Help and advice please

Willing2Learn

Okay.  It is good that your son is making a contribution. 

Are your council tax payments made across 10 or 12 months?

Is your water rates paid across 10 or 12 months and is it metered?

Your costs for mobile, landline, internet and satellite/TV needs to be reduced.  £139/month plus TV license is unsustainable.

Your groceries category is a bit high.  You might be able to reduce it by batch cooking and by shopping at Lidl or Aldi (if nearby)

If it were me, I would knock the 'presents' category on the head for a while.  Just let people know that they should not by you gifts for birthdays and xmas.

Are you able to reduce what you spend on haircuts as £30 is rather a lot?  Maybe you could get a discount by using student hairdressers instead


Also, I have noticed that you put aside £100/month for your Emergency Fund.  That is good.  But it should mean that you have some savings in cash if you are really building up your Emergency Fund

Shotom

Hi Willing2Learn, 
The council tax and water payments are over 10 months. The mobiles costs £30 for one and £10 each for the other 2.  The internet / satellite etc is actually £81 per month and includes the landline which I have entered separately. My son has not long started working and the amount of £200 per month includes the extra that it cost for a faster internet service (gamer). I can stop the presents at present and the emergency fund of £100 has not exactly started. 

Thank you for taking the time to look at it. 

Willing2Learn

Ideally you want to change your Council Tax and water rates to 12 equal monthly payments as that will release a few quid back into your budget.

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Shotom

Thank you Willing2Learn for all the pointers. 

Galloglass

Have you read up on bankruptcy? It is one of your options though not a palatable one.

If you add your CC debt to your mortgage debt as you should, your total debt is £186K with assets of £137K. Debt free in 5 years?

a_silver_lining

Just want to say that you're doing fantastic with your SOA and updating it. I have been out of debt for a year and I still list it out when my budgets change to help me keep the bigger picture in mind I think it's a really helpful tool. 

I would confirm with your son that the £200 board is paid on his set payday and then include that in your budget. Explain you need it on this set day for bills. 440 for food for three people could be knocked a little lower, maybe take it in turns to cook a big meal that you can then all take for lunch the next day? It means that around £150 of his monthly board is for food leaving just £50 actual rent, so perhaps he could do a mini shop once a month out of his own money and cook you all dinner?

Do you have any things round the house you could sell? It's amazing how many clothes with tags on, or unread books/dvds/games there can be round a house that you can ebay or trade in online. I cleared about 500 of my debt that way, and it all adds up

warby68

Your son is 24 and £200 pm including food which seems to be £150 pm for his share is quite generous and only a token contribution. Perhaps he could pay a little more. I'm certainly not into children paying for parental difficulties but equally you simply can't afford to give him an almost free ride so even another £50pm would have great value to you.
I'm guessing you've only just stopped the gambling and debt accrual and perhaps it was the credit running dry and payments just about wiping you out that has prompted you to take stock - that probably means you need to take some time to decide what's best and realistic for the long haul. You live what looks like a modest lifestyle but equally most things are covered in the SoA allowing a sizeable chunk for debt repayment over the medium/long term. 
Initial reaction is a DMP is probably for you (you can't currently meet the contractual amounts) - this strategy will hopefully stop the interest burden over time and also stop you taking further credit easily as defaults will kick in. A DMP would be structured and give you breathing space and doesn't stop you opting for more radical debt solutions if it doesn't work out. I'm just unsure whether recent gambling is a stumbling block.
You aren't a million miles from being able to meet commitments and avoid defaults but as you can't afford more credit and will be stuck in a holding pattern with interest swallowing most of your payments for ever and a day that doesn't seem worth it.
I'd actually look at changing your mortgage to repayment (even just by informally overpaying if your lender can't do a formal change) and ensure you are making a bit of progress there at the same time as reducing your unsecured debt. I don't think it unreasonable to tackle both at the same time as the pressure to find £130k in the last 5 years would be harder and your current  housing cost is artificially low. You could be paying say £500 pm off your mortgage plus £1000 off the unsecured debt (7 year plan roughly) and there still be a few hundred for a slightly more relaxed budget recognising you will need something pleasurable in your budget once the gambling is no longer an option.

monetxchange

Agree that your son is getting a good deal for £200 a month all plus all food. Hopefully when he gets settled be can be encouraged to take more hours or work his way up and contribute more in line with what he uses. It's a good financial lesson for him too!

Well done on taking the first step. I agree with all other parts on where you can trim. Have you looked into DMPs or similar?