Big debts - ever seen anything like this?

slickster77

First post, so hi everybody!

I think I’ve come to these boards in desperation as I can’t really see a way out of our debt.

As a bit of background, I’m 30, married with 3 kids. Due to having children early, stretching to get on the housing ladder and setting up a business, as well as not being great with money in the past, we’re now at the point where we’re heavily in debt and our outgoings are more than our incomings.

We’ve been getting by by taking money out of the business (which is growing well) to cover the shortfall, but in doing so have fallen a bit behind with our suppliers, so now have to focus all the money in the business towards that for the foreseeable future.

Below is a summary of our situation:

Monthly Incomings (not including income from the business):

Earnings: £760
Tax Creds: £600
Child Ben:£168
Other income:£130

Total = 1658

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage 1065
Payments to mum 500
Council Tax 126
Water 30
Gas 30
Elec 30
TV Licence 11
BT 10.50
Virgin 19.99
My mobile 15
Ptr’s mobile 35
Sky 19
Egg loan 151
Barclay Loan 139
Capital 1 270
Smile 158
IF card 114
Mint 20
Tesco card 20
Barclay Card 50
Store cards 186
Life insurance 34
Mortgage payment protection 19
Car insurance 25
Contents ins 7
Buildings ins 15
Bank charge 11.50
Denplan 22
Optician 7.50
Lotto 12
Bensons Beds 45
Supermarket 600
Sundries 50
Cigs 130
Booze 20
Presents 50
Swimming lessons 40
Petrol 240

Total = £4327! !!!!!

We currently have a mortgage of £200k, the house is worth £250k, but we also owe my mother £120k (hence the payments to her above) for her initial investment in our last house which has grown with the property prices. Our outstanding mortgage is so much as we borrowed against the ‘equity’ we previously had to help us out previously.

Other debts include loans of £15,500, (not inc student loans) and credit cards of £24,500ish. We also have a combined overdraft of £3,800 which unsurprisingly we live in!

I’m trying to quit the cigs but is difficult due to the stress.

Would really appreciate any positive advice or ideas that anyone may have, hope I haven’t forgotten anything but I’m sure this enough to be going on with!

Willsnarf1983

slickster77 wrote: »

First post, so hi everybody!

I think I’ve come to these boards in desperation as I can’t really see a way out of our debt.

As a bit of background, I’m 30, married with 3 kids. Due to having children early, stretching to get on the housing ladder and setting up a business, as well as not being great with money in the past, we’re now at the point where we’re heavily in debt and our outgoings are more than our incomings.

We’ve been getting by by taking money out of the business (which is growing well) to cover the shortfall, but in doing so have fallen a bit behind with our suppliers, so now have to focus all the money in the business towards that for the foreseeable future.

Below is a summary of our situation:

Monthly Incomings (not including income from the business):

Earnings: £760
Tax Creds: £600
Child Ben:£168
Other income:£130

Total = 1658

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage 1065
Payments to mum 500, just on ur payments to ur mum and the mortgage ur spending what u you bring in, it just cannot go on like this
Council Tax 126
Water 30
Gas 30
Elec 30
TV Licence 11
BT 10.50
Virgin 19.99
My mobile 15
Ptr’s mobile 35
Sky 19
Egg loan 151
Barclay Loan 139
Capital 1 270
Smile 158
IF card 114
Mint 20
Tesco card 20
Barclay Card 50
Store cards 186
Life insurance 34
Mortgage payment protection 19
Car insurance 25
Contents ins 7
Buildings ins 15
Bank charge 11.50 whats this?
Denplan 22
Optician 7.50
Lotto 12 stop this maybe?
Bensons Beds 45
Supermarket 600 this can easily be halved if not more
Sundries 50
Cigs 130 u know urself u have to give them up to cut back
Booze 20
Presents 50 cut this back? how old are they kids, if they arn't young they won't appreciate the value of the presents u get them
Swimming lessons 40
Petrol 240 can u use public transport, i mean not whether u like to or not but whether its a cheaper option

Total = £4327! !!!!!

We currently have a mortgage of £200k, the house is worth £250k, but we also owe my mother £120k (hence the payments to her above) for her initial investment in our last house which has grown with the property prices. Our outstanding mortgage is so much as we borrowed against the ‘equity’ we previously had to help us out previously.

Other debts include loans of £15,500, (not inc student loans) and credit cards of £24,500ish. We also have a combined overdraft of £3,800 which unsurprisingly we live in!

I’m trying to quit the cigs but is difficult due to the stress.

Would really appreciate any positive advice or ideas that anyone may have, hope I haven’t forgotten anything but I’m sure this enough to be going on with!

Does ur partner work? can u get more time?

I hope others can lift some light for u but i think some tough decisions are going to be coming your way soon i'm afraid. As i said before your mortgage and payments to ur mum count for nearly all ur take home pay!

Why not just sell the house and downsize to a far more affordable house?

Will

perfectlypoor

could you change to rolling tabacco, we have, took a while to get use to eat,we use filters and cause we don't enjoy them as much as normal cigs we smoke less, can you reduce your parents mobile costs? and as willsnarf1983 said you could half your shopping costs by meal planning,trying value products using online price comparsion sites. PP

Candy0107

slickster77 wrote: »

First post, so hi everybody!
Earnings: £760
Tax Creds: £600
Child Ben:£168
Other income:£130 - Can you sign up for mystery shopping/surveys for extra cash?

Total = 1658

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage 1065
Payments to mum 500
Council Tax 126 - Can you spread this over 12 months?
Water 30 - Can you spread this over 12 months?
Gas 30
Elec 30
TV Licence 11
BT 10.50
Virgin 19.99
My mobile 15 - Is this PAYG, can you get away with texting?
Ptr’s mobile 35 - See comment above, if it is PAYG top up at Boots using the adv card = more points
Sky 19
Egg loan 151
Barclay Loan 139
Capital 1 270
Smile 158
IF card 114
Mint 20
Tesco card 20
Barclay Card 50
Store cards 186
Life insurance 34- have you searched for cheaper, using Quidco, to get cashback
Mortgage payment protection 19
Car insurance 25 - have you searched for cheaper, using Quidco, to get cashback
Contents ins 7 - see note above
Buildings ins 15 - see note above
Bank charge 11.50 - stop using this account, get a basic account instead
Denplan 22 - is this vital (can you not save this instead)
Optician 7.50 - Can you cut this down for a while, or buy cheaper glasesses
Lotto 12
Bensons Beds 45
Supermarket 600 - Can you reduce this, possibly by cooking from scratch?
Sundries 50
Cigs 130
Booze 20
Presents 50 - cut this down, my husband and I have the £5 (for kids) and £10 challenges for birthdays and Xmas
Swimming lessons 40
Petrol 240

Total = £4327! !!!!!

We currently have a mortgage of £200k, the house is worth £250k, but we also owe my mother £120k (hence the payments to her above) for her initial investment in our last house which has grown with the property prices. Our outstanding mortgage is so much as we borrowed against the ‘equity’ we previously had to help us out previously.

Other debts include loans of £15,500, (not inc student loans) and credit cards of £24,500ish. We also have a combined overdraft of £3,800 which unsurprisingly we live in!

I’m trying to quit the cigs but is difficult due to the stress.

Would really appreciate any positive advice or ideas that anyone may have, hope I haven’t forgotten anything but I’m sure this enough to be going on with!

Hi, And welcome to the board.

Please see above for my suggestions. Sorry if they seem really harsh. Have you contacted CCCS (or any other free debt charity) for their advice about the store/credit cards?

tifnstav

hi there, glad you posted cos there's some brains and brawn on this site to help you out (present company excepted cos i'm not very bright and quite weedy).

how old are your kids? is there any way you can get them involved in moneysaving? daily clicks, odd jobs etc.

could you cancel sky? we struggle to choose on freeview and we have three million dvds to watch so we really don't need sky.

ebay anything that isn't nailed down and carboot anything that doesn't get sold on ebay.

what is the virgin money for?

and can you spread your council tax over 12 months instead of 10 to budget better? go over to old style for help on groceries, i love meal planning these days!

tifnstav

sorry, i never get it all off my chest in one post - what are the sundries?

hbslc

Hi - might also be worth contacting the national business debt helpline too. But be prepared to be scared after speaking to them!

I've been there done that, well still doing exactly the same as you! My excuse for years was "cashflow".

Now, i'm homeless - because i can, still have 2 houses but both rented out for income.

There is light at the end of the tunnel but you've got to spend some time reducing your outgoings rather than increase your income. Although you've got to do both!!!

MrsFraggle

Hi
Could you combine your home phone, internet and sky package into one (I think sky offer a package for all three) which would cut down on those outgoings.

Secondly, and I know this is obvious, but could you move to a smaller/cheaper house and recoup some equity/reduce your mortgage/pay your mum?

Mobile phones - these come to quite a large amount, any chance your partner could go for a cheaper tarriff?

Car sharing to cut down on petrol costs or public transport ?

I know its hard, but cut back on the booze/cigs and the supermarket shopping and that could save you a few hundred pounds a month alone.

slickster77

Cheers for the replies, I'll try and answer the q's:
Virgin is Broadband and phonecall package - tied in for next 11 mths, could get rid of sky no probs, presents aren't just for kids - there always seem to be loads of bdays etc, also takes into a/c xmas, kids are all under 8 so no p/t jobs, ptr looks after kids and 6 mth old nephew (see other income 130/m). Water is spread over 12 months. Can't sell house - is one of the cheapest 3 beds in area, and if we sold my mother would find out about the debts as we've effectively spent loads of her 'equity' the house consolidating - she can't find out! Sundries is things like milk, school shoes, extras that always crop up...Haven't contacted cccs or anyone - always positive that the business will keep improving and get us out of trouble - things are just especially tight at the moment. Do you really think we could cut down shopping to £300 per month - we only seem to buy necessities and cook most things from fresh? I know the cigs should go!

slickster77

Also the sky free bb doesn't cover our area - had looked into that previously before signing up to Virgin. Also, ptrs tarif ending in May so will get payg then for her

Keeping_Positive

£300 isnt unreasonable for a family of five. My average shop since the new year for 2 adults 3 young kids has been between £50 and £70 a week. Meal planning helps and I find shopping online helps sticking to a limit and stops the unneeded items. The best advice for moneysaving on the shopping is the Old Style board.

I do think you need to contact CCCS or a simlilar free agency.