Debt relief options

Willing2Learn

Do you ever have any free time when you could earn a little extra doing paid online surveys, opinion polls and market research?

How old are the kids?  I thought the government pay for childcare (but I don't have children so I may be wrong)

How far do you live from your workplace?  Can it be cycled to improve health and reduce costs?  Have you considered a carshare so that you can split fuel costs?

Mum2Boys_2

I did start doing some cleaning for a friend who didn’t have time but with the lockdown I stopped but that could bring in an extra £30 a week. 

My boys are 13,12 and 9, the 9 year old is who I pay childcare for, breakfast club and after school club included in my tax credits is 70% of my childcare funds so I only have to pay 30% of that. 

I live about a 40 minute bike ride from where I work, I’d love to bike but I do need to use my car for work I also wouldn’t be able to drop my youngest and collect him on time. 

When I chose my car I chose a cheap basic car I pay £20 a year tax, my previous car was the same, sounded rough as but I planned to keep it as in 5 years I’d only had to pay upkeep, unfortunately it was hit in a carpark but no cctv and it was a write off, I scrapped it as the amount insurance were willing to pay was not much more. 

I spend roughly £50 a month If that on fuel. 

Based on your previous reply, my sister pays for us to have merlin cards, these are mostly our activities, we take 2 pack ups but extra fuel would need to be allowed for this. 

Willing2Learn

Mum2Boys_2 said:

I haven’t allocated money for those things, they would have to come out of my weekly budget, my friend cuts our hair for a good meal. 

This is an example of where you are going wrong.  If it is not in your budget then you should not be spending money on those things (clothing for example).

You need to sit down and go through a years worth of bank, card and Littlewoods statements so that you can determine exactly what you are spending on each category.  You are obviously a good mother who does clothe their children and spend quality time out at recreational activities.  But your monthly budget needs to reflect reality accurately.

So, go through those statements and once you have the figures, you will be able to complete your SOA Mark II.  And don't worry, most people will have several attempts at their SOA before things balance properly. 

Your budget will balance out as otherwise you would have uncontrolled debt.  Things won't look so bad once you have reallocated your income correctly to their various categories. 

Willing2Learn

Mum2Boys_2 said:

I spend roughly £50 a month If that on fuel. 

But you said in your SOA that you spend £118/weekly (= £500/month)

Edit : Oh I have just realised that you were saying £118/week on food and groceries (£500/month).

I will adjust your SOA and repost it with the amendment

Mum2Boys_2

Oh I agree that I need to allow for those things however I don’t want to be spending the same amounts of money on clothes as I had been, I feel this is somewhere to cut back. 

I don’t need to purchase anything but some school uniform, boxers and socks for my 9 year old (hand me downs). 

My oldest 2 have enough clothes for another year so I won’t be purchasing unless emergency. 

Clothes are now Christmas and birthday presents also as they don’t need anything else. 

Since being in lockdown we have not eaten out or got 1 takeaway, this is something I plan to continue moving forward as I think this was likely to be £100 a month. 

If I was to allow money for clothes and gifts I could allow say £30 a month. That’s £10 for each of them. Christmas 2019 I spent remarkably less then I used to, me and the boys are in agreement that presents are not always necessary and they all have birthdays coming up and have told me they don’t need anything, this is down to our minimalist way of life we have adopted now. 

I also have £750 coming to me over the next few months..... I will put aside £250 for school uniform and then £500 towards my littlewoods which will almost clear it. 

Willing2Learn

Mum2Boys_2 said:

If I was to allow money for clothes and gifts I could allow say £30 a month.

This needs to be accurate.  So, if you are saying you spend £30/month on clothes and gifts then your annual transactions on your statements will provide with evidence of £360/annum.

On the other hand, I am allowed to guess things.  And I am guessing you are not a math teacher lol...  What do you teach btw?

Willing2Learn

Okay then.  Here is Mark II:

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 3
Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 1208
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1199.44
Other income............................ 0[b]
Total monthly income.................... 2407.44[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 403
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 525
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 94
Electricity............................. 75
Gas..................................... 75
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 38
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 13.2
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 53.96
Groceries etc. ......................... 300
Clothing................................ 300
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 300
Car Insurance........................... 64.18
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 128
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 8.26
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Gym..................................... 20[b]
Total monthly expenses.................. 2717.6[/b]
[b]

Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 215000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0[b]
Total Assets............................ 215000[/b]
[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(403)......0
Secured Debt.................. 0........(351)......0
Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 0........(174)......0[b]
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................0.........50........0
Card...........................0.........50........0[b]
Total unsecured debts..........0.........100.......-  [/b]

[b]
Monthly Budget Summary[/b]
Total monthly income.................... 2,407.44
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,717.6
Available for debt repayments........... -310.16
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 100[b]
Amount short for making debt repayments. -410.16[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]
Total assets (things you own)........... 215,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0[b]
Net Assets.............................. 215,000[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

Mum2Boys_2

I am not good at maths and I do not teach ahaha. I work as a welfare officer and safeguarding lead, the school I work at is in a poor demographic area and my workload is massive compared to the others around us, I am requesting my weekly hours are also increased by 2.5 hours a week as well as a part timer as I worked beyond my hours before and it will be far worse when we go back. 

Willing2Learn

Mum2Boys_2 said:

I am not good at maths and I do not teach ahaha. I work as a welfare officer and safeguarding lead...

With what age group are you working?  This can be a learning experience for you.  You learn how to budget and then you can transfer those skills and advise your students how to budget too.  You will be increasing your value lol...

Mahsroh

I think the issue here as others have said is your “balancing figure” of £118/wk. This is clearly where you are overspending so as others have said you really need to go through your bank statements and establish exactly where that money (and seemingly more) is going each week / month.

looking at your SOA your utilities look a bit high at £150/month and possibly car insurance but this can obviously vary massively person to person. Only other possible is whether you could live without your gym membership? 

Other than those, it really is your weekly spend on everything else such as food/clothes/fuel etc. 

Willing2learn has done a great job at trying to update your SOA to factor in these things, but the only way you’re going to get a true picture of where you are / need to be is to go through your last 3/4 statements and update the SOA to show exactly where you’re spending it.