My debt clearing diary (oh yes and some help from you guys)

dj0586

hey guys, im determined now to clear my debts and have some disposable income, i want to post on here because i read all your stories and they inspire me to do the same. Im also going to keep updating this as a diary to keep myself motivated and if i do it, the hope it may motivate someone else.

The fact is im not massively in debt, its just at the moment i seem to be living beyond my means and i cant see ways to cut down. Here is my current situation.

Income per month
Take home pay 1280, 06

Outgoings per month
Halifax loan 125.93 (2000 to go)
Water rates 34.75
Electric 20
Mint card min pay around 29, try to pay 50 at least (1300 to go)
rent 450
gas 15
Phone insurance 5.99
Council tax 84
Dell computer 10
Mobile phone 30
Tv licence 25.30
Car insurance 60.12
BT phone bill 20 (prepaid broadband through E7 so need this line)
Students loans 52.56 and 26.12 (2,200 to go)
Murfmedia 23 (this is a subscription for work)
Food 60
Petrol 30
Cinema 10
Eating out 30

Outgoings = 1162.77

So as you see this leaves me with about £100, being a web addict i do put the occasional £5 bets on city games and christmas has pushed me to my overdraft limit of £1,100.

So to summarise

Income £1280
Outgoings £1162.77
Debt on 12/12/2005 £5,500

Clearing my debts would give me an extra £250 a month.
My aim is to clear my debts by the end of 2006 and i am going to keep this diary to keep my eyes open, any help from you guys would be appreciated.

I know there are areas that can easily cut down such as the eating out and cinema and if you guys have any questions i'll be totally honest with you.

PS, the debts came from moving out of home because of new job.

Merry christmas :xmassign:

wigginsmum

Do you need the phone insurance? Can you get out of the mobile contract and onto pay-as-you-go? How come your TV licence is £25/month?

Good luck with all this!

Jules

$17mma

Do you have PPI on your loan? if so you should consider cancelling it and you may get a rebate that will clear the outstanding amount.

dj0586

Im not sure, it came as part of the package and im under contract for another 8 months, i know stupid to sign in the first place but the phone looked so good. The TV license is 25 a month becuase i only moved in in July so i had less installments to pay the yearly fee.

dj0586

RE PPI, what is this, if its payment protection i phoned halifax last week and they said if i wanted to cancel this it would mean closing the loan and opening a new one which the interest would equal the payment protection, so i was no better off

$17mma

Take a look at these threads on the Loan board

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=117175

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=118663

robnye

ppi - payment protection plan....... generally covers your monthly payments if you lose your job through ilness/redundancy....

search the forum, there is another thread dealing with cancelling this, cos it sounds like th halifax are trying to pull a fast one....

murfmedia..... you say this is for work..... are work refunding you?
what is the interest rate on your overdraft and mint?
if mint is lower and you have some balance left, transfer part of the overdraft to mint.
(or get a new long term balance transfer credit card ie like barcalycard/cahoot - check forum for best offers)

dj0586

i am going to complain to halifax about the PPI and see what happens, i am at my limit with mint as i transferred my argos balance onto it to save the 25% interest. I need to switch cards before march to another 0% BT card.

I work as a radio producer so murfmedia provides preperation material and work dont pay for it as it is towards my career progression and i did it off my own back.

My insurance should drop in april, providing the offers are still around my insurance should drop to 360 pound and 45 pound cashback from greasypalm, but thats months ahead so still to come

Thefunkygibbons

Is that a food bill for one? I reckon you can cut that down.

Next

Set up a standing order for the mint card so you don't have £100 a month left

If it is not there, you will be less tempted to spend it

dj0586

It works out about £15 per week for dinners at work (they mount up) and evening meals and all the other bits. I'm not sure about standing order on mint as i want to transfer in 2 months, and then can pay higher amount on new card. Are standing orders difficult to cancel.

robnye

you would save money by taking packed lunch or food from home...... ie if there is a microwave you could use