Mountain to climb

mountaintoclimb

Hello, I'm making this post as my other half and I have quite a lot of debt and also really struggle with managing our money and I'm hoping by sharing our situation and struggles with the community here it will help us to keep focused. 

It's something I feel quite a lot of shame and embarrassment about as I'm going to be 40 next year and honestly didn't think we would be in this situation but it is what it is and I want to take control and take action. 

It all feels really overwhelming but we have to make a start somewhere or I feel like we'll never be out of debt 😣

mountaintoclimb

Tomorrow I'm setting aside time to go through all our income and expenditure, does anyone have a link to the best type of statement of affairs to fill out?

We own our home, I think we have around 20k debt split across us both but I'll be able to say for certain tomorrow 

LippyDoodle

Well give yourselves a pat on the back for actually addressing your debt. That's a huge positive so be proud of that. 

I've seen lots of other threads on debit so I don't know if you have seen any of them, but if not it might be worth having a look and see if you can get some inspiration and support. 

Good luck in your journey 

mcpitman

@mountaintoclimb this is a common used Statement of Affairs (SOA). On here you can detail all in and outs.

https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php 

doingitanyway

Don't be embarrassed be proud you have faced up to your situation and are willing and able to tackle it. Good luck.

mountaintoclimb

mcpitman said:

@mountaintoclimb this is a common used Statement of Affairs (SOA). On here you can detail all in and outs.

Thank you mcpitman I've downloaded this and will start to put in the figures I have then will review with the other half tomorrow night as we are with the inlaws for dinner tonight. 

This morning so far I have called Nationwide and asked for my direct debits to be transferred into the joint account that we opened up a long time ago and keep meaning to start using and haven't They've said it will take 5 working days for the team to send it off so will ask oh to do the same today too so it should happen at the same time. This will also give us the opportunity to really look at what outgoings we really have as at the moment with having two separate current accounts and different outgoings coming out of each one and I find it really confusing.

Have had a clear out of the kitchen cupboards and will be trying to use up as much as possible from there and the freezer.

mountaintoclimb

doingitanyway said:

Don't be embarrassed be proud you have faced up to your situation and are willing and able to tackle it. Good luck.

thank you

mountaintoclimb

LippyDoodle said:

Well give yourselves a pat on the back for actually addressing your debt. That's a huge positive so be proud of that. 

I've seen lots of other threads on debit so I don't know if you have seen any of them, but if not it might be worth having a look and see if you can get some inspiration and support. 

Good luck in your journey 

Thank you yes I have been reading some of the threads and have already seen some good ideas and it feels quite motivating reading other peoples stories too.

I have been in debt in the past when I was a lot younger and used the boards back then about 15 years ago maybe? I learnt so much but it's almost like I've forgotten it all and am having to relearn everything! Will try to keep positive and not beat myself up too much as that doesn't really help I just hate the fact we are in this situation when I should have been more sensible!

mcpitman

mountaintoclimb said:

mcpitman said:

@mountaintoclimb this is a common used Statement of Affairs (SOA). On here you can detail all in and outs.

Thank you mcpitman I've downloaded this and will start to put in the figures I have then will review with the other half tomorrow night as we are with the inlaws for dinner tonight. 

This morning so far I have called Nationwide and asked for my direct debits to be transferred into the joint account that we opened up a long time ago and keep meaning to start using and haven't They've said it will take 5 working days for the team to send it off so will ask oh to do the same today too so it should happen at the same time. This will also give us the opportunity to really look at what outgoings we really have as at the moment with having two separate current accounts and different outgoings coming out of each one and I find it really confusing.

Have had a clear out of the kitchen cupboards and will be trying to use up as much as possible from there and the freezer.

Hi,

Another thought, whilst you are doing your research, get one of the free credit reports and go through that for other accounts you may not think about or have forgotten. Don't pay for it, lots of free options. Think there is a free access one on the site somewhere.

I'll pop back when you have you SOA uploaded and as a group I'm sure we can help one way or another.

savingholmes

There's an MSE credit club on here you can use for free. 

Good luck on your journey. Well done for facing up to your debt. You can beat it and get free. We started with worse debt levels than you...

mountaintoclimb

Evening all, DH and I have just been through our SOA and I've copied and pasted below:

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

Household Information[/b]

Number of adults in household........... 2

Number of children in household......... 3

Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 860.72

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2468.41

Benefits................................ 84.6

Other income............................ 0[b]

Total monthly income.................... 3413.73[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 817.6

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 156

Electricity............................. 46.91

Gas..................................... 40

Oil..................................... 0

Water rates............................. 55

Telephone (land line)................... 0

Mobile phone............................ 20

TV Licence.............................. 13.37

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 52

Internet Services....................... 0

Groceries etc. ......................... 500

Clothing................................ 50

Petrol/diesel........................... 100

Road tax................................ 11.37

Car Insurance........................... 33.66

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 50

Car parking............................. 8

Other travel............................ 0

Childcare/nursery....................... 0

Other child related expenses............ 190

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10.59

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 32.96

Buildings insurance..................... 20

Contents insurance...................... 0

Life assurance ......................... 0

Other insurance......................... 0

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100

Haircuts................................ 15

Entertainment........................... 100

Holiday................................. 15.36

Emergency fund.......................... 0

Amazon Prime............................ 6

Pocket money............................ 80

App organiser........................... 3.99

Amazon Digital.......................... 1.99

Deezer.................................. 9.99

Netflix................................. 9.99

Trust Fund (children)................... 100

Duologi (mattress)...................... 55.71

Mobile Phone DP......................... 37.83[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 2743.32[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 0

House value (Gross)..................... 230000

Shares and bonds........................ 400

Car(s).................................. 14000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 244400[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Mortgage...................... 185000...(817.6)....0[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 185000....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

Barclaycard DP.................6333......200.......6

Halifax DP.....................8783......100.......0

Virgin.........................2783......28.11.....0

PayPal.........................207.......6.8.......0

Barclaycard....................451.......18.78.....19.8

Hitachi........................4329......135.2.....3.2[b]