I can be so stupid sometimes

beanielou

Why dont you get patches to help you stop smoking?
There should also be help at your local surgery.This should all be FREE!
Ive recently stopped and am managing ok without the weed!(bout 9 weeks now-yeah)

wdamci

Thanks kericho

Looks great. You done what my simple mind cant seem to grasp. Will look into it more closely and give feedback later (im at work)

I kind of came up with a very simple plan over lunch time as i went for a stroll.
1. After payday pay all my bills (or leave suitable amount in bank to pay them)
2. Give my dad my bank card to my Dad and tell him to give me an allowance of £30 (Seriosly considering £20) a week. This is for lunches, busfares, toiletries, food and If possible a pint or two
3. Use the remaining to pay off my debt.

What do yous think?



Smoking - Tried the patches and failed. I think its easier to stop just like that. Have done it before easily and im pretty confident I can do it again. The only prob is later on its just as easy to start again.

wdamci

Thanks Kevicho
I like this plan. I have put in a few comments. What do you think?

Kevicho wrote:

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.
I have not got a telephone line into my flat so i have to stick with cable or fork out for a telephone line. I will reduce this to £30 though. I can save £7 as i subscribe to newsgroups which i dont really need.
The food budget i have combined with the work one, as they are the same.
I can and will do this
Make your own sarnies, i have started that and am making savings and enjoying the fact that it is better food.
I will do this or just have soup at the canteen (20p)
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.
One is for Life insurance and one is payment insurance for my mortgage. Should i cancel these just now or do i keep them
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.
I believe i can stop immediately. My plan is to have my last fag Monday Morning
Also the me budget ive cut by 50, if i can do it so can you.
Yes i can
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.
I probably need a lifestyle change. This will be most difficult but im determined to do it

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?)I owe £200, i already have agreed to pay £40 extra every month
Would it not be better to pay the prov first as they are threatening legal action

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.
Done, This is my dads cc anyway, I only used it for immediate repairs to my flat close after vandalism. I do not have any ccs and i never want one again
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

nadnad

all sounds good!

why don't you phone the electricity people and tell them at the minute you can afford to pay say £25 per month - or speak to them and see what plan they come up with - I'm sure they'll be happy to sort something out, utility providers usually are.

Your main priority at the minute is to pay the provy loan - does the £118 clear it? or is there more to that? you need to put all spare money into that cos the interest is nasty.

how many more months of paying £40 extra do you have for your mortgage?

lastly the £80 on the credit card - thats not too bad - if you could pay say £15 a month off that until the provy loan is gone.

you're not too badly off at all really and should be able to sort yourself out with a few wee sacrifices.

wdamci

nadnad wrote:

all sounds good!

why don't you phone the electricity people and tell them at the minute you can afford to pay say £25 per month - or speak to them and see what plan they come up with - I'm sure they'll be happy to sort something out, utility providers usually are.
Will phone them asap and also organise for them to come round and fix my meter. In fact think i will get a normal meter so i just pay by dd

Your main priority at the minute is to pay the provy loan - does the £118 clear it? or is there more to that? you need to put all spare money into that cos the interest is nasty.
That £118 is interest. Ive paid the £200 plus a bit more back. Its now at the debt collecting agency so no more interest but there will be court charges if it goes that far but ill phone them asap

how many more months of paying £40 extra do you have for your mortgage?
5 more

lastly the £80 on the credit card - thats not too bad - if you could pay say £15 a month off that until the provy loan is gone.
I agree with this

you're not too badly off at all really and should be able to sort yourself out with a few wee sacrifices.

Im not too badly off at all. I just tend to get stressed out and very tense when it comes to dealing with money and debt so i just dont think about what im doing. (maybe i should take the beta blockers the doctor prescribed me) Thats why i make these stupid mistakes. Now i want to get them all clear before the trust deed ends. I think if i do as above it will only be a couple of months after it is should be free. (providing the trust deed clears ok)

When i was in debt before (when i got the trust deed) i dont think i myself really got it sorted out. It was the CAB advisor help me get things straight. I still didnt seem to take responsibility. I think now i need to really think about what im doing when it comes to money cos i really dont want to be in situations like this before.

Kevicho

Most of those seem valid, I will say this about the advice people give on here you should take it as an option, not as the answer, so the fact that you have added your own input is the best possible start

1) I have not got a telephone line into my flat so i have to stick with cable or fork out for a telephone line. I will reduce this to £30 though. I can save £7 as i subscribe to newsgroups which i dont really need.

If 30 pound is the cheapest then thats fine (i too pay 30 quid lol)
Newsgroupds, ive never really gone for paying ones as most of the information youll need is available online somewhere for free

2)I will do this or just have soup at the canteen (20p)
If you go for soup, take in your own bread, if you are like me then you need filling and soup alone everyday cant be that nutricious.
One of the things i remember someone here saying was its ok saving money, but not if its at the expense of your health

3)One is for Life insurance and one is payment insurance for my mortgage. Should i cancel these just now or do i keep them

Im not really an expert on this, so hopefully someone else wil give you some better advice

4)I believe i can stop immediately. My plan is to have my last fag Monday Morning

Good luck, thats 70 a month you will save , (and also years on your life to enjoy being debt free)

5)I probably need a lifestyle change. This will be most difficult but im determined to do it

I have found that the first month or two is diffucult, but after a while you change your way of thinking and it becomes to a certain extend, harder to go out.
One obstacle will be your friends, you will have to be honest with them and make sure you say NO firmly when they are pestering you to go out (not all the time)
Use this as an excuse for nights in, cook for them, get them to bring some beveridges around and enjoy each others company without having to put up with the rude people in pubs you dont know

6)Done, This is my dads cc anyway, I only used it for immediate repairs to my flat close after vandalism. I do not have any ccs and i never want one again

In this instance idont think its a bad thing.
After a couple of months and things are paid off, you should be looking at saving up money to cover emergencies like this.
I have till November to go, but already my short term plans extend to next june were i have saved up a decent amount of emergency money then i can start my business in earnest.

Its all a learning curve, the more you start getting in to this it becomes a obsession, then you go beyond that and start to look at the world in a whole new light

Id recommend going through a lot of the posts on this site and just looking for ideas, inspiration or whatever else

Welcome to the DFW club

beanielou

Yeah, it has to work for you.
Dont agree to anything that you cannot afford.
Main priority are your mortgage arrers & your power company arrears
hope this helps

nadnad

wdamci wrote:

Heres my SOA so far. I need to get actual figures for some debts so i will update once i have done so.

Incoming

15th Payday £1025

Outgoings

Mortgage £159
inc contents insurance

Council Tax £74

Pinnacle £6.67
this might be life insurance but unsure.

Friends PR DD £7.53
This is also some sort of insurance but don’t know

Electricity ~£50
I think. Havent payed for so long. 1Bed flat white meter

ANCHO £25
Factor for flat. Includes repairs, upgrades and building
insurance

Phone £30
Mobile. Used as house phone as well

Internet £37

JSN £140
My trust deed. 2-4 months left

JSN £60
Payed to my trust deed through a friend (House equity)

Food and toiletries etc £20-40
Havent really set aside a budget as i dont really shop. Theres only food in my house when im hungry. I eat at parents a lot.

Cigs £75
Roughly 10 a day or more. Hoping to stop very soon

Work Lunches £~48
£2.20 for my dinner and a can. I cant resist the canteen so im there every day.

Travel £70
£60 for travel to work roughly £10 for other bus fares etc. It costs me ~£9 every time my lift is off for a day.

Me £150
Drink Snacks and Taxis

extra mortgage £40

Debt

Provy loan £118
Greenhills (ctax debt) ~£400 need to check this. will phone them and update
Elec ~£400 need to discuss with scot power still
cc £80 actually my dads card but i use it for internet purchases
mortgage £200

total outgoing £1012.20 plus credit card, council tax, loan.
leaving £12.80

so cut: Electricity from £50 to £25
Internet from £37 to £30
Food = £70 (was £88 including lunches)
Me from £150 to £100
Cigarettes from £75 to £60 (even better if you quit)

Saving £115 plus the £12.80 already leftover = £127.80

£127.80 to pay off credit card, the council tax and the loan.

If you started this for June pay then:-

You don't know how much to pay off the council tax - so if you phone them and ask them how much and start paying say July.

Pay £10 off credit card this month.

That leaves you enough (bar 20p!) to pay off the provy loan.

July pay as much off the credit card as you can, leaving enough to pay the council tax.

August the credit card should be paid, allowing you then to concentrate on clearing the council tax and if needs be getting your electricity back on track.

This is just to let you see your options - show you what you can do. Sometimes its easier if someone just writes it all out.

This still budgets for cigarettes - (but would be even better for you if you quit!) and gives you £25 a week for you.

Its always good to see it a few different ways.

nadnad

just think in 5 months the extra mortgage will be paid, the provy loan paid, the credit card paid, you'll be clearing (or have cleared) the backdated electricity and council tax. Your trust payments will be finished and you'll almost be debt free - infact when the trust payments are finished you can put this £140 towards clearing the electricity or council tax debt. It looks like in 6 months you'll be debt free!!

just a thought on the cigarettes - I hope you do quit but if you don't would it be worth your while going out to buy your weeks cigarette allowance in one go - that way you might think more about it (ie £60 at one time is a lot worse that £4.50 a go) and also it would probably stop you spending any more - it would be psychological - you could see how many you had and know they had to last a week and it would maybe make you think more before lighting up. Just a wee thought.

dippy-dora_2

re your life insurance, when i got my first mortgage i was told i needed to have one, but after a few years i cancelled and told them i would be looking for somewhere cheaper - i never did get another life insurance and there was never anything said by my mortgage provider, so unless you have dependents do you really need life insurance?