Buddiebabe's SOA / Debt Diary

buddiebabe

Hi

Well i've not had much time to update things but i have made some payments towards my debts so far i've paid the following:

Barclaycard £124.50

Dorothy Perkins £72.07 - paid off :j

Morgan Stanley £45.37

Skycard £69.31

Tesco £68.72

Total Paid £379.97

I still have to pay my Debenhams card £99.13 (for the 14th August), my Royal Bank of Scotland mastercard £215 (for the 5th August) and my MBNA card £91.58 (for the 7th August) so i need to find £405.71. I have £80.00 so far towards this....and no idea where im gonna get the rest of it from.

I paid my road tax of £180.00 today by taking the money out of my house and car accounts. So the balance in these is now:
Halifax £1.02
Dunfermline £1.00

I used some of my christmas savings money to pay off my Dorothy Perkins account so now only have £60.57 left in this account.

So i need to find £405.71 and have £80.00 so still need £325.71 and i can take the remaining £60.00 out of my christmas savings and will still need to find £265.71 - now i get my wage from my 2nd job on Friday which is the 3rd August so hopefully i'll get at least £65.71 from that which will leave me £200 short. Im going to have to ask my mum or sister if there is anyway i could borrow this from them, the only problem being the time its gonna take me to pay them back.

Im not sure how im gonna manage this but will have to see how it goes. Will try and update soon but am really struggling to find the time to get anything done at the moment... all i seem to be doing is working and on my nite off spending some time with my boyfriend just watchin tv.

Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

HI buddiebabe

Good to hear from you and well done paying off Dorothy perkins :j

Sorry to hear that the debts are refusing to come down much. You're in a tough situation when you're working two jobs and still not quite earning enough for the minimum payments. I'm always amazed that despite the challenges you always manage to keep making the payments.

I know the work's financial adviser was useless but have you ever spoken to CCCS?

Is there any chance of a promotion at work? And have you ebayed all the presents you bought for that lying ex?

Hope you're well and happy despite the financial woes and that the relationship with new bf is going well.

EagerLearner

Hi BB - haven't dropped by in a while - you are doing well! Only thing I notice is that you do keep spending on the very cards you are trying to pay off... even if you stopped spending on *one* card (say the Dorothy Perkins one), that would help you knock the debt down. Then when it's at 0, you could shut down the account for good... I honestly think hun that unless you close these accounts when you have paid them off, you will keep staying in this same situation.

I know it's easy for me to say not being in your shoes, but is there one of those credit cards or a store card that you could start with?

buddiebabe

Hi there

Thanks for the support. I have paid off Dorothy Perkins and have given the card to my mum to keep for me.... so that i can only use it if i ask her for it first and have the money to pay for what i want to buy.

I had to borrow £215.00 from my mum to pay the minimum payments on my cards this month. So i have enough to pay everything at the moment. So far i have paid the following since i've last updated:

RBS Mastercard £215.00
Alliance & Leicester £5.00
Debenhams £99.13
money in bank for MBNA £91.58
Money paid back to mum £15.00

Total Paid £425.71 but have borrowed £215 so overall paid £210.71.

My Barclaycard statement has come in and the minimum payment due is £109.00 to be paid by the 28th August so i get paid next friday so i should be able to get that paid in time.....

Im trying to do elhallets August challenge to clear £75 off my alliance & leicester overdraft and pay off the £215 borrowed from my mum but have no idea if i will succeed but am going to try.

Things with the boyfriend are great only problem is that i don't have much time to do other things... such as ebay... which is proving to be a problem. The other thing is he is quite happy to sit and watch dvd's and tv in the house or go for walks but on the other hand we keep getting invited to go out and im finding it hard. He keeps tellin me that he'll pay for things, he knows i have money problems and has even offered to help me out, but i cant except it... we've only been going out for less than 3 months so i still feel awkward when he pays for things. I should try and enjoy it but im constantly thinking i should be at home trying to get some extra money and not out enjoying myself.... I guess its just gonna take some time to get used to being happy.

I will try and update again really soon.

Buddiebabe x

EagerLearner

Enjoy the boyfriend and the sunshne - when it's rainy or autumn/winter comes along, there will be plenty of time to snuggle up and/or do ebay sales etc plus you will be indoors more so saving money xxx

pandapaws

Hi!

Just read all the way through from start to finish, and thought I'd say that I think you're doing brilliantly. You've obviously had a pretty rough time of it between the gambling and the dodgy ex, but you're doing a fantastic job of keeping focused, and the main thing is that you haven't increased your debt over the past few months - if you weren't so determined, then I bet your debt would have doubled given the bad luck and tough times you've had!

Hope you don't mind me saying, but the thing that stands out to me from all that you've said is your work - could you get a different/better paid job/jobs? You're obviously intelligent, determined and focused, so maybe the new start, new boyfriend and new life that you're starting could go alongside a new career as well? Maybe not - you obviously know best, but just a thought as you don't seem to be particularly appreciated where you are at the moment, so maybe worth keeping your eyes open!

Anyway, just thought I'd say thanks for the inspiration and good luck for the future! Will keep reading with interest, especially when I'm having a weaker moment myself!

xxx

buddiebabe

Hey

Pandapaws I cant believe you actually read this whole thing from start to finish... you deserve a medal!!! Thanks for the words of encouragement they mean alot.

I have actively started looking for alternative jobs... only just yesterday but work has been so bad lately that i need to do something.... Its not so much the job as its fairly straight forward but its the people i cant really take much more at the moment and im starting to really hate going into work.

The MBNA minimum payment has now came out my account so thats £91.58 paid to that i also paid £1.88 to my RBS credit card and £0.44 to my Barclaycard to just round that off at the moment so have paid £93.90 since Monday.

I am supposed to be doing the august challenge to try and pay some stuff off but the more i think about it i think id be better off trying to make sure i have enough to pay my minimum payments on my credit cards before i start making plans to pay off an overdraft thats running on the lowest interest rate.....

I know that out my wages im going to have to pay out the following approximate min payments:
Barclaycard £109.00
Debenhams £99.00
Morgan Stanley £42.00
Skycard £69.00
Tesco £69.00
then also put the money aside for my RBS mastercard £215.00 and my MBNA £91.00

and all this on top of my mortgage and normal household bills... to be honest i've no idea how i manage but i get there eventually....

My mum is quite happy for me to pay her back at £15.00 per week at the moment and i need to put £4.00 a week away for my road tax so thats £19.00 from my wages for my 2nd job straight away! Then i still need to get petrol and food and stuff.... i really cant start thinking too much like this cause im gonna get myself totally stressed out about where the money is going to come from!

So what i've decided to do is to break it down into smaller challenges. I need to keep the money from my main job to pay the direct debits and standing orders that always come out my account. Once i have worked out what i have left im going to pay the bills as they come in if i can afford to.

If my basic wage comes in at £920.00 after the mortgage and the essentials are taken care of it should leave me with around £209.00. Thats not including food or petrol so its going to be a struggle.

The Barclaycard statement is already here. So i will be able to pay that on Friday and it will leave me £100 to use for other bills.

I should get about £90.00 from my 2nd job on Friday so once i've taken off the £15.00 for mum and the £4.00 for road tax that will leave me £71.00 I reckon it will cost me about £34.00 to fill up my car which will leave £36.00. I need to get some food and have some money to put in my wallet so will take £16.00 from this to get me through the weekend and the other £20.00 can be added to the £100 to give me £120.

Which will cover the Tesco card and also the Morgan Stanley card. So i'll need to get the money for the rest of them using my 2nd job wage!

So my next target is to save up enough to pay the Skycard. Im going to transfer the money out my current account for my mortage and essentials and put this in the alliance & leicester account so that account will be in credit for a week or 2 meaning there shouldnt be any interest charged on that one.

Im just in from work in my 2nd job so am going to get some dinner (i started typing this before i went to work and had to leave the computer on so i could finish it when i got in.... not very moneysaving i know but i got so caught up writing it i was nearly late for work )

Will re-read it after dinner and see if its as bad as i first thought!

Buddiebabe x

Seaxwyn

Good luck Buddiebabe - I am always impressed how you manage to walk that tightrope month after month.

Good luck with applying for another job. It would be so fabulous if you could find one that gave you a rise in salary as well as a nicer working atmosphere. There must be a job out there for you - you find it girl.

Only other question - could you manage without a car? Use public transport or a bike? As that would free up a fair bit of money each month.

buddiebabe

Hey Seaxwyn

There is no way that i can do without the car.... i wouldn't be able to get to work at my main job and be back for my 2nd job in time cause i'd have to get a train to work and change stations and it would cost me just about the same as it would for my petrol. If i got the bus it would be cheaper but again i wouldnt be able to get back to work in time for my 2nd job.

I am going to look into finding another job but at the moment i need to concentrate on getting myself and my house sorted as its a bit of a mess.

I did get my wage slip today for my main job and im getting £948.29 and not the £920 i'd previously thought so i've got an extra £28.29 to play with!!!
So im going to keep the £18.29 for me and put the £10.00 away towards my Skycard so i'll only have £59.00 to find for that.

So far i have the following to do:

Barclaycard £109.00 (can pay this out monthly wage)
Debenhams £99.00
Morgan Stanley £42.00 (can pay this out monthly wage)
Skycard £69.00 (will have £10.00 to put to this from monthly wage) £59.00 still to find
Tesco £69.00 (can pay this out monthly wage / 2nd job wage)
then also put the money aside for my RBS mastercard £215.00 and my MBNA £91.00

so i still have £444.00 to find :mad: no idea where im going to find it but will worry about the £59.00 for the skycard first - going to take it one step at a time.

I received my Tesco statement today so the minimum payment for this is £67.00 and not £69.00 so thats me saved £2.00 which i can use for something else. Every little helps.... The interest added to this account was £33.24 so the balance on this card is beginning to come down :rolleyes:

Anyway will probably leave more random workings out later but for now am off to work and im shutting the pc down first this time

Buddiebabe x

buddiebabe

Hi there

Well things have been slowly but surely going downhill again.... alot of stuff has been going on and i've completely taken my eye off the ball.

The upshot of it is im in a worse position debt wise at the moment but a better position for clearing it earlier.... so although my total debt has increased i should be able to meet my minimum payments a bit easier.

Now your probably all going to shout at me and to be honest i dont blame you.... I took out a loan with the bank for £12500 which was to be used to pay off my big Royal bank of Scotland Credit card and i also used it to pay off my alliance and leicester overdraft and part of my debenhams card which will save on my minimum payments. The RBoS credit card minimum payment was £215 per month and the Debenhams was £100 per month now my loan repayment is £251.04 and is fixed for 60 months. Which means that my debt free date has also reduced by a few months based on the snowball calculator and it also means i have a set amount coming out my bank for the next 60 months on pay day so there is no way i can spend this money.

Now for the other part of the story. About 5 years ago my mum was going through a really tough time and borrowed 2 of my credit cards. She has been making the minimum payments on these so i've not bothered with them. Anyway she has recently re-mortgaged part of her house to get herself back on her feet and has paid off one of the credit cards and given me the money to repay the other one... she knows that by giving me the money she has repaid the debt and that i can put the money to the best use possible... by clearing mayb a card with a higher interest rate. So I have £3600 that has been given to me to pay off the credit card..... which is sitting in my bank account at the moment, so in effect has cleared my overdraft at the moment.

This is one of the reasons i've not updated sooner as i knew i was going to be getting this money but didnt know what to do with it.

The total outstanding debt at the moment is as follows:

OVERDRAFTS:

ALLIANCE & LEICESTER £ in credit by 0.84 :T PAID OFF
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND £-950.00 (this is what it will be if i use the £3600 to clear something else) (16.88%)

TOTAL OVERDRAFTS OUTSTANDING: £-950.00

CREDIT CARDS:

BARCLAYCARD £4862.50 (25.4%)
DEBENHAMS £390.00 (18.9%)
DOROTHY PERKINS £ NIL :T PAID OFF
MARBLES £3600.00 (this is the card my mum has given me back) (23.9%)
MBNA £4533.74 (23%)
MORGAN STANLEY £2127.00 (16.6%)
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND £ NIL :T PAID OFF
SKY £1914.00 (26.5%)
TESCO £2175.00 (16%)

TOTAL CREDIT CARDS OUTSTANDING: £19602.24

LOANS:

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND LOAN £15062.40 (7.9%)
LOAN FROM MUM 1 £70.00 (0%)
LOAN FROM MUM 2 £90.00 (0%)

TOTAL LOANS OUTSTANDING: £15222.40


:mad: TOTAL AMOUNT OUTSTANDING £35774.64 :mad:

So i have the £3600 in the bank at the moment but am unsure what to do with it. So far i have come up with the following options which i have tried in the snowball calculator and my debt free date is not affected by any of them it just stays the same:

1. Pay off the Marbles card £3600
2. Pay off the RBOS o/d and revert back to £100 interest free o/d, pay the Sky card off £1914.00, Pay the Debenhams card off £390.00, Pay off the 2 loans to mum £90.00 and £70.00 which will leave me £216 which i can use towards minimum payments due.
3. Pay off the Sky card £1914.00, Pay the Debenhams card £390.00. Pay the 2 loans to mum £90.00 and £70.00 then pay £1000.00 towards my Barclaycard and keep the £136.00 for towards minimum payments

I really want to clear the loans to my mum so thats something i dont have to worry about paying back on a weekly basis £15 until November. If i clear Debenhams thats another £19 a month id be saving and if i clear the sky card it would be £69 a month im saving. The minimum payment for the Marbles card works out about £70 - £75 per month.

Any suggestions or other ideas i've not thought about????

Thanks
Buddiebabe x