Help needed please 🙏

needtosortmylife

ManyWays said:

I will honestly never ever get myself in this situation again. 
The most important factor is how realistic your plan is, which is why we are asking to see the SOA, not to tell you you should live on beans on toast but because you may be planning to live on beans on toast and that isnt going to work. 

I totally appreciate what you are saying & I appreciate your help. Thank you. 

needtosortmylife

Floss said:

If you have stopped paying those repayments you can save some of that money into an Emergency Fund. Then use the SOA to form an accurate budget including everything & using bank statements to see how much your food shopping, bills, car costs etc really are.

Yes, that was my plan, but life got in the way. Thank you for your help, I appreciate it. 

needtosortmylife

Sorry, don’t know how to edit post! Should be £400 a month for groceries, not £100. 

Plus I have to pay my mum £100 a month for my car. 

Grumpelstiltskin

Can you give us the interest rates on the debts?

Is groceries correct £100 a month?

You need to total income and expenditure so we can see if you have anything left over.

needtosortmylife

Grumpelstiltskin said:

Can you give us the interest rates on the debts?

Is groceries correct £100 a month?

You need to total income and expenditure so we can see if you have anything left over.

No, sorry, I’m not sure? Will it matter as haven’t paid since April so hopefully all default soon..

No, sorry, groceries is £400 a month. 

Income - £3266
Expenditure - £2718
Leaves - £548 
This is not including any of my debts, except the money I owe my mum. 

Thanks 

Grumpelstiltskin

So if you are not paying your debts and not saving an emergency fund what is happening to your left over money?

needtosortmylife

Grumpelstiltskin said:

So if you are not paying your debts and not saving an emergency fund what is happening to your left over money?

Life! 

I am a single mum who works full time with 3 kids living at home. It’s bloody hard & it’s taken me 6 months to realise my situation & ask for help on here. 

I understand that I need to cut back on spending, save for an emergency fund & start paying my debts. 

On paper it looks like I have a lot of spare money, but I don’t. I’m obviously rubbish with money but I want to sort it out. 

needtosortmylife

If I had continued to pay all of my debts I would be minus £400 a month

Cherryfudge

Hi, I think it would help if you log all your spending each day - it's amazing how little bits get forgotten and they really do add up. Your SOA can be a work in progress: part of getting control of your money is developing an awareness of any leaks.

You will probably have seen this part of the site. Don't get overwhelmed by the thought of working through all areas at once, chip away at it and you may find you can reduce costs in some areas. It's better to get a handle on some of it than none of it, and eventually you can add to the areas you have under control.

You've done the hard part by coming on here to talk it through and getting an initial SOA written. Now that part is done, keep looking at all your spending and you will find where the money goes (and once you find that, you can catch the escapees).

needtosortmylife

Cherryfudge said:

Hi, I think it would help if you log all your spending each day - it's amazing how little bits get forgotten and they really do add up. Your SOA can be a work in progress: part of getting control of your money is developing an awareness of any leaks.

You will probably have seen Don't get overwhelmed by the thought of working through all areas at once, chip away at it and you may find you can reduce costs in some areas. It's better to get a handle on some of it than none of it, and eventually you can add to the areas you have under control.

You've done the hard part by coming on here to talk it through and getting an initial SOA written. Now that part is done, keep looking at all your spending and you will find where the money goes (and once you find that, you can catch the escapees).

Hi, I hadn’t thought of that, but yes that would help as I don’t know where my money goes. 

I have not seen that part, I will have a look tomorrow & see if I can save any money somewhere. 

Thank you for your understanding, I appreciate it.