Held out as long as I can. Pips now really squeaking!

Mumoffourkids

Just a comment about your food bill. According to your statement of affairs you are spending more on food each month than I do and I am currently feeding four adults and four children. I budget £150 per week and some weeks I don’t even spend the whole lot. It also includes all cleaning items and toiletries for six of us. My two eldest kids buy their own toiletries and sometimes buy a takeaway if they don’t fancy what I am cooking. You can easily get that figure down a lot even with your son still living there.

stu12345_2

What's your plan for tenancy for when you reach retirement age, I would have my name down now for social housing waiting list, as you don't want to be renting private when retired, you won't be able to afford it , housing benefit will not be enough to cover that size of private  rent  when a pensioner. it would if you rented council or housing association.

just a thought before you even consider bankruptcy or such and rent private and credit status poor when at retirement age.

there was an article in a newspaper a few years back about someone near your age that had no savings and rented private.
the difference was she had no debt though.

the overall advice was she was too old for a mortgage and had to get name on social housing list asap.

I rent council £385 a month and in a dmp, credit status never comes into it,  I could go bankrupt morro and still have a roof over my head, but it will if renting private unless you can always pay 6 months worth of rent up front every time  you rent and avoid credit check

HampshireH

£247 a month for council tax seems very high too, are you paying off arrears as part of that figure?

Lots of your posts says when your adult son leaves you can cut the food bill. Cut it now he is an adult if he is hungry and cannot cope with the meals you provide he can buy his own top ups. You can't afford to keep subsiding him

stu12345_2

your food bill and rent are two of your biggest problems, your household earnings are good, much more than mines and wife.

which one or both  of those two bills actually has realistic ways to reduce over the short and long-term savings in.

i don't drink, almost the same time i entered a dmp. which helps as anyway I find alcohol just increases depression.
plus our local farmer's market food is about 3 times the cost of supermarkets, so I avoid that too.

imo  Mobile phones , electric and gas bill tinkering  with and such don't get folk debt free fast, it's rent and food that are normally the two biggest costs, apart from cars on hp.
 I got rid of 3 cars myself and wife had, now run an old vauxhall. between us, two cars were on hp!

i see you have no cars on hp, which is
 fantastic 
like to add that 
in my dmp, my credit status is below my location area average , but it's not mega destroyed as it would be in bankruptcy.

but  then again I could not test how bad it would show in a private let credit check as I rent council 

in the words of US debt guru Dave Ramsey,( he's on YouTube and very famous )work more hours and it's beans and rice and never enter a restaurant till your debt free.
 in all seriousness I'm not aware of your hours worked, but his beans and rice comments always make me giggle 

his solutions are always get rid of car on hp, work more hours, rent in a cheaper area or smaller home, and beans and rice. !

note, I see you have a dog, that could cos problems if you try and move or downsize in your current let, will new landlord allow animals.

plus I guess you rent a house not a flat, cos dogs aren't allowed in  private flats, not  even in council or housing association flats too ! only houses.

plus bankruptcy will be 3 years not one cos of an IPA will will be added as you have goodish  wage, but I can see a dmp lasting 3 years too  if the interest all stopped ( it usually is) and a good fast payment plan 

again you have to work out if you will be moving within the next 6 years if you go via a dmp or bankruptcy, and if so will you end up still renting private or will you be in social housing, cos if private like I wrote you will have to pay at least 6 months rent up front to avoid a credit check

plus can I add is there any inheritance you are likely to receive in the next few years, as that can affect bankruptcy, plus I know it's a delicate subject, but it could also clear all your debts, and avoid bankruptcy.

it's just my  current wife's sister has been named in a couple of wills in last few years and received money from  very elderly relatives, sadly  my wife wasn't named in these wills.

plus from personal experience a few years back, my first wife's parents died about 3 months after we divorced ( both were very ill)and she inherited a £200.000 home and £100.000 in stocks and shares.

I  had just entered paying  a protected trust deed and was left with the debts in the marriage as they were all in my name. it was beans and rice for me.

I know it's a delicate topic , but it's one that must be brought up, especially if bankruptcy or IVA  is considered .

Rob5342

What are you buying that makes the groceries come to £850? For two adults and an almost adult child we spend less than £500 a month on groceries, and that's not being particularly frugal (we often get wine and beer)

£113 for phone, broadband and satellite is a lot too. You probably don't need a landline phone if you have mobiles, and you could probably get broadband and a streaming service for not much more than £30 a moth.

Andyjflet

Morning
As others have mentioned, myself and my partner spend £60 a week on food and eat freshly cooked every night and still manage a few treats, this doesn't include alcohol as my partner is in a wine club and I don't drink. 
Staple dinners are Risotto's, Pasta dishes. sometimes steaks etc. we have plain yoghurt or porridge for breakfasts. We bring in over £110k a year between us so we have a breakfast or one meal out a week.

Do you have any private pension provisions? 

CliveOfIndia

GreenArmyPilgrim said:

RAS said:

Your food costs are huge, you can easily save £500+ on that if not more. And the phone bill isn't great even for two.

But this is your debt and your joint income? Have you shared this with your partner and checked that they agree with the sums? Do they have their own debt?

You need to get together, go through the last 6 months statements and work out how much you are actually spending jointly, on what, and what you combined debt total is.

The food figure certainly is still more than we'd like though we do shop at Aldi! It also includes dog food costs. It's inflated currently as our eldest son is still with us

We still have a teenager living with us, a dog, 2 cats and 2 guinea pigs, and spend about £100 - £120 a week on groceries.  That includes food, pet food, toiletries, cleaning stuff, toilet rolls, the whole lot.  It also includes a lot of "unnecessary" stuff like wine, beer, treats, sweets, etc.  There's no way you need to be spending that much on groceries.

You ought to be able to easily shave enough off your grocery bill to cover the shortfall you're showing on the SOA, and then some.

foxgloves

I also think there is a really decent saving to be made on that enormous grocery spend. I think grocery spend is perhaps something that people don't really discuss & compare unless they come on a forum such as this, when I expect it can be quite eye-opening to see one's monthly grocery spend in the context of other households.
Our household is 2 adults & 2 cats. We budget £350 per month for groceries which includes all cleaning products, loo rolls, cat food, etc. It doesn't include our 4 to 6 times a year fresh fish box as the timings of that can be a little random so we do just pay for that as & when. I'd describe us both as 'foodies'. We don't buy rubbish or ready meals & cook from scratch every day. I think we eat really well on this amount & I know that if we were to experience a squeeze in our finances, I'd be able to reduce our grocery budget by £50 to £100 to free up funds.
I think a reduction to £500 (which is still a very generous amount for 3 adults) ought to be very doable & well worth it for the £350 it would free up every month - a significant saving over a year.
Best wishes,
F

enthusiasticsaver

I don’t know how that rent will be sustainable in retirement. Do you have a plan for housing when you are living off pension income? The food bill will also have to come down then so getting into the habit of shopping more economically now while your income is still ok would be worth while. I think your son needs to contribute if he is the reason the food bill is high. 

katsu

Do you need the "other" insurance ?

As you are renting a property, do you really need the life insurance too? Your Civil service pension would leave someone for your wife if you died, right?