Here Goes: my SOA

EssexGirl2002

Hi
I was introduced to this site by a friend.
I have acquired a huge amount of debt within a very short space of time!
I'm married with 2 children but my husband is not aware of the amount of debt I have. To be honest neither did I until I did the SOA!!
I work fulltime. I don't pay the mortgage my hubby does that so the items below are what i'm responsible for:

Thames water £46.26
C/T £129
Gas £36
Appliance and boiler ins £35
Elec £36 (recently switched (Gsand Leccy)from LondonEnergy to Powergen using uswitch)
Telephone incl mobile £104 (Ntl £25per month but always seem to go over cos use land line to call mobs instead of using the mobile. Mobile fixed cont till august @£30 p/m but am looking into reducing tariff today.plus i use up all my free mins so end up paying more!)
Tv licence £10
sky £66 (reducing sky pack end of june)
Internet bb £17.99 cheapest in area
Childcare £270 (half the cost of nursery)
Life ins £23.02
Fuel not surebut amount £70
Car ins £36
Tube travel £145
Food again quite sure as don't budget!! but around £150
Child sponsorship £18
Hair and nails £90!!! ( i know, iknow that has to go!!Am of african descent so hair has to be done regulary!!)
Kids trust funds £130

Total:1412.28

Right now my incoming is:

salary take home £1665
Child benefit £116
Tax credit 40.25

Total 1821.25

My debts are

nationwide O/d £1750 not paying anything back yet
nationwide loan £13737 left originally £14000 paying £235. (6.7% till 2011)
egg cc owe £5207 0% has expired now on 15.9% currently pay min which is about £77

Mint 0% untill 11/06 owe £1811. pay min which is approx £42

Phew! Well thats it all laid out in black and white. I accumulated all of this in 3yrs!
I have an appointment booked with CCCCs in a fortnight and have applied for a Step Account from natwest.

i have also applied for an IF cc to transfer the egg balance to a low rate for the life of the transfer (4.95). however they have only given me a credit limit of 2700. I aim to transfer that amount once i recieve the card.

I will tell my husband about my position but want to set certian things up first as he is under alot of stress with other things at the moment.

Advice greatly appreciated and urgently required! am determined to be debt free asap!!

Ta v much

highguyuk

Thames water £46.26

This with or without a water meter?

Gas £36

Just recheck that this is the cheapest. If you have already switched, you should know how easy it is.

Appliance and boiler ins £35

Do you really need this? £15 in a savings account each month, £20 towards your debt. Use the savings account money towards any problems you may have. And get interest (well, thats what I would do). ICICIBank.co.uk.

Telephone incl mobile £104 (Ntl £25per month but always seem to go over cos use land line to call mobs instead of using the mobile. Mobile fixed cont till august @£30 p/m but am looking into reducing tariff today.plus i use up all my free mins so end up paying more!)

For calls, sign upto https://www.18185.co.uk and https://www.1899.com - especially for mobile calls. Use https://www.saynoto0870.com for any premium rate numbers and see if there is another option. And don't go over those free minutes!

sky £66 (reducing sky pack end of june)

Fuel not surebut amount £70

£70 - petrol is expensive nowadays! Just try and be as careful as you can!

Car ins £36

Check out https://www.confused.com for the cheapest insurance. It may work out in your favour to cancel your existing insurance and change ...

Food again quite sure as don't budget!! but around £150

Start a spending diary. Note everything you spend for the month. Its surprising where money can disappear to!

Child sponsorship £18

Whats this?

Hair and nails £90!!!

BYE BYE! Im sure you'd look wonderful with just nice, clean, plain nails. lol.

Well done on posting it all :T , and good luck

domestic_goddess

Sky £66 - what do you get I thought there top package was only about £42.00.

I would get rid of the child sponsorship for now I am afraid.
Also the Hair and Nails

Check out the Money saving old style board for tips on reducing your household spend.

Also can the kids trust funds be reduced for 12 months so you can pay off your debts quicker

I would get rid of the appliance insurance.

Tel bill is huuuuuuuuge. Change suppliers and cut down.

Not sure what else at the mo but someone else will be along soon to help

Good luck

lynzpower

I certainly wouldnt get rid of the child sponsorship, until you were really on your uppers.

Nails, erm yes I would ditch.

Sky Id just get rid entirely. Its a load of pants anyway!

Can you really justify paying 130 a month into childrens trust funds? I personally reckon this sohuld be suspended for the time being until the debt is paid off, then you can restart it.

danmanchester

Freeview box costs approx £40 it's a one off payment nothing more ever to pay! (apart from TV licence of course), dump Sky completely rather than just reduce the package - that'll save you approx between £500 and the £792! :exclamati you're currently paying.

domesticgoddess

re hair and nails, is there anyone advertising locally that they need models?

Or try a Beauty College to see if they need anyone to practice on. Talk to your local salon and see if they have an apprentice to do your hair at a reduced cost

Alternatively can a friend do your hair/nails and you do theirs?

I would also stop the charity donations till you your debts are more under control. Child trust, ask friends and family to top these up for birthdays and xmas instead of buying loads of gifts that are not always appreciated. Could a grandparent take one over?

All the best and welcome

xela_17

If you get gas and electric from the same place it is usually cheaper; even more so if you pay by DD.

EssexGirl2002

thanks for the replies.
Ur right about the applicance insurance. I hadn't even thought about just opening up a saving account for that. We had boiler problems a few years back in the middle of winter and it cost us so much for call out and repairs that we decided to take out the homecare insurance.


The was i look at the kids money is that its their money and therfore i should be a good steward on their behalf. The child benefit covers this so i might just reduce it for now, but not it cancel .

The sky is not really for me but the kids. might l have to ask hubby to take that on instead.

The Child sponsor ship is for a little girl that I sposnor in uganda. Will review this also

The £46 is without a water meter.

Any suggestions about how to work out how long it will take me to be debt free?
I'm not sure but even just paying an extra £100 on my loan for example will still take along time to .clear
Also, any suggestions on earning extra money from home?

Thanks once again for the time and help.

xela_17

EssexGirl2002 wrote:

Any suggestions about how to work out how long it will take me to be debt free?

https://www.whatsthecost.co.uk is a really helpful website for just this purpose.

EssexGirl2002

I do get the gas and leccy from the same place Powergen.

Will def ditch the nails and make arrangements for my hair

We have freeview box but unfortunatley the reception in our area is quite bad.

domestic_goddess

There is a snowball calendar to help with ur debt free date. I am not sure of the link to it though.