Help, need to act quick

southernscouser

tommyt wrote:

Monthly Expenses:
Keep/council tax £250 OK, nothing you can do here.

Telephone/internet £40 This could easily be cheaper. Check utilities board

Car insurance/road tax £40 Have you shopped around for insurance?

car maintenance £10

Petrol/car parking £ 85 Can you walk more?

food £130 What does this go on?

clothing/footwear £25 Not essential

Dentists/opticians £25 Is it needed?

birthdays/christmas £25 Again, quite high!

Sports/hobbies £40 (cricket club membership/5-a-side football)

stationery/postage £5 Setup direct debits

Charitable donations £10 Essential?

Newspapers £10 Do you need these?

Toiletries £5

Total £700

I know it looks like I'm questioning everything but your not in a financial position to have any luxuries at the moment. Every penny does count.

I know it's a bit of a cliche but its true when they say "look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves."

Start a spending diary. You'll be amazed how much money you can waste!

Have a sort out of cupboards/loft and start ebaying!

tommyt_3

The petrol is too and from work only, I do walk anywhere within reason !
Could cut the clothing budget to £15 (do need new shoes/shirt/jeans every so often), could stop charity donations, could stop buying papers. have shopped around for car insurance and opticians cover contact lenses. Could make £30-£40 savings per month I agree.

southernscouser

£130 for food is quite high aswell. Is this what you pay to your folks on top of rent or is this work lunches and stuff?

tommyt_3

A combination of work lunches and contribution to folks. Could cut this down by £20-£30 a month, which gives me a total saving of approx £60 per month.

An IP said that creditors would be looking for minimum of £400 per month, and this would virtually pay off the debt in full, so they were unlikely to go for it. Haven't sought a second opinion yet, but this was a disappointing response.

Willsnarf1983

tommyt wrote:

All credit cards at their max, Egg £5000 (14.9 APR). Capital 1 (12.9 APR), Marbles £3000 (12.9 APR), Tesco Loan £14,500 (6.9), repiad at £298 per month.

Monthly Expenses:
Keep/council tax £250 (parents pensioners who need the money)
Telephone/internet £ 40 this is far to high, can cut this by prob £15
Car insurance/road tax £ 40 (need car for my job)
car maintenance £ 10
Petrol/car parking £ 85 Can you park somewhere thats free...u may have to walk a mile but its a big saving
food £130 single person if ur gonna be tight live more like £20 a week inc toiletries
clothing/footwear £ 25 £25 is far to high, i would wear my old clothes completly out or untill ur in a better position.
Dentists/opticians £ 25 good to plan ahead so can't criticise cept if ur clever enuff u can get eye tests and glasses for what less than£50
birthdays/christmas £ 25 u spend £300 a year on birthday presents? cut it down
Sports/hobbies £ 40
stationery/postage £ 5 should be part of ur food budget
Charitable donations £10 £120 in a year...get rid ofit and then when ur more financially savvy...give a bit more than normal
Newspapers £10 Not needed
Toiletries £ 5 Again part of food shopping budget
Total £700

hope this leads to some more advice !

sorry if its critical mate but if ur in the !!!!!! u need to make tuff decisions, i left the sports hobbys one coz i know whats its like to go without, i chucked my golf membership this year as it was to expensive and i love golf......

make the hard decisions now mate and live the life when u are financially correct


Cheers

Will

black-saturn

OK, this is what I would personally cut down on (how I got out of debt anyway):

£130 on food - You said your paying keep to your mum and dad surely this covers it? If not could you shop more wisely by buying buy one get one free stuff and cooking things from scratch and taking packed lunch to work? I pay out £40 every 6 weeks for 3 people so surely it should be less than that for one?

£95 Petrol, parking and car maintenance - Give up the car if you can. Get lifts from people who are working in the same place as you and pay towards petrol. They will be glad of the extra bit of cash and you will be glad of the saving.

£25 on clothes - make do with the ones you've got or shop at charity shops, jumble sales and ebay for bargains.

£10 Charitable donations - knock these on the head for now. Charity begins at home. When youve paid your debt off you can start giving again and maybe more.

£40 sports and hobbies - Give these up and instead go for a walk or jog in the park. Totally free.

£10 newspapers - You don't need these. Watch the news every day or read the news on the newspapers websites to keep up with current affairs. You can even go to the library to need to read newspapers.

With all this I've given you a potential saving of £260 a month which could be put towards paying your debt off every month.

The key to it is realising you have to live as if your unemployed until it's paid off. But when it is it's the most wonderful feeling ever.

kevker

I think you are all being a bit harsh on the clothing bill. This only gives him £300 a year for clothes. As part of my work I have to wear a suit (a condition of my employment), but I have to pay for this myself. The amount he has quoted would keep me in suits for one year. And yes, I will wear two suits out in a year because of my job. This doesn't even take into account footwear for work, shirts for work, ties for work, never mind any leisure clothes.

What I am saying is, yes his figure may be too high for the work he does, but don't just dimiss it out of hand until you know all the answers.

Willsnarf1983

fair enuff Kev but u can pick two decent suits up for less than £100, and if it were me i wud be selling stuff to get the money for new clothes


Will

skintchick

Here's my two-pennyworth on your outgoings. I am single and only have to budget for myself.

Monthly Expenses:
Keep/council tax £250 (parents pensioners who need the money)
Telephone/internet £ 40 Too high. Do you really NEED (not want) internet at home?I don;t have it and manage fine. Also, my landline and mobile together come to £15 a month. Cut back.
Car insurance/road tax £ 40 (need car for my job)
car maintenance £ 10
Petrol/car parking £ 85
food £130 Way toohigh. I spend £60 a month on packed lunches, dinners, everything. Get over to OldStyle and learn how to budget on food.
clothing/footwear £ 25 I agree. THis is too high. eBay and Oxfam can help you out here.
Dentists/opticians £ 25 Seems high but them I have 20/20 vision, so no need of opticians.
birthdays/christmas £ 25 A little high. I bring in CHristmas under £200.
Sports/hobbies £ 40 (cricket club membership/5-a-side football) Sorry mate but this will have to go. I had to drop my salsa classes to pay off my debts. You can always take it up again later.
stationery/postage £ 5 Really? Do you write a lot of letters? This is a lot of stamps! What's it for?
Charitable donations £10 As has been said, stop these for now.
Newspapers £10 Read them at the library? I now buy one a week (Sat or Sun) and watch C4 news in the week.
Toiletries £ 5 a fiver EVERY week? Are you sure? I think this could go - my toiletries come out fo the afrementioned £60 food budget as and when I need shampoo I get it at TEsco.
Total £700

hope this leads to some more advice !

I think I've found you £170 or thereabouts.

tommyt_3

Thanks everyone for your advice, will take on board and implement most of your advice.