I can be so stupid sometimes

wdamci

Thanks again

Will defo check the insurances. I know one of them is life insurance but dont know which one. Do i need klife insurance? Im only 24 and not planning on dying shortly. Then again i might get hit by a bus.

Will phone scottish power

The internet - This is through the cable company. (wightcable) There isnt a phone line to my house. It is the cheapest where im at. It actually £30. Dont know where i got 37 from.

Cigs - Reading Allen Carrs book just now. Plan to stop asap after ive read the book. Done it this way before and i found it the easiest way.

Lunches - From next week going to bring in bread and just get soup each day (20p)

Travel - Sorry didnt explain this too well. Ive got a lift which costs me £60 a month. I spend about £10 on random busfares around town throughout the month. If i was to use Public transport its £112 a month for a zonecard so it is saving money. However if my lift is off for the day it costs me about ~£8 for the train(Shes at the doctors for treatment about twice a month)

Drinks etc - Ok i know i can make a saving here but this is the toughest for me. I think the fags will be easier than this. Currently i spend about £40 each weekend. Thats £20 a night out.Sometimes more sometimes less. I no longer go to the nightclub and i walk up the road each night. Admittedly I dont want to give this up as at the minute and i know this is stupid but i live for the weekend. Before my trust deed (my stupid years) i spent on average £50 a night. I only started going out again this year and i seem to be enjoying myself again. and the thought of staying in scares me.
But i guess i cant give up on the idea. From now on i will cut back on what i spend out. I probably should cut back on the drink anyway. For that £20 i drink about 8-10 pints have 10 fags and if possible a portion of chicken pakora. Ill try cut back on the pints by going out later and not drinking so fast. I already plan to stop smoking.

I think i will also get a diary and watch my spending because i feel as though im missing something.

wdamci

alyth wrote:

Whilst not wanting to sound quite as harsh as doomed economy, I think you have been extremely lucky with your trust deed company - I finished my trust deed in December of last year and whilst my company were extremely accommodating, during year 2 I had to increase my payments from £200 to £300 because I had an increase in income. Whilst Provident are not the best company in the world, you should not have been able to take out a loan, even if it was for under £250, without the advice of your creditors - as an example I work in law, and if someone has a trust deed they are unable to have any legal advice without putting money up front. You are in serious trouble of returning to the ways you were in before you were able to get your trust deed, and I advise you very strongly to consider things. For example, I went to try and change my bank account today, and because of my trust deed I was unable to - I'm 15 years old than you, and my trust deed will haunt me for the rest of my life credit-wise! Please scrimp and save and pay off the Council Tax, as that has implications if they apply to your employers for an arrestment of wages, which they do very easily. Whilst I'm trying not to criticise you, I have been in EXACTLY the same situation as you and urge you to really think about things, if your trust deed finished in 2-4 months you still have to wait a while before you are finally discharged from it, Mine only came through at the end of April and at any time any of your creditors can ask for more money, it is not a given that your trust deed will be discharged automatically.

A trust deed is the same as an IVA in England, grex9101, the implications are the same, no guarantee until you finally get the piece of paper that discharges you, and then quite frankly it doesn't mean anything!

And as an aside, if you're spending £150 on drinks, snacks and taxis, how did you manage to hide that in your SOA to your trust deed company? Whilst I smoke, I was told that on no uncertain terms was that allowed on my SOA, it was a luxury! As a woman, I was also told that clothes were classed as luxuries and to shop at charity shops, which I do - interested to know about that!

I understand where your coming from. It doesnt make sense to me either how i mangaged this one. The trust deed company has been excellent.
The provy loan was a door to door guy. I filled in the papers and he gave me the money straight away.
The rep for the trust deed company advised me on what to put when filling out the expenses at first. I was even allowed clothes, cigarettes, prescriptions and laundry. Also my travel is quite a lot as i work far away. At first i was allowed allowances for a car (They took a brand new car off me and allowed me to get an old banger if someone would buy it for me. Which is understandable) but i decided to give it up as it was easier for public transport. I was advised to exaggerate a bit so as to cover the payments to cover the equity in the house so i wouldnt lose it.
In fact if i remember correctly the minimum payment was £100. The rep basicly advised me what to fill in so i payed this amount. This was increase to £140 cos i got a payrise and it hasnt went up since. Ive sent them statements every 6 months.
Im actually worried about it as well as it all seems too easy.

wdamci

Im not the worst off for debt. Ill end up paying a fraction of my debt back but im most definetely not proud of it. If i was told i could do it again i would run a mile. I havent really got anything to show for the money now apart from the items in my flat and several years of misery (Hit me really hard when i realised how stupid i had been).
I dont want credit cards or loans ever again. I dont even want to drive again. All i want now is to get rid of those outstanding debts and for the trust deed to end.

dippy-dora_2

Don't feel guilty about having your night out, but maybe for a while just have the one night out?
You're young and you shouldn't miss out on what young people get up to even though you're in debt, that time is precious!

dippy-dora_2

Ps if you can't give up smoking give rollies a go.
Go to a proper tobacanist , and go to the pound shop for papers and tips - total for a month, roughly 20 pounds.

nadnad

i know doomed economy was a little harsh but I do see where he's coming from.
the OP doesn't really sound like (s)he is trying too hard to help themselves. I mean - how many other people on this board in debt like that give themselves the incredible luxury of going out twice a week and spending £40? (£160 a month!!!) not too many. if you were that worried about your debt you wouldn't be doing that - why not ask your mates to come to your house and buy a few cans? why not cut down to 1 night a week (which in my opinion is still too much in this situation) - once a month more like.

you're paying 2 insurances and your not even sure what they are, anyone worried about money would have found this out.

also you're spending the guts of £50 a month on canteen!! thats outrageous in your position, but some bread and make sandwiches - cutting out your nights out and your canteen and you'd probably save £200 a month towards your debts. Stop smoking and there is £275 a month and if you had done all this then at least you would have proved that you are responsible and you wanted to get yourself out of debt - like you said "it all seems too easy" - yeah too easy to avoid responsibility.

Someone above said you'd had your lightbulb moment I don't believe you have bacause if you had you wouldn't be needlessly wasting money. I just hope that when you are "debt free" again you just don't go straight down that path again and end up back here complaining that you're in debt.

I never usually have bad words to say to newbie debtfreewannabies because most that come on here have a genuine need for help, they really regret what they have done and they want to do all they can to sort themselves out, but somehow you just don't seem to be like that. Forgive me if I'm wrong.

Kevicho

Ill try and put this post more eloquently

I think a lot of people are paying off the full amount on here, while also paying bills etc, while he was wrong with how he said it he did have a (one) valid point there.

I say this out of wanting to help you out here, but first you should start keeping a diary of what you spend and work towards managing your budget properly, allocate a booze/fags ammount per month, and try and decrease it (has they are bad habits) everymonth

Not paying the bills for months upon end and hiding away from the problem is no good, not just from a legal standpoint, but also from a health point of view, because i would find that very stressful to know i was in that situation.

The only valid point of that post is that you may find yourself in that situation again, I myself have done it the hard way, paying off ALL i owe, whilst not creating new debts and it has been the most rewarding experience you could imagine, and it will set me up for life (and also in business soon).

Good luck

wdamci

I understand everybodys views and respect their opinions. Personally i think i am an idiot for the things ive done but i am changing.
I
m stopping smoking on Monday, Im cutting back on the lunches (to <£10). Going to cut down on the nights out and how much i spend and try get rid of these debts. So i am going to change.

My SOA was my current state of affairs as ive been spending the last few months and are rather rough because i havent been keeping tabs on exactly what i spend. But my SOA will change starting from Yesterday (soup at the canteen)
Ive already stated i will phone the ins companies.

I may have spent too much on nights out but i spend very little on food for the house. (This may seem like sponging but my mum and dad are ok with this. Ive already agreed once im clear i plan on carrying this on but paying them money every month.) My nights out will change starting this weekend. Im only going out on Sunday for a few drinks then going up the road early. Staying in on Fri and Sat.


Thanks

Kevicho

Ive been playing around with the numbers and
Expense Current projected
Mortgage 159 159
Council tax 74 74
pinnacle 6.67 0
Friend PR 7.53 0
Electricity 50 50
Ancho 25 25
Phone 30 30
Internet 37 15
JSN1 140 140
JSN2 60 60
Food 40 80
cigs 75 50
Work food 48 0
Travel 70 70 (this may decrease after your research)
me 150 100

Total spend 972.2 853

As you can see, we have gone for a cheaper broadband provider (there are cheaper that 15 quid but i put that anyways.
The food budget i have combined with the work one, as they are the same.
Make your own sarnies, i have started that and am making savings and enjoying the fact that it is better food.
It only takes ten minutes a night unless you want to get more creative
Ive cancelled the two insurance plans, as because you dont know what they are then they will not be of any use to you.
Cigs ive cut down by 25 quid to start with, as in my opinion cutting down over say 6 months is more likely to work than just stopping.
Also the me budget ive cut by 50, if i can do it so can you.
This will probably FORCE you to stay in more, this is vital, as you can use the time you have free to learn more about this lifestyle change, and become a regular on here.

So my budget we spend 850 a month, leaving us 172 spare for repayments which could be as follows
Debt amount monthly payment
prov 118 40
elec 400 50
cc 80 80
mortgage 200 0 (is this overpayments?)

Stop using the credit card, in general this is mostly spent on rubbish you dont NEED, you may want it, but at the moment you CANT AFFORD IT.
Then month 2 you could pay off the provident and then also bump up the electricity payment.
Then month 3 pay back (170 at this time) as much of the electricity, then month 2 will probably clear this.

So this will take 4 MONTHS, which is not a long time, and all you have done is knocked 50 quid off the me fund and done a few small steps to get better deals

Kevicho

wdamci wrote:

I understand everybodys views and respect their opinions. Personally i think i am an idiot for the things ive done but i am changing.

I dont mean to take over this thread lol but i honestly thought the same (about myself) for the first couple of months i have done this, but once you get into this your opinion of yourself will change and you will feel like you are a much better person for it