am much happier with that. Unfortunately the stress of all this financial mess means that every now and then I reach for a cigarette, but yeah, I AM cutting it back.

Fortheloveofmoney

Yeah i know it's hard and you've taken a huge positive step forward by at least knowing where you stand.

If the income is half and half then the picture will look like this. 5 months of outgoings = £9195. Income = £7500. Difference =£1695. Difference/5 months = £339. So you would need to increase your income by £339 per month or make the same reduction in outgoings......

Have you spoken to Payplan or the CCCS yet?

I'm not on a DMP so I don't know how they work in relation to self employment and variable income. They will be able to help in some way.

At the moment the only issue I can see is the income. If most months you're not making enough to cover your outgoings then you don't need me to tell you what the future holds. You really need to consider what sacrifices you can bear in order to sort this out. Maybe you can do more free stuff with the kids at weekends so they don't notice the sky package going?

Hopefully someone like Jacks will be along in a mo. She had almost £100k debt and has cut it by about £30k already and is hoping to be debt free by the end of next year. She has achieved this by making some HUGE sacrifices.

I really do wish you the best of luck.

Fortheloveofmoney

Oh another thought, would it be possible to have someone rent a room Mon-Fri so that it's spare on the weekends? Not sure how this would work practically with yours kids stuff and the renter stuff but it could be an option????