sinking fast

Kevicho

Hi there welcome to the forum.

From your posts you sound under pressure, and this is understandable.
However we need you to take a breather and post your full SOA (go to the debt free wannabe board and click on the new users link to get some hints - down to every penny incoming and outgoing)

Once you have listed this we will help you find ways to cut the amount you spend and free up some money to start making a dent in your debt

Also list the debts in a table (do a spreadsheet on your pc) with debt amount, interest rate and minimum monthly payments.

We can then work a way out to snowball your debts to get them down quicker and help you out of debt

Good luck and i look forward to the SOA

134cskol

Hi everyone,
Again many thanks for your help and suport
Please see my SOF

My Monthly income after tax £1480.00
My wfies income after tax £1000.00
My second job income after tax £440.00
Benefits none i'm affraid £ 0.00

Total income nett £2920.00 per month

Out goings
Morgage on £167,000.00 22 yrs to go £935.00 per month
Secured loan (now i discover a big mistake £500.00 per month
thanks carol v is for £49,000.00 which includes
sicknes / redundentcy cover)
Gas £33.00 per month
Electric £33.00 per month
Water £35.00 per month
TV Licence £11.00 per month
Sky £45.00 per month
Bt phone plus dial up internet £45.00 per month
Mobiles both wife plus mine £40.00 per month
Food For family £380.00 per month
Car insurances £70.00 per month
Petrol For both cars £200.00 per month
( i start work @ 6.30am 50mile round trip before i start second job public transport is out my wife starts same time 7.00 am in different direction and does shift work again public transport is not availible or would not get her to work in time or be able to get her home on a late shift)
Endowment policey £114.00 per month
Gym £40.00 per month
Barclay card limit £8000.00 17.6%APR £4800.00 on card £100.00 per month
Mastercard limit £8000.00 17.6% APR £4200.00 on card £85.00 per month
Wife cards she ssays she pays about £200.00 per month
plus i have an overdraft linit of £1500.00 it is at £2200.00 at the moment so get interest charges plus bank charges each month.I have started the procedure to get my bank charges back over the last 6 yrs

Total outgoing is £2866.00
Total income is £2920.00
This gives me a credit of £54.00 which is used up by interest charges and bank charges and leaves me absolutely nothing for any else ever......
If you can help i need to get this sorted out so i can get my life back and maybe enjoy myself and get a good nights sleep would be a great start.

thanks again everyone

lynzpower

Ok, let me have a little lookie here

Total income nett £2920.00 per month

Out goings
Morgage on £167,000.00 22 yrs to go £935.00 per month
Secured loan (now i discover a big mistake £500.00 per month
thanks carol v is for £49,000.00 which includes
sicknes / redundentcy cover)
Gas £33.00 per month ( these are a little high, check out https://www.saveenergy.co.uk, you can get these down a bit )
Electric £33.00 per month ( ditto)
Water £35.00 per month (ditto)
TV Licence £11.00 per month
Sky £45.00 per month ( do you need this!! Its a massive luxury oyu cant really afford)
Bt phone plus dial up internet £45.00 per month ( ok this is way too high too, take thier land line, and have a look for dial up packages elsewhere- some broadbands are 15 a month)
Mobiles both wife plus mine £40.00 per month ( get rid, or go on PAYG, saving 20)
Food For family £380.00 per month ( this is HIGH! and I reckon fairly wasteful, head over to the OS board to have a look)
Car insurances £70.00 per month ( have you checked this is the lowest)
Petrol For both cars £200.00 per month ( can you cut down these journeys? Car share? walk a couple of journeys a week)
( i start work @ 6.30am 50mile round trip before i start second job public transport is out my wife starts same time 7.00 am in different direction and does shift work again public transport is not availible or would not get her to work in time or be able to get her home on a late shift)
Endowment policey £114.00 per month ( is your mortgage on IO then)
Gym £40.00 per month ( do you need this ? seems luxurious when you are struggling this much?)
Barclay card limit £8000.00 17.6%APR £4800.00 on card £100.00 per month ( now can you move these to 0% cards?)
Mastercard limit £8000.00 17.6% APR £4200.00 on card £85.00 per month
Wife cards she ssays she pays about £200.00 per month ( on a seperate card?)

So thats my first thoughts, theres quite a lot there to cut back on I reckon, shouldnt be too bg a problem to get on top of things.

Now, have you cut those cards up??

Ali-OK

Hi there :wave:

How many in the family? Food shopping at £380 can be chopped down - take a look at the OS boards for lots of ideas, including meal planning (so you only buy what you need), shopping around (fruit/veg/meat cheaper at market/butchers than supermarket) and batch cooking (to freeze so you don't have to cook from scratch at times you don't feel like it).

Utilities - have you shopped around for cheapest supplier for gas and electric?

Mobiles - can you put these onto PAYG and keep usage to emergency? You'll save a fortune.

Sky - oh dear! If you can't live without it, put it onto the cheapest package (£15 a month)

Home phone and internet - there are lots of really good, cheap packages about - take a look on the forums here. I think Tiscali, Talk Talk - you can get combined internet/calls packages for under £20, or BT basic line rental at £11 per month, then use the override call providers where calls are dirt cheap.

Gymn - Do you really need this? Get a bike from Freecycle or brisk walk for free!

Insurances - shop around to get cheaper deals. If you join Quidco or similar you can get cashback

Credit cards - How's your credit rating? Would get these onto 0% or low Life of Balance cards - again have a look at Martin's articles on best value cards.

Keep a spending diary to see if you're "leaking" money - newspapers, choc, ad-hoc "wants". They can all go.

Lots of things you can change and easily find that extra £150 a month and more!

Good luck!

calleyw

I agree with that has been said there seems to loads of places to chop off more than £150 a month.

You say you don't get any benefits so assume from that you have no children. Also there is no child care items in your budget.

If that is the case you have one hell of a food shopping bill. I spend £100 a month for food for two people. You can easily drop that by at least £200 and still have a very good diet on £180 a month. But think you need to do baby steps chopping off a bit at a time.

Water why not see if you can go on a meter. There is just my husband and me and the last 6 month bill was £80. In most areas you can try a meter for a year and then if you are paying more you can change back.


So if you drop the you bills by the following:

Food £200
Water £15 -on a meter
Sky £30 -basic package
Mobiles -£20 PAYG

Total:£265 in painless savings a month Thats before you sort out the Telephone bill. Line rental is £11 and internet should really only be around £15 a month. So that makes £26 a month before calls. Use someone like 1866 to make calls through. As through BT all you get charged is 3p a call. Yes that is right 3p a call.

Both you and your wide might like to see if you can keep a spending diary to see where money is actually going.

Also if you are claiming back bank charges get another current account set up ASAP. As your own bank may want to dis-own you.

Also is there any chance of a 0% cards to transfer your balances to. Or what about ringing up your Barclay card and saying that you have been offered a better rate and see what they can do. They can yes or no. And all the better if they yes.

To be able to save money it is all about getting organised and doing boring things like spread sheets and spending diaries and meal plans. But it does have a huge payback.

All the best and do let us know how you get on.


Yours


Calley

iwillgetthere_2

Don't forget ebay, have a clear out and put some stuff on there, every little helps

frak

Have a look on https://www.adslguide.org.uk
to find a better internet service. Click on "list" and then sort by total cost of ownership. You should be able to get a fast Broadband package for about £15 a month and then you wont be paying any dial up charges. I dont know your post code or phoen number so i can't guarantee what service you will be able to get but as long as you dont live in the middle of nowhere you should be able to get a good broadband package.
Time to be ruthless -
Gym - get rid of this nobody needs to spend £40 a month to get fit, go for a run its free and just as good, if you want to lift weights get a bag and put some tins in it. If they say you can't cancel say to them you can't afford it and you have no option to. Either way they arent getting any more of your money. Say to them that when you are sorted out you will come back so instead freeze the membership. Besides if you have two jobs you havent got time to be going to the gym.
Sky - It has to go its a luxury you can do without and its way too expensive.

The rest as the others have said. Once you've done these things you can get a clearer picture of where you can cut back. It's essential you get rid of the luxury unnecessary stuff first as trying to cut back while you still got this stuff is a false economy.
Good luck and remeber we are nto trying to be too harsh just realistic

frak

134cskol

hi again
feelin down 2 day but gonna make a start with all of your suggestions
gas & electric is on a contract till 2007
Sky have just reduced to minium package
requested info from talk talk
disconnected one mobile 2 day
will sort food budget out over the next week
petrol cant reduce or walk because of the miles involved in doing the 2 jobs
gym has been cancelled 2 day
tried to go to a 0% card but was refused
water is already on a meter

cant cut cards up yet because if i run out of money like i have already this month i need them to keep travelling and getting food etc but will do as soon as i can

hope this works
cheers

halloweenqueen_2

Thats a great start the gym and mobile cancellations must nearly make half of that £150!!
I'm sure that the othe £75 could be cut from your grocery bill for the month.
Maybe you could set yourself a challenge that you will try and use up most of the things in your cupboards before you do another food shop and then when you do try the value brands just once at least, if you don't like them fair enough but you may be able to save about 15% of your food bill just by doing that, thats about £57 on your current spend.
Things like washing powder can be cut down as well, you can make a very good powder by using a kg of each of, good bio powder, a vlaue powder and soda crystals. Stardrops if you can find it is a brilliant multi purpose cleaner thats also really cheap.
Is there anywhere you could do a car share, advertise ina local shop or ask about to see if someone need s a lift to the same area as you at the same time, that could help with your petrol costs?
I'm very happy with talk talk and their phoneline, maybe you caould qualify for the free broadband?
Have you joined pigsback, if you just spend a few minutes each day you can earn vouchers which you can use at most places and really helps have cheap days out. Or you can get vouchers for boots/waitrose etc.
Try not to let it get to you, you are really starting to sort yourself out, wish you lots of luck!

bargainbetty

Could you try moving to a 'life of balance' card? Sometimes they are a little easier to get, and at least the rate would be lowered to 4.9%.

Gas and electric - if you can't switch, can you save? Use energy saving bulbs, don't leave lights on etc, turn the thermostat down a degree or two (you really don't notice it).

The Old Style Money Saving Board is really good for hints on savings on household stuff. Have a really good root through the cupboards and make a list of everything you have, plus the freezer. Then work out as many meals from that as you can and use it all up. Make double portions and freeze half for easy dinners, take leftovers for packed lunches too. Can't tell you how much I reduced my food bills!!

Good luck, I hope it works out xx