N00bie debt boy asking for HELP to sort his life out.

Lokolo

You mentioned Argos. They are accepting applications for xmas temps (OMG ALREADY!?) just so you know

SmlSave

Hi Trev

Re the groceries, pop on the Old Style Board for tips - they are wonderful people.

There's two of us and our budget for all grocery shopping and toiletries is £180 a month (don't always manage to do this - take a look at my sig!) It may be a good idea to seperate fuel and clothes from the grocery budget as its amazing how much you can save.

Godd luck on your DF journey:)

tbourner

KatP wrote: »

tbourner wrote: »

Home phone includes broadband, landline and digital TV all with Virgin, we were on a 3 for £30 deal but it ended. Ok then shop around, and read Martin's article, we pay less than this with tiscali but I think it is different from area to area. Consider just using freeview rather than paying for the tv.
We've considered it, we don't like the idea!

Mobiles we are going to reduce, I'll give up the idea of getting a Blackberry on my renewal and go for something cheap, likewise Zoe can reduce her tariff. Why not go PAYG on renewal, you could then just use the mobiles for incoming calls and emergencies and probably drop your joint spend to about £20
The only problem will be keeping my number, which you can't do on PAYG. I'm going to phone Vodafone and ask to be put on the cheapest though which I think is £15 a month.

£10 holiday fund I put in to cover any little trips we do, to the beach one weekend or something, little things that don't get added usually. Ok, but you could try to not dip into it and then when you get to £100 put half towards and overpayment.
Sorry we don't actually put away £10 per month, I added it to the list so the calculator adds up all the little trips that we wouldn't normally think about on our spending. I could probably take it off to stop confusing everyone.


Kat, your replies:
We can't change our mortgage as we're 2 years left on a fixed rate, the costs would outweigh the benefits and that's if we even could remortgage! I didn't mean remortgage, I meant ask your current provider whether you can go from a repayment to interest only, so you are paying back less.
I did a thread in the mortgage section on this, it was unanimous that it was a no go.

We DO need to start shopping to the list a bit more!! Get Zoe on the O/S board, a well thought out meal plan and shopping list can really cut your spending. It saves time too and is often healthier. I've found that going to the shops less automatically saves money.
What's the O/S board? :huh:

Pet insurance we need the best, most places don't offer cover for life on overrunning conditions and we're not willing to risk it. It also includes similar cover for our cat who I didn't mention, he's just a moggy though.Why not drop the level of cover for the cat if he is just a pet moggy rather than a working hobby animal? I'd shop around for the dog insurance, that looks pretty high comparing it to the cost of cover for a horse.
It's PetPlan, I don't know any other companies that offer continuous cover?

B&C insurance and Life insurance I spent weeks searching and phoning for to reduce what we had, and that's the prices we got! Wow the B&C doesn't look too bad but the life cover does look high, are you sure you aren't over insuring yourselves and have an appropriate policy? Might be worth haveing a read of the insurance boards on here.
See my last post on that?

Entertainment the £4 is our Lovefilm subs. We honestly don't go out!! Do you really make this worthwhile? If you aren't watching more than one film a week it perhaps isn't worth it.
TBH for £4 per month it's not bad, we get 2 films per month for that which is cheaper than Blockbuster or PPV.

We try to keep all other entertainment within our £50 each a week limit. Where is that on your SoA??? Should the entertainment figure be £220 (£50 per week plus £4 per month) in which case that puts you into a defecit. £50 a week on entertainment is high, what does this pay for? Can't you cut it?
That's the £300 groceries and £100 fuel, as I said it's £400 per month to cover EVERYTHING. That means I get £50 per week and Zoe gets £50 per week out of our bank accounts, we use that to buy all our shopping that we need, all our fuel that we need, and it also goes towards any entertainment (apart from £4 LoveFilm) like going out, takeaways, drinks etc. So no it's not £50 EXTRA for entertainment!! That would be :eek:.

Pet costs include cat food (about £4 a week) we get dog food more or less free, but we buy toys cos he kills them very quickly - I've used freecycle a LOT for people getting rid of bags of cuddly toys etc but we still end up buying some and it's not cheap!! Bear in mind we said Loki is our only real love in life, we have very few vices, I think we've been very good in how much we spend on him compared to what we would if we could!! So you are spending £4 a week on cat food and £6 a week on dog toys, making £40 a month?? Sorry but £6 on toys is excessive. Can't you make toys out of old worn out clothes and blankets etc to suppliment what you get on freecycle. He is *just* a dog, I appreciate he is the love of your life, but he is also a hobby. If you can't afford to keep him you either need to make cuts or sell him to someone who can afford him. Animals like this (I ride horses) are more than just pets and do cost a lot and you have to bargain for this when you buy them. Right now you are living beyond your means and this will mean an adjustment for everyone. If you had kids we'd be telling you to cut what you spend on treats too. You may love him but keeping a roof over your heads and food on the table is more important.
Not just dog toys, I think I rounded it up because one month we might spend not a lot, then we might go in Pets at Home and blow £30 in one go. It's a general 'pets' payment, so for example the money spent on vaccinations and other vet bills over the year spread out will be included in that - if anything £10 per week doesn't cover it all!!

Cars, we've tried different combinations, we had an estate and it wasn't big enough, plus the number of times we got stuck in fields and dark woods in winter was getting silly. The 4X4 is pretty cheap except for fuel. the Corsa was maybe a mistake but to sell it now and buy something cheap would mean losing out quite a lot - best bet for that is to keep it as long as is humanly possible!!!! Zoe is only insured on the Corsa, but because of the stupid rules for not using NCB on 2 policies it cost LOADS to insure 2 cars. Ok so you need to make these cars really work for you. Are you teaching Zoe yourself? Can you insure one vehicle in her name so she starts building a NCB? Could you put the 4x4 off road for most of the year and only have it taxed and insured while you actually need it for rallies?
Yep me teaching Zoe, her insurance on it was twice what it is as a named driver on my policy - even with 0 NCB. We can't get Loki in the Corsa, and since we take him out at weekends to the beach or to our parents houses etc. we need the 4X4 on road at all times.

Sounds like you need to revisit the SoA, do a spending diary and sort out some meal planning and get to a stage where you have a *genuine* surplus in your SoA rather than the current fictitous one!!!

Thanks, I'm off home now so I'll check back in at some point for more advice!

Katie-Kat-Kins

I'm still not sure you are being entirely honest with your SoA....... You need to break everything down not just have sort of general payments all over the place. Do a spending diary and work out precisely where your money goes. Then revisit the SoA at the moment you are tying yourself up in knots with it.

Few responses:-
You can keep your number and go PAYG, and if vodaphone say you can't speak to orange, or o2 about switching to them.
You say you want to keep the cable tv but is it worth it with love film as well? You may like it but do you like it enough that it is worth risking not being able to make your repayments?? You could drop to freeview and use love film more if there is nothing on.
O/s board = Money saving old style board on here!!! Amazing place!

And seriously stop being so dopey about the dog, if he is meant to be a working animal stop treating it as a child substitute, and stop overspending on treats - you can't afford it. Vaccinations should be budgeted for annually, you have the insurance so all you should need on top should be feed.

tallyhoh

:eek:£85 for life insurance:eek:

Use a comparison site to get it cheaper.

Raquela

To be honest, it doesn't sound like you have had your true lightbulb moment yet. If you want to get your debts down quicker, you need to think about revising your phone/internet/tv package, £55 is a lot of money each week, you also need to think about your £50 a week each rule for everything. Keep a spending diary and actually see where that money is going. I would bet that you can save a lot of money on your groceries etc.

Also your utilities and life insurance are crazy, shop around. I don't get the working dog thing so will make no comment!

You can sort this out, but you do need to change your thinking to do so.

tbourner

KatP wrote: »

I'm still not sure you are being entirely honest with your SoA....... You need to break everything down not just have sort of general payments all over the place. Do a spending diary and work out precisely where your money goes. Then revisit the SoA at the moment you are tying yourself up in knots with it.

I'm being honest I just didn't have the facts to hand. Also you're right it's a bit wishy washy as most things happen on a yearly basis, like insurance and tax and MOTs, and vets bills. Also going out for meals and stuff is sporadic rather than regular, so I tend to use an average and maybe round it up (which was recommended on this site).
(for SmlSave too) I've also tried to keep all my shopping bills in one so they're seperate from the BILL bills, so we know how much we can spend in a week and that will include everything. I'm considering opening some more bank accounts and putting something in them for repairs, new washing machines etc. Another one for going out for meals, to the beach etc. Another one for doggy events etc. I just don't know how best to split it at the moment!

KatP wrote: »

Few responses:-
You can keep your number and go PAYG, and if vodaphone say you can't speak to orange, or o2 about switching to them.

But then I don't get a new phone every 18 months as I do on contract? So what do I gain if I can go onto a £15-£20 a month contract? What if my phone breaks?

KatP wrote: »

You say you want to keep the cable tv but is it worth it with love film as well? You may like it but do you like it enough that it is worth risking not being able to make your repayments?? You could drop to freeview and use love film more if there is nothing on.

I haven't really looked into how much we could save by binning the cable and just having freeview. We don't have the expensive film or sports channels it's just things like Discovery for me and Music for Zoe that we wanted to keep. I know I know sacrifices!!

KatP wrote: »

And seriously stop being so dopey about the dog, if he is meant to be a working animal stop treating it as a child substitute, and stop overspending on treats - you can't afford it. Vaccinations should be budgeted for annually, you have the insurance so all you should need on top should be feed.

Unfortunately the insurance has an £80 excess, and guess how much the average vet visit costs!! :rolleyes:
We don't spend much on treats at all, we usually buy smart price tuna and make him a tuna cake if we want treats. The main cost of the dog is going to events - for example this weekend we're going to Salisbury for the AMWA fun weekend. We're not camping like most just going for the day but it's still £40 in fuel, £10 donation to AMWA, a few quid on food and drinks to take with us, and we usually stop off in Pizza Hut on the way home so we spend around £70!! So one day has added over a pound to that £10 a week I mentioned!!
And he IS a child substitute, we don't plan to have kids ever, he is our baby and there's no way we're selling him to anyone.

tbourner

Raquela wrote: »

To be honest, it doesn't sound like you have had your true lightbulb moment yet. If you want to get your debts down quicker, you need to think about revising your phone/internet/tv package, £55 is a lot of money each week, you also need to think about your £50 a week each rule for everything. Keep a spending diary and actually see where that money is going. I would bet that you can save a lot of money on your groceries etc.

Also your utilities and life insurance are crazy, shop around. I don't get the working dog thing so will make no comment!

You can sort this out, but you do need to change your thinking to do so.

Crazy? uSwitch says I can save £145 a year by moving to nPower - to me that doesn't sound like much. OK I know it's worth doing and we probably will now I've looked (£20 cashback through greasypalm too) but really you all sound amazed that we spend so much on utilities, it's only £12 a month more than the alternative!! Our £95 a month drops to £83 - is that still crazy?

What do you recommend for life insurance? We have enough cover so if one of us dies the mortgage and all our debt disappears - we also have critical illness cover included in that. the £85 as I said also includes income protection insurance. Should we cancel the income protection and go for a lower payout with no critical illness? Sounds too much like a gamle for me but if it's what everyone on here is doing? That would probably go from £85 to about £40.

How do you all do a spending diary? On Excel? Hand written on a notepad? Keep all your receipts and look through once a week? Do you go into detail or just: £15.80 in Asda?

purpleheather2810

Agree with the previous poster - something has to give! You can tackle this situation but it will be tough and sacrifices have to be made in all areas!

Re: The mortgage, I don't understand why the mortgage board said not to go interest only. We were tied into a fixed rate deal (C&G) and I rang them, said we were experiencing financial difficulties and we went interest only for a while. There was a charge for doing this (a couple of hundred quid from memory) which was added to the mortgage. Not great, but if you don't have many options (as we genuinely didn't) then it stops things from getting any worse. However this was a last resort after we had drastically reduced our outgoings which is obviously the first thing to do for any of us attempting to take control of our finances.

purpleheather2810

I'd say make the switch! It might not seem like a big saving but if you take every outgoing in turn and manage to shave a small amount off each one you might be pleasantly surprised how it adds up.

Re going away this weekend.... could you have a picnic instead of going to pizza hut? Just an idea. All these little savings WILL make a difference, honestly!