Trying to lose the debt

leah2006 · 2 April 2012 at 1:18PM

Hi

I have been trying many years now to get out of debt but seem to just be maintaining it instead of it going down. I am a single Mum who is as of today £26,399.46 in debt. This has reduced by £853 from 2/03/12, the first time it has gone down in months and months.

Money coming in every month is £2443.90.

Money out is £2159.00

Total to live on is £284.90. This is for food, petrol, car maintenance, clothes, going out etc.

The debts today are

£6400- family member 0% interest but have to pay £200 a month.

£2181.48 overdraft at bank. Limit is £2900 and goes up and down throughout the month.

£3055.25 Lloyds credit card, currently 0% interest free until May

£7216.21 MBNA, currently 0% until May 2012

£3159.11 Barclaycard, 6.99% life of balance

£3925.91 Barclaycard currently 0%

£461.50 Tesco credit card. Standard rate.

I am not in any arrears at all and am treading water paying for it all. I guess once the rates run out I am going to be in trouble. I do have a big limit on Barclaycard so could transfer to them at 6.99 life, if offered at the time.

I am really trying to not spend but the biggest outlay seems to go on food which I spend around £250 a month for..A stupid amount as there are only 2 of us and one is a child. I keep seeing reference to the old style board on saving food costs but can't find it so if someone could send me a link that would be great.

I have sleepless nights worrying about all this. I just need to own my part and get it paid so any help or suggestions I am all ears.

Official MoneySavingExpert insert: Welcome to the Debt-Free Wannabe board, leah2006. We hope the posts below are useful and you find your debts more manageable as a result. Thanks to all who have responded with positive comments and suggestions so far. This is a great example of what this board is about.

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MFWannabe · 2 April 2012 at 1:35PM

Hi
welcome to the board. You really need to do a full soa using the one at www.makesenseofcards.com

Then we can see all your incomings and outgoings and advise where you could make some cutbacks.

Your cards that are currently 0% til May you need to start looking now to see if you get new 0% cards to transfer these debts to. If you can't then your next step is to see if Barclaycard will offer you a deal

Tixy · 2 April 2012 at 1:59PM

Hi

It does sound a lot on groceries - have a look at - April 2012 Grocery Challenge

and - Supermarket Shopping Downshift & more, halve weekly bills

for tips on trying to reduce.

In terms of the outgoings figure - is that just paying the minimum payment on the cards at the moment?

As said it would be useful to post up a full statement of affairs to get the best advice.

Hovel_lady · 2 April 2012 at 3:17PM

The OS board is here...:)

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

Hatecreditors.com · 2 April 2012 at 4:48PM

leah2006 wrote: »

Hi

the first time it has gone down in months and months.

I assume by this you mean that you are continuing to use your credit cards after making the contractual payments? This being the case, the first step is to cut up all cards and stop using them. If you cant manage on the disposable income after contractual payments, I would seriously consider a debt management plan.

Kerfuffle · 11 April 2012 at 1:40AM

Hi Leah2006,

Once you've looked at your statement of affairs, cut up your credit cards and looked at the Old Style Boards, then here's is a link to The Pay All Your Debts by Christmas 2012 challenge. It's a great little challenge for helping with motivation and is chock full of weekly mini-challenges to keep the incentive going.

ConstanceC · 11 April 2012 at 9:12AM

Menu planning can really help keep the food costs down. We have a blackboard and put our week's meals on it, then we can work out what we need to buy in one weekly shop. Doing a single shop keeps the budget in line and planning means that you can get the most out of your leftovers.

lamarsi · 11 April 2012 at 9:25AM

hi Leah from another Leah!!
firstly well done for posting, as it's been suggested try posting a statement of affairs the good people here will show you were you are able to cut back and slash your out goings, hopefully you'll find some great tips on saving and start over paying. good luck hun

keithinfife · 11 April 2012 at 10:42AM

As with the others, I'd agree that £250 for one adult and one child's weekly food shop is way too high (though you don't say the age of the child - that could have an impact too!)

I'd recommend the menu planning. We started this about a year ago and noticed an immediate difference - we were only buying what we needed so things weren't lying in the back of the freezer for ages! What can help with this is using the supermarkets online services too. Yes, you may pay £5 or more for delivery, but you won't be tempted by the impulse buys and will only tend to get what you want, so I'd reckon you'd still save even with the charge.

Another tip would be for one week, just look and see what's in your cupboards and freezer and see what you can make with it. It's amazing what you can do with pasta, tomatoes and some meat (be it chicken, mince or whatever.) We'll often also get two or three meals out of one batch of cooking - for example, 500g mince, one onion, 4 mushrooms and two tins of tomatoes will get you bolognaise sauce for two the first night, then - by adding a tin of kidney beans and some chilli flakes - chilli for the second night. There's usually some of this left, so a portion goes in a box into the freezer and that's another meal for my daughter on nights she has Guides or something.

Loubell83 · 11 April 2012 at 11:15AM

Hi Leah,

For your shopping, where do you shop? Have you shopped around for the cheapest price for things, downgraded brands or supermarkets? Some great bargains can be found at Aldi/Lidls, but I also find shopping around all you can is the best bet.

You have a lot of money on credit cards, but its good that some of these at at 0%. I hope that you have not spent on these cards so all the spending is 0%. As a previous poster said, you should start looking around for another 0% deal if your credit rating is decent.

If not have your barclaycard is a decent shout, or have you looked at loan consolidation? You should think about how much you are paying to these cards every month compared to what a loan payment would be. Also if you are just paying the minuimum payment every month it will be a very long time to pay these off on credit cards.

Loans arent for everyone, but I consolidated cards onto a loan. I was paying the minimum payment on my cards and not getting anywhere. Now I am 2 years away from having them paid off. I saved hundreds every month as well. Seriously think about this option before you take it though, and look for 0% as well.

Good luck!

Emma_whitnash · 11 April 2012 at 2:19PM

Hi Leah, as previous posters have said I'd cut all your cards up. Just saves any temptation, good that you're trying to manage finances.

Your shopping bill does sound high, just for two of you. Hopefully you can review this a get that down. Good luck

Trying to lose the debt

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