A Fool and Her Money- CAFCGIRL's Debt Diary

CAFCGirl

Right and here we go for the 2nd time!

Feel free to say whatever springs to mind, I'm sure I'll find an excuse for all of it :rotfl:

The lovely stuff
Wages £1137.25

The horrible bits that have to be done
Rent £525
Council Tax £76
Utility bills £50 ( guesstimate)

Treats that make life a little easier
BT £35
Sky £18
Mobile £46 on average but I've just cancelled this so as of 5th June I'll be on PAYG

Feeding/Clothing myself £135 a month
This includes everything not anywhere else, so food, going out, entertainment, gifts, clothes, lunches when Im too lazy or forgot mine!!

The really crappy stuff that I wish wasnt there!
Abbey Loan £134.18 Fixed till January 2009 (cant overpay)
Abbey CC £121.59 APR is 22% so here I'm overpaying. Balance is 1315.35
IF CC £24.23 APR is £4.95 there is a slight overpayment here, but not a great deal, about 50p :rotfl: Balance is £1140.15
Overdraft limit of £800 currently -£765

Now the horrible horrible stuff, have tried getting lower APR cards, but since living in rented accom' less than 3 years and a poop credit rating these have all been rejected so I dont want to apply for any more, plus I dont think theres any more companies for me to try

Plus I'm struggling quite a bit to control myself for whatever reason so as much as my spreadsheet looks nice and easy to cope with it's not prooving that easy

So Ive just worked out my new outgoings as
£1119
Not inc any mobile costs, since Ive now cancelled this, and Im not sure how much I'll use in terms of credit... so could this poss come out of my £135 me money, or is that really going to stretch me.

I do also do on average one mystery shop every month, ranging from £8 - £15 in payment.

Well I think the numbers add up but please feel free to figure this all out for me because I obviously seem to be struggling here!!!

lynzpower

I know you want to up the amount you can snowball off your debts so heres my thoughts - yes its that treat section

If you got rid of sky and went for the freeview option - youd save.

Its pretty good, we have it. they have pretty good films on and the rest of the drivel I like like "spenadholics, panic room, how clean is your house, grand designs etc and all that jazz.

why are you paying bt- £35 it does seem rather high?

xx

CAFCGirl

£35 is line rental, broadband, a bit extra which went toward paying off the charges when it first got set up and a bit toward any call charges.

I know sky is an extravagence but considering before my DFW journey, I was spending £70 a month (yes on a credit card) on dvds and music. I thought it was a worthwhile swap lol

I'm still within the 12 month minimum anyway so like you said maybe I could go down the I'd like to cancel because I cant afford it route and see what they might offer.

Im not trying to be difficult honestly lol I knew it would be the first suggestion but it literally is my entertainment for the month, considering I dont drink or go out. But I promise to defo go down the route of poss cancellation when its up!

Seaxwyn

Hi CAFCgirl

That does look tight and you would have to be a saint to live on so little 'treat' money month after month.

The thing that jumps out to me is that that is quite a low wage for somebody obviously so talented, responsible etc etc as yourself! You are a Queen after all! Is there no way to persuade your employers to pay you a little more? Or move to a different company?

The other thing is... did you mention some time back you have a spare bedroom? Would you consider a lodger?

hypno06

If you could get even just one or two extra mystery shops a month, you could use your mystery shopping money as "overpayment" money, which would snowball and make a reasonable difference.

Perhaps a quick look on the mystery shopping etc thread might point you towards one or two new companies. Of course, if you don't like the assignment, you can always say "no"!

Otherwise, I agree with what the fab lot above me have said!

Lara44

Hi CAFC-girl

Agree you might be paying too much for phones. Have you looked at call override providers on Martin's article? I have Primus Tel and call 18185 as well as a BT land line.

I used to spend £20 per month on my PAYG mobile, plus we would spend £75 per quarter on BT line rental and calls only. Since we switched I have started making all the calls I can on the home phone, and since then I have been paying £5-£10 per month PAYG, and under £50 for the home phone calls for 3 of us per quarter. An easy saving of £30 per month.

When you are buying your PAYG vouchers get them from Boots, you will get back 40p on your Advantage card for every £10 top up. Better still you get whatever voucher they have for a £10 spend. This month it was a £5 skincare voucher, I got 2 x expensive Sanctuary smellies for free, worth £10 for the next birthday that comes up.

Are you doing all the clickthroughs such as Pigsback? These will make a big difference to a tight SOA especially for presents etc. Also I would recommend taking a look at the grabbit and freebies forums. There are some great deals from online sales and freebie samples usually come with vouchers for money off you can use against your shopping.

Good luck, lady you can do it.

Lara x

CAFCGirl

Lots of top suggestions!

Will defo have a look at changing broadband provider when the contract is up.
Not sure how much I'd spend on PAYG, but am going to be very tightly controlled on that one!

Also been making a concise effort to switch things off!
Did all the plugs today, so nothing was on standby etc.

Am going to sign up to other mystery shop companies tomorrow on my day off.
Sea hun Im actually now in a studio flat all to myself! So its all my responsibility!!!

CAFCGirl

Day off today and did the following

Phone BT and Sky regarding when contract is up, got another 3 months on both.

Didnt get round to any mystery shop sign ups but did discover I've now got £25 sitting in quidco. I promised myself to never let Quidco pay out till it was over £50!

Last mobile phone bill is £46, and thats the end of this month and so should get my new PAYG sim very soon...

Also total no spender as did plenty of housework and being generally lazy and mooching the net all day!

Got to get photocopies of my id to send to betfair to get my account unfrozen and verified so I can get onto matched betting at a rate of knots!

slowlyfading

You're being so productive - well done! :j
sf x

CAFCGirl

I really dont feel it though.

Since nothing has made me any money or saved me any yet! lol