Dodgy debts - is my debt a MAJOR problem?

kate_pixie

Just wanted to pop my head in and give you a little sympathy to go with the (very very wise) tough love.

My parents were in pretty much the same shape as you when it came to grocery shopping and didn't have a clue where to start. My first step was to spend an hour going through the freezer writing everythin down and then stuck it on the door. I did the same for the cupboards and fridge too.

Once you know what you've got (and believe me it will come as a shock) you can plan a weeks worth of meals using primarily those ingrediants. From that meal plan you can then write a shopping list of the things that you don't have. We found that we didn't have to buy any meat or things for the freezer for 4 weeks!!! :j

It might seem daunting now, but with a little organisation, and a lot of stubbornness, you could easily do a shop of £50.

Hope you keep us updated on how it goes xx

Tixy

Just a thought. Does the £700 include a lot of any of the following?:

Wine/Champagne
Other alcohol
Cigarettes
Takeaways
Prepacked sandwiches / Lunches whilst at work
Anything from Waitrose (!)
Preprepared vegetables / pre-grated cheese etc

If so that could explain the reason it is so high. The good news with it being so high is that it should be even easier to reduce. Maybe you could start by setting yourself a challenge of spending £500 next month, then £400 the following and see how much you feel happy to reduce it by.

It can be the little things that add up to a lot e.g stupid though it may sound if you buy lots of cans of coke you pay maybe 3 times as much as buying 2ltr bottles / switch to own brand 2l bottles and you can halve the cost again (better still drink tap water!)

One more though (which I may get shot down for) -the good news is you are showing a surplus so I guess if you choose there is no reason not to carry on spending at the current levels. But now you've looked at the snowball calculator at you at least know the real cost to you.

Good luck and I do hope you are taking everyone's comments as constructive criticism and that we don't scare you away.

pippitypip_2

Just quickly to echo Tixy and kate_pixie, please don't be scared off, we're all just dying to help people not make the same mistakes we did or stop making them earlier that's all.

Please know it's all well meant.

pippitypip

Paulgonnabedebtfree

[quote=[Deleted User];21114859]Hmm. Maybe we eat too much...

We dop buy a lot of convenience food so that might be a difference...[/QUOTE]

Here's a thought for you to try and simplify things and maybe break yourself in to a new way of living a bit more slowly.
For three months, taking on board the friendly advice on here for cutting back, try living on your take home pay for the household and throwing your wife's take home pay at the debts. OK I do realise that may not be totally practical depending on the personalities involved (e.g. your wife works so won't want to be coming to you to ask for money etc.).
So maybe try a variation and have say a £100 pot per month (put £50 each in) that either of you can dip into for any treats. The rest of your pay is to run the household and "normal" debts. The rest of your wife's pay is for extra debt repayments. Keep a tight record of what the "treat" pot is spent on. Of course you may want to try the above with some kind of variation that feels more suitable for you both.
After a couple of months, maybe try reducing the size of the treat pot a bit. Sometimes having treat money lined up can make you feel less deprived because you know you can have a treat if you really want it. Keep a record (maybe a spreadsheet) of everything that the treat pot is spent on.

My financial situation is rather worse than yours IMO. I've had to make serious cuts and there are more to follow. A reward for me these days is to make a daily extra payment to my debts in the "payment a day" thread. The strange thing is that I believe that even if I were to suddenly come into a load of money, I don't think I could go back to my old ways. Learning to budget better is giving me a sense of self esteem that I was a bit short on before. It was the one big achilles heel in my life and I'm now tackling it.
These days I drive in a more relaxed manner and it saves a bit of diesel. The cheese grater I bought has paid for itself many times over - as has the electric hair clippers that I bought (I have a no1 crop so it's easy for me). I look out for the special offers in the supermarkets (the genuine ones - not the fantasy ones that they try to con you into). I get my Sainsbury Cornflakes for 46p a box instead of the Kerlloggs at £2 - £3. They seem OK. Baked beans are often on a special offer if you look. I've been getting quality brands at 4 tins for a quid or 4 for £1.50 or even 3 for a quid sometimes. Failing that I can always get a cheapo brand. Some supermarkets are often doing 15 mixed sized eggs for £1.50 or even £1. If, like me you prefer free range, you pay a bit more usually but there are still deals to be had. I saved myself a packet by getting a second hand freezer on freecycle for nothing. I cook a number of meals when I have time, freeze them, and cook heat when needed.
Looking at your SOA, I don't think you would need to go to the lengths that I'm going. I eat well and healthily on £70 a month. That includes a liberal amount of fresh fruit and veg - though I don't eat meat or fish so that saves a bit.

Twinkles08

Whoa,that is one scary grocery bill!Hi luvie,welcome to mse
For myself,hubby and dd (who is also a bottomless pitlol)we spend approx £200 a month.This includes everything,all food (hubby takes sarnies I make him to work)nappies,wetwipes,washing powder,toilet roll,cat food,wine etc.We shop at sainsburys mostly and tend to buy their own brand (not basic).I've found batch cooking helps as you can freeze it,and then it's like a quick ready meal.I try not to throw anything out,ie lettuce wilting a bit so pull off outside leaves and use the fresh crispy middle.Prev I would have turned my nose up and tossed it in the bin!My hubbys take home pay is £800 a month,your spending most of this on food-like I said whoa.
I hope you don't think I'm digging at you,just trying to point out how utterly nuts this figure is!Take care

[Deleted User]

Mortgage................................ 585
Repayment or interest only?

Repayment

Council tax............................. 130
If paying over 10 months, can you ask to pay it over 12?
Also check that you are in the correct band.

Yes, correct band. Already tried that one.

Electricity............................. 60
Gas..................................... 57
Check the comparison sites to see if you are getting the best deal (uswitch, moneysupermarket)

Done that.

Mobile phone............................ 34
PAYG?

Contract - stuck in for next 15 months.

Telephone (land line)................... 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 47
Internet Services....................... 8
Are these combined in a package?

Phone is BT and another call provider.
Sky, admitedly, could be cut down a little.
O2 broadband is cheaper than bundling with sky.


Groceries etc. ......................... 700
Really? I take it you aren't using shops own brand. Make a meal plan before going into the shops and try to stick to a budget and shopping list. I think you should be able to halve this without too much trouble.

Clothing................................ 100
Every month? Can this be reduced to every other month?

Yes, Agreed I need to control this.

Petrol/diesel........................... 350
Can you use alternative transport to get this down a bit?

Nope. Got to get to work, son to school, wife to work. Public transport no good for this.

Road tax................................ 20
Car Insurance........................... 50
Buildings insurance..................... 12
Contents insurance...................... 12
Again, i'd check the comparison sites to see you are getting the best deal.

Yes. All checked before purchase.

Entertainment........................... 150
Possibly cut back a little on this.

I think if you can stick to a budget for a while, you'll soon see quite a difference in the amount of debt you have.

Also, it is usually advised to pay the minimum to all debts and throw anything remaining at the debt with the highest interest rate.[/QUOTE]

[Deleted User]

pippitypip wrote: »

Just quickly to echo Tixy and kate_pixie, please don't be scared off, we're all just dying to help people not make the same mistakes we did or stop making them earlier that's all.

Please know it's all well meant.

pippitypip

No. Its OK. Not scared off. Nice to hear everyones opinions.

[Deleted User]

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

Here's a thought for you to try and simplify things and maybe break yourself in to a new way of living a bit more slowly.
For three months, taking on board the friendly advice on here for cutting back, try living on your take home pay for the household and throwing your wife's take home pay at the debts. OK I do realise that may not be totally practical depending on the personalities involved (e.g. your wife works so won't want to be coming to you to ask for money etc.).
So maybe try a variation and have say a £100 pot per month (put £50 each in) that either of you can dip into for any treats. The rest of your pay is to run the household and "normal" debts. The rest of your wife's pay is for extra debt repayments. Keep a tight record of what the "treat" pot is spent on. Of course you may want to try the above with some kind of variation that feels more suitable for you both.
After a couple of months, maybe try reducing the size of the treat pot a bit. Sometimes having treat money lined up can make you feel less deprived because you know you can have a treat if you really want it. Keep a record (maybe a spreadsheet) of everything that the treat pot is spent on.

My financial situation is rather worse than yours IMO. I've had to make serious cuts and there are more to follow. A reward for me these days is to make a daily extra payment to my debts in the "payment a day" thread. The strange thing is that I believe that even if I were to suddenly come into a load of money, I don't think I could go back to my old ways. Learning to budget better is giving me a sense of self esteem that I was a bit short on before. It was the one big achilles heel in my life and I'm now tackling it.
These days I drive in a more relaxed manner and it saves a bit of diesel. The cheese grater I bought has paid for itself many times over - as has the electric hair clippers that I bought (I have a no1 crop so it's easy for me). I look out for the special offers in the supermarkets (the genuine ones - not the fantasy ones that they try to con you into). I get my Sainsbury Cornflakes for 46p a box instead of the Kerlloggs at £2 - £3. They seem OK. Baked beans are often on a special offer if you look. I've been getting quality brands at 4 tins for a quid or 4 for £1.50 or even 3 for a quid sometimes. Failing that I can always get a cheapo brand. Some supermarkets are often doing 15 mixed sized eggs for £1.50 or even £1. If, like me you prefer free range, you pay a bit more usually but there are still deals to be had. I saved myself a packet by getting a second hand freezer on freecycle for nothing. I cook a number of meals when I have time, freeze them, and cook heat when needed.
Looking at your SOA, I don't think you would need to go to the lengths that I'm going. I eat well and healthily on £70 a month. That includes a liberal amount of fresh fruit and veg - though I don't eat meat or fish so that saves a bit.

Whoa. Almost £50K I see. Good luck with it.

If you dont mind me asking, how did it get that large?

pelirocco

mrcow wrote: »

Here's my shopping list from last week. It' snot always the same obviously at we don't use 100 nappies a week and I still have loads of tinned veg and other veg in my freezer from last week etc. etc But it's fairly typical: (well you did ask!!!)

ASDA shopping list 29 items.
£61.23

Bakery & Patisserie Guide price in £

2 xHovis Soft White Medium Bread (800g)2.00
3 xKingsmill Great Everyday Soft White Medium Sliced Loaf (800g)3.00any 3 FOR £3.00 - valid until: 31/12/09

Fruit & Vegetables

600gASDA Bananas by Weight (100g)0.48
1 xASDA Great Stuff Kids Garden Gang Apples - Bag1.17
1 xASDA Great Stuff Kids Garden Gang Satsumas (600g)1.47
1 xASDA Baking Potatoes (2.5Kg)2.00
500gASDA Broccoli by Weight (100g)1.00
1 xASDA Smartprice Mushrooms (750g)1.36
1 xASDA Whole Cucumber0.70

Dairy
3 xThe Happy Egg Company Free Range Eggs Large (6)3.00
1 xClover Lighter (500g)1.56
1 xASDA Smartprice Mild White Small Cheddar2.14
2 xASDA Smartprice Fruit Fromage Frais (6x60g)0.98

Frozen
1 xASDA 20 Thick Pork Sausages (1Kg)1.34
1 xASDA 12 Potato Waffles (680g)0.98
1 xASDA Straight Cut Oven Chips (1.81Kg)1.16any 2 FOR £2.00 - valid until: 31/12/09
1 xASDA 8 Vegetarian Burgers (454g)1.582 FOR £3.00 - valid until: 31/12/09
1 xBirds Eye 10 Vegetable Fingers (284g)0.98

Tins, Jars & Cooking
1 xGia Garlic Puree in Vegetable Oil (90g)0.42
2 xNapolina Tomato & Herb Pizza Topping (300g)1.50any 2 FOR £1.50 - valid until: 12/05/09

Packets & Cereals
1 xASDA Strong White Bread Flour (1.5Kg)0.68
1 xSilver Spoon Caster Sugar (2Kg)1.91

Drinks

2 xASDA 45% Fruit High Juice Blackcurrant Squash (1L)2.00any 2 FOR £2.00 - valid until: 31/12/09
2 xASDA 50% Fruit High Juice Florida Orange Squash (1L)2.00any 2 FOR £2.00 - valid until: 31/12/09

Household & Pets
1 xASDA Shades Softest Ever White Bathroom Tissue (12)4.00

Baby, Health & Beauty

1 xPampers Baby Dry Mega Pack Maxi Plus (120)12.00
1 xAsda Little Angels Nappy Sacks (75)0.89
2 xASDA Little Angels Regular Cotton Soft Baby Wipes (80)1.96any 6 FOR £5.00 - valid until: 31/12/09
1 xCow & Gate Growing Up Milk 12mth+ (900g)6.97

What meals did you eat? all i can see are sausages , burgers and fingers

I have to admit I look at what some people spend on food , and wonder what on earth they eat .

Twinkles08

Well it's just about planning your meals and trying not to waste food ie checking use by dates so that it's used before it goes 'off'.Also for example 1 bag of potatos could do (part of) 3 or 4 meals.Mash one night,boiled potatos,jacket potato for lunch (obviously with something else as well,potato on it's own wd be v dull!).PS I can defo see some kinda pizza that is being planned in that list that you quoted.plus omlettes (sp?)scrambled egg.I think you might be in the 'buy it ready made or in a jar ' mindset.

This wk,we have had cereal for brekkie or toast + butter.Lunch as been either soup + bread or sausage rolls or jacket potato and scambled egg sarnies.Tea has been,cottage pie (made from scratch as cheaper)Pasta bake with garlic bread,mash sausages and baked beans,spag bol (using chopped tomatoes instead of jar)chilli con carne.I promise we don't starve!!We all have v healthy appetites!Try to eat healthy snacks but my weakness is choccie.lol