Delayed Light Bulb Moment - HELP!!

tygar2

Queen.Bess wrote: »

Hi tygar, and welcome!

Personally I would stay put, as stated in post #8, you would be relying on friend generosity and you wouldn't be independent. Looking at your outgoings, you've answered my mobile phone and sky query, but have you compared your utility bills as they seem a little high. I live with DH in a 2 bed mid-terrace and our 3 main bills (gas, elec and water) are £15 DD and we're in credit on all of them.

Just a thought - do you have contents insurance at all as you've not listed it? I'm thinking mostly about your disco equipment and maybe other valuable items.

Also, and tell me to naff off if it's too sensitive, but is there anyway you could speak to your ex and get her to pay some of the fees you so very kindly paid out for her? I would be most agrieved if I was you!

Finaly, tygar, I wish you all the best and keep in touch!

Thanks for the quick reply. I will look into the utility thing and see. I've always thought my bills were two high. At one point I was paying £97 Direct Debit on a fixed deal. Thought it was a bit much for a 1 bed flat! will compare agaain.

I dont have contents insurance. Its a really small flat and apart from the white goods I just got my bed, sofas and clothes, not that much to insure.

As for my ex. Thats a no go area.........worst breakup you can imagine!:eek:

Worst feeling ever.....Im a financial and emotional mess

I will walk again.....someday!

DawnW

Please take care of yourself and do not give up your home! You are doing really well re paying off your debts, and have made some positive steps both in doing that and coming on here to talk about it. Have you looked at the snowball calculator (on here somewhere, somebody will point you to it in a minute no doubt). The idea is that you throw all spare money at the debt with the highest interest while keeping up the minimum repayments on the others. Then when that is paid, you move on to the next highest and so on. It worked for me!

What you may also do is to contact one of the free debt charities, such as CCCS and ask for qualified advice.

Good luck and do take care.

RAS

tygar2 wrote: »

Hello
My cards are pretty much maxxed out.

I have £600 of emergency cash with the local credit union.

if they are only pretty maxxed, could you shift even £50 of the overdraft onto the cards as this will make a differenc eover time.

Also, you are essentially borrowing your credit union money at 26% APR, so pay most of that into the OD, UNLESS this is money you are budgetting for specific purposes (the monthly road tax say) and a very small buffer.

tygar2

DawnW wrote: »

Please take care of yourself and do not give up your home!

Thanks for the support. Thing is it roughly works out that after cuts it costs about £500 all bills inclusive to live where I am. After debt payments (minimums) my disposable income is working out around £700. Subtracting the £500, that leavs £200 for food, clothing,fuel and extra payments . At a push I will make £100/month extra payment towards reducing my debt.

The flip side is that I move and live with my married friend for 4 months and I pay him £100 (contribution towards food etc - pride wouldnt let me freeload that much!) If I increase and allow a maximum allowance of £200 for myself to cover extra travelling cost etc my total costs will equal £300. £700 - £300 = at least £400 extra/month towards debt payment! In 4 months thats £1600! Even paying more later (£300/month)live leave me with £200/month extra which can go towards debt!! Over the whole of 2010 thats abround £3000 in extra debt payment before overtime or other occassional extra cash!! But at what price?

I feel under pressure to do more but I love my home. Staying put makes a lot of emotionl sense....and stress! I want to stay, I really do, but my head wont stop calculating! Maybe I needed a bit of reassurance that I wasnt just being lazy!:D

Self worth and pride are turning out to be quite expensive traits! The heart says one thing, the mind tells another story...you should see the state of my calculator's buttons...they are fading out......!:rotfl:

Ah well, looks like im in for the long haul.......the war between emotion and mathematical logic continues. A tiny bit more procrastination and I'll be done - I have handed in and cancelled my notice twice in the last month! At the moment, its appears its in coz I just noticed a 'TO LET' board has been erected outside - PANIC!!

Estate agent probably thinks Im loopy!:p.....they are probably right!

Im so stressed its almost funny. Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

tygar2

RAS wrote: »

if they are only pretty maxxed, could you shift even £50 of the overdraft onto the cards as this will make a differenc eover time.

Also, you are essentially borrowing your credit union money at 26% APR, so pay most of that into the OD, UNLESS this is money you are budgetting for specific purposes (the monthly road tax say) and a very small buffer.

Hi. The credit union stash is the emergency fund. Also, after 3 months they allow you to borrow up to 3 times what you have saved (i.e. my £600 could equal a max loan of £1800).

Credit union interest rates are 1% month meaning its around 12% APR. My plan was that when my 3 months are up (January) I would borrow £1200 from them and pay off the 26% RBS overdraft!Essentially I will owe them only £600 as they already have £600 of mine! The plan is to repay the loan within a year using all availble extra cash. I know I can do it in months really.

Credit Unions dont charge application fees, late payment fees or early repayment fees or overpayment fees. If I repay the £1200 I will still have my emergency fund! After repaying I can do it again and again while growing my emergency fund. Most town have a local one. Check them out.

Hope thats of help to someone and thanks for your help!

RAS

Hi

The possibilty of doing that with the CU did occur to me but I wondered whether you wou;d be considered to have too much credit already? If it works, great.

On the other hand, if you can switch any of the OD to one of the cards now, you can start saving money on that now.

tygar2

RAS wrote: »

Hi

The possibilty of doing that with the CU did occur to me but I wondered whether you wou;d be considered to have too much credit already? If it works, great.

On the other hand, if you can switch any of the OD to one of the cards now, you can start saving money on that now.

Yeah. You might be right. Will see what the credit union says. If they say no then Ill just use what I have saved with them.

I didnt know you could transfer an overdraft balance onto a credit card. Is that right? Or have I just misunderstood.

Thanks for the advice!

LondonBoy

tygar2 wrote: »

Hi. The other assets is my disco equipment which I use to try and make extra cash. I've downsised it already and will sell the lot if buisness fizzles out.

Hi, i have never posted on here before but read your story yesterday afternoon before i left work and had a think about it on the walk home.
I feel you shouldn't sell your assets (DJ Equipment) as this is a potential money earner. I think you need to sweet the asset for all its worth, enjoy yourself and save yourself some money in the process.
It was already mentioned that your entertainment bill was high and the reasoning being your a single guy therefore socialising down the pub. I can relate to this but think you can kill two birds with one stone.
Is it possible talk to landlords about doing sets in the local pubs and clubs? They may be reluctant at first but if you offer a couple of nights free of charge you may get a taker. Just ask for travel expensive and a few free drinks in return. Not only will this get you potential further work in the pubs it may lead to getting gigs for house parties, birthdays etc. It will also get you out of the flat and socialising while spending nothing and hopefully making a few pounds in the long run.
Clearly some investment will be needed in the business in the medium term but no point investing until you get some confirmed gigs, then use the deposit money to invest in new music and the rest can go in the pot to pay the debt.
Hope this is of some help
Best of luck

tygar2

LondonBoy wrote: »

Hi, i have never posted on here before but read your story yesterday afternoon before i left work and had a think about it on the walk home.

Wow.....just come in from work and into my empty flat and was having a really low low moment. You know, those times when your optimism and drive fizzles out and it all looks totally bleak. (heatbreak and financial meltdown are a terrible mix:D).

Im in awe of the above quoted statement. You just restored my faith in people. Thanks LondonBoy, you have just made my day. Im amazed at the level of empathy total strangers can have, especially that you joined just to respond to me.....wow........the timing of that message......thank you so much to everyone who contributes on this site :beer:!

Right....enough of that..... I agree with you regarding my gear. I will use it for both financial and social gain. My main job is extremely antisocial and solitary (train driving) so I dont get out much and have very few close friends at the moment. Basically I need to rebuild my social life and my music may be my ticket, it always has been my escape. As you said, I need to maximise what I have. Thanks for your input.

Am still debating whether to move or not......loneliness is crap, financial stress is worse, uncertainty is even scarier!

Through it all, Its nice to know people care. One day I will look back and laugh at this.

Thanks everyone! Hope you are all having a good day!

katsu

You can do this. You have done so well in reducing your debt like you have.

Giving up your home is a big risk. Only you can decide if going for the risk of ending up couch surfing etc is worth the debt reduction. Only other thought is would you be less lonely living with your friend?

I really think the DJing is the way to go to make friends and reduce your debt.

Go for it and good luck.