Help please

annamc75

I guess what you really have to do is firstly answer the question - how much do you want to get rid of the debt? Really?

If you are 100% committed then you can do a lot with your figures but it will be cutting back DRASTICALLY - and maximising income.

You have obviously run this up quite quickly - has it been on entertainment, holidays and other things that you do not have or have you bought lots of things? If you have things to sell, then sell them. If you have lost weight then get stuff on ebay. What can you do without?

Budgeting shouldnt be too bad if you are living at home but the mobile bill is something that should come down by more than £25 - if you have 2 phones can you not sell the one worth the most and use the money to buy out the remainer of the contract?

I know that you are young and that no social life will seem like the end of the world but you can do budget socialising - get an orange mobile sim and do 241 on orange wednesdays for cheap nights out. Go out and offer to be the designated driver - you get the company, and some money for petrol and also a cheap night drinking. Print off the 2-1 vouchers here for meals etc.

Good luck - the change in mind set will be hard but worth it

Anna x

carlys87

Thanks for all your advice!
I do mainly drive when i go out anyway and dont usually go out for meals, to be honest ive no idea where it goes! Ive tried getting a better paid/a second job but nowhere wants me (which does get quite upsetting when i see the type of people they do employ!)

I have been making use of the freebie board and have free cinema tickets for tomorrow.

I think the main thing i need to do is set myself a limit for spending every month and just get that money out of the bank and hide all my cards. seems when i have my bank card i think it doesnt matter and ill always have the money there, but totally not the case!

Going to have a big clear out at the weekend and do some ebay-ing. Have three phones i can sell (one is my first phone from about 4 years ago so wont make much, but every little counts!)

GeorgeUK

Is that a weekly rent or monthly?

I think milliemonster and Burlesque Babe has it spot on that you should try to clear the store cards first. I would then pay minimum payments to all cards and throw anything left over at the virgin debt. When you get that to a nil balance, you may be offered an incentive to keep the card open - 0% for 6 months or low interest life of balance. This may allow you to move some oth the other high interest debt to a lower APR, then attach the highest APR again.

Sorting the debt is only going to be half the battle however. You need to make sure you don't fall into the same pattern of spending and go back to using the plastic. As you are spending less than ⅓ on expenses and the rest on holiday, entertainment or your debts, you should be able to put aside some and start saving. Even if you put aside the amount you are currently paying towards your debts, that would be huge and still leave you with the same expenditure you currently have and another £170 in the bank to do with as you please.

It may help to keep a spending diary so that you can see where the money is going if you don't currently have £170 left over at the end of the month.

Edit: Forgot to say - you can usually have about 3 credit searches in a 6 month period before your credit score is affected, so definately no more credit applications for a while. Also when you get a mobile phone or sign an airtime agreement, for some reason that goes down as a credit check so you should also be aware of that. Probably the reason why you can't get another card right now.