Can anyone help with working out budget and debt!

[huyi]

We are in £8000 debt, with 2 small children, just wondering if someone could help me with the number crunching as my husband is depressed to look at the bloody bank account.

This is monthly

Incoming
Wage 1: £738
Wage 2: £1560
Child benefit: £140.60

Outgoings
Rent: 550
Repayment of a family loan (not included in the £8000 debt: £130
Octopus: £100.70
Currently min credit card payments: £140
Tv licence: £13.37
2 x EE payments which total: £84
Sky: £76
Council tax: £149
Anglian water:£20.00

Also not on there is the fact I have to train/bus to work, and husband needs the car for work too!

EE contract on one phone runs out in July so shall be going sim only!

Based on your income and outgoings you are left with £1176 a month. Where is that going?

You need to include everything in a budget, so your travel costs, insurance, childcare, clubs/activities etc. Then you can see exactly how much you have left.

Hi OP

I would also add to your outgoings:

1. Childcare costs / activities if any
2. Is car on lease or owner outright? Add car costs and fuel
3. Add your travelling costs
4. Food shop & toiletries & cleaning products
5. Clothes
6. Entertainment / Going out / take aways

@purpleboy my husband eats out quite a bit! I have told him only twice a month from now on! The rest seems to be groceries, petrol, train fares, and anything else.
I need to have a proper sit down with him and go through it all!

Go through your bank statement from the past few months, highlight everything, you will get a shock from how much money you are wasting. A few quid here and there really adds up.
You've got a good starting point, but your not being careful enough with all the "extras".
You could try paying 75% of what's left after paying the bills of the debt every month, the remaining 25% split between you for "spends" once it's gone it's gone. You'll have the debt paid off in a year. It will be tight, but worth it in the end.
Once it's paid off consider putting 30-40% of your income in to a savings pot, it will build up very quickly.

No childcare fees as they go to family!
Car is what the family loan is for!
But haven't worked out fuel costs as he has only just started a new job!
My train/bus fares are about £50 a month
I'm the one who has the smaller debt am seriously trying to sort out the mess we are in!

@purpleboy love your suggestion about going through the bank statements! I think I would try 50% to start with only because I have only just gone back from mat leave and still haven't quite worked out my fares!

Thank you all for your help

I used a free budgeting spreadsheet from moneysavingexpert .com website
I found it really good, hopefully it's still available if you're interested.
It prompts you to think of everything like haircuts, dental costs, insurances, birthday presents, pocket money for kids etc

Why is he eating out? And when? Lunchtime? He needs to bring in lunch!!

The DebtfreeWannabe forum on money saving expert is really good for giving people advice on how to reduce debt. But they will also ask you to write down a full list of everything you spend money on first, so this is a really good place to start.

Before you even look at number crunching focus on the obvious.

Cancel sky and get freeview.

Stop eating out for everything from coffees to meals out to takeaway. Until the debt is cleared its packed foods all the way. You'll be amazed at how much this alone will save.
Look at only doing free activities in holidays, such as run by the children centre. Could your train journey be further reduced with more favourable timings? Or if your oh dropped you at a different station? Sometimes, I've found that going via a different station saves a lot. Or just by going later. Can you and your oh wfh as well to further reduce travel costs?
Use the cheaper petrol app to find the cheapest place for fuel.

Gas?
Electricity?
Insurances?
Memberships (unions, gym etc)?
School uniform?
Pet costs?
Xmas and birthdays?
Basic clothing and footwear costs? (Replacing worn out or outgrown stuff only).
MOT, tax, servicing, set of tyres?

These are all things you need to budget for.

Try National Debtline which is a charity giving free debt advice: nationaldebtline.org/ they have tools on their website to help you do a budget and help you to decide what to do next. Just avoid any sites that are adverts and offer to get your debt written off.

I've got a really good spreadsheet if you want me to email it to you message me your email.

It can be really hard to add up the actual total amount of debt (don’t I know it)! If your husband is reluctant to discuss debt or his spends each month there may be more than you are aware of/he wants to face up to. Be prepared but know that you can do it!

Could you get the bus to work instead of the train? I used to find the bus was much cheaper but took a little longer so I got a bus pass and only used the train for emergencies.

Hi, try and fill this out, it'll give you a much clearer picture after going through your statements for the last couple of months. you could even upload it to moneysavingexpert.com in the " debt free wannabe" forum for some excellent advice.
good luck!
www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

budget planner

Use this budget planner to work out your finances, and to consider all the infrequent expenditure also.eg car insurance, house insurance, car tax etc

Credit card - move this debt onto a low interest loan, or get a new credit card (then cut it up) which offers a lower interest/free balance transfer.

Cut out the meals out.

Sky - can you cancel this? Or ring Sky up and threaten to leave. You may get a better rate.

Where is the debt? Move it onto a loan with a lower interest.

Yes to cancelling Sky if you possibly can, and pay the sum you save off the most expensive of your credit cards.

If your credit's not fucked, you may be able to get 0% interest card and do a balance transfer of all or some of your existing card debt. Transfer the debt from the one with the highest interest rate to the new card, and set up a direct debit for the amount you pay now on the old card. Then you'll be paying off the debt much faster.

Cancel Sky. Use the money saved to pay off your cards.

Keep all your receipts, inc supermarket ones. Go through them, every single item. See what you are buying that isn't essential, and stop buying those things. See what items you can switch to less expensive brands. (If you don't know where your money is going, you'll never get control of it.)

DH needs to stop eating out, you can't afford it!

Finally, go to entitledto.co.uk and see if you might be eligible for Universal Credit (I think you might be, on those figures). Even £50 a month would make a difference. If you are, claim it and use it to pay down debt.

Good luck, OP.

You need to fill in a budget planner, including all annual and irregular expenses like insurance, car repairs, and prioritise. You can't afford to eat out regularly while you're in debt.

You also need to prepare for your Octopus bill to go up by 50-100% within the next couple of months but cut some of your other costs, like Sky and mobiles, which are very high.

If you're in a contract with Sky, there's probably not a lot you can do, but if not, or at the end of the current contract, you need to cancel it and use Netflix, Now TV or similar, or at the very least, phone Sky and ask for a discount. No-one needs to be paying £76 a month for TV packages, especially ones that they can't afford.

For the mobiles, similar advice. Those bills are huge and you should be able to run a decent smartphone with a good data allowance and unlimited calls and texts for well under half that.

You need to pay off the credit cards or else the interest is huge. Transfer to a 0% deal if you can, but at the very least, pay a lot more off, so what you pay goes on reducing the debt, rather than barely covering the interest.

Also be careful about what groceries you're buying and cut costs there if possible. Your shopping should look more like cooking from scratch with mostly seasonal veg, pulses, eggs and small amount of cheaper cuts of meat from Aldi/Lidl, Asda or Morrisons rather than wandering round Waitrose or Sainsburys putting whatever looks nice in your trolley.

Have a look at Moneysaving Expert to help you put together a comprehensive budget and do everything that is relevant to cut costs and deal with your debt.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/

Oh, and you must get your DH on board, or else you'll be scratching round for pennies to pay the gas bill while he enjoys his Pret lunch.

How long have you been with EE?

They have offers for long term customers, I've been with them for ages and I'm now on SIM only which means I pay £4 a month for unlimited calls and texts and more data than I need.

Talk to your credit card company, paying the minimum is the worst thing to do, ask what they can do to help you, they might give you a payment holiday or freeze the interest or 100 other things.

You cannot afford to eat out, you can make it a treat you have once in 3 months or something.

Water companies have various schemes and charitable trusts, they can reduce your bills and offer other help. Severn Trent water have just given a friend a new bed!

Have a look at your council tax band, landlords don't mind what band it is in so you can ask the council to check. Obviously this doesn't work if you are in band A.

So my EE contract finishes in July I will be going to something cheaper.

Sky we are in contract with until August.

Groceries we used to shop at aldi but now do click and collect from Tesco, as i don't drive, and husband is on shifts so can't always get to Aldi though we could do once a month!

Thank you for all your help.

Believe me I'm trying to reduce the debt

The Sky is costing £900 a year and phones £1000 a year, crazy on your income.
You need to list everything that you NEED not what you want, cut out all the non essentials

If you’re already £8k in debt it’s going to take at least a couple of years to get straight.

At least your rent is sensible

Is there any way you can sell the car, pay of half the loan and but a cheaper car?

You can probably get a decent car for between £3/4K and that would dramatically reduce the debt

Use the sky money to pay towards octupuss as the gas and electric rise dramatically

@alwayswrighty

I've got a really good spreadsheet if you want me to email it to you message me your email.

Please would you email it to me ? I'll pm you tomorrow when on the pc.