Trying to sort myself out...

Star1979

Hi,

I have been lurking on here for a while but decided it was time to take the plunge and say hello and post my situation. My debts are:

Royal Bank of Scotland Visa card - £1087.84 at 16.9%
Virgin visa card - £1915.00 1 month left at 0% then 15.9%
Egg visa card - £1737.36 at 15.9%
Royal Bank of Scotland graduate loan - £504.94 at 7.5%
Royal Bank overdraft - £1100.00 at 12.9%

I also have a couple of student loans but they are the old style ones so I don't need to pay them back until I earn much more than I do at the moment. I also pay £50 a month into a work share based savings scheme which will pay out when I am almost 31 (I am paying into it so I have a guaranteed amount to tide me over for possible maternity leave at that time)

I have tried to work out my budget as carefully as possible and it means that on a good month I should be able to put £500 a month towards my debts. I am trying everything to cut down on food budgets and am carefully pruning my bad spending habits. I am fed up of worrying about money and fed up of having to budget for paying off money that is already spent each month. I want to start saving for a flat as soon as I am cleared of debts. I should get my first bonus from work next month which will be £510 minus tax so that will go straight towards my cards.

If anyone has any good advice or words of encouragement that would be much appreciated.

x

lottie26_2

hi, good luck with your debt paying i'm in the same situation I wnt to pay off my debts so I can then start saving for a house.
Can you apply for another 0% card now so you will have it for when the fineshes? If not do you have any available balances?
Good luck x

Star1979

I do have spare balances on the Royal Bank and Virgin cards. I am considering a 0% card to put the balaces from Egg and Virgin on as I will be able to pay off the Royal Bank card over the next couple of months. Why is it so easy to spend the money and so hard to pay it back!?

On another note my sister is having some quite serious money problems at the moment and so I bought her Martin's book as she doesn't have internet acceess to I am hoping that will help her out too.

climbgirl

If you can, I'd suggest that you post your incomings and outgoings here so that people can recommend ways of cutting back. You may think you've cut it right back to the bone, but the regulars on here are amazing at finding ways of saving money that you've never spotted before!

lottie26_2

I know what yo mean so easy to spend, but now we know we won't fall into the same trap again.
I think you should apply for a 0% card asap because it says somewhere on m
MSE that it can take upto 8 weeks so you need to do it straight away.

Star1979

I'll have a look into which 0% card would be best this week.

My incomings are: £1369.46 a month

Outgoing: £400 to my joint account for rent (£290 a month), council tax, water rates, Telewest package (£36 for phoneline, broadband and TV package between 2 of us), TV licence.

£20 a month gas and electricity
£39.09 loan payment
£30 approx minimum egg payment
£20 approx minimum Royal Bank visa payment
£25 approx minimum Virgin payment
£24 a month for yoga classes (paid up for next 9 weeks)
£25 mobile bill monthly. When my contract is up I plan to change to PAYG as I don't use my phone that much at the moment 9I had a contract from when it was my only phone)
£5 monthly OneTel bill - we use OneTel for all our phone calls.
I rarely use buses, taxis or trains so maybe £5 a month maximum unless I am travelling somewhere further away (wedding last weekend cost £70 to get to and my family live in Sussex so that is an occasional big spend)
I try not to spend too much on food at work but it probably works out to between £5 - 10 a week. We don't eat out much but have the odd takeaway maybe 2 a month so £10 - 15 - I made my own pizza last Friday rather than buying from our local pizza place. I don't go out that often to the pub so would probably only budget £30 a month for nights out and would allow £10 for extras such as an occasional cinema ticket.

I am currently writing down and trying to cut back on food spending so don't have an accurate idea of this at the moment although I know it was too much before.

My weaknesses are clothes, books and magazines which I am trying to exercise serious self control over. I think my main areas to still cut back on are food shopping for home and work and ensuring that I am not ever frivolous with spending cash on books and magazines - I am aiming to limit myself to Vogue, Red, and the Saturday Guardian and Sunday Observer as these are the ones I read cover to cover. I've probably forgotten stuff but that gives you the summary. I have already been checking out the Old Style boards for food ideas and yesterday saved £3 by buying chicken leg portions instead of my usual breast meat (from little savings big balances grow...)