Keep getting in debt

sheepy21 · 14 September 2018 at 9:58PM

So we’ve had money problems for years, got into a huge amount of debt last year, but after an inheritance windfall we cleared it and used the rest for a house deposit. So debt free for about 8 months and it was great. Bought our house end of July and we’ve had unexpected costs like our fridge/freezer packing up. That and general expense has now lead to being in some debt again. I feel totally freaked :eek:
I’ve done an SOA and on paper it all looks fine, but this month we haven’t managed to clear any debt and we now have £18 in our bank account that should technically last the next 12 days. I’m trying to sell stuff to get us through the next 12 days without using anymore credit or using the meagre £100 we have in savings. :sad: atm we aren’t putting into my husbands pension so ideally that would be another £150 we won’t have to spend, also want to start putting money away for car stuff, Christmas etc
I’m not able to work as our son has disabilities, so no scope for extra income.
Anyway just nice to have a rant and perhaps get some pearls of wisdom on how to get a firm handle on our finances

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 1
Number of cars owned.................... 2

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1692
Benefits................................ 811
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2503

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 557
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 100
Electricity............................. 69
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 37
Telephone (land line)................... 19
Mobile phone............................ 37
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 27
Internet Services....................... 11
Groceries etc. ......................... 350
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 155
Road tax................................ 36
Car Insurance........................... 70
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 80
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 24
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 15
Buildings insurance..................... 17
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 15
Other insurance......................... 20
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 100
Total monthly expenses.................. 1772

Assets
Cash.................................... 100
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 4000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 204100

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 148637...(557)......2.79
Total secured & HP debts...... 148637....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Loan...........................13250.....225.......0
Tesco..........................1629......155.......0
Overdraft......................200.......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........15079.....400.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,503
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,772
Available for debt repayments........... 731
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 400
Amount left after debt repayments....... 331

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 204,100
Total HP & Secured debt................. -148,637
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,079
Net Assets.............................. 40,384

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.stoozing.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

[Deleted User] · 14 September 2018 at 10:51PM

OP does your son get DLA? at mid or high rate care and if so have you claimed carers allowance?

sheepy21 · 15 September 2018 at 12:05AM

venison wrote: »

OP does your son get DLA? at mid or high rate care and if so have you claimed carers allowance?

Yes my income is his dla, carers and tax credits

elsien · 15 September 2018 at 12:11AM

You've got nothing in there for presents, haircuts and entertainment. I'm guessing you do some of those things some of the time, so is that where some of the surplus is going?
If you've got less left over than your budget says you should have, you need to work out where it's going.

Happier_Me · 15 September 2018 at 11:12AM

I'm sure someone will be along with a detailed review of your SOA but my initial thoughts are you should be able to knock a fair amount off your food bill, could you consider losing paid for TV? and your car insurance costs are high.

You need to make every penny work as hard as possible for you so make sure everything is on the best deal possible.

Your food bill could be reduced by batch cooking, buying own brands, switching stores etc. I would use some of the savings you make to create an entertainment pot as I expect this is where your 'spare' money is going.

A spending diary will help you both understand where your money is going and where you need to cut back.

enthusiasticsaver · 15 September 2018 at 12:00PM

In theory you should be able to manage ok as your mortgage is quite low in comparison to your income but I would imagine the problems are spending thoughtlessly. Your groceries bill is way too high for three people and if you shop at Lidls or Aldis, meal planned and batch cooked this would bring it down. A spending diary would help pinpoint where your money is going. Lots of people find that drawing cash out constantly and frittering on coffees out, magazines, etc etc comes to higher than they think over a month. If your husband buys lunches out that may come to quite a lot. Do either of you smoke or drink? Pets are often a cause of money being spent and not accounted for. As others have said entertainment, haircuts, birthdays etc are not accounted for and even the odd take away adds up.

-taff · 15 September 2018 at 12:07PM

You are spending an awful lot on your car, if neither of you work, can you cut down on these trips? Can you get a chepaer more economical car?

You can knock about a hundred easily off your food bill if you start shopping in Lidl Alsi etc, and as above, batch cook and meal plan.

Your internet services/phone and tv accountis nearly a 100 pounds a month, can you get netflix instead of the tv package? Can you switch providers?

Go through your staements from last month to see exactly where you are spending this money and how. If you're using a lot fo cash purchases, what are you spending them on? If you are using a card a lot, where are you spending it? Usualy, if there's overspending, you haven't got a clue where it's going until you add up all the little impulse buys and sundries.

sheepy21 · 15 September 2018 at 1:09PM

Ok, food bill can’t really be reduced, a huge amount of that is my sons food as he has special dietary requirements, so about £120+ of that a month is just for him.
We don’t smoke, drink or gamble.
Haircuts we don’t have as I do it for us all.
Car insurance is £55 for both cars which is cheap, the £70 includes breakdown cover too.
Someone said about neither of us working, my husband works full time so needs a car and I need a car for me and my son, so losing a car really isn’t possible.
We don’t want to get rid of our sky tv as we don’t go out and do anything so that’s really our only entertainment

we did recently move my husband to a cheap sim only deal but my phone is still in contract.

I didn’t put anything in presents and entertainment as I’m not sure what to put, soa shows us having £330 left as things stand with essentials paid, but then we need to deduct £150 for pension, I’m guessing £35 a month for presents, would like to do £30 a month for our annual holiday and entertainment I guess ideally we’d have about £50 each to spend as we want and I’d like to put £35 a month towards car repairs and MOTs. With current debt repayments those amounts would make us £20 short each month. I’ve tried to trim things down, just not sure I can anymore

-taff · 15 September 2018 at 3:07PM

Sorry, I read it wrong where you said about the dla...

Clouds88 · 15 September 2018 at 3:14PM

You say you can’t live with one car, I would have said the same until we needed to sell one of ours. We are in a dire financial position atm, we have one car, my husband is going back to work 4 days a week in a few days he is going to commute bike or bus/train. I am going to get the bus when I have work on days (I do part time) or I can use the car for night shifts. We have made it work and means we are both getting more exercise now. Unfortunately we need the car for rural school run, so who ever is at home with the kids gets the car. Not sure if this could fit in with your lifestyle? Otherwise not much you can cut back on I don’t think.

Whitterbod · 15 September 2018 at 3:38PM

hi you could switch sky for netfix or amazon for cheaper entertainment . amazon is even cheaper if you have a student email address

Keep getting in debt

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