Beginning of debt free journey...High income, high debts, expensive pets

OopsIdiditagain1

Hello

I posted a few days ago on the debt free wannabe board about my sorry state of affairs. I have received some good advice already and wake up calls.

I thought I'd start a diary to share my journey, keep myself accountable and perhaps help, and seek help from, others in a similar situation to me.

I'm in debt to the tune of around £61k. My income is high but I have a £2k mortgage, 2 horses and 3 dogs which currently cost around £1500 a month and servicing the debt has been costing over £2k. I'm single, no kids by choice (my animals are my kids!).

Obviously it's become completely unsustainable and I've ram raided myself into the buffers. 

I have decided on a self managed DMP although based on current SOA I have only around £150/£200 spare each month to pay to creditors. 

I have missed 2 payments already and receiving a lot of noise from creditors.  118118 Money notably harassing. Oakbrook Finance have followed through with threats of home visits. An agent from Fieldcall knocked on my door yesterday. I'm away for a few days so thankfully I wasn't in but doorbell camera caught the action. No doubt the agent will be back and I'll continue to ignore.

So my plan is:

- prioritise payment agreement with HMRC.
- seek payment arrangement for unpaid vet bill.
- ignore the noise from consumer debt creditors until defaults appear on credit file.
- try and build up an emergency fund albeit a small one initially.
- set up payments to DCAs as and when I have a reasonable emergency fund.
- in the meantime, really scrutinise my spending and budget. I'm challenging myself to try and find £600 a month to put into a DMP ie around 1% of what I owe. This is going to be a very hard one and will involve cutting costs associated with my animals and maybe other lifestyle choices.
- do a lot of praying that this approach will work and avoid CCJs etc. 

It helps to share here. I have not told a soul in my life about my situation. I have been in significant debt before but this time I'm determined to change. 

OopsIdiditagain1

A small win for today.... I purchased a sim from Talk Mobile for £5.95 per month. This is a saving of £16.55 on my current plan with Vodafone. The saving will go in the emergency fund/future DMP payments pot.

I looked at Lebara and others which are a bit cheaper but reliability and customer service sounds sketchy from the reviews. 

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

I wish you well on your journey. Are you able to post your SOA so ithers can possibly make suggestions to help you on your journey to being debt free?
Apologies I have just seen your SOA on your other thread. Perhaps repost it here as it may get a wider audience.

OopsIdiditagain1

Thank you for your kind wishes. 

Reposting my SOA. Welcome any feedback and suggestions. I appreciate that a large portion of my income is spent on my animals (2 horses and 3 dogs). I am considering ways to keep them but reduce my costs. My car is essentially rented through a family members car scheme. I pay for income protection insurance. BT contract committed until April next year but will review. My fixed rate mortgage ends next year. Currently with a specialist lender and I will need to stay with them despite the higher cost.

Thank you.

Household Information[/b]

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

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

Number of cars owned.................... 0[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]

Monthly income after tax................ 5672

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

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

Other income............................ 143[b]

Total monthly income.................... 5815[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]

Mortgage................................ 2042

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

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

Management charge (leasehold property).. 35

Council tax............................. 150

Electricity............................. 93

Gas..................................... 30

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

Water rates............................. 30

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

Mobile phone............................ 22

TV Licence.............................. 28

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 14

Internet Services....................... 97

Groceries etc. ......................... 430

Clothing................................ 30

Petrol/diesel........................... 180

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

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

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

Car parking............................. 5

Other travel............................ 0

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

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

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 50

Pet insurance/vet bills................. 477

Buildings insurance..................... 25

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

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

Other insurance......................... 66

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30

Haircuts................................ 10

Entertainment........................... 30

Holiday................................. 50

Emergency fund.......................... 50

Car Rental.............................. 310

Family debt repayment................... 410

Horses.................................. 965

Garden waste collection ................ 5[b]

Total monthly expenses.................. 5664[/b]

[b]

Assets[/b]

Cash.................................... 200

House value (Gross)..................... 350000

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

Car(s).................................. 0

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

Total Assets............................ 350200[/b]

[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]

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

Mortgage...................... 274000...(2042).....7.47[b]

Total secured & HP debts...... 274000....-.........-   [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]

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

HMRC...........................1445......107.......0

Aqua...........................3000......210.......40.73

Capital One....................550.......24........22.21

Vet............................1500......0.........0

Next...........................755.......35........24.9

Oakbrook.......................5575......226.......13.4

The money platform.............589.......469.......292

Ticktock.......................603.......147.......1299

Jaja...........................3017......117.......34.7

Drafty.........................3096......300.......69.35

Paypal.........................1000......35........0

118118 credit card.............4429......200.......41.2

118118 Loan....................6723......164.......31.07

Onmo...........................1557......74........22.46

Zopa credit card...............1513......72........34.7

Zopa loan......................12420.....295.......27.4

Zilch..........................676.......0.........0

Klarna.........................651.......0.........0

Vanquis........................4076......0.........30.36

Lloyds Overdraft...............1000......0.........49.9[b]

Total unsecured debts..........54175.....2475......-  [/b]

[b]

Monthly Budget Summary[/b]

Total monthly income.................... 5,815

Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 5,664

Available for debt repayments........... 151

Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 2,475[b]

Amount short for making debt repayments. -2,324[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]

Total assets (things you own)........... 350,200

Total HP & Secured debt................. -274,000

Total Unsecured debt.................... -54,175[b]

Net Assets.............................. 22,025[/b]

itsthelittlethings

I think you could get your food spend down a bit?

OopsIdiditagain1

I should have added the groceries includes £250 for me and £150 for the dogs' food, treats and supplements, but yes, I will look to trimming that figure back. Thank you 

itsthelittlethings

Obviously horses at nearly £1k is a major expenditure, I don’t know if there’s any scope to reduce that at all?

OopsIdiditagain1

I do need to look at that. One is old and retired and the other one is unrideable due to an injury so I cannot loan them or have a sharer who would contribute to costs.

I did work our the cost of DIY livery compared to the cost of full care that they are currently on and by the time I added hay, bedding, transport costs, costs of freelance groom to help, there wasn't much in it.

I pay £425 a month each for livery/full care plus feed. They are barefoot so no shoes but need feet trimming every 6-8 weeks.

I will look at insurance when renewal comes up in September and January respectively. I have done some research and I can insure them on the same policy with a combined annual vet fee limit of £3k, for £42 a month. That would save me £75 a month.

If something happens that is more expensive to fix then I might have to consider letting them go.

Unfortunately one of my horses and a dog needed emergency surgery within a month of each other at the end of last year. The policy cover did not cover all the costs. Both needed extensive rehabilitation which has been costly. For me, I had to try and do everything I could to give them the best chance of recovery. My horse is still not right sadly but my little dog is getting back to his normal self. 

Until that point I was able to make minimum payments on my debts, not sustainable long term I know, but the vet bills have broken me. The last straw which has led to drastic action now. 

NeverendingDMP

Hiya welcome to the diaries. Well done on looking at a few bits already, phone insurance etc. honestly the pennies and pounds saved will eventually add up.

OopsIdiditagain1

NeverendingDMP said:

Hiya welcome to the diaries. Well done on looking at a few bits already, phone insurance etc. honestly the pennies and pounds saved will eventually add up.

Hi and thank you. I hope if I count the pennies it will soon add up into pounds. This morning I've cancelled National Trust and Audible subscriptions, which saves another £16. Not much but it's another step in the right direction  

MayDogsandCoffee

Not up to date on livery these days, or which area you are in, but could you shop around and find retirement livery a bit cheaper, more of a herd environment.  How much time do you spend with them, small DIY yards tend to have rotas and take morning feed / turn out in turns which helps when working.  Do the dogs really need supplements?  What breed / type are they - could you go down a brand in food for a short time?  I home cook for my girl and with treats we are at £35/month for a 16kg dog.  If not riding at the moment can you raise some cash selling surplus kit?  Maybe knock the holiday on the head for this year that is an other £50 in your pocket.  Although you only have one wage coming in, if you live alone it is much easier to save, because there is no-one moaning at you when you have to go hard core, sitting in the dark with cold beans.