i'm scared!!!!!

rhubarb57

Hi, I'm New To Posting I Had My Lightbulb Moment A Couple Of Weeks Ago When I Had To Use My Credit Card 2 Weeks In A Row To Do Our Food Shopping. Our Household Consists Of Myself, My Husband And 3 Girls Aged 14, 12 And 4! Here's My Monthly Soa

income

My Take Home Pay(after Expenses)-£449
Husbands Take Home Pay(after Exp And Tax)-£953
Child Benefit-£183
Tax Credits-£564

outgoings

Rent-£286
Water-£30
Council Tax -£99
Gas-£25
Elec-£25
Family Loan(to My Mum)-£263
House Ins-£11
Mobile And House Phone-£52
Tv Licence-£12
Satellite, Internet And Calls-£36
Washing Machine Rental-£17
Trust Fund Payment-£10
Accidental Death Policy-£4
Food And Toiletries-£520
School Meals(once A Week For 2 Eldest)-£26
Pet Food And Ins-£33
Tobacco-£70
School Trips-£30
Hairderessing-£40
Clubs And Entertainment-£50
Pocket Money-£40
Xmas And Birthday Fund-£50
Repay Of Overpayment To Tax Credits-£21
Car Ins-£35
Road Tax And Petrol-£41
Money Put Aside For Sevicing And Repairs-£25

debts
3 Overdrafts With Lloyds Tsb-£3500
Lloyds Tsb Loan-£6949
Ge Money Loan-£15132
Dfs Finance-£669
Mint Card-£3583
Halifax Card-£1636
Capital One Card-£2800

I Think Thats Everything!! We Are Not Behind On Any Payments But I Have Been Robbing Peter To Pay Paul! Now We Have Contacted The Cccs Who Are Going To Arrange A Dmp. I Have Changed Bank Accounts And Cancelled All Payments To Creditiors As Advised Now What Scares Me Is The Fact They Will All Shortly Start Contacting Me With Nasty Letters And Phonecalls! And Also As You Can See We Have £150 Left Over For Creditors So It Will Take Us About 20 Years To Pay Everything Off!!
Sorry This Is Really Long Just Want Make Sure I've Explained Everything So I Can Get The Best Advice Off You Lot!!

Lizalu

Hi Rhubarb, and well done for posting!
I'm not an experienced DFW, more help will be along soon, but just to start can you please clarify the phone bills, you say mobile and house phone, but calls are also included in the internet/satellite bill? can you break this down a little more?

rhubarb57

Hi, Basically We I Have An O2 Contract Phone And Pay Line Rental To Bt. My Actual Call Costs, Internet And Satelite Are Through Sky!

floss2

rhubarb57 wrote: »

Hi, I'm New To Posting I Had My Lightbulb Moment A Couple Of Weeks Ago When I Had To Use My Credit Card 2 Weeks In A Row To Do Our Food Shopping. Our Household Consists Of Myself, My Husband And 3 Girls Aged 14, 12 And 4! Here's My Monthly Soa

income

My Take Home Pay(after Expenses)-£449 what expenses?
Husbands Take Home Pay(after Exp And Tax)-£953 what expenses?
Child Benefit-£183 4-wkly figure?
Tax Credits-£564 4-wkly figure?
TOTAL £2149

outgoings

Rent-£286
Water-£30
Council Tax -£99 over 10 or 12m?
Gas-£25
Elec-£25
Family Loan(to My Mum)-£263 can this repayment be brought down a little?
House Ins-£11
Mobile And House Phone-£52 can you drop a tariff on your mobile or go PAYG?
Tv Licence-£12
Satellite, Internet And Calls-£36 Are you on the cheapest bundle for this?
Washing Machine Rental-£17 See suggestion *below
Trust Fund Payment-£10 maybe think about stopping this until you are in a better position to pay into it?
Accidental Death Policy-£4
Food And Toiletries-£520 You can reduce this by £150-£200 - look on Old Style Board & see suggestion **below
School Meals(once A Week For 2 Eldest)-£26
Pet Food And Ins-£33 For how many pets?
Tobacco-£70 not going to say it but.....
School Trips-£30 Every month????
Hairderessing-£40 can you go to your local college?
Clubs And Entertainment-£50 You aren't really in a position to afford this
Pocket Money-£40 Do they earn this?
Xmas And Birthday Fund-£50 that is £600 a year, enough to clear your DFS finance.
Repay Of Overpayment To Tax Credits-£21
Car Ins-£35
Road Tax And Petrol-£41
Money Put Aside For Sevicing And Repairs-£25
TOTAL £1854

DIFFERENCE: £295 - Where is this money going?

debts
3 Overdrafts With Lloyds Tsb-£3500 APR?
Lloyds Tsb Loan-£6949 APR?
Ge Money Loan-£15132 APR?
Dfs Finance-£669 APR?
Mint Card-£3583 APR?
Halifax Card-£1636 APR?
Capital One Card-£2800 APR?

I Think Thats Everything!! We Are Not Behind On Any Payments But I Have Been Robbing Peter To Pay Paul! Now We Have Contacted The Cccs Who Are Going To Arrange A Dmp. I Have Changed Bank Accounts And Cancelled All Payments To Creditiors As Advised Now What Scares Me Is The Fact They Will All Shortly Start Contacting Me With Nasty Letters And Phonecalls! And Also As You Can See We Have £150 Left Over For Creditors So It Will Take Us About 20 Years To Pay Everything Off!!
Sorry This Is Really Long Just Want Make Sure I've Explained Everything So I Can Get The Best Advice Off You Lot!!

Ok, start a spending diary to find the "missing" money.
Are your CB & TC figures 4-weekly or monthly?
* - use 1 month's repayment of the loan to your mum to buy a washing machine.
** - make a list of everything in your cupboards / fridge / freezer and then menu plan from that list until you have nothing left. Then menu-plan for your week's shopping. Only buy what you need to. Shop on the internet so no impulse buying.

Hope that helps,

Floss x

rhubarb57

thanks floss
i feel like i've been told off :rotfl:
to start i've no idea what the apr's are! we are both self employed hence expenses! chb and t/cred are both monthly! i actually missed off clothing and footwear at £100 a month and school bus fares of £48 a month!
repayment to mum can't be bought down as she took a basnk loan for us to pay off credit/store cards! we're now contracted with sky for internet, calls and tv. i will be changing to payg when mobile contract is up. i will look into freezing the trust fund and will look at the advice for food shopping.
we have 1 cat and 1 dog and i have just started giving them dry food only as it is much cheaper! the school trip money is put away as they both go on trips to france and such like and i don't want to say no as they shouldn't have to suffer from my stupidity! they most certainly do earn their pocket money, they need to know that you don't just get given money!!
some of the figures are a bit more than i would have put but this it was the cccs came up with.
so as you can see we have £147 left to put to the dmp!

Karmacat

Hi rhubarb, welcome to mse! Floss has given you some good advice, its not a telling off, honestly! Here are my thoughts too:

1. aprs: as she says, you need to find out what they are, so you can adjust towards the cheaper ones, or even ring and request a lower apr from cc companies. Theycan only say no, afterall.

2. I understand the kids are growing, but £100 a month? Thats a lot. You have to "make do and mend" sometimes, as they (used!) to say.

3. The trust fund - it has to go for now, there's no point paying far forward when you're in so much debt in the present.

4. Your food bill is massive, there's a huge amount you can do there - definitely go to the old style board.

5. School trips. Maybe cut down by one out of three?

6. Check the package with sky, they can be bargained with - they're very concerned with customer retention.

7. Tobacco. If somebody has to have it, can they change to rollups? Thats an awful lot of money each month, literally going up in smoke.

8. Clubs? What kind of clubs? Entertaining who? This is £600 a year, thats a lot of money - if you doubt that, look at Martin's Demotivator tool.

9. Extra income. I know this sounds mad, but hear me out - I'm self employed too, I know what its like. I've made over £1000 this year from internet stuff - selling books and CDs on amazon, mystery shopping, internet surveys, cashback for purchases via sites like quidco, pigsback - check out the freebies board and there's another one called something like "make extra dosh", its not that, but similar. Put that money in a separate account, and you can use it just to debtbust. All those fivers and tuppences really add up to a lot of money.

Hope this helps.

southernscouser

Can I call you crumble, rhubarb? :hello:

Can you afford to buy a washing machine outright? There is a washer/dryer in Argos for £280! Even if it breaks down every 18 months and you have to replace it, you'll still be saving money!

I've not even checked Curry's etc so they are probably even cheaper still!

As for food an toiletries, I think you should aim for £300! Don't ask me how! :rotfl: But do ask on the oldstyle board. They are always saying they have never eat healthier, and cheaper, in their lives.

Smoking kills. You and your purse! I'm pretty sure you can get free help to give up from your local quack. New Year is fast approaching. What better time to give up eh?

None of this is gonna be easy. It's a whole lifestyle change. Somethings will work for you, others won't. You just have to try and test things. For example, alot of people are unwilling to sacrifice sky, but will sacrifice or cut back on something else.

immoral_angeluk

income

My Take Home Pay(after Expenses)-£449 any chance of overtime? better job?
Husbands Take Home Pay(after Exp And Tax)-£953
Child Benefit-£183
Tax Credits-£564

outgoings

Rent-£286
Water-£30 if you are paying this over 8/10 months ask to have it spread over 12.
Council Tax -£99
Gas-£25
Elec-£25
Family Loan(to My Mum)-£263 could you reduce this payment for the time being?
House Ins-£11 if you are renting is this for just contents? I'm sure you could get cheaper than this. We only pay £5 a month for our contents insurance.
Mobile And House Phone-£52 Is this mobile and line rental for home phone? Cut down the mobile and go pay and go.
Tv Licence-£12
Satellite, Internet And Calls-£36 cut to the cheapest package you can
Washing Machine Rental-£17 how long have you been renting.. get one off freecycle and cancel the rental. It's wasted money!
Trust Fund Payment-£10 Cancel this for the time being until you can afford to save.
Accidental Death Policy-£4 Cancel this for the time being. Is it REALLY worth it right now when that £4 could be put to better use?
Food And Toiletries-£520 Check out the old style board to cut this down..
School Meals(once A Week For 2 Eldest)-£26 would pack lunches be cheaper?
Pet Food And Ins-£33 how many pets? is the insurance the cheapest you could find?
Tobacco-£70 Gotta go. You can't afford it and you're putting you AND YOUR CHILDRENS health at risk.
School Trips-£30 is this every month?
Hairderessing-£40 is this every month? Couldn't you cut your own hair?
Clubs And Entertainment-£50 I'm sure you could find cheaper things to do.
Pocket Money-£40 this could be cut down
Xmas And Birthday Fund-£50 this could be cut down.
Repay Of Overpayment To Tax Credits-£21 Got to love tax credits :rolleyes:
Car Ins-£35 is this the cheapest you could find?
Road Tax And Petrol-£41
Money Put Aside For Sevicing And Repairs-£25

debts what APRs are these..? are any in arrears? what are the minimum payments?
3 Overdrafts With Lloyds Tsb-£3500
Lloyds Tsb Loan-£6949
Ge Money Loan-£15132
Dfs Finance-£669
Mint Card-£3583
Halifax Card-£1636
Capital One Card-£2800

floss2

Tesco sell washers too....clubcard points.....do you have room on a cc for a washer? It would be an extra £17/m to go on the repayment...

Oldest daughter is legally old enough to get a Saturday job or paper round if she wants to go on school trips. When younger, me & 3 brothers were told we could only go on 1 foreign trip during high school because money was tight...your older girls are well old enough to understand they can't always have everything...I assume that giving them everything has helped get you into the current situation?

Also, your APR's will be on your latest cc bills - can you tell us your credit limit, the balance & the minimum payment, then we can look to see if any shuffling / balance transfers can be done.

Floss x

angelavdavis

Hi and welcome to DFW. Dealing with debt is scary, but it makes you stronger once you get there!

rhubarb57 wrote: »

to start i've no idea what the apr's are! .

You need to phone each of your credit card companies and find out what they are

rhubarb57 wrote: »

we are both self employed hence expenses!

You need to be keeping a record of these and ensuring you are claiming your full tax benefits too if you aren't already.

rhubarb57 wrote: »

i actually missed off clothing and footwear at £100 a month and school bus fares of £48 a month!

That is why you need to keep a spending diary to track any missing expenses - it opens the eyes to what you are really spending and allows you to reduce these.

rhubarb57 wrote: »

i will be changing to payg when mobile contract is up.

Have you phoned your mobile provider to see if you are trade down the package to reduce this? You might have to pay an admin fee but could reduce the package down by about £20 per month. If you are using for business, you need to be taking these costs out before your salary is given.

rhubarb57 wrote: »

some of the figures are a bit more than i would have put but this it was the cccs came up with.

Another reason to keep a spending diary.

I think you could save on the following:

Mobile And House Phone-£52 £624 per year - reduce by £20 p/m if poss
Hairderessing-£40 - £480 per year - reduce by £10 p/m if poss
Washing Machine Rental-£17 - £204 per year - go on freecycle and see if someone is giving one away or buy one cheaply second hand for time being. You can pick a new one up for £199ish
Satellite, Internet And Calls-£36 - see if you can get a better deal
Trust Fund Payment-£10 - £120 put on hold until you are in a better £ situation
Food And Toiletries-£520 - Reduce by £100 minimum (see old style forum)
School Meals(once A Week For 2 Eldest)-£26 - £312 per year - put on on hold
School Trips-£30 - £360 per year - understand your comments, but you are financially strapped - so reduce this by £10 per month
Tobacco-£70 - £840 per year - switch to rollups reduce by £20 per month or stop altogether (your kids are 50% more likely to smoke if a parent does)
Clubs And Entertainment-£50 - £600 per year - reduce by £20 per month.
Pocket Money-£40 - I think the eldest daughter is old enough to get a Saturday job which will enable you to reduce this down by £10 per month at least
Xmas And Birthday Fund-£50 - Reduce by £10 and look over on vouchers section for moneysaving ideas. Use quidco to get cashback for online purchases.
Car Ins-£35 - Shop around to see if you can improve this and switch via quidco for cashback

Potential moneysaving per month: 20+10+17+10+100+26+10+20+20+10+10= £253

Yes it means cutting back a little, but the benefit would be a far closer debt free date.

Once you have your apr information, go onto the snowball calculator here and enter your debts, plus the aprs and minimum payments, then enter 1) the same info but using your £143 per month, this will give you your projected debt free date as current, then do the same but 2) £143 +£243 as detailed above. You will be amazed in the difference.

It sounds like you have tried consolidation before with the help of Mum. Have you cut up the credit cards that you have the debts on to prevent you spending any more?

rayday2

I wouldnt worry about aprs seeing as you are going on a DMP hopefully all interest will be stopped.