I need help to get out of this mess

halight

Hi walsh,
Good luck with becoming debt free... It will be a long and somtimes hard road But it will be well worth it in the end. If all gos well for me apart from my mortgage i will be debt free in 10 months time. Then i will start get pay more off my mortgage and try to get that down.

ALL THE BEST AND GOOD LUCK

stustu92

Hi Walsh,

Just thought i'd come and find you on here. I read your thread on the mortgage board and saw you were getting a hammering - i hoped you would still come here for advice rather than not coming back at all.

I'm no master at this kind of thing, but heres my two penneth:

£80 mobile phone - too high.
Are you on the right tariffs and using enough of your deal minutes, or are you going over your deal?

£50 electricity and no gas - is this correct?
Who is your supplier, when did you last shop around?

£17 satellite/cable - are you still in contract?
If not, cancel it for a while. We did this and 'survived' perfectly well with freeview. Plus if you must have it, threaten to cancel and you may get a cheap deal for a while.

£200 groceries
Living in west london are you the type who nip into the local 'metro' style tesco or sainsbury's most nights after work?
Write shopping list for the week and use www.mysupermarket.co.uk to compare prices on your shop. Then go to the overall cheapest supermarket.
Plan your meals for the week and try cooking a bit more from scratch.
Also take a look at the old style forums for ideas: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

£65 petrol/diesel
You have £65 for fuel, but then £20 for other travel - is this tube fares?
If so, are you using oyster card? Its cheaper than paper tickets.
Also on your vehicle fuel, check out http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheaper-fuel for efficiency tips. You might be able to knock £10 a month of your fuel bill just by altering your driving style.

£12 pet insurance/vet bills
Have you shopped around for the best deal recently? Try http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/insurance/cut-pet-insurance-costs

£38 holiday
In your predicament i can understand why a holiday might important as a goal, but have you considered knocking it on the head for next year and perhaps going camping or staying with friends or family for a few days?
Incidentally, do you have a tesco clubcard? If you could use them for shopping and fuel where possible, you might get enough clubcard vouchers (They're worth 4x their value if you get tokens) to cover a short break.

£138 gym
Is this each month? Can you not switch to a cheaper gym, or find an alternative for a period of time, perhaps running or cycling.

£100 entertainment
Could you encourage your friends to take turns to entertain at each others houses for a while to cut down on money for going out - an evening with a bit of food and BYOB every once in a while could make quite a difference over time.

£100 mum and dad loan
Are mum and dad desperate for their money back/are you paying them interest?
If no to both of these questions, could you renegotiate terms with the to reduce this, in order to throw more money at your other debts?

Most importantly you need to start watching where your money goes - not knowing where your £400 a month is going means you've not got your eye on the ball enough...

Try keeping one of those little diaries on you, and write in it each time you spend. you'll soon see where the money goes.
Also try writing a budget checklist and check things off as they go out of the bank or as you spend, a spreadsheet is good for this.

Try and think positive about it, now you've posted on here, take the good advice available and make the changes necessary now, so your better prepared later.

Good luck... :rotfl:

stu

sidnee

Just a pointer, you Road tax and Car Maintenance look incorrect to me... I think you better make them correct and change the totals to get a truer reflection of your monthly spend.

Any chance of paying your Council Tax over 12 months (maybe it is already or council won't let you do this...)

I think you've been pretty honest with your assessment of your situation. A lot of things are going out, and you are feeling like there's not a lot of spare cash left over. So....

1. This is where a spending diary is needed - please write down everything you spend, even if it is a 40p choc bar, or your spend on drinks on a night out. You'll be amazed at the stuff you spend.
2. There is a lot of self-imposed spending. Gym, Car, Holiday, Entertainment, Haircuts, Satellite, Mobiles... this is good - because you need to refine your spend as much of this as possible. Ask yourself - Do I use it? Do I need it? Can I live without it? Decide what extent you can cut this down.

A lot of advice will be dispensed, but most of this is simply to aim for your goal. Freeing up cash to throw at your debt/mortgage. Keep us posted on what you money saving you get up to!