New To This

amyandjon

Hello, I am Amy i am 24, my oh is 30, we are currently on the plan to get debt free, we have started reducing the shoppingbills by taking 35 quid and putting it in an envelope and we use that ti shop with no using debit card !! we no longer use our credit cards but because my oh has big cc numbers its all intrest that we are paying at the moment, its also hard because we are getting married next year a small affair so no more that 5000, which ive managed to shed form 20 000 unrealistic... we should have married this year but since the credit crunch came we made a wise choice to wait and get some money save for debts ... any good tips would be of use, i havent a clue how to work this site but ive already taken some tips and got a joint account with abbey i think which give 100 cashback and i switched gas and elec but havent joined a fixed price deal eeek !! ive also got mine and my ohs claim bank charges back in process with a company called bank smart, recommended by a friend who works at a bank !! who got his money back... anyway i look forward to making friends and well laying the debt out on the table Amy and Jon:T

Snaggles

Hiya - just wanted to say welcome to DFW! :hello:

A good place to start is your SOA (statement of affairs - basically a list of income and outgoings) - the link is here: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html - we can have a look at it and see if we can make any suggestions.

Verbatim

Welcome from me too. And what snaggles said.

amyandjon

Aw thank you when my oh gets home il have a look with him, i did try having a go before with it before i posted i got all confused :S but thanks for the welcome.... i work some funny hours because im a staff nurse so long days, ive requested more unsocial hours, and i also spoke to one of the doctors who will pay me 40 quid a week to clean for him so a possible extra 160 a month or 2080 a year woo... i just neeed confirmation off him.... my main worry is credit cards some of the minimum payments are 120 etc and well probaly a 100 of that is intrest and i cant manage much higher because of all the other things we pay out on.. it makes me want to cry sometimes im a bit shy about opening all my debt up on here at 24 i feel rather ashamed at how much debt ive got with oh.... we said several times a loan to clear the debts a loan came and well we were stupid so now this is the first time we have started getting serious, ive sold my nursing books on amazon, sold my phone on ebay made 150... cut down the sky bill ive done lots ... infact il have a go at the calculator now.... Amy

McKneff

hi amyandjon - no need to be embarrassed on this site, although we are all
aquaintences we are all anonymous. Have a look through some of the posts on other threads, some people are in enormous amounts of debt but nobody is judgemental and everybody will be either sympathetic or try to help. Its an amazing site, i've only been looking for a couple of weeks but it gets to be addictive. And by the way - welcome both

Robbda

Welcome!

No need to feel shy! and congratulations on your engagement! I have a huge amount that i'm trying to clear because me and OH want to get a house and he told me last week he wants to get married (not a proposal but as good as where he is concerned) i'm currently sorting myself out big style to clear these debts, get good credit and without him knowing! which i VERY hard!

Things i've learn't

1) Get a pot and put all coppers in there plus any change you have at the end of the week in your purse (i give myself £20 a week now and anything left on a Friday goes in the pot and a new £20 goes in the purse) then bank that once a month into a savings account

2) treat yourself once a month or you go mad - use the 2-4-1 deals at rest. like pizza express, tapas etc.. go out have a nice evening spend £15 max

3) Join up as an extra (try 2020, they charge £70 a year but i comes out your first job), join up the mystery shopper sites on here £10 a time for shopping!, join Quidco

4) Petrol, I only do local running around and have worked out i need about £8 a week petrol saves me having money evapourating in the fuel tank

5) maybe see if you can get a 0% credit card to help with the other CCards?

6) Christmas/birthdays - ask for stuff towards the wedding? smaller things like shoes, tiara,underwear etc.. family might club together

7) Tesco's clubcard - big fan, if your with EON register your card they don't always advertise it but you get tesco points for each unit of lecky


8) Don't be frighten to ask ANYTHING this lot a lovely

Ames

Did I read right that you're paying a company to claim back your charges? That's really not a good idea because it's really easy to do yourself and that way you get to keep it all yourself instead of paying out to someone else.

Welcome to the site, I'm sure you'll pick up loads of help!

Robbda

ignore me - wrong post!

amyandjon

i cant find the paperwork of one of my loans and im trying to work out the percentage of intrest how do i do that :S

Dithering_Dad

Hi Amy :hello: , welcome the the DFW board!

When I was really 'up against it', I had loads of envelopes labled 'Gas', 'Electricity', 'Bus fare', 'Telephone'. It's a great technique and nice to see it making a comeback!

Good luck with your DFW journey!

DD

dancingfairy

My top tip would be go for a spending diary. Write down everything you spend that's not bills - deal with them seperately. Everytime you buy a paper,magazine,coffee,sweets,cd's,dvd's,makeup,lunch at work, pint after work, etc. It all adds up and you will be able to see what is worth it and what isn't - maybe treat yourself once a week to a coffe or a sandwich or something.

Ooop - I'm so sorry I forgot my manner. Hello and welcome.