Help needed!

amyj0705

I have about £6000 worth of debt which i need to clear but I have no idea how to. if anyone can suggest ideas to help me it would be appreciated so much!

Amy

jellybean08

hiya,

thats about the amount of debt i started with, why don't you post a statement of affairs which is your income and outgoings every month, and people will suggest ways of paying off debts but still being able to live. I went on a dmp myself which made things a lot easier but of course it depends on your circumstances.

good luck

sparky0107

Hi and welcome

try postong your SoA, www.makesenseofcards.com and also the snowball debt calculator www.whatsthecost.com and then try keeping a spending diary https://www.spendingdiary.com Post your SoA and some very helpful people will give you some great advice

Well done on having your LBM and good luck

amyj0705

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for your suggestions =o)

My SOA is as follows -

Loan repayments £146.09
Bills - £350
Charity donations - £23
Petrol £80 - £100
Car Insurance - £67.33
Bank account charge - 7.95
Interest - £40
Credit card payment cover - £16.02
Misc - £150
Total - 900.39
Wages - £1059

Total left - £158.61

I have £2600 on my credit card (which I have this evening cut up!), £1500 on an overdraft and £1500 on a loan.

Thanj you again for all your help and support

x

CreditMonkey

Charity begins at home....ha ha sorry couldn't resist. I mean lose the charity donation for a start, put that into your loan. What about food and rent, i guess your living with parents....? Also can you break down the bills £350 and the misc £150. A dmp really depends on your situation and future plans so if you can give more info, i.e do you have a mortgage etc cause if you havent and you hope to soon a dmp would be a sticky point especially with all the credit crunch going around

jellybean08

Don't want to seem nosey but what are your circumstances, are you renting on your own or are you at home? I'd also suggest doing the full soa as it takes into account things that might not happen every month like xmas, but still need to be budgeted for. I reckon by looking at it that you have enough to pay off your debts over a reasonable time as long as you budget correctly.

Loan repayments £146.09-is this everything including card?
Bills - £350 -what does this include? it might be poss to reduce gas/electric, phone etc. groceries?
Charity donations - £23 -it's a great thing to do but not while you're paying interest on your loan. i give friends charity donations as xmas presents so i'm still doing something good.
Petrol £80 - £100-might be ways of cutting this down
Car Insurance - £67.33-how old are you? this seems very high.
Bank account charge - 7.95-how often does this happen?
Interest - £40-whats this on? the overdraft?
Credit card payment cover - £16.02-i don't know about everyone else but the chance of actually getting any money if you lose your job, get ill etc is very low
Misc - £150-?
Total - 900.39
Wages - £1059

Total left - £158.61-do you find you actually have this at the end of the month? or does it disappear?

sorry to nitpick but you need to know exactly where everything goes, then cut it right down, and throw money at debts. doesn't mean you can't live quite comfortably though.

Jesthar

Hi, Amy, and welcome!

First off, well done on taking the scissors to the credit card - very good start!

I'd echo jellybean - it's going to be worth hunting out all your bills/statements etc. And doing the full Statement of Affairs calculator at http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html This not only helps you work out where all your money goes (and you'd be amazed where cash can 'escape' :rolleyes:), but also does some very useful calculations on everything to help you see exactly how to tackle your debt. If also helps us give you mych better advice on how to improve things!

~Jes

StressedSteph

Hi Amy

I have a similar amount of credit card debt and the miserable truth is, the only way I seem to be making any dent in the debt is to keep a spending diary and not spend ANY money on anything that is not an essential bill. I try to do a £50 pw food shop for 4 of us and have a pretty much boring time. But now that I am, I am seeing an big change in the amount I owe. I just managed to pay off one of my long standing cards this week and it feels great.:T Just three more to go.:rolleyes:

I know its hard this time of year with Christmas looming, but hopefully as you have cut your cards up you won't make them any worse over the holiday season and then you can start hitting them hard wih bigger payments.

Good luck hun, its a slow journey but it feel great when you pay off them off xxxx