Silkglades - In need of a kick up the @rse Diary

EssexHebridean

Sorry to hear you've had a tough week - hope things are getting sorted out now? ((((((hugs)))))) to you if they're still needed anyway.

Well done to your OH - good a way as any of doing the drop a brand challenge I guess!

silkglade

Hi, sorry it's been so long since I was last on here.... There has been alot of crap going on and alot of upset. I hope everyone is ok.

That and the fact that my finances are about to change considerably in the next few months due to dropping as will be on maternity pay, so seemed pointless to put my soa on here till then. I should hear from work today or tomorrow with my monthly gross figures.

Saying that since last being on here we have savings of £475 in the bank towards the 1st credit card so that is rather good going I think. I will update as soon as I can... Still complicated and feeling rather strange though.

silkglade

I would like to start by saying thank you to everyone for your patience as I have not been on here much over the last couple of weeks.

I now finally know what I am going to be paid (maternity pay) from work starting in August for the next year and I have now updated Child tax credit so as soon as I get the payment amounts from them I will post a SOA as I will know exactly how much I will be getting each month (well sort of, obviously it will change again when I let them know of little ones arrival.. Though that will be an increase so nothing to be worrying about) :T Thank you work.

I do have to be careful though as there will be 3 months that I will get paid approx £470 less as there will be no smp for those months :eek:, but I have worked out the average between the 12 months so as long as I stick to that and transfer any extra over into one of my esavings accounts till the months that are less then use that to make up the money we will be fine.:cool:

I now have just over £1000 saved towards the credit cards and I am hoping to pay one of them off soon, as any extra amount of payments from tax credit while i am still on normal pay can be put aside without even noticing any difference. That plus the fact I have actually managed to save some money last month and that was the 1st amount transfered into the savings account for paying off debts.:D

My wonderful other half is now well and truly on board to as we had a heart to heart chat and I said about everything that is worring me (both money wise and not money related) he has been very supportive and understanding, think he actually understands everything now.:o

silkglade

Morning all. I have finally got the info I needed from work and Tax Credits to be able to do my SOA, so here goes!

I am sorry I did not come back for a while, but there have been so many horrible things happening and I have NOT COPED WELL at all.

This is the amounts that I will be getting while I am on maternity leave over the next year and not what I am getting at the moment - have decided it's easier to do things this way otherwise I will confuse both you lovely people AND myself.

I have decided that EVERY SPARE PENNY will go into my e-savings account to be paid off the debt anyway and I have since starting this Diary got a nice little chunk in there already :T

That and the fact I have to get everything needed for baby as when I was with my husband he was quite clear that he did NOT want any more children EVER so I ebayed all the baby stuff as my youngest grew out of it. :mad:. If only I knew now what I knew then!

Oh well, here goes.

Monthly Income:

Maternity Pay £1,000.00 (approx)
Child Tax Credit £ 391.58 (will change once baby is born)
Working Tax Credit £ 75.97
Child Benefit £ 132.80 (will change to £185.60 once baby is born)

TOTAL INCOME £1,600.35 (this will go up and I don't know how much by once baby is born, so will work on these figures for now and any extra I get will go towards the debt)

SAVINGS DURING LAST MONTH SO FAR £1,347.99 (hoping to pay sainsburys credit card off as soon as there is enough money to, as this is the highest interest rate debt I have)

I will have approx an extra £500.00 per month to throw at debt till my money drops in August and that will be transfered straight away, also ex has paid me my 1st £500 back and will pay the other £1,000 over the next 2 months.



Monthly Outgoings:

Rent £247.05
Council Tax £131.00
Gas & Electric £ 71.00 (for both)
TV Licence £ 11.75
Virgin Media £ 35.00 (ish usually 34 something, includes telephone, call charges, broadband and tv)
Mobile £ 29.37 (on contract, still have 20 months left)
OH Mobile £ 24.47 (on contract, 2 months left)
Youngest Trust Fund £ 10.00
Pocket Money £ 36.00
Maintenance £ 50.00
Petrol £ 60.00 (has recently dropped as no longer working now)
Car expenses £50 (insurance not due till March, MOT Sept, Taxed till Feb 2010 (recently had a service and I know 1 tyre needs replacing)
Groceries £300.00 (approx as not really taken notice of how much yet :mad:, but did a £100 online shop and it lasted 3 weeks apart from bread, milk and fresh fruit and veg)
Clothes £ 10.00 (nothing needed right now though

TOTAL OUTGOINGS £1,075.64 :eek: that was more than I expected! Ouch.

Total income £1,600.35
Total outgoings £1,075.64
Left towards debt £ 524.71

Now the very scarey part, the credit cards!

Egg Card £2,304.64 Minimum Payment £61.19 APR 10.9%
Egg Money £2,501.38 Minimum Payment £48.83 APR 7.9%
Virgin £6,743.03 Minimum payment £25.00 APR 15.9% (This debt is from other half and me giving EX a lump sum when he left, especially as he signed over the house to me without any monetry gain, this is a part rent/part buy property and I own my share outright)
Sainsburys £2,230.05 Minimum Payment £51.17 APR 23.9% (this was original debt with EX that I transfered to a 0% card once we split and is why he is giving me £1,500 over 3 months now he is working).
Amazon £4,782.63 Minimum Payment £47.82 APR 15.9% (this was for the new car as with 4 Kids we needed to get a 7 seater)

Total Credit Card Debt £18,561.73 :eek:

Total Monthly Payments £234.01

So while on maternity leave I should have an extra £300 ish to throw at the debt too and most importantly be able to afford all the monthly payments..... What a relief!:T

Though as I have already said I plan to have the Sainsburys card (as it is the highest interest) paid off before dropping down to maternity pay so that will give me an extra £50 towards the others too

silkglade

I have now finished my SOA so any advice would be welcome please. Do you think I am doing the right thing.... Chipping away at the cards which are still all on 0% deals except the egg ones and saving up lump sums to get them gone one at a time?

moo2moo

Your SOA sounds very frugal.

It might help to put 5% after the cards that are currenlty 0% and the date the 0% offer end followed by the %age they revert to. It seems a bit daft having money in savings earning 3 or 4% when your interest on the cards that are currently charging interest at the 20% mark. I know it feels nice to have savings to fall back on but you'll pay less interest if you use the money on the debts.

I'd pay the minimum on the cards on 0% and throw everything you can at those that are charging interest then when they're cleared I'd start on the 0% cards.

silkglade

The 23.9% one is 0% till aug and then starts with the interest then, so I was hoping to get it paid off before so I don't start paying interest on that one.

Sorry I did not explain myself very well.... ALL the cards except the egg ones are 0% till Aug or sept, so my plan was to get the highest one gone before paying interest on any of them.

silkglade

I have a question if I may?

I have had an offer from Halifax as I have a card with them that has a £0.00 balance for a while of a 7.9% LOB transfer rate, it has a £3,500 limit and I was thinking of moving £3000 from the virgin card to there as it is a much better rate.

What do you think, good idea or not?

moo2moo

If you're not currently paying any interest on the virgin card why would you want to transfer it to somewhere that will charge you interest? If the only things you are paying interest on are the Eggs then why not move the one at 10%. Ok so its only a 3% drop but as Mr T. says every little helps. You'd stil have £1000 of the balance transfer allownce left so you caould always transfer a chunk of the next expiring 0% card to it too. When does the offer expire?

silkglade

The thing is I will be paying the full interest on them all within the next 2 months and I thought it might be better to split the virgin one as it is so big in relation to the others.