On the straight and narrow- NUFC-nutter's diary ~ Exam results are in!!!

NUFCnutter

Have just done my SOA and its far, far worse than I thought (although probably not as bad as some people's though. I stand at £18,463.32 in debt as of today. Yikes :eek: . I am also overspending each month to pay off the debt to the tune of £126.78 :eek: :eek: . And so begins the long hard journey to be debt free. I am a disabled, single parent who is struggling as it is, so I could do with all the support I can get please.

SOA below

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1518
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1518

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 128.82
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 39
Telephone (land line)................... 43
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 23.7
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 450
Clothing................................ 43.33
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 23.5
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 25
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16.55
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1089.9

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

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan from parents..............9000......218.......0
Bank of scotland c c...........1700......36........22
hsbc c c ......................2387......49........22
Surestart fees ................180.......40........0
Trinity youth..................109.......40........0
a n other......................115.......1.........0
n power........................160.......1.........0
provident......................825.......60........0
scottish power.................178.84....40........0
atlantic electric..............80........1.........0
wescott........................80.84.....1.........0
wescott........................87........1.........0
wescott........................87.52.....1.........0
hfc bank.......................1051.12...19.7......0
chantry collections............800.......12.18.....0
ndr............................1400......28........0
naturally close................42........1.........0
next...........................180.......5.........0
Total unsecured debts..........18463.32..554.88....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,518
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,089.9
Available for debt repayments........... 428.1
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 554.88
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -126.78

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,463.32
Personal net worth...................... -14,463.32

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

======== Enter any other useful information below ========I think I will go and cry now.

Ames

Hi, the real experts will be along soon but a couple of things I noticed were that your grocery bill's high, how many people are you feeding? Also the clothing seems high, but I've no experience of buying clothes for growing kids so it might be normal!

I'm assuming you're getting housing benefit and the figure for rent is your contribution?

NUFCnutter

What I have included in my shopping bills is the groceries for me and my three children and my disability costs too (as there was nowhere else to put it). I can probably cut down on clothing expenses each month but it is school uniform time coming up and with a 10, 8 and 3 year old (8 and 3 are starting/changing schools as we have middle schools up here) its going to be pricey.

You are right, my majority of my rent is paid by housing benefit and I pay the rest which is the figure I have put.

Ames

Could you split out the groceries and disability costs, as one of the places to make big savings is on groceries, so it's good to have the right figure. I know what you mean about where to put the disability costs though I've got the same problem.

NUFCnutter

Ok, have done. I just estimated my grocery bill. I am sure I can bring that down by about half if I really try. So here is my revised SOA.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 1518
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1518

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 128.82
Management charge (leasehold flat)...... 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 60
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 39
Telephone (land line)................... 43
Mobile phone............................ 50
TV Licence.............................. 23.7
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 400
Clothing................................ 43.33
Petrol/diesel........................... 80
Road tax................................ 12
Car Insurance........................... 23.5
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 5
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 25
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 16.55
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Disability expenses .................... 50
Total monthly expenses.................. 1089.9

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

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
loan from parents..............9000......218.......0
Bank of scotland c c...........1700......36........22
hsbc c c ......................2387......49........22
Surestart fees ................180.......40........0
Trinity youth..................109.......40........0
a n other......................115.......1.........0
n power........................160.......1.........0
provident......................825.......60........0
scottish power.................178.84....40........0
atlantic electric..............80........1.........0
wescott........................80.84.....1.........0
wescott........................87........1.........0
wescott........................87.52.....1.........0
hfc bank.......................1051.12...19.7......0
chantry collections............800.......12.18.....0
ndr............................1400......28........0
naturally close................42........1.........0
next...........................180.......5.........0
Total unsecured debts..........18463.32..554.88....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,518
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,089.9
Available for debt repayments........... 428.1
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 554.88
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -126.78

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 4,000
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -18,463.32
Personal net worth...................... -14,463.32

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.

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

andyauk

I would suggest contacting one of the debt charities payplan and CCCS. I used Payplan and they were great. I see that you have some payments going to Westcott which I assume that are a debt collection agency I am sure that payplan or cccs will get those payments reduced.

NUFCnutter

I went to the CAB and they negotiated most of them, but then I started getting letters from Npower (for 3 accounts) and a soft !!!!!! channel which my ex-partner signed up to in my name which have been added on. I really need to contact CCCS or someone free to help me out.

Ames

Make sure with CCCS that you get them to put down disability costs, they didn't with me so it looked like I had more spare per month than I do.

Fidget21

Hiya

I would suggest looking mainly at your food shopping bill. When I was out of work I was spending probably £30-40 per week on food, granted this was just feeding 2 adults and you have children to feed, but I was making everything in batches. I would make 100g mince into a bolognese that would feed 6 just by bulking it out with plenty of veggies and even lentils, so a value pack of mince could go a very long way.

Another suggestion would be to evaluate your phone usage. My monthly BT bill is £15 and that includes my fax usage for work, so take a look at this and also your mobile usage. Are you able to reduce that or look for a more competitive tariff?

Your TV licence seems quite high too. Isn't it usually around £10-11 per month?

Have you tried any comparison sites to try and reduce your car/house insurance?

These are all small things, but they can add up.

Best wishes

NUFCnutter

They are taking increased payments on my tv licence because its the first time I have bought in on Direct Debit and I have to pay half up front or something like that. I thought it was high too, but apparantly that is normal for your first one.

I am up to making batches of things. Thanks for the advice.

NUFCnutter

Well, have paid my rent today and need to put some petrol in my car, so that will be £148 used up. Good news tho was that my landlord was busy doing my reference for my new place, and she is sorry that I am leaving her. Ahhh bless her. I have an open university exam on monday and have done next to no revision so I should be doing that. Have also sent my bank the "threatening with court" letter for my bank charges so am making progress there. Hope you are all well.