Back again - 15 years later

yesnoyesnoyes

I posted here frequently many many years ago before I got married in my 20s with my first brush with debt, since then I’ve got married, had children, got divorced and even got on the properly ladder (all by myself I might add) I’ve had ups and downs financially but mostly kept myself afloat. I am now in my 40s and I’m noticing that I have a decent pension, good work benefits (I’m in the same job 15 years) so a fair safety net should I get made redundant.

All good stuff, the only thing is I seem to be short every month, I’ve managed to get my most recently accumulated debt down to the last sub £7000, which was born out of a car dying on me, having to extend my house lease in order to renew my mortgage and by Oct of this year the loan that was originally at £13000 will be paid off and I’ll have around £3k left to clear.

Internally I want to consolidate it but I know that’s just kicking the debt down the road - once the loan is paid of (currently £232pm) I can start really hammering down the credit cards.

For some reason it’s starting to become a hyper focus for me to clear the last of the debt and start having savings again, but I’ve got things a bit backwards - pension is good, life insurance in place and even stocks and shares via work, both part of my bonus and my “savings” but they don’t mature for a few years and the idea is to use them for when my children want to go to uni or to pay down my mortgage.

To this point, everything gets paid per month, but I tend to drift into my overdraft- the kicker is currently childcare fees, I do get the 30 hours “free” but it still gives me a £400 (circa) a month bill, sometimes I get approx £50/£100 back from the universal credit childcare element for which I’m grateful, and my son starts primary school in September so light is on the horizon.

I am very strict with my spending. I never by coffee on the go (although I do by coffee pods for home which is £13 a month) and I walk to the station rather than bus it to save extra, and get my steps in. I’ve had an overhaul of my monthly spends and cancelled any subscriptions I have inc smol for dishwasher and washing machine tablets and the only subscription I now have is the £5.99 Netflix with ads one - this is my evening pleasure once the kids are asleep, and my time, I don’t get out much as a single parent. In fact I get out about 5 times a year with thanks to my family babysitting.

So I’m wondering if I’m just doing ok, am I missing a trick? my job contractually says I can’t do a second job - and frankly I don’t have the childcare or energy working full time and 2 days in the office.

My car is worth more to me than it is to sell(£4K ish) I plan to run this into the ground and has only done 35k miles. My only other “assets” are jewellery from my marriage which I suspect wouldn’t get me as much as it was paid for but I’m not adverse to selling it although arguably a platinum diamond ring would be worth more to keep and pass on than the £££ I’d get for it.

My medium goal is to be out of my overdraft every month and start saving again, then I’d like to pay down my mortgage even if it’s just a small amount. My 5 year 2.8% deal ends July 2027 and I’m nervous what will come next (why didt I do 10 years when I was debating it at renewal)! Well you live and you learn.

yesnoyesnoyes

I meant to post my SOA but it didn’t work so

Here it is again;

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

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 2
Number of cars owned.................... 1[b]

Monthly Income Details[/b]
Monthly income after tax................ 2890
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 174
Other income............................ 525[b]
Total monthly income.................... 3589[/b][b]

Monthly Expense Details[/b]
Mortgage................................ 1090
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 169
Council tax............................. 145
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 30
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 5.99
Internet Services....................... 30
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 17.06
Car Insurance........................... 34
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 120
Childcare/nursery....................... 450
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 19
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 8
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 200[b]
Total monthly expenses.................. 3113.05[/b]
[b]

Assets[/b]
Cash.................................... 200
House value (Gross)..................... 330000
Shares and bonds........................ 4000
Car(s).................................. 1
Other assets............................ 1000[b]
Total Assets............................ 335201[/b]
[b]

Secured & HP Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 197000...(1090).....2.8[b]
Total secured & HP debts...... 197000....-.........- [/b]

[b]Unsecured Debts[/b]
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
M&S loan.......................1620......232.......3.8
Barclaycard ...................2499......13........0
HSBC...........................2265......56........0[b]
Total unsecured debts..........6384......301.......- [/b]

[b]
Monthly Budget Summary[/b]
Total monthly income.................... 3,589
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 3,113.05
Available for debt repayments........... 475.95
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 301[b]
Amount left after debt repayments....... 174.95[/b]

[b]Personal Balance Sheet Summary[/b]
Total assets (things you own)........... 335,201
Total HP & Secured debt................. -197,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -6,384[b]
Net Assets.............................. 131,817[/b]

[i]Created using the SOA calculator at www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.[/i][/font]

Emmia

No TV licence? What's the £80 a month entertainment spent on? What's the £120 "other travel"?

You've got nothing for birthdays / presents - with 2 kids that feels unlikely.

Time2Go_25

I'm guessing the SOA isn't accurate, it says you have £175 left over each month, so you shouldn't be going into your overdraft. Maybe check through what you are spending to see where the money is going.

ManyWays

when does your mortgage fix end, as it looks likely to go up quite a lot

how much are you paying into the share save schemes a month?

yesnoyesnoyes

To answer some questions - the £80 a month is a takeaway or soft play. Other travel is commuting into London. No tv licence, I genuinely don’t watch anything other than Netflix or YouTube

Your right I shouldn’t be going into my overdraft, but every month there’s an unexpected spent, son has a school trip or the child care bill is bigger (it varies month to month) last month I had a tyre go and had to fix that. Life with kids is so unpredictable.

yesnoyesnoyes

The deal ends July 2027, I’m hoping to have cleared some debt and had a pay rise by then as I’m conscious of the mortgage will go up considerably - the sharesave is £110 which I consider my savings - or future savings I guess. It matures in 2028

ManyWays

This all looks very uncomfortable to me. You need money in the budget for school trips, your groceries and clothing amounts are very low and the car maintenance in unsafely low.
I don't think you can afford this share save at the moment. Having that money in your bank account would make things a lot easier

yesnoyesnoyes

I do agree - hence why I’m here - but The money I have in work stocks and shares is accumulated so when it matures it’ll be worth approx £20k

My logical brain says I just need to October - by then I’m not paying the loan, or childcare which is going to bring me up approx £670 a month.

Emmia

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81940109#Comment_81940109

You're trading debt today for a possible payout in 2 years. Long term the share save might be a good idea, but you're in the here and now having to cover actual expenses which won't wait for that payout.

If you stopped contributing today, what would the sharesave pay out? What happens if the company goes bust?

yesnoyesnoyes

There’s a definite pay out, how big depends on the market at the time it matures. It’s 2 different accounts. If you stop making the payments the money stays at the current level and you can withdraw it but it’s a heavy forfeit to do it so you lose some money you’ve put in and obviously any gains.

I mean it’s a corporate bank if it went under, I’d have bigger problems