Need help to get debt free and manage my spending without losing my life/style

PrettyPenmanship

Not an exaggeration as current expenditure is high but literally keeping me sane/alive in several respects. So please bear this in mind when replying/advising? 

SOA - I’m on phone and the soa apparently not set up for this so I’ve copy & pasted as best I can and hope you can understand ok. 

SOA

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

HOUSEHOLD INFO 

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

Number of children in household......... 0

Number of cars owned.................... 0

MONTHLY INCOME DETAILS 

Monthly income after tax................ 0

Partners monthly income after tax....... 0

Benefits................................ 2008.39

Total monthly income.................... 2008.39

MONTHLY EXPENSE DETAILS 

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

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

Rent.................................... 695

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 29

Electricity............................. 166 (dual fuel actually why is there no row for this?) 

Gas..................................... 0

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

Water rates............................. 0 (live in Scotland paid via council tax) 

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

Mobile phone............................ 26.82

TV Licence.............................. 0

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0

Internet Services....................... 35.48

Groceries etc. ......................... 346.66

Clothing................................ 86.67

Petrol/diesel........................... 0

Road tax................................ 0

Car Insurance........................... 0

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

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

Other travel............................ 65

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

Other child related expenses............ (student daughter) 50

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0

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

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

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15

Haircuts................................ 5

Entertainment........................... 216.67

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

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

(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0

Phone insurance ........................ 14

Streaming etc (prime) .................. 13.98

Gym..................................... 59

Work organisations ..................... 24

Total monthly expenses.................. 1848.28

Assets - none basically! 

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

UNSECURED DEBTS 

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

Cap 1 credit card .............2496.28...146.......30.34% 

M&s credit card ...............1354.48...35........25.9% 

Overdraft .....................450.......0.........39.9 % (put 0 for monthly payments as didn’t know how to work this out) 

TOTAL UNSECURED DEBT 4300.76...181

MONTHLY INCOME 

Total monthly income.................... 2,008.39

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,848.28

Available for debt repayments........... 160.11

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 181[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -20.89[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 0

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

Total Unsecured debt.................... -4,300.76[b]

Net Assets.............................. -4,300.76

I am mentally ill as stated and therefore in receipt of disability benefits and other help. 

I am trying to work in a self employed way that can work around my health issues or even find employed work that would but after a long career break because of the health issues this is very hard, no luck so far. Limited type of work and hours I can do too. 

I have a few small items I could potentially sell but less than £50 worth. 

I have applied for disabled bus pass again, have had difficulties with this hoping this time works, this would save me approx £30-40 a month on transport. 

I know my groceries are high, this is mainly as my condition incurs certain extra expenditure. Non food items. I am also diabetic and vegetarian so that needs to be accounted for in the food side, recently dx diabetes so still kinda getting my head around all that. But I do know I need to reduce costs (and consumption!) there. Need to review what I eat, how I cook etc, especially as we’re into winter now. I’m a pretty decent cook but as I live alone cooking small amounts or batch cooking are the main focus. Can only manage batch cooking when health is good (physical health stuff too) 

Energy bill also high thanks to a weird winter last year as I had just moved into this flat and hadn’t figured out how best to manage heating etc. think I have a much better handle on it this year, plus will be posting for advice on energy board too. 

Entertainment costs are high - this is the potentially controversial part. This is my social life, my health improved to a point I COULD socialise recently after many years of not! So perhaps a little over excited with this! 

Have a good group of friends there now I want to keep going it’s really helping my mental health (which also hopefully means I can get back to full time employment asap too so I see it as a long term benefit too). There are aspects I can and have changed (not going out EVERY weekend, friends are also starting to feel the pinch so going to cheaper venues/taking advantage of discounts and loyalty schemes etc, I’ve also built up the mental strength to be able to get the night bus home rather than a taxi which is saving a considerable amount. These are all quite recent changes so not showing up in my expenditure really yet. 

Shopping - clothes etc. I’ve also gone a bit mad here due to doing better health and social wise and losing a significant amount of weight (still losing not a healthy weight yet) but again I know I need to curb this and find a better approach. Indeed I am trying NOT to buy more clothes until I’ve lost another stone. But I can be an impulse buyer, spend too much on “cheap” things cos “oh it’s only £1, £5, £10” - yes I’m eyerolling at myself here - that I don’t really need. 

I used to be very good at money management and feel I’ve forgotten how to be. 

But yes rising cost of … everything! Is not helping any of us eh? 

So, kind but good advice here would be very welcome. 

I hate being in debt and wasn’t until this last 18 months maybe? Yes poor decision making and money management but I don’t think totally my fault. 

I also do online surveys sometimes but they don’t earn you much but it’s something I can do when watching a film or listening to radio. 

Feel out of the loop on “tips and tricks” too. Sometimes forget to use my loyalty schemes and points stuff most effectively. I’ve forgotten how to be a savvy shopper too. 

Christmas and a big family birthday coming up need to be covered too. 

Thanks in advance for the support. 

Martico

Some aspects are important to you, and there's no problem with that. Your personal welfare comes first, always. Having said that, I would think that clothing expenditure is something that you can trim down massively without affecting your lifestyle. Perhaps cut out completely until you're able to show a surplus and have killed the overdraft and are able to start overpaying on the CCs? And after that, filter a monthly clothing budget into a separate savings pot?  

PrettyPenmanship

Yea I’ve decided no more buying clothes till I’ve lost a stone as I’ve said. I’ve plenty to do me for now I don’t need anything new. 

Thanks for your kind and understanding response 

PrettyPenmanship

Should say AT LEAST until I’ve lost a stone. Even then most clothes will then be too big so I can sell the old to fund the new mostly. Also hoping for vouchers for Xmas to cover that. 

Martico

That's a good plan. But try to keep that balanced with an overall budget and a plan to pay down the debts. The more excess you can achieve with a planned budget, the faster you can pay down the debts, and the faster this problem will be lifted from your mind. 
And if you feel confident that you have a good bunch of friends and a supportive social circle, they'll understand if you suggest cheaper options for socialising. The people and times together are the important things.

Richard1212

I'm sure everybody here sympathises with your dilemma-----I certainly do and hope you get through all this as soon as possible.

Your health comes first so anything I say is to be ignored if you think it might detract from your health.

The good thing is that you know you are overspending----it's also good that your debts are mild compared to some of the horrific figures we see on this forum.

Gotta try and cut down on clothes as mentioned in previous posts. But the very large sum on "entertaining" can surely be cut----so many friends just meet at each others' houses and have a chat with a glass of wine or coffee whilst you seem to be doing much more. Can you and your friends ( who are also probably feeling the pinch) agree to meeting at each others' homes and listen to music or chat with coffee and sandwiches ?                                                                                                                                                                                                            Look deeper into the cost of groceries and your ideas for cooking recipes which you said could make a difference to your high food bills.            Do you actually use the gym membership enough to warrant having it ? Can the work organisations, whatever they may be, be dropped ?

Do not borrow any further sums on credit cards or loans unless you are able to pay them back within the month.

You've already said you are much better than when you were unable to socialise at all, so that's a step in the right direction. That, plus how intelligent you are in recognising the room for taking action re your finances, are more than half the battle. I'm sure you'll manage the rest ----you may even enjoy the challenge of seeing how your finances improve every month with careful handling and get great satisfaction from that ( yes, some folk do !).
My wife and I send you best wishes for improvement in your health and in getting to grips with your monthly financial disparity ( which, as I've said, is pretty mild compared to the horror stories we hear about on this forum. All the best.

Exodi

OK so as others have pointed out, and you have recognised, clothes and entertainment is very high for someone looking to pay off debts.

I found it quite interesting that while you pay £26.82 for your mobile every month, you also pay £14 in phone insurance every month? Paying over 50% of the cost of the monthly cost of the item in insurance is absolutely bonkers to me... your phone insurance is the same price as my buildings + contents insurance. My packaged bank account (Nationwide FlexPlus) charges £13 per month and not only includes phone insurance (for the whole family) but also family-wide travel insurance, breakdown cover and great FX rates.

Aside from the high phone insurance cost, if you've paid off the handset is there any option to change to a SIM only deal? You could get this down to £10 or less if so.

Broadband costs are also high at £35.48 for a single person on benefits - do they do social tariffs in Scotland? Worth looking into. Vodafone charge £12 per month.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/compare-broadband-deals/broadband-social-tariffs/?feature=setupCosts

Dual Fual of £166 per month is high (is this an average of the year?). ~£2k p/a is similar to what my wife and I spend on a 3 bed house.

Gym £59 is also incredibly high. Again I don't know about Scotland but there are many 'cheap' gyms in England, e.g. The Gym, PureGym, etc... which charge about £20 per month.

I think there are lots of places you could save money without really changing much. Obviously working on the ~£300 you have allocated to entertainment and clothes would certainly help!

sourcrates

Your debt is relatively small, and I dare say your budget can be varied to cover the £20 payment shortfall to your credit cards, which are both non priority debts.

Your social life will be important to you and your mental wellbeing, so that would be a priority, not much to cut from the budget, phone insurance not worth the effort really, cheaper gym maybe, but not much else to trim.

Is your ability to obtain credit important to you?

If not, and the debts become unaffordable, just let them lapse into default, and pay a nominal sum to the debt collection companies that pick them up eventually, interest gets stopped, and any balance can be paid at a lower rate over a longer time span.

You can treat the overdraft in the same way, just arrange new banking facilities beforehand, preferably a basic bank account with no borrowing facility.

No real dilemma either way here.

fatbelly

I think you should make your priority to get out of the overdraft. If Nationwide would take you on, they are offering a £200 sweetener and 0% overdraft for 12 months, which should help.

Once you get into a position to save, they have 8% regular savings account too.

If you can get a 0% balance transfer card you can kill the interest on the cards too.

enthusiasticsaver

I would ditch the phone insurance, cut the clothes, groceries and entertainment budget and up the presents if you  don't have anything saved for Christmas or the big family birthday.  If you are not working you should manage expectations with your family and suggest a secret santa or only buy for children or something.  If you don't work why are you paying £24 for work organisations? 

You only have a £20 monthly shortfall so you should be able to find that somewhere in that budget but all your debts are expensive so I would be looking to overpay if you can cut back on some of the categories.  A lot of people make money on surveys so you could try that even if you get paid in vouchers you can use for Christmas.  Keeping a spending diary may help you stop  splashing out if money is more limited now. 

Bradden

Slightly off topic but I'm suprised to see £2008 in benefits for a single person - how is this achieved?