kcmatt's SOA and debt diary

kcmatt79

Hi

I posted yesterday about my target of paying off £7k within the next year. People advised me to post an updated SOA, so here goes:

Monthly Income (as of Sep '08)

£1,625

Monthly Outgoings (these are just my half of everything):

Rent & utility bills (live with o/h in HIS house): £330
Groceries: £160
Petrol: £160
Car ins.: £25
Pet ins.: £18
Contact lenses: £23
Account charge for Platinum bank acc: £17
Mobile: £40 (will be reducing tariff come Sep)
Charity: £8 (won't stop this)

Debts & Monthly payments:

Tesco Loan at 6.5% ending 2013: £9,358 - £200.42
Overdraft: £1,000 (£250 at 0%, rest at 12.9%) - roughly £8
Citi Credit card: £2,111 @ 5.8% for life - £50
Tesco CC: £2,662 @ 7.9% for life - £80
Virgin CC: £2,813 @ 0% until Nov '08 - £25
Sky CC: £894 @ 7.9% - £50
Lloyds CC: £378 @ 16.9% - £10
NatWest CC: £0

Total Debt: £19,216.49 :eek:
Total Debt repayments per month: £417.42

Any tips of where I can improve will be greatly appreciated. I can't get any credit at the moment, I think because I have so much rather than a poor rating. I check my file regularly, but since I've switched stuff around so much recently, it hasn't updated correctly yet.

The Lloyds amount I am hoping to pay off soon. This was clear, then my beloved dog had to have an operation costing over £1,000 and I had to pay it on my credit card and wait for insurance company to pay up. This meant I incurred some interest, which was very annoying! :mad:

I can provide details of household bills etc. but I can't see where many savings can be made, other than convincing my o/h that we really DON'T need Sky TV!!! :mad:

kcmatt79

Meant to mention that starting in Sep, I will be paying £50 into a savings account. This is to try and stop what's happening this month where I have to pay all my car tax upfront and end up broke for the month.

Horace

Your SOA will be easier to read if you use this site https://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html - there is a button on there for MSE

Do you need a Platinum Bank account? Switch to an ordinary one. Keep a spending diary so that you know what you are frittering away on lunches, newspapers, the odd coffee here and there.

Ditch the charity payments for a while at least - I know you say you won't give up paying it but at the moment your debt needs it more.

Cut down on your grocery shopping by using a supermarket such as Lidl, check your cupboards and freezer before you go out and see what you need and buy it rather than buy what you fancy - write a list before you go.

Ditch the Sky and switch to freeview.

Have a clear out and sell stuff on ebay or at carboots and stop spending on your credit cards.

HTH

tealady

Hi. Your petrol seems very high. I would make sure you are not carrying around unwanted items, that your tyres are at correct pressure and if your journey is less than a mile consider walking.
HTH

poorandindenial

Hi there

Well done for posting your SOA, a brave step!! - hopefully you will get lots of good advice but a few bits I spotted....


Monthly Outgoings (these are just my half of everything):

Rent & utility bills (live with o/h in HIS house): £330
Groceries: £160 (is this really half of what you spend??? that is £320 a month, you can do this for loads less if it is)
Petrol: £160 (do you need to use this much, are you walking where sensible - eg popping down to the corner shop etc)
Car ins.: £25
I saw your post about car tax, is the money you are putting away enough for maintenance etc too?? if not you may want to up it a little
Pet ins.: £18 is this the cheapest you can get? use money supermarket to check and if not then switch through quidco
Contact lenses: £23 (if you don't already, buy these online, loads cheaper)
Account charge for Platinum bank acc: £17 (do you REALLY use £17 a month of benefits, if not then scrap this, basic banking is free and it is often cheaper to buy the 'benefits' that you actually use separately, especially travel insurance which also often has better cover if purchased separately)
Mobile: £40 (will be reducing tariff come Sep - good, investigate PAYG too)
Charity: £8 (won't stop this)

You haven't got any put aside for stuff like haircuts, clothes, xmas and birthday presents and entertainment and it might be worth factoring them in.

Also, just tackle your debts one at a time, try not to think of them as a whole beyond the minimum payments. Then throw any other money you have at them in interest rate order (high to low), check out the snowball calculator at www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx. It lest you see the impact of managing to find an extra fiver or tenner a month and also tells you how long your debt will take to clear (be warned, it can be scary at first but then it gets addictive)

It might be worth checking the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com to see if you have missed anything on your SOA (TV Licence etc). I suspect you have as on the figures above (based on my dodgy maths) you should have about £450-500 a month left (including bills, which you should put in if you can face it as it gives us a better idea of what you have left at the end of the month). You may also want to do a spending diary to see where your cash goes if you don't have the extra amount.

kcmatt79

Hi, thanks for comments. My platinum bank account provides mobile phone and AA cover. Not sure if it's better to do without?

Petrol is damn high, isn't it?? I travel 60 miles round trip to work everyday, although I'm on holiday so August won't cost me anything like this in petrol. I have checked tyres, don't carry weight, just petrol's bloody expensive!!

poorandindenial

kcmatt79 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for comments. My platinum bank account provides mobile phone and AA cover. Not sure if it's better to do without?

Almost certainly cheaper seperately. In fact if you only have a basic phone it is often cheaper to have no insurance but you should be able to do both of these for less than the £204 a year even if you want to have both, check it out through money supermarket for the car, not sure about the phone but a quick google of mobile phone insurance will hopefully get you some phone insurance comparason sites.

kcmatt79

poorandindenial wrote: »

Hi there

Well done for posting your SOA, a brave step!! - hopefully you will get lots of good advice but a few bits I spotted....


Monthly Outgoings (these are just my half of everything):

Rent & utility bills (live with o/h in HIS house): £330
Groceries: £160 (is this really half of what you spend??? that is £320 a month, you can do this for loads less if it is)
Petrol: £160 (do you need to use this much, are you walking where sensible - eg popping down to the corner shop etc)
Car ins.: £25
I saw your post about car tax, is the money you are putting away enough for maintenance etc too?? if not you may want to up it a little
Pet ins.: £18 is this the cheapest you can get? use money supermarket to check and if not then switch through quidco
Contact lenses: £23 (if you don't already, buy these online, loads cheaper)
Account charge for Platinum bank acc: £17 (do you REALLY use £17 a month of benefits, if not then scrap this, basic banking is free and it is often cheaper to buy the 'benefits' that you actually use separately, especially travel insurance which also often has better cover if purchased separately)
Mobile: £40 (will be reducing tariff come Sep - good, investigate PAYG too)
Charity: £8 (won't stop this)

Thanks for that. The £50 a month is enough to cover Tax, MOT & service. I've looked around for pet insurance before, but my clumsy dog has had so many accidents, I can't seem to find anything cheaper (he's also getting on so it makes it expensive!). The thing about the contact lenses is true - would definitely save a fair whack, but I can't afford the initial outlay of £300 for the year's supply. Plus, buying online means losing my free aftercare apps with Boots. I will have a good look at the Platinum account. You could be right that it's not worth bothering with.

kcmatt79

I'm a bit confused now. I tried the snowballing thing. It's telling me to overpay my Virgin card by £175 a month. But, when my 0% deal runs out in Nov, I will be transferring it elsewhere. Therefore I won't be paying the 16.9% on it as I mentioned in the snowballing calculator. What should I do? Re-calculate without this rate?

tealady

Hi Yes you could do, see how it pans out. Re petrol check out www.petrolprices.com for the best fuel deals in your area.

kcmatt79

Thank you. Have signed for petrol prices and have re-done my snowball. Makes much more sense now. Will be overpaying a particular card a lot come September.

Anyway, I have a new opportunity which has arisen:

A friend of my o/h has pretty much become homeless since splitting with his girlfriend. He has lost his job and has nowhere to go. They have put him on the council list for now and he can claim £70 a week housing benefit.

Anyway, he has asked my o/h if he can come and stay here for a while until he gets himself sorted. The problem is, our house is TINY with a capital T and really not big enough for everyone. One option is that he lives here for a while and I move out and stay with my parents. My o/h actually suggested this because it would save me about £650 a month! That means I can overpay my debt to the tune of £850 a month! :j

The downsides are quite obvious, I suppose - I will miss my o/h and not having my own place. My parents are OK but have their own problems which can sometimes lead to me being in the middle of it all. My elderly grandmother also lives there which would mean me doing my share of caring for her (which I don't mind at all).

I really don't know whether this is a good option or not? I wondered what others' opinions would be?