Debt before maternity

Brie

Well I think you are doing very well frankly.  But yes - don't wear yourself out!!!

I'd say have a look at the cards you're not using and see which has the highest limit and which has the best deals.  If you haven't used them in a while the limits may have changed.  Basically all I'm suggesting is that you have somewhere to stick potentially £4k - ish worth of Bcard balance next May.   That might be 2 cards if the limits are low.  You just want to make sure you've closed down any that you know for sure you don't want about 6 months before you apply for a mortgage.  

WYSPECIAL

Remember when you start maternity your wage will go down to 90% but this won’t reduce what you take home by that much as you’ll pay less tax and NI. You’ll also get child benefit so that will boost your income up too.

Sncjw

Does the list include overtime money. 

Also does your overtime get paid is arrers? If so when is the last month you actually work overtime? 

enthusiasticsaver

You need to put the interest rates down for those debts as presumably they aren’t all 0%. How did the debt occur? Often it is moving house or maternity leaves but given you haven’t actually taken any yet it is presumably over spending? I think I would focus on getting rid of the debt before saving in a LiSA and cutting back on groceries and entertainment. Well done on setting up savings pots though. 

Naomim

I don't really have much to add except well done on trying to get ahead of this before ML starts. I wish I had done at the time. 

The only thing that jumps out for me is that £300 entertainment spend. Could that be split a bit differently? MrM and I have £120 each for spending but I don't count that as entertainment. It will pay for my coffee's, lunches when I'm out and need something and any personal spends like make up or a meal out with my friends. When it's gone it's gone. We use monzo pots and have pots for a take away every month, haircuts etc so this kind of thing isn't all lumped under one category. 

SassyS

@enthusiasticsaver All are 0% except the monzo loan. Occurred from years of overspending and not budgeting in our early 20s! 

Might be a good idea to not save into our LISA for now and throw at debt. Thank you! 

@Naomim the £300 for entertainment is £150 each for our spending like meals out or seeing friends or days out etc. this will come down once I’m on maternity as we know we have to cut back. 

We both have monzo pots which is split for different things throughout the year.. birthdays, Christmas, car insurance, car repairs etc. 

Today my partner is on his private work job earning £400 in his pocket.. this is going to be thrown against the monzo credit card to get that gone. 

@Snc@Sncjw Nearly missed  the reply to your comment… the SOA doesn’t include my overtime as that is going to be put straight into maternity savings for my no pay months sept/oct/nov 2024 to cover the gap 
the last month I will work the overtime is October and I will get paid that at end of October  

SassyS

Updated the SOA without the LISA and the new monzo credit card balance after today once £400 is paid to it 

[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......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 2[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 1495

Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000

Benefits................................ 0

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

Total monthly income.................... 3495[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 0

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

Rent.................................... 575

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 173

Electricity............................. 55

Gas..................................... 50

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

Water rates............................. 40

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

Mobile phone............................ 30

TV Licence.............................. 14

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 25

Internet Services....................... 30

Groceries etc. ......................... 300

Clothing................................ 20

Petrol/diesel........................... 100 (partner has a work van so his car only used at weekends, my work is 5 miles away full tank lasts 6/7 weeks) 

Road tax................................ 11 (my car is 0)

Car Insurance........................... 60

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 80

Car parking............................. 0

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

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

Other child related expenses............ 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 34

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 34

Buildings insurance..................... 0

Contents insurance...................... 11

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80

Haircuts................................ 20

Entertainment........................... 300

Holiday................................. 50

Emergency fund.......................... 100

Other monzo pots ....................... 140

Dog/cat food............................ 55[b] (2dogs,2cats)

Total monthly expenses.................. 2387[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 950

House value (Gross)..................... 0

Shares and bonds........................ 0

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

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

Total Assets............................ 14,950[/b]

[b]

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts[/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Very (partners)................739.......100.......0

Barclaycard (mine).............4966......300.......0

Monzo loan (partners)..........7000......123.......0

NatWest loan (partner..........6800......285.......0

Monzo credit card(partners)........100.......100.......0[b]

Total unsecured debts..........19605.....908.......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 3,495

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,387

Available for debt repayments........... 1,108

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 908[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 200[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 14,950

Total HP & Secured debt................. -0

Total Unsecured debt.................... -19,605[b]

Net Assets.............................. -4,655[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

RAS

You might want to start looking at a maternity leave budget? Add in nappies, formula or breast feeding kit, child benefit, infant clothing.

Perhaps reduce travel costs? 

Naomim

Don't forget you will get child benefit once bubba is born. Think it's about £90 a month. I get mine paid into a separate bank account so I only use it for kids stuff. I can't afford to save it but it pays for their lunches, uniforms, shoes etc. 

kimwp

Just a note about the cost of meals out, meeting friends reducing during maternity - maternity leave is likely to be really isolating and lonely, so you will need to budget for seeing friends, lunches and playdates with new mum friends, baby classes etc to spend time with others - budget for one class and meal or coffee/cake per day. Some days you may not feel like going out and some days it might be a desperate need to be out the house.