Help me and my family

paulblake01

In response to Florida, my fiance just reminded me we have very suptle requests for dollars as our preferred wedding gifts. This should cover the 2k our family have told us we'll need. As you can probably tell we haven't been before but other members of the family have. I will fill in the SOA now and we'll take it from there.

Many thanks again for everyones support, it's very inspiring.

KiKi

Out of interest, do your family know that you're struggling to pay bills and have credit card debt? Because advising you that you will of course need two thousand pounds to spend on one holiday is overkill at best - and utterly crazy when you consider that you are doubling your debt.

Seriously, though, rather than determining that you need it because someone told you that you would, it's far better that you work out what you're going to need, plan it out, and only take what you need with you plus a little for emergencies, otherwise you'll take loads of $s and spend it all whether you needed to or not.

I know it's a honeymoon, but you don't want to start off in debt and carry on that way. You can definitely make reductions there.

Anyway, get your SOA done and we'll get onto it.

KiKi

paulblake01

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1227.31
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 18.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1796.11

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 154.24
Secured loan repayments................. 446.88
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 112
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36.11
Telephone (land line)................... 11.05
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 19.16
Car Insurance........................... 69
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 50
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 29
Life assurance ......................... 19
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 37.5
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 80
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1385.94

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 169000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 173000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 20000....(154.24)...7.33
Secured Debt.................. 69390....(446.88)...5.19
Total secured debts........... 89390.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................3015.23...67........0
Total unsecured debts..........3015.23...67........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,796.11
Expenses (including secure debts)....... 1,385.94
Available for debt repayments........... 410.17
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 67
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 343.17

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 173,000
Total Secured debt...................... -89,390
Total Unsecured debt.................... -3,015.23
Personal net worth...................... 80,594.77

Penny-Pincher!!

paulblake01 wrote: »

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1227.31
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 18.8 -Is this CB weekly?
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1796.11

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 154.24
Secured loan repayments................. 446.88
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 112
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 53
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 36.11
Telephone (land line)................... 11.05
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 80-Is this weekly?
Clothing................................ 25

Just a couple of things to confirm.

PP
xx

paulblake01

groceries is monthly
yes its child benefit

MissEyre

Your TV package seems expensive-can you switch fo Freeview instead? It would really help you out. Your grocery bill seems really low for two adults and a baby-are you sure this is right? Congratulations if it is! Do you pay your council tax over ten months or twelve? It can be easier to budget if you ask your council to change it to a 12 month payment instead of ten. Do you use the cashback sites like Quidco and Pigsback? They are well worth signing up for if you don't.

MrsTinks

paulblake01 wrote: »

Monthly Income Details

Monthly income after tax................ 1227.31
Partners monthly income after tax....... 550
Benefits................................ 18.8 Have you checked to see if you're entitled to any other benefits? This seems low to me...
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1796.11

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 154.24
Secured loan repayments................. 446.88
Council tax............................. 112
Electricity............................. 20 Have you changed recently? Check if you can get chepaer and use quidco
Gas..................................... 53 Ditto
Water rates............................. 36.11 Are you on a meter? This seems quite high...
Telephone (land line)................... 11.05
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60 WHOA! We don't pay this much and we have a 2nd sky box and the top package with Sky plus! Phone them up, reduce the package or threaten to leave!
Internet Services....................... 0 Is this part of the above?
Groceries etc. ......................... 80 You might want to check this... it seems very low...
Clothing................................ 25
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 19.16
Car Insurance........................... 69 Shop around and use quidco for cashback
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 12
Other child related expenses............ 50 What are these?
Buildings insurance..................... 0 Are you sure? Most mortgages demand buildings insurance.
Contents insurance...................... 29 Check for a better deal
Life assurance ......................... 19
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 37.5 Cut down to 20 or 30 and check the celebratiosn baord for loads of good ideas!
Entertainment........................... 80 I'm sure you can cut this down a little...
Total monthly expenses.................. 1385.94

I have inserted my comments in red above

tesuhoha

Can I ask what the £80 entertainment and the £50 child related expenses cover? The £80 alone if you could cut it out would be £960 off your debt in one year. If you could cut out the child related expenses that would be £1560 off your debt in one year for those two things alone, £3120 in 2 years.

Poppy9

Do you also get working tax credits? Most people qualify for the basic of £500 per annum.

KiKi

paulblake01 wrote: »

Monthly Expense Details
Electricity............................. 20
Gas..................................... 53

The gas is high. I strongly recommend that you get over to www.moneysupermarket.com and put in your details to see which gas/elec company will give you the best deal. You will do yourself no favours with loyalty and apathy - it's what companies live off!

Once you know the cheapest, get over to uswitch and check out if they are giving cashback on the deal you want, and also to Quidco (www.quidco.com) to see what cashback deals they'll offer you. Quidco is INVALUABLE for large cash back sums - which you should put towards paying off your cards.


Water rates............................. 36.11

This is also high. Ask to go onto a Water Meter if you're not on one, and make sure your water usage is measured. I use £12 a month, and I have BIG baths all the time! I'm sure you use your washing machine a lot with an 18 month old, but try and save water where you can and build up clothes to wash so that you're minimising the washing.


Telephone (land line)................... 11.05
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 60
Internet Services....................... 0

71.05 for a TV / Phone / Net package??! You don't need it. Freeview for TV (if you can receive it) and a plain ol' BT landline, and cheap net access. Or, lessen your Sky package. Or Virgin do phone / TV / net for £30. Or if your mobile contract is with O2, you can get net for £7.50, freeview and BT line at £12. Either way, you could save £40 a month EASY.


Groceries etc. ......................... 80

Seriously? I mean, if that's accurate and you're not buying ANY other food and cleaning materials etc during the week then fantastic! But I feed myself and two cats on about £60 a month, and I eat relatively frugally. Two people and a child for £20 a week is remarkable! Might want to double check that!

Also, I don't know if you shop online with Tesco, but there are codes and vouchers on here that you can use online - things like "£7 off if you spend over £50". I use them when I do my monthly shop online which helps keep the bills down.


Car Insurance........................... 69

You can get this cheaper unless your car is not a bog standard car! Again, www.moneysupermarket.com, then go to Quidco to see how much cashback you can get from the different companies. Again, apathy anbd loyalty don't pay - you more than often get a better deal by moving, not by staying.


Other child related expenses............ 50

What does this cover, please?


Contents insurance...................... 29

Again, quite a lot. I pay £7 for a 2 bed place, with insurance from the Post Office. Once again, www.moneysupermarket.com, then Quidco. Before, I've actually had insurance for £10 a year, as I got my house insurance for £90 then £80 cashback!


Entertainment........................... 80

What does this cover, please?


Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................3015.23...67........0

Make sure you get a good BT on this to another 0% card, or have a plan for paying it off when the 0% part comes to an end.

Hi there Paul.

Please see comments above in red.

I reckon that you could find another £110 a month there if you really go to town on it. However, if your Groceries one is actually higher, then maybe some of it is actually going there. You could also make some one-off cashback deals by switching providers on the ones indicated.

Either way, the great news is that you could make some serious inroads into your debt.

Given that you have a secured loan, and £3000 on a card, you really do need to change these spending habits (which you obviously recognise, so that's great, too!) so that you don't save reduce your outgoings and then just spend the savings and run up more debt. This also means *planning* your spending for your honeymoon and wedding and being realistic about how want to start married life moneywise!

I hope this is useful for you. If you have any questions then do post them and we'll do our best to answer for you.

And well done on posting and getting support.

KiKi