Trying to break even

saver03

Just wanted to say hi and welcome you to your debt free journey. :wave:

Remember you are not alone and anytime you feel like that come and write on here and all the lovelly people will be there for you.

Good luck _party_

ANDY597

Uncle Des, do you have any savings/shares/isa's/investments on there that you havent delcared ?

Des - should have maybe explained why I asked for this. Its down to basic maths, theres no point having a Grand kicking about in a bank account paying say 4% when you have a loan outstanding at say 7%

UncleDes

ANDY597 wrote: »

Uncle Des, do you have any savings/shares/isa's/investments on there that you havent delcared ?

Des - should have maybe explained why I asked for this. Its down to basic maths, theres no point having a Grand kicking about in a bank account paying say 4% when you have a loan outstanding at say 7%

Unfortunately not, my priority once we're debt free is to start building up savings.

ANDY597

Ok, so no savings...

Is there anything you can do to generate extra income, your on a pretty decent wage, so any overtime going, or is there anything that you could live without that you could sell.

Take this opportunity to declutter, ebay, car boot, every penny helps.

6 months of pain and you will be back on track.

Definately check out the 25% wage increase pay on teh main site, but spend a WHOLE day on it and complete it all no matter how silly it seems. Dont fall into the "hmm, dont fancy that one" bracket.

How about downsizing the family home, a bit extreme but always worth considering.

Also, keep a debt diary for a week and write down everything you spend to the last penny. Its hard going, but a real eye opener how much crap you buy in a week.

Shopping, always shop for the best deals on line, then find out if you can get cashback on any of the cashback sites, do a forum search on quidco, topcashback for full details.

Is the loans you have outstanding on teh best rate possible, shop around.

What are your other assets declared at "Other assets............................ 2000"

It must sound like we are all really probing you here, so sorry if its all a bit blunt.

Cheers
A

UncleDes

As promised, here is my updated current SOA with explanations where requested and the modification to water bill payment. Thank you in anticipation of more sound advice.

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 4406
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 72.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 6478.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1927
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 203
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23 (Reduced - incorrectly put 6mnth charge)
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 90 (2 mobile accounts)
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35 (with Sky - Virgin not avail)
Internet Services....................... 13.99 (With Madasafish)
Groceries etc. ......................... 640
Clothing................................ 400
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 67
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 658 (2 leased cars)
Car parking............................. 80 (I drive to station each day)
Other travel............................ 235 (my train fare per month)
Childcare/nursery....................... 924 (request for childcare vouchers underway)
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 9
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 72
Other insurance......................... 24 (a redundancy / sickness policy instead of PPI)
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 35
Entertainment........................... 60 (includes coffees / eating out / takeaway)
Holiday................................. 100
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 5843.99

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 519000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 2000
Total Assets............................ 521000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 432000...(1927).....5.34
Total secured debts........... 432000....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Egg Personal Loan..............19676.....385.......7.66
Northern Rock Per Loa..........22000.....299.......7.9
Natwest Personal Loan..........23038.....284.......7.3
Egg Card.......................7210......180.......0
Barclays Card..................4804......110.......0
Virgin Card....................9975......25........0
Total unsecured debts..........86703.....1283......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 6,478.4
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 5,843.99
Available for debt repayments........... 634.41
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 1,283
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -648.59

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 521,000
Total Secured debt...................... -432,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -86,703
Personal net worth...................... 2,297

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.[/font]

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

Scarlett.1974

Hi Uncle Des and welcome

The things that jump out at me immediately are:

Clothes £400 per month..... seriously? :eek: Surely, no-one needs to spend that every month You all must have more clothes than you can ever wear and I bet there's loads you no longer wear. Get 'em on ebay!

Holidays £100 per month - you should stop this until you're in a better position

Groceries £640 per month - you could easily half this

There you go, I've just saved you £800 a month already

They're the biggies, but there's also smaller areas you could save on: mobiles and your various insurances. Check out the comparison sites and also go through quidco..... I made about £300 just by changing insurances and gas & electric providers.

You earn a good salary and going from the value of your house I'm guessing you're all used to a very good standard of living. But if you really mean this, if you really want to be debt free you are going to HAVE TO make some big changes, life-long changes and start living within your means

aimme13

hi, just something that popped out at me, im with sky and my broadband is free. Im sure that is the case for all sky customers, will save you on the broadband straight away.

WOW I couldnt spend that much on food even if someone gave me that much each month lol def something that should be easy to cut back on, good luck

tigtag02

UncleDes wrote: »

As promised, here is my updated current SOA with explanations where requested and the modification to water bill payment. Thank you in anticipation of more sound advice.

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 4406
Partners monthly income after tax....... 2000
Benefits................................ 72.4
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 6478.4

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 1927
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 203
Electricity............................. 47
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 23 (Reduced - incorrectly put 6mnth charge)
Telephone (land line)................... 35
Mobile phone............................ 90 (2 mobile accounts) ~ when are the contracts up on this ~ £90 is still a lot even for 2 phones
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 35 (with Sky - Virgin not avail)
Internet Services....................... 13.99 (With Madasafish) ~ sky should be able to offer you up to 2mg (free), up to 8mg (£5) and up to 16mg (£10) bundled in with your existing package
Groceries etc. ......................... 640 ~ possibly your biggest saving, you can easily half this if not even cut it by a third
Clothing................................ 400 ~ gotta go for now
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 11
Car Insurance........................... 67 ~ this is high, have you tried the comparrison sites?
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 658 (2 leased cars) ~ OUCH, there has to be ways of seriously reducing this
Car parking............................. 80 (I drive to station each day)
Other travel............................ 235 (my train fare per month)
Childcare/nursery....................... 924 (request for childcare vouchers underway) ~ this still seems very high, even full time for one child, have you *shopped* around?
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 9
Buildings insurance..................... 25
Contents insurance...................... 5
Life assurance ......................... 72 ~ this also seems very high, does it include critical illness?
Other insurance......................... 24 (a redundancy / sickness policy instead of PPI) ~ if the answer is yes to the above then you dont need both.
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20
Haircuts................................ 35
Entertainment........................... 60 (includes coffees / eating out / takeaway)
Holiday................................. 100 ~ gotta go for now
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 5843.99

:wave:

Hope the above is of some use and congrats on the new(ish) addition

TurnaroundSue

Hi once again - I notice that you don't really spend that much on petrol considering you have 2 cars - do you really need 2 cars? I have worked out that your cars are costing you £856 per month:eek: and on top of that you are still having to fork out £235 for train fares:eek: . Could you get rid of at least one, if not both, of the cars. Surely if you paid for taxis/buses/walked it would not come to that every month. Try living with just one car and see how you can on in the meantime - could your wife drop you/pick you up from station saving £80 pm month there?

dancingfairy

For the food bill - try buying stuff a brand cheaper eg if you buy heinz- buy supermarket own or basic/value products. I'm guessing you buy a lot of ready meals? You need to do a bit more cooking -you will save a fortune this way - think spaghetti/chilli/sausage and chips etc. I'm sure you'll get some help on the Money SavingOldStyle Board.