Newbie to here :-)

tiaramaker

Hi,
This is my first post. Today has been a pivotal day for me. Basically, I'm a single mum of 2 (fabulous kids), I work part-time (am lucky enough to work school hours, term time only - this is the only option for me as the costs of childcare outside of these times would make it unfeasible and I have no family that can help out, plus if I can make this work then great as I'm lucky enough to be there for my kids). I've struggled for the last four years on my own, maintaining a 3 bed detached house, but the last year it has become exactly that, a struggle.
I did what I thought was the sensible thing and put the house on the market as I've a good deal of equity in it and I could find another place that would allow me to clear a good chunk of my debts and leave me a nice little cushion. Unfortunately, my timing was far from good and here I am 8 months on still trying to sell.
A catalogue of catastrophies (though nothing major) have meant that although I was coping financially, it is getting harder and harder. So I have now reached the stage where I am on here and boy does it feel good. Not only do I no longer feel alone, but I feel like I'm taking control.
I've been on the CCCS website and filled out their questionnaire - if only it was Monday and I could speak to someone but hey, it'll come soon enough.
The crunch came yesterday - the catastrophies spoken of above have all been financial, they would be wouldn't they, culminating in bank charges in the last month of over £120. The knock on of this is that my bank loan payment that was due out yesterday has been returned unpaid. :eek:
I haven't (yet) done a bank charges reclaim, but I WILL! I feel like I'm just taking tiny steps, but ones in the right direction.

I'd love to hear from any of you in similar situations and any advice will be really appreciated.

yellowmonkey

Welcome and good luck

Well done on getting yourself on here and contacting CCCS. I know what you mean about it being Monday. When I had My Light bulb moment I wanted it sorted that night :rotfl: :rotfl:

How about posting an SOA (Income/expenditure) and then people will be along to see where you can make possible cutbacks. Cannot always see what is under your nose IFYSWIM.

Try this link http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=821791 and click on SOA Calculator on the first post.

Once again good luck.

ym

shopaholic2008

Hello just wanted to say welcome and you will get plenty of help on here. Why not post a SOA (statement of affairs) then there will be plenty of people who will be able to point you in a money saving direction.

Have a read of some of the posts on here there are so many filled with ideas that should give you some inspiration or a kick up the !!!! to get yourself going ~ its certainly helped me.

Anyway there will be people along to help so hold tight, good luck and keep us posted!

mummytofour

Best thing i ever did was going on a DMP hopefully the cccs ( Im with them too ) will be able to help you, killing your credit rating is not the best thing in the world but peace of mind is!!!
Take care and chill.

hypno06

welcome to the mad house!

tiaramaker

Thanks guys!
Am plucking up courage to put SOA on here! It ain't pretty! But hey, it can only get better from here on.
Am getting my head round all the jargon, lol!

poppyg_2

tiara, i'm sure yours wont be the worst don't worry, there's many of us on here with large amount of debts x x

Bismarck

whatever you post as your SOA, the folks on here should be able to help you make some improvements....every bit helps!

welcome aboard

tiaramaker

GRRR keep trying to do it and getting lost! (I should point out that I am NOT that good with computers, lol!)

Right, 4th attempt - you'll have to excuse the format cos it doesn't look right to me!!

Monthly income after tax................ 638
Benefits................................ 600
Other income............................ 925
Total monthly income.................... 2163

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 538
Council tax............................. 105
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 38
Water rates............................. 15
Telephone (land line)................... 10
Mobile phone............................ 40
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 40
Groceries etc. ......................... 250
Clothing................................ 50
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 15
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Other child related expenses............ 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 8
Buildings & contents insurance..................... 23
Life assurance ......................... 33
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Total monthly expenses.................. 1329

Assets
House value (Gross)..................... 205000
Car(s).................................. 2000
Total Assets............................ 207000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 78000....(538)......4.99
Total secured debts........... 78000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Overdraft......................2700......0.........0
Nat West Loan..................22000.....377
Next...........................1200......120
Tesco credit card..............5500......150
Total unsecured debts..........31400.....647

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,163
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,329
Available for debt repayments........... 834
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 647
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ 187

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 207,000
Total Secured debt...................... -78,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -31,400
Personal net worth...................... 97,600

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


Now looking at it here, it doesn't look THAT bad. Blooming bank charges have just sent things over the edge though, GRRR! Mind you, £2700 od is pretty horrendous.

poppyg_2

Everything on your SOA actually looks pretty good, although mobile phone at £40 per month is quite a lot, any chance of switching to cheaper tariff? I have changed from a £40 per month one to a £30 one

£50 for clothes seems quite too, could that be cut back for a few months to help with the bank charges issue?

Also looks like you're not paying anything off your overdraft??? any chance of putting this and/or maybe the tesco credit card onto 0% deals, doing bit of shuffling to get lower aprs or is the tesco one in a 0% deal at the moment?

tiaramaker

I know what you mean - the mobile needs to be cut back for sure!! No more texting, AGH!
With the clothes, I've used an estimated figure based on what I need for me and my 2 kids - work clothes, school clothes, casual clothes, shoes etc etc (2 prs new shoes cost me over £50 the other week!!)

The overdraft is not coming down! If anything it seems to be going up! And tbh I doubt I'd get a 0% deal anywhere atm anyway.

It's all been compounded recently by one disaster after another - dishwasher flooded kitchen floor, which although covered by insurance still needed the excess to be paid £100. Biggest downer was that I had a buyer for my house about a month back and all was going well so I found a new house (new build) and paid a £500 reservation fee.... then my buyer backed out (mortgage!) and builders said they can't hold the house for me, fee not refundable, though I am going to tackle this!