Hit and Miss

CLAPTON

just a few further thoughts..if you do not reduce your spending as suggested and even if your salary rise is guarenteed then you can just about last until June if you use all your savings. But your increase in salary will be about £250 a month which means your debts will continue to rise and you have no savings atall.

if you do reduce as suggested you could probably still have about £1000 of saving left and you will just be able to live within your new earnings.

if the new salary doesn't materalise then ... well what?

also you mention wanting a mortgage one day...an IVA will do nothing for your credit rating even in a few years time.

i appreciate you dont like idea of reducing rent (by sharing or whatever) but unless you can significantly increase your income your choices are rather limited

Willsnarf1983

how can you say that

Takeaways are essential?

£20 a month-£240 a year...thats one payment of the loan nearly!!!

Also £485 for a house renting...thats fine but u could get a room in a house for £260-300, thats £200 a month or £2400 on ur debts!

i know its been said before but these are the two biggest that you can AND SHOULD be cutting down!!

oh one more food!

£250>>>>>>>>>>>£125 a month seems reasonable to start with but to actually do this try budgeting per week...ie £25 a week and then whatever is left from the budget treat yourself to that takeaway. This way ur not deprived and stayed within budget.

Right for me thats a saving of upto

£400 a month!!!! or £4800 a year!

Will

Duke_of_Northumberland

I wish I could move but there us not lot out there plus I need to be close to my mother. Some good saving tips but I need to try and earn outside, had a good think last night and was thinking about what I could do!!

If any one has other ideas please let me know........

sell some stuff on ebay and ask around to see if anyone else requires it
not sure how much I make but willing to give it a go!!

Create and setup own web page selling something?!! costs to that I think marketing etc.. but if I find something that sells and doesn't cost too much then who knows!!

Maybe offer a home computer service as a qualifed Oracle and MSdba i'm sure I can charge less than £50 to service a pc ' charge from pc world!!!

Window cleaning / gardening perhaps but would need to investigate further.

Last chance Saloon is Tescos god for bid I'd rather go to the wall!!! but if all fails!!

Can't think of anything else but I take on board the mobile thing however i'm on a contract until end of dec same applies with internet. I live in a one bed apartment so sharing is not an option though if some young fit lady where to come by then who knows!!!

Just a question how bad is IVA? Or should I ask the CC to freeze interest.

Strange thing is for £25K in debt I really do not have much to show for it!!

Chortle_2

I don't mean to sound mean - but you need to sort out your expenditure first and foremost!

Gaining an extra income will help immeasurably, but unless you prioritise cutting down your outgoings, and learn to live within your means, it won't be enough. You'll see the extra money coming in, and 'feel rich' - which means you'll overspend even more.

An IVA is not the answer, unless there is REALLY no other way. It'll drastically alter your future chances of mortgages etc, and if you can avoid it at any cost, you should.

Talking to your creditors re freezing interest etc, or talking to CCCS/Payplan would help, but they'll expect you to set a realistic budget that shows you're committed to clearing the debt - and I somehow doubt very much that they'd accept takeaways as a valid expense!

You haven't even contemplated cutting back yet, but you NEED to.

Duke_of_Northumberland

Chortle


youve mentioned that you where on around the same wage as me so how have you got your £41K loan right down?



Yes takeaways will go if I keep the food spending down then if i save some that month I could have a treat. All other spending am looking to change phones! The Sky tv is going and back to normal tv with 4 channels!! all spending on clothes etc are stopped.

but there is a shortfall this crippling debt!!

CLAPTON

have you started keeping a spending diary.. that is keep a small notebook and write down absolutely everything spend...and everything means just that

i'm sure if you post the results here people will be able to make helpful suggestions.

Chortle_2

Duke_of_Northumberland wrote:

youve mentioned that you where on around the same wage as me so how have you got your £41K loan right down?

It's taken time, and a lot of hard work

I cut everything down, and I mean everything.
I worked out how much I spend on one-off things, like birthdays/christmas/MOT etc, and put a twelfth of the total aside each month so I know exactly what I can spend on it, and I am not crippled by it when it comes around.
I worked out a sensible, sustainable budget, that still prioritises my debt.

Paying off my debt is my priority, it is FAR more important to me than take-aways, clothes and 'treats'. I get far more satisfaction from paying a few quid off of my credit cards than I would buying something small and probably useless as a 'treat'.

The more you pay off, the easier it gets, as you start paying less and less interest, and you can snowball the amounts. It's a slow process to begin with, and it feels like you're not getting anywere, but you are, and you will.

It can be done, you just need to be determined, and first of all, you need to accept that your spending has to stop!

lynzpower

So true Chortle. Ive only been here for a few weeks and my major priority is not spending. Im overjoyed with myself if I dont spend.

Duke_of_Northumberland

even with cutting things to the bone £585 a month on debt is very high


rent + Ctax+ debt is 1190 and leaves me no room
£194 on everything else doesn't go petrol, internet, tv, insurance+ Car , mobile phone and I haven't even mentioned food!!

Chortle_2

Use your savings to reduce your highest APR credit card immediately - that'll reduce the min repayments and interest straight away.

Cut out ALL unnecessary spending - and be ruthless. You had your 'treats' whilst you were running those debts up - time to pay for them now!

Come up with a detailed budget, and stick to it.

If you're still short, after making 100% sure that you can't reduce your expenditure any further - call CCCS/Payplan, and talk to them about a DMP. They should be able to get interest frozen and reduce payments for you.

But you still need to do the first bits, as otherwise CCCS/Payplan will not be able to help you much! I'd be amazed if any of your creditors looked at your SOA as it is now, and accepted a lower repayment because of it!