Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

[font=courier new][b]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet[/b][b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 2434.15

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

Benefits................................ 170.2

Other income............................ 100[b]

Total monthly income.................... 2704.35[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 709

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

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 0

Council tax............................. 111

Electricity............................. 150

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

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

Water rates............................. 35

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

Mobile phone............................ 26

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

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

Internet Services....................... 24

Groceries etc. ......................... 210

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

Petrol/diesel........................... 50

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

Car Insurance........................... 26

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

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

Other travel............................ 48

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 11.45

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20

Buildings insurance..................... 15

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

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

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

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 80

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

Entertainment........................... 10.99

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

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

Spending money.......................... 60

Dog training............................ 50

Pet essentials eg food.................. 105

Bank charges............................ 2

icloud/M365............................. 7.99

Ink..................................... 1.49[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 1757.92[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 677

House value (Gross)..................... 168700

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

Car(s).................................. 2000

Other assets............................ 0[b]

Total Assets............................ 171377[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 144600...(709)......3.9[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 144600....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

Loan to Brother................5400......50........0

MBNA CC........................10002.....149.3.....24.06

Barclaycard CC.................9667......168.7.....25

NatWest CC.....................13018.....262.6.....22.48

Fluid CC.......................722.......50........0

Overdraft .....................1350......0.........39[b]

Total unsecured debts..........40159.....680.6.....-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 2,704.35

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,757.92

Available for debt repayments........... 946.43

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 680.6[b]

Amount left after debt repayments....... 265.83[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 171,377

Total HP & Secured debt................. -144,600

Total Unsecured debt.................... -40,159[b]

Net Assets.............................. -13,382[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.LemonFool.co.uk.

Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

Quickly had a go at my soa! To make things a bit more straight forward I have included all the bills in full and just added the money I receive from my adult daughter as additional income. I have also added the money and costs from my youngest daughter back in as realistically it all falls with me and I only give it to her separately so she can practice budgeting. The figure for the electric is really joint gas and electric. The mobile figure is for two mobiles, one at £16pm still in contract the other £10pm. Oh and the interest rates for the credit card are the for the most expensive part of the balance. There are a lot of parts to each balance, some at different rates and ending at different times but payments go towards the highest interest rate first so that is what I mostly focus on.

Any thoughts?

vampirotoothus

Hi well done for getting your SOA done. A useful thing to do is note the renewal dates for everything so that you know when you can re-negotiate costs. With regards to the  £265 left, do you have that, or do you need to investigate (look at statements) how that is disappearing? It may be worth using the eligibility checker to see if you can move any of that high debt to a new card (also the overdraft). Being in the black each month has a big impact on mindset. 
Good luck on the rest of your journey. V x

BadBookkeeper

Any wriggle room on your car insurance?  If you can get any cheaper move the saving to a ‘car pot’ to build up some money towards mot/maintenance. 

Ignore me - remembered your daughter is having your car in June! 

EatingBeans

Thanks @vampirotoothus I think writing down renewal dates is a great idea! I usually add them to my calendar but from now on I am also going to keep a list in my budget spreadsheet so I can see them all in one place and check them more regularly. 👍

Sadly, I am not eligible for any new 0% credit cards, but fingers crossed the offers on my existing cards should come back as I pay down the balances. I am pleased to say the £265 does now match my budget for next month and is mainly thanks to some ruthless cutting since before Christmas. Hopefully that should start making a dent in the debt quite quickly, especially once I sell the car (good remembering @BadBookkeeper!). The car is a solid little run around and dead cheap to run (Peugeot 107) but just not big enough for me, two teenagers and two labradors to go camping, which is when I genuinely need the car. Since camping is off the table for a while and my daughter wants to buy her first car soon, it just makes sense to sell it to her and to use the money to juggle debt back onto 0% offers. Then, once I am in a better position, i will buy something that is a bit bigger. That’s the plan at least!

EatingBeans

Little battle of willpower, WON! 

My youngest dd has just come home from college “starving” and was trying to convince me to order a McDs. She’s not actually starving - a bit hungry, maybe, tired from college, definitely, but not actually starving. There is in fact food in the kitchen and she has money to walk the few hundred yards up the road to Aldi if she wants something different, but she has CRAVINGS! 

Boy am I glad that I made it a rule back at New Years that we were having a no takeaway year this year, with the only exceptions being for birthdays and holidays, or unless my eldest dd wants to order and pay for a Chinese (very rare). No other takeaways allowed in the house as smelling them when you can’t have them makes it 10 times worse. 

And THAT appears to be the real source of todays request. Apparently she has been into a McDs with her friends and not bought anything (very proud of her for that!) but that also means she has sat smelling it all and even got donated a few fries from her friends so has tasted the forbidden! 😱 Now that she is a tiny bit hungry, those cravings are overwhelming her usually stellar willpower and I get pestered! 

Thankfully, I have not long had my allocation of oat nobblie biscuits so I am not that hungry (thank you meal planner!) and I am able to resist. 

Temptation passed… Just 6 weeks to wait until the next birthday! (Not that we are counting or anything!) 🤣

EatingBeans

Good day today. £185 now received for the cello and I got a notification that I am going to get a refund of £80.38 for the TV licence. 🙂

Still haven’t spent any of my allocated petrol or spending money this month and food shopping is on budget! 

The strange thing is I actually feel less deprived spending nothing than when I was spending more. Hmm, not sure how that works!🤔

MayDogsandCoffee

For the DoE - which organisation is she doing it through?  They maybe able to loan her the equipment if you are struggling - or maybe have a look at facebook, our local area has a freebie page (quite busy at the moment, everyone seems to be decluttering) and you can ask for stuff too.

Sarahwithlove

Well done on saying no. Does she get pocket money? If so that's what she should be saving it for if mcdonalds with friends is what she wants. 

EatingBeans

Thanks @Sarahwithlove
No, no pocket money anymore for either daughter. This wasn’t really a decision made based on lack of cash, it is part of a planned transition for both daughters to become independent adults. They were both part of coming up with the plan, it just so happens the the youngest (16yo) is now at the stage where I have stopped pocket money and just provide a food and travel allowance, plus lots of support on how to write a CV, apply for jobs and budget etc. The ability for her to buy her own McDs just acts as another incentive to get a job. Her sister was in the same position a year ago and now pays a third of the bills, saves over £500 a month, as well as going out, getting her nails done and buying takeaways extra! And that’s all on the side of getting consistent A’s for her A level work and having a parent-approved boyfriend for a year. She puts me to shame! 🤣

EatingBeans

Just completed my first couple of surveys on Prolific during a break from work. That’s £1.66 pending. 

I am not exactly sure how Prolific really works yet, but if that actually turns into £1.66 in my bank I will be very happy! I know it is not a lot of money but given how much of a challenge it is for me to find new sources of income when I am stuck in the house, it would still be cause for celebration in my book!