Drowning - What Can I Do?

MrDucky

Hey,

Hope everyone is having a great week so far, I’m hoping to be able to get some support/advice on my current situation and what I can do (if anything) to stop drowning/treading water each month.

Currently my monthly outgoings are equal to my income, I pay all of my creditors and bills without missing/late/defaulting but then I just exist for another month to do the same. The cycle is and has been like this for as long as I can remember. I’m not really sure what I can do to better my situation but thought I’d try and reach out for some help and advice here to see if anyone might know a way out from this current situation?

TIA

gwynlas

You need to complete a SOA template for advice on perhaps lowering your monthly committments or on ways to increase your monthly income. There are 000;s of people on the forum who have been in similar circumstances.

MrDucky

Hey,

Thank you for the reply, what’s a SOA? I can’t see a sticky named as that?

Cheers,

Singlespeeder

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

MrDucky

Found it in someone else’s thread:-

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2160

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 517

Council tax............................. 117

Electricity/Gas............................. 168

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

Mobile phone............................ 72

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 200

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 80

Road tax................................ 16

Car Insurance........................... Paid in Full

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 33

Contents insurance...................... 13

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

Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 0

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

Entertainment........................... 95

Holiday................................. 0

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

Window cleaning.……………….. 12

Total monthly expenses.................. 1498

Assets

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

Car(s).................................. 15000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 15000

Unsecured Debts

Description..................…....Debt..….……Monthly

Very.........................……….882...………...0 (BNPL - Ends  2024)

Next .....................………...1100.....………60

Monzo loan ................….…9853.………...190

Virgin credit card ...........…..2000....………70

Tesco loan.................………13711...……..327

Capital One credit card …… 200………….6

Total unsecured debts...........653

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Expenses (including HP & secured debts) 1498

Available for debt repayments........... 662

Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 653

Amount left after debt repayments....... 12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 15000

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

Total Unsecured debt.................... 27746

CliveOfIndia

MrDucky said:

Found it in someone else’s thread:-

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2160

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 517

Council tax............................. 117

Electricity/Gas............................. 168

Water rates............................. 40 Do you have the option of switching to a metered supply?  It often works out a lot cheaper for a single person.

Mobile phone............................ 72 This is very high - a SIM-only deal can be had for £10 or less once you're out of contract.

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This is quite high for 1 person.  Shop at Aldi/Lidl if you don't already do so, try batch-cooking and freezing to save money.

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 80

Road tax................................ 16

Car Insurance........................... Paid in Full Well done for paying in full, this saves money - but you still need to divide your annual premium by 12 and put that money aside each month, it's still got be paid and budgeted for.

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0  You surely need something in here - or is absolutely everything covered by a finance package?  If it is, I can't see anything in your SOA for HP or PCP or whatever.

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 33

Contents insurance...................... 13

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

Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 0 Not even a small Birthday/Xmas gift for close family?  If not then great, but you do need to budget for every outgoing.

Haircuts................................ 20 Can this be cut (excuse the pun!) ? 

Entertainment........................... 95 I'm sure this could be trimmed significantly if you're determined to nail the debts.

Holiday................................. 0  Appreciate you may not be able to afford or want a "big" holiday, but do you never go for the odd day out or weekend away?

Emergency fund.......................... 0  Ideally you should have something in here.

Window cleaning.……………….. 12 Is this necessary - can you do it yourself?

Total monthly expenses.................. 1498

Assets

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

Car(s).................................. 15000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 15000

Unsecured Debts

Description..................…....Debt..….……Monthly

Very.........................……….882...………...0 (BNPL - Ends  2024)

Next .....................………...1100.....………60

Monzo loan ................….…9853.………...190

Virgin credit card ...........…..2000....………70

Tesco loan.................………13711...……..327

Capital One credit card …… 200………….6

Total unsecured debts...........653

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Expenses (including HP & secured debts) 1498

Available for debt repayments........... 662

Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 653

Amount left after debt repayments....... 12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 15000

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

Total Unsecured debt.................... 27746

Some observations in bold above.  As always, no criticism or judgements about your lifestyle, purely some impartial/objective comments on the figures.

It's also helpful if you can find out the APRs for your various unsecured debts - any spare cash should be prioritised to the one with the highest APR, this will save the greatest amount of interest.

One other thing, the Very BNPL.  Although (I assume) you're not having to pay anything towards it at the moment, it's going to have to be paid in 2024.  You need to be putting something aside for that so you've got the cash available when the time comes to pay it.

Grumpelstiltskin

You say car insurance paid in full but hat are you going to do next time it wants renewing? Put it on a credit card?

You need to save monthly for things like that.

A couple of things jump out, Mobile phone plus internet over £100 a month, you need to look seriously at that, also entertainment, this needs cutting down.

You also need to find out the interest rates you are being charged on each debt.

RAS

Agree with all the above. The APRs are essential.

In the short-term, do you have anything you don't use and could sell at a car boot etc? Even £50 into your emergency fund could help.

You need an emergency fund and a budgeting fund. The budgeting fund is where 1/12th of your car insurance goes every month, as well as 1/12th of you annual prescription cost and the required amount need to pay off Very.

By the way and annual prescription cert is £111?.Might be worth looking at?

MrDucky

CliveOfIndia said:

MrDucky said:

Found it in someone else’s thread:-

Household Information

Number of adults in household........... 1

Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 2160

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Monthly Expense Details

Rent.................................... 517

Council tax............................. 117

Electricity/Gas............................. 168

Water rates............................. 40 Do you have the option of switching to a metered supply?  It often works out a lot cheaper for a single person.

Mobile phone............................ 72 This is very high - a SIM-only deal can be had for £10 or less once you're out of contract.

Internet Services....................... 35

Groceries etc. ......................... 200 This is quite high for 1 person.  Shop at Aldi/Lidl if you don't already do so, try batch-cooking and freezing to save money.

Clothing................................ 0

Petrol/diesel........................... 80

Road tax................................ 16

Car Insurance........................... Paid in Full Well done for paying in full, this saves money - but you still need to divide your annual premium by 12 and put that money aside each month, it's still got be paid and budgeted for.

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0  You surely need something in here - or is absolutely everything covered by a finance package?  If it is, I can't see anything in your SOA for HP or PCP or whatever.

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 33

Contents insurance...................... 13

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

Presents (birthday, Christmas etc)...... 0 Not even a small Birthday/Xmas gift for close family?  If not then great, but you do need to budget for every outgoing.

Haircuts................................ 20 Can this be cut (excuse the pun!) ? 

Entertainment........................... 95 I'm sure this could be trimmed significantly if you're determined to nail the debts.

Holiday................................. 0  Appreciate you may not be able to afford or want a "big" holiday, but do you never go for the odd day out or weekend away?

Emergency fund.......................... 0  Ideally you should have something in here.

Window cleaning.……………….. 12 Is this necessary - can you do it yourself?

Total monthly expenses.................. 1498

Assets

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

Car(s).................................. 15000

Other assets............................ 0

Total Assets............................ 15000

Unsecured Debts

Description..................…....Debt..….……Monthly

Very.........................……….882...………...0 (BNPL - Ends  2024)

Next .....................………...1100.....………60

Monzo loan ................….…9853.………...190

Virgin credit card ...........…..2000....………70

Tesco loan.................………13711...……..327

Capital One credit card …… 200………….6

Total unsecured debts...........653

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 2160

Expenses (including HP & secured debts) 1498

Available for debt repayments........... 662

Monthly Unsecured debt repayments....... 653

Amount left after debt repayments....... 12

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 15000

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

Total Unsecured debt.................... 27746

Some observations in bold above.  As always, no criticism or judgements about your lifestyle, purely some impartial/objective comments on the figures.

It's also helpful if you can find out the APRs for your various unsecured debts - any spare cash should be prioritised to the one with the highest APR, this will save the greatest amount of interest.

One other thing, the Very BNPL.  Although (I assume) you're not having to pay anything towards it at the moment, it's going to have to be paid in 2024.  You need to be putting something aside for that so you've got the cash available when the time comes to pay it.

Thank you for the reply, I’ll try to comment on the above golfed sections;-

Water: my water is already metered.
Mobile: Contract is still in place for mobile phone so can’t reduce it.
Groceries: Already shop at Aldi, don’t tend to batch-cook anything though, I thought £200 would be below average, that’s around £1.60 a meal for a months worth of meals.
Car Insurance: I know, zero money left means I can’t.
Presents: Don’t buy for anyone, so 0 is a true reflection.
Haircut: Open to suggestions, have a suit and tie job so have to look presentable at the office/with clients.
Entertainment: Open to suggestions to reduce it.
Holiday: Want, yes, can afford to, absolutely not. My last holiday was in 2015, but I think I’ve got more pressing issues than thinking about sitting on a beach…
Emergency: I know, zero money left means I can’t.
Window Cleaning: Could cancel it, can’t do it myself though (no equipment to do it).

I’ll try and find out the APR, it’s highest on the Very/Next/Capital One accounts, Tesco loan is probably the lowest, but there’s no “spare cash” to make any changes to my current payment plans.

I have no means to pay the Very BNPL when it reaches its due date, only option is sell personal items to cover the outstanding balance.

Cheers,

MrDucky

Grumpelstiltskin said:

You say car insurance paid in full but hat are you going to do next time it wants renewing? Put it on a credit card?

You need to save monthly for things like that.

A couple of things jump out, Mobile phone plus internet over £100 a month, you need to look seriously at that, also entertainment, this needs cutting down.

You also need to find out the interest rates you are being charged on each debt.

Hey,

Thanks for the reply.

Car Insurance: Cross that bridge when it comes up next June, currently unable to put anything aside to cover the cost.
Mobile: Currently in contract.
Internet: Currently in contract.
Entertainment: Open to suggestions.

I’ll look at the paperwork to find out the APRs, I know Capital One/Very/Next will all be the highest, with Tesco the lowest one (I’ll not guess numbers, will get the actual info when I’m home from work).

Cheers,

Grumpelstiltskin

What does your entertainment budget cover?

Nights out? Sports clubs?

When does your mobile phone contract finish? It sounds like you have an expensive phone included in the contract.