Zero Balance Reboot: My Fresh Start to Financial Freedom... again!

nsl101

Sarahwithlove said:

Could you get a lodger for 6-12 months if you have a 3 bed property. 

I know car is sorn but I assume it's still costing you something? Is it road worthy? Do you own it? Could you use that one and get rid of your lease car? 

I have had a lodger before and it is something I have considered doing again, it would need me to furnish the spare room, which I'm happy to do.  However my mental health at the moment, is not too hot and sharing my home with someone is a worry... but your right its deffo worth the consideration. 

And yea the cars need looking into

nsl101

stepped my Netflix down to the lowest subscription with adverts, considered canceling it but felt i couldn't bring myself to do it, I am canceling my Spotify though.   Small things I know but tomorrow I should have more time to work through the SOA again. 

Sarahwithlove

It all will help and add up so it's worth doing. 

nsl101

So I didn't come back to this and like an Ostridge I buried my head in the Sand. Predictably things have gotten to a point where I am now worried I wont be able to make the repayments. I missed a virgin one last month and they have cancelled the 0% interest rate. Spoken to the Bank any they have set me up on what they called "Breathing Space"  I'm not entirely sure what it means as I found the lady on the phone difficult to understand, however they say they have referred me to Step change. 

I work for a company that wont like me having any debt troubles so all this is very worrying and I wish I had made better choices. 

First Direct Overdraft: - £1337.02
First Direct Personal Loan: - £6553.71
MBNA  CC - £14,812.95
Virgin Money CC - £9914.94 
Rough Total: - £31,281.56

This number is less than a few months ago however I am at the start of the month and I have 0 cashflow to pay any bills, and the interest charges are now very real.

I have to do something very real to get something sorted. I will work on this tonight and put more details in here but suffice to say I am feeling very very low and I have had enough.  I am better than this, I am scared about what people will think about the situation I am in and cannot share this information with friends and family. 

My options are running out and I need to find something to bring more money in.  I have managed to set up the spare room now so that could be rented if there is someone prepared to rent it. 

I have to attend a trustees meeting tonight for a charity I volunteer for, a role I dearly love and I may have to resign from if this is not brought under control. Once I have finished this meeting I intend to get stuck into the detail and my budget which from what I can see at the moment is showing a monthly overspend of £459.02.  I need to find any way to reduce this overspend and quick.

I am here to try and find support I need to work this one out, I am sorry I didn't get stuck in back at August and I am kicking myself for it now. 

MFWannabe

You will get lots of support here; it’s better that you have come back now and not in 12 months time etc 
Redo and post a new soa so we can advise and so you know what you are dealing with 

nsl101

So here is an updated SOA I have sorted a few things out but its all still very much early days and a work in progress..  I am selling the car, just had the old Citroen repaired and made roadworthy.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information

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

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

Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 3542.47

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

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

Other income............................ 0

Total monthly income.................... 3542.47

Monthly Expense Details

Mortgage................................ 1462

Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 286.70000000000005

Rent.................................... 0

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 153

Electricity............................. 43.55

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

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

Water rates............................. 32

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

Mobile phone............................ 12

TV Licence.............................. 15

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

Internet Services....................... 43.14

Groceries etc. ......................... 560

Clothing................................ 15

Petrol/diesel........................... 200

Road tax................................ 2

Car Insurance........................... 40.4

Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40

Car parking............................. 8

Other travel............................ 10

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 16

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 72.13

Buildings insurance..................... 29.12

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

Life assurance ......................... 67.17

Other insurance......................... 32.96

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20

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

Entertainment........................... 20

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

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

Total monthly expenses.................. 3250.17

Assets

Cash.................................... 1142.58

House value (Gross)..................... 275000

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

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

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

Total Assets............................ 291142.58

Secured & HP Debts

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

Mortgage...................... 248485...(1462).....2

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 21839.6..(286.7)....0

Total secured & HP debts...... 270324.6..-.........-   

Unsecured Debts

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

Virgin Money CC................10411.9...286.......22.48

MBNA CC........................14064.2...387.......25.06

First Direct OD................855.42....0.........39.9

First Direct loan..............6342.3....211.4.....0

Total unsecured debts..........31673.82..884.4.....-  

Monthly Budget Summary

Total monthly income.................... 3,542.47

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,250.17

Available for debt repayments........... 292.3

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 884.4

Amount short for making debt repayments. -592.1

Personal Balance Sheet Summary

Total assets (things you own)........... 291,142.58

Total HP & Secured debt................. -270,324.6

Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,673.82

Net Assets.............................. -10,855.84

Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

nsl101

Somethings I am working on, I did the MSE budget spreadsheet using my bank statements. I have 3 current accounts, and I move money between them, which i think is not helping my overdraft situation, I am looking to simplify this and move everything back into one single current account. 

The car finance company has given me a settlement figure of 16,794.46. A we buy any car quote to sell it gives me a value of 15000.  I'm not sure if this is the best way to sell it, but it does release me from the 286.00 payment I am having to make each month. 

MBNA has given me a 3-month break, but I want to try to keep up with the payments; otherwise, the payments will grow to over 500 a month. 

I need to get an advert onto Spareroom co uk to get a lodger I have a spare room and although I hate the idea of someone else living in my home I don't think i have a choice. 

Its taken me a while to do this because it is all such a mess and I get overwhelmed on where to start, I feel such a failure I really have messed everything up. 

vampirotoothus

Hi, first thing I would do is get that car either sold or scrapped, either way you will make some and money and clear a space on your drive and in your head.
Second your life assurance has gone up from 17.99 to over £60 what is this for? If you have no dependants then it isn't really necessary, unless it has critical illness cover.
Your groceries seem high for 1 person, so maybe you could look to trim that.
Good luck V x