S>O>A Please help

CAFCGirl

S>O>A Please help!

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After reading a lot of advice that I know everyone has given out to others. I thought I'd ask for some help on mine, and facing the horrid experience of my S>O>A.

Although my debt is not extreme, to some, its all relative really!So it has been affecting my life in an unsavoury way to say the least. I'm all on for getting on top of this and paying it off before too long!

Abbey CC: £1,300 Mnthly int 1.87% Limit is 1500
Overdraft: Currently £150 into it (Limit is £350)
Abbey loan : £3000 APR is 22.9 Monthly rep £135 for 36 months Paid 2 months works out I repay :4830 :eek:
Bills outstanding
Water £35
Electric £30
Gas 450 (Haven't received bill in three years!

Totalling 6795
HOLY MACKEREL
Didn't actually realise until I wrote this out that it was that much, Didnt take into account the loan interest.
So STUPID!

So now I've beaten myself up about it.Any help?
Slight problems are only earn 13,000.Live in rented flat,dont have a good credit rating, hence can't transfer my balance on credit card to any on 0%!

Get paid monthly,
Rent 275
Council Tax 50 (This is per person in flat =2)
Bills I'd say about 60 per month for gas,water,electric excluding the outstanding amounts
Phone bills both mobile/landline/net = 75 per month
Loan repayments 135
CC Direct Debit 50 per month
Totalling 645

Leaving about 200 thats mine.
Off the top of my head I can't think if I've forgotten any outgoings. I havent included food because I can influence that cost more than anything.

So whats the tips for living my people? Open to all suggestions although am new at this, realistic budget for newbie money scrimper? :j

lynzpower

you just need to add in the amount for your income love!

scholt

Hi CAFC your income in there as £13,000 what is this after tax?

dont forget to include your food!

southernscouser

CAFCGirl wrote:

I'm all on for getting on top

You wanna be careful what you say! There are quite a few single fella's on here! :rotfl:

That is a killer interest rate on your loan! :eek: Do you have PPI on it or on your credit card?

r.mac_2

what do you earn a month, after tax? We need that figure.

How do you get to and from work - any travel or car costs should be noted.

some pointers to get you started. Have you got bills for utilities with actual meter readings? this can effect the bills substantially in some cases. Also check that your gas bill has billed you on teh correct tariff. I was caught by this and was charged business rates although i had made it very clear that i was a residential property. I was refunded the money they had incorrectly charged me.

£75 per months on landline, mob and internert sound expensive to me. Can you save money here. Look at your internet provider, try a cheap phone calls provider, could you use the mobile less or try PAYG?

You are right and the food budget is very controllable - but try and work to a specific number to keep you on track. One single person should be able to easily live on £20 per week for food (that includes packed lunches). I would budget in £30 to allow for a bottle of cheap wine and some chocolate - can't let life get too dull! Have a look at the old style pages.

My best advice is to do Martins budget planner and work out what you HAVE to spent on each month, cut down the cost of essentials as much as possible by being a savvy consumer, then work out what you have left. if you have anything left, throw it at the most expensive debt - can you overpay on your loan???

If you can't meet the cost of the essentials, look at what you have that can go - first getting rid of the easiest things, then perhaps looking at sacrifices. These priorities are different for everyone - for me the first thing to go is a bottle of wine or a night out, but my best friend would rather live in a garden shed than give up her weekend bottle of wine - each to their own and all that

hope that something here helps you xxx

CAFCGirl

I take home around 850 a month.

I didnt include food costs because I thought that since this is the most easily controllable thing I have, I'd try to get it down as much as possible. I probably spend about 100 a month if I'm honest, and would you believe I'm still hungry. Only joking, I buy rubbish! Ideally like to try to get that down.

New flat mate is moving in on saturday so hopefully that'll cut the costs. I buy enough to feed two but haven't got savvy enough yet to make that work. I throw a fair bit out because i forget to store it etc, and again I really do buy rubbish!

Got PPI on loan and on credit card too.When I tried to get the PPI taken off my loan application I was told I'd be rejected if I didnt have it.So I presume theres no way of cancelling it now?

Told you I was new at all this!

southernscouser

Have a look at this thread to see if you can get the PPI on your loan cancelled.

As for the credit card one phone them up now! And don't let them fob you off about it or let them offer you a cheaper one! Cancel it completely!

CAFCGirl

Few more bits of info.
I walk to and from work, because I live in the city centre
Utilities are all bills.The horrific gas bill is definitely ours.Didnt get a bill for the first three years of living here!
Housemate no.1 is in the process of moving out and so I should be getting her share toward the bills sometime soon although the above only showed my share of those bills.

Mobile phone contract is at 35 per month and pay 35 a month to BT for line rental, unlimited broadband, am tied into 12 month contract with them.Really dont think when I sign up to some things.Mobile contract has just been decreased from £50 a month.And yeah I do use it a lot
Started taking lunches into work this week.Am also challenging myself to only eat whats in the cupboards for this week.
Sacrificing things like treats, the choccies.Don't drink, don't really go out very much.Another one will probably be going out for dinner with the boyf who comes down at weekends.
Am trying to sell some items on ebay but can't seem to get my photos to upload on pc, problem with usb port I think, but thats neither here nor there.Putting some books on because they dont really need pics.See how that goes.
Have set up a regular saver e-account, plan is the money that I put aside there will go toward paying off my loan early.
Hoping that since I'm only 150 into my overdraft I should be able to completely clear it this month or get it down to only £50.

So challenge one: This weeks meals from cupboard only
Challenge two: overdraft down to £50 or cleared by end of month.

Annie_Fanny

How about a little itty bitty part time job? More money and hopefully you will meet some cool people?

moozie_2

southernscouser wrote:

You wanna be careful what you say! There are quite a few single fella's on here! :rotfl:

Naughty naughty SS :rotfl:

moozie_2

CAFCGirl wrote:

Got PPI on loan and on credit card too.When I tried to get the PPI taken off my loan application I was told I'd be rejected if I didnt have it.So I presume theres no way of cancelling it now?

I am pretty sure you can give them a ring and cancel it. They cannot MAKE you have it if you don't want it.

Also, I noticed you are putting money in an e-saver account to pay off your loan early. In my humble opinion, you should be paying off your CC as quickly as possible as the APR is 22.44% :eek: