I wanna be debt free - again!

winkle1

Yes like so many people, I fear, I got myself out of debt and now I am back in it! Arrggghhh!

This is from a combination of things: buying Xmas presents last year on the credit card (once you have got £100 on it, its so easy to add to, dont you think?), then losing my job and being unemployed and it just spiralled from there.

Now I am settled in a new job I think it's time concentrated on trying to get debt free again.

My boyfriend and I would really like to take advantage of the falling house prices and swoop in and get a good deal at some point.

So here's my SOA:

Incomings: £1783.00

Rent: £360 - got a good deal cause I rent off my sister

Travel: £60 - although I have a student travel card cause I've gone back to uni so this may come down next month.

Internet: £7.50 - Its £14.99 a month but I go halves with boyf

Weight Watchers subscription: £17.95 - I would get rid of this but last time I stopped going to meetings I put all the weight back on! I am not far from being back at goal and it being free so hopefully only a couple more months of paying this.

ISA: £300 - This is a fixed rate ISA I'm tied into, I won't get any interest if i take this money out. Can use this towards debt in April next year.

House fund: £300 - Boyf and I agreed an amount we should both save and this is my contribution although I see that saving this means throwing less at debt so I'll have a chat with him about this.

I also have a mobile which is generally around £30 a month - I've got a deal which I'm tied into for 18 months.

For food and bills (Now I disagree with this but boyf won't budge) he wants us to put in £200 a month each towards food and bills from this month (generally we do £150 each but we always seem to run out of gas and elec) so I'm going to do it this month and with my new debt free wannabee lifestyle, I'm sure we'll have loads left over!

We also get the BT phone bill every 3 months, I only pay for the phone line for the internet, no calls, so I will need to find out how much that is and add that to the SOA.

So with out the BT phone bill, total monthly outgoings are:

£1275.45

So that should leave £507.55 to pay towards debt.

As for debts I have:
Egg card: - £1,026.47 - it's at 17.9% but Ive just applied for an Abbey Zero card, fingers crossed I get it.
HSBC: overdraft at 19.9%, £500 limit, currently at -£489.34
First Direct : overdraft at 15.9%, £500 limit but the first £250 is interest free. currently in credit but thats because I got paid today (hence the new diary...)
A&L: interest free overdraft, £1300 limit, currently at -£1267.

So including the £500 First Direct overdraft, total debts are £3282.81.

I think best thing is to tackle HSBC first, then First Direct, while paying the Egg card and then finally the A&L overdraft.

This months task is to try pay off the HSBC overdraft completley.

I'm also going to do a spending diary so todays spends are:

£10 - put on work card because we're a cashless office and this is for drinks or the odd time I forget to bring in my lunch
£5.07 in M&S but I brought houmous, salad and pitta and this will last me 3 days lunch. From next week its home lunches.

I'm also off out tonight for dinner but everyone wants to keep it cheap and cheerful so £20 MAX spending, and I'm not going to have an alcoholic drink.

I'm not sure if anyone is reading this, but its good for me to get it written down and clear in my own head.

milliemonster

Hey sounds like you are a seasoned DFW and know all the right things, one thing I would suggest though, could you not use your ISA as your house saving fund? and then use the other £300 to throw at your debt?, if you do this you should have it all paid for in 3 or 4 months and then will have it free again to save

well done for catching it early!!!

Lula-Hula

Hello & welcome back to the wonderland

good luck on your debt busting & enjoy every mouthful of that expensive lunch

lula x

annamc75

You shouldnt be saving until you have paid off your debt - you will be charged more interest on the debt than you will be making saving for the house.

That £300 a month would really go someway to clearing the finances.

winkle1

Spoke to boyf last night and we're going to sit down on Friday evening and discuss the savings situation again - he is doing a masters and is paying through work so they are taking £300 a month from him so we have to rejig the figures.

As for last night I spent £27.30 so I went over budget. £2.30 of that was travel, I must remember that I have a student card and use the discount! I keep forgetting!

Off to my sisters tonight so that's more train fare but I WILL remember to use the discount!!

winkle1

I nearly had an NSD yesterday as my sister cancelled but when I went to go home, my Oyster card was at -60p and they wouldnt let me through even though I had a travel card!?!?? That's never happened to me before! has anyone else heard of this?!

As for today, spent 30p on a newspaper this morning but that's it for today. Still got some houmous and pitta bread and salad so thats lunch sorted

winkle1

I'm not sure if anyone is reading but it ceratinly helps me to post on here and it refrains me from spending knowing I have to fess up!

Spent 75p yesterday and 40p today so not doing too badly. I really want to have an NSD though!

Meeting my friend at the pub tonight but will have 1 diet coke or a blackcurrant and then we're going back to mine and I'll cook dinner so another low day for me!

winkle1

oh and finished the last of the houmous and pitta today! That's £5.07 on 3 days lunches! not bad!

MrsTinks

Unless you are going to earn over 20% interest on the ISA then WHY are you keeping it??? Use the £300 to pay part of your debt off!
As for £200 a month from both of you for bills and groceries... uhmmm what "bills" is this? Gas and Leccy? How much does this usually cost a month and how much is food?

Jesthar

Mrs Tine is right - you really need to be throwing your money at the debts until at least those with interest are cleared, or you're just getting charged more interest at a far higher rate than you can save at. For example, with that £300 a month extra thrown at your debts, you could clear the HSBC in two months!

To show your BF what a difference it could make, try the Snowball Calculator at http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx - it will show you how much quicker you could be debt free with the extra cash put towards them.

winkle1

thanks mrs tine and jesthar for your comments.
the £200 a month is for food and gas and elec. i think this is too high and this month we're going to work on reducing this for sure. as for the ISA, you are right - i need to sit down with boyf and discuss finances, just need to find the time, always so busy. we do need to rejig how much we're putting towards the house fund.
as for the weekend, well it didnt all go to plan! fri night was fine, spent £8.81 on dinner for me and my friend so thats not bad at all. but then my account says i took £150 out on Saturday - OUCH!! that was for a wedding and a hen do and cabs in london, getting back late, being too drunk to care about money *hangs head in shame*. my only saving grace is that £50 of that is owed to me so i'll get that back this week, but £100 in one day is FAR TOO MUCH to spend
so an extra low week for me this week, it just has to be!