Am I allowed to join?

pinkjellybean_2

Hi everyone, well ive been spurred on to tackle our debts as I am sick of having no money. I know that in the grand scheme of things, we dont owe "that" much as many people owe a lot lot more but to us its huge.

My fiance and I are 23 and 20 respectively. We lived together but I lost my job, we accrued debt and had to move home a few months ago. its not good, theres not enough room for either of us really at our parents houses and its a horrible situation to be in. we just want to live together again.

Here is what we owe
Lloyds loan £2048.93 - but tbh we arent worried about this, we pay £40 a month and cant see us paying it all off anytime soon so this is fine atm.
Freemans - £210
Argos - £240
Vodafone - £250
Halifax OD - £1100
Capital 1 CC - £100
Orange - £50

We also have got in a payday loan trap, we take out £280 and repay £350 each month which since i lost my job we have to keep doing this just to survive. This is a major one for us that we need to get rid of.

So there you go, our aim is to get out of debt and move out. It just feels like were wastijng our lives all our friends are going on holiday and going out and we cant afford to live let alone anything else. But theres a silver lining to every cloud no matter how dark and this happening to us so young has made us realise the value of money and i am sure we will be so careful with our money for the rest of our lives. we no longer waste money and we have goals we want to achieve and know we need to save to do them, before this we would have just got a cc or a loan so i am thankful for that.

On a brighter note, I have a job interview tomorrow which Im praying Ill get, it would solve so many problems.

Well done for reading my rant! I just wanted to introduce myself so i can join in here and really get on with this debt and get my life back on track.

LeeSouthEast

Welcome to the DFW club

Consider posting up an SOA. It gives a better insight into your financial numbers and helps us to help you tackle your most expensive debts first (you'll need your APR's).

Good luck with your job interview!

tealady

Hi Pinkjellybean (or can I just call you Pink).
You have come to the right place to turn your life around. As Lee said put up your SOA so we can help you.

SuzySu

Hiya Pink (I think you've been re-named) and welcome to the mad-house.

Definitely post up your SOA and stick around. They are a fab bunch on here.

schoolrunmum

Welcome to you PJB-is it ok if I call you that? SRM xx

beanielou

Of course you can join!
We are a lovely bunch
Keep posting!

getmore4less

pinkjellybean wrote: »

We also have got in a payday loan trap, we take out £280 and repay £350 each month .

SOA will get the ball rolling.

This PAYDAY is the first to tackle.

Do you have any credit limits on the Credit cards or overdraft with the bank that you can use.

It will almost certainly save you money to use it even if it is a cash withrawal at a high rate with fees

Even if you can't pay it back imediately the charges will be less than £70pm you currently pay.

Lets see that SOA ASAP, even if it is not finished post what you have with notes, it will need updating a few times anyway.

pinkjellybean_2

You're all so friendly! I havent been able to tell anyone in "real life" about why were always in all the time, I just say were watching a film etc. and I like Pink so thats fine lol!

Right, getting down to it, i found this SOA template on here so here goes.

Takes into account Me (20), living with parents and DF (23) living with parents. We run one car between us.

Most common Income
Take home pay

---

£900 every 4 weeks
Jobseekers allowance

---

£203.80 per month

Total

---

£1103.80

Most common outgoings
Rent

---

DF £250 Me £100
Payday Loan interest

---

£70
Argos card 27.9%

---

£20
Capital one 34.9%

---

£20
Freemans 0%

---

£22
Lloyds Loan 19.9%

---

£80
Family loan

---

£100
Halifax OD

---

£50
Internet

---

£20
Orange

---

£60
Tmobile

---

£35
Satellite/cable rental

---

£20
Car insurance

---

£71 per month
Fuel & Parking

---

£100 a month
Fares and travel

---

£40 oyster
Meals at work

---

DF £30 a month
Eating out/take aways

---

£20 a month
Birthdays/family things

---

£60

Total out £1165

I think thats everything. Writing that down doesnt make it seem so bad but by the time general life expenses come up through the month, the odd fiver here and there, we always end up in despair at the end of the month with literally no money to get through the last week. We have no money for going out, hair cuts, dentists (even though i have a hole in my tooth atm which is agony!) all those kinds of things.

Our internet and sky are on contracts from the old house so thats why we havent cancelled those, we have 3 phones between us but one orange one runs out next month so thats going to go down to £40. Ive put birthdays/family things, cos we have at least 3 family events/birthdays every month for the next 6 months and we always end up having to spend around that amount (bloomin DF having a large family! )

So there you go, feel free to pick away at it

woohoo_postingid

Do you need to add your payday loan to your incomings? You need to get rid of this straight away !! You are currently at a £62 deficit each month of which £70 is the payday loan !!!

Could you get a break from repaying the fmaily loan and use that £100 to pay back other loans?

You are paying for a car and also an Oyster card ??

Meals @ work = £30 + Take Aways/Eating out = £20 == £50 - Start taking sandwiches and cooking from scratch at home.

Just my tuppence worth to start with

dancingfairy

Hi. Is there anyway you could fill this one out? http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
I think it will give a much clearer picture - as I think you may have forgotten some things? also it will seperate bills ie food, travel etc from debts.
Also just wondering why you are paying bills from your house? are you planning to move back there?
Also that Orange 60 a month seems high - is that for a mobile? if it's a mobile you should be able to get that down to at least 30 a month or less.
Also I think a spending diary will help to see where your money is going.
Also are you entitled to any other benefits if you were to move back into your house? council tax benefit? housing benefit?
df

pinkjellybean_2

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 900
Benefits................................ 203.8
Other income............................ 280
Total monthly income.................... 1383.8

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 350
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 0
Electricity............................. 0
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 60
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20
Internet Services....................... 20
Groceries etc. ......................... 40
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 100
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 71
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 10
Car parking............................. 10
Other travel............................ 40
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 60
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 851


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 1600
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 1600

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
capital one....................100.......10........29.9
argos..........................240.......10........27.9
Lloyds Loan....................2048......40........14.9
Family Loan Me.................3000......50........0
Family Loan DF.................1000......100.......0
Payday loan....................350.......350.......25
Halifax........................1100......15........19.5
Freemans.......................230.......22........0
Vodafone.......................240.......20........0
Total unsecured debts..........8308......617.......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,383.8
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 851
Available for debt repayments........... 532.8
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 617
Amount short for making debt repayments. -84.2

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 1,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,308
Net Assets.............................. -6,708

Created using the SOA calculator at .
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using other browser.

Hope I did that right. To answer some of your questions:

- Sky and vodafone are both contracts we got at the old house. Sky still has 6 months left before I can cancel which is why its now at my house and vodafone was our mobile internet which has 12 months left on the contract before we can cancel.
- I have a car and DF doesnt drive hence the oyster as well as petrol - DF works twilight shifts so I drop him off in the evening and he gets a bus home in the morning, he has to get 2 buses 5 days a week = £2 x 5 days £10 per week
- orange is 2 phones - 1 contract is £25 a month which is mine and the other is £35 a month which runs out next month so that will go down to £25 per month.
- DF and I had to move out of our house because when I lost my job the council said we werent entitled to any financial help because of DFs job even though he doesnt earn a lot :mad:
- We wouldnt order any takeaways but we spend a lot of time in DFs house and when his parents order takeaway everyone is just told that its been ordered and expected to chip in :rolleyes: we tell them were broke but all we get is "oh yes us too - wanna order pizza??" so its not worth trying to explain.
- Until I get a job we are unfortunately stuck living apart with our respective parents which puts up certain costs because I have to drive over to his every day to see him and we do spend money once a month to have a "date night", because we dont have anywhere where we can just be together and spend time alone without our famillies at home and if we didnt have that one night out a month i think we'd go crazy!