Advice needed

Warble1 · 23 July 2017 at 2:27AM

0% card is for 29 months, wasn't sure about the money transfer either but thought it might help as I can keep the loan term the same but drop monthly payments if I overpay. Will keep that as it is for now then.

Regarding petrol, that mileage is just for my journey to work, partner works closer but used to do a lot of little trips throughout the day so I'm hoping working can put a stop to that which will help. Although £50 for 600 miles sounds brilliant so something else to look into later on.

Loan was to pay off other credit cards & overdrafts as things just got out of control but obviously it was a classic case of get loan and keep overspending.

You're right, I never have that money leftover each month as shown in the SOA. For example food shopping this month so far is at £220 so annoyingly that will be a little over budget by the end of the month and with only £20 a week 'available' I see why I am in this mess. I should have put down a figure in entertainment, but no haircuts for a long time now!

In all honesty, I can't see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel at this point but I really hope there will be.

bexster1975 · 23 July 2017 at 8:03AM

Hello

Sounds like you are really motivated to sort this. Keep a spending diary if you are not sure where the cash is going. Write down everything you spend for a month. It will be eye-opening. I didn't comment on fuel as I had assumed you were spending what you needed to for commute etc.

It won't be fixed overnight, but you can definitely sort things.

Bexster

Warble1 · 23 July 2017 at 5:08PM

Thanks

So should I get a 0% card to pay off my overdraft and then cancel the overdraft facility? Is it a good idea just after applying for a 0% card yesterday? Looking on uswitch under 'money transfer' there is a virgin card with a 3.8% money transfer fee for 41 months 0% or another with 2% fee & 25 months 0%. Is this what I should be looking at? Apologies if I should be asking this in another part of the forum.

bexster1975 · 24 July 2017 at 8:14AM

Hi

I think whether you do is your call. Only issue with doing it straight after the cc transfer is you are at an increased risk of being rejected. I would say go ahead, what is there to lose? You really do need to be very disciplined however and close your OD access and not spend on the balance transfer cc. Think about any cc spending you may need to do and why it's needed.

I'm hoping you can indeed see a light at the end of the tunnel. Well done on being pro active so quickly.

Bexster

EssexHebridean · 24 July 2017 at 12:21PM

Comments in red as usual...

Warble1 wrote: »

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

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1310
Partners monthly income after tax....... 610
Benefits................................ 82.8
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2002.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 540
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 138
Electricity............................. 40 Read Martin's guides on reducing electricity &
gas use. Make sure things are turned off when not in use. It might be helpful for you to put down the actual figures for each rather than just the straight split of the monthly DD across the dual fuel billing
Gas..................................... 40 Adjust the thermostat down a few degrees ready for the winter, and make sure that the default is "put a jumper on" not put the heating on!
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 40 Again - read the guides to minimising water use - turn off taps while cleaning teeth etc, use a shower timer.
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 15
TV Licence.............................. 12.37
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 31.49
Groceries etc. ......................... 240 Yep - look to tweak this down - meal plans and shopping lists are the way forwards - planning ahead stops you having to "just pop in"
to the shop for a pint of milk which may be when the increased spends are happening.
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 250 You can definitely drive (see what I did there!) this down - think about your driving, and how to make it smoother and more economical. Don't hold the car on the clutch at lights etc. On motorways/national speed limit roads knock your speed down to 60mph if you mostly cruise at 70. Again Martin has a guide to driving economically on the main site - take a look. Diesel cars are great for MPG but these days it's not worth changing to one to save costs unless you do seriously high mileage which yours isn't.
Road tax................................ 24.5 Do you pay this monthly? Bear in mind it's dearer done that way as they charge a loading for the monthly payments - look to save and pay 6 monthly or annually.
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 25 Where are you setting this aside?
You've not showing any cash assets?
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 20
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 15 Look to reduce this - you can get it far cheaper.
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0 Need to start looking to build this - aim for a £500 pot to start with, as you're renting.
Toiletries.............................. 35 Every month?! C'mon - you're having a laugh here - this can be slashed!
Netflix................................. 7.49
Partners Gym............................ 23
Total monthly expenses.................. 1546.85

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 750
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 750

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Card....................3160......71........17
Overdraft......................1760......50........18
Loan...........................10700.....250.......7.9
Total unsecured debts..........15620.....371.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,002.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,546.85
Available for debt repayments........... 455.95
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 371
Amount left after debt repayments....... 84.95 You need to establish where this money goes each month

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 750
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -15,620
Net Assets.............................. -14,870

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Very fixable situation. I'd say ignore the loan for the moment - it's done and taken and you know what the payments are going forwards - concentrate on getting rid of higher interest stuff and mostly on stopping relying on overdraft.

Detailed spending diaries show you where your money is really going - I suspect it's that which you need to tackle. The SOA is a great place to start with a working budget - tackle one thing at a time to reduce costs - once you've made a saving, set up an automated transfer for the amount of that saving to your chosen first target debt *or* into a savings account for your emergency fund to start off with.

Great work on getting the first 0% card - I'd personally be inclined to not do too much more at the moment but work on getting the budget honed and make sure that's actually working for you before thinking about applying anywhere else. Taking things one step at a time and getting used to how things are before you move on again can often work well when people are new to tackling debt.

Warble1 · 24 July 2017 at 2:25PM

Thank you for a very encouraging reply. I will leave all other debts for now and work on getting this budget as low as possible next month. I may do another, more detailed SOA as I forget things like rental deposit could go into the asset column?

I will put food down to £55/week and then work on cutting down again the month after. Looking at my last energy bill, average electric was £35pm & gas was £36pm. Will definitely need a look into cutting these down further - although it used to be £115/month by direct debit

Water averages at £36/month, I thought these were about average so didn't focus a great deal on these but good to know I could knock them down further.

So far this month petrol is at £179 with 3/4 tank left so looks good for this month, good tips regarding more economical driving, I am certainly one for the bad habit of holding the clutch at lights. Toiletries will be looked at too. It's been far too many years of wanting something and just getting it which needs a complete habit change, some of the months make me cringe looking back when I first started using ynab

EssexHebridean · 24 July 2017 at 2:39PM

The fuel economy is just one reason for ditching holding it on the clutch - more relevant is that someone hitting you from behind will, in that situation, send you barrelling into the back of the car in front, at which point it all gets rather expensive! It's also more wear and tear on the car of course.

On the toiletries thing - try getting out everything you have and putting it all in one place. You'll find long forgotten half cans of this and half bottles of that - and I bet there will be lots of duplicates! It will give you a realistic idea next time you see an offer on something you use for example of whether you really need to buy it, or not.

To give you a clue on the electricity front - we use electric for heating as well as all the other stuff that it runs - and we pay £35 a month - gas is just for cooking at that's currently about £2 a month I think. :rotfl: If you have an electric oven they're extremely power hungry so focus on batch cooking and try to never heat the oven up for just one thing. Get out of the habit of leaving things like stereo's and TV's on standby too.

You *could* put the rental deposit in as an asset but personally I wouldn't - it's not money you can actually access and use so it's largely irrelevant in the scheme of things.

Advice needed

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