As my name suggests its time to face it :(

Butti

Hi
Lets face it. Well done on getting started. Just wanted to say it's good that you want to sort out your debts but it's also good that your parents have offered to help. At least the offer is there if it is absolutely needed.

B

Wee_Pilsbury

The satellite package is for my broadband and phone also and is with Sky including the Sports package. I would rather cut my entertainment down than lose my sports package as Im only going to be tempted to watch the football and boxing at the local and I watch alot of sports so keeps me in the house so to speak.


Letsfaceit, if you have a modern television with built in Freeview you can get ESPN on Top-Up TV. (You can get a freeview box that lets you do it too.) Costs £9.99 a month and they are showing lots of footie, even Premiership games. Might be worth considering along with one of the really good, cheap broadband deals out there.

MrsTinks

How big is the house? Could you get a lodger in?
My ex is a paramedic and I know that often with people starting in the service etc there are a lot of them lodging with each other. Is this a possibility?
Either drop your entertainment or seriously reduce your Sky package... Stop texting so much on your phone too! Can you look at any bolt ons that might reduce the cost of your texting?
Food - I know how hard it can be when you´re on shifts to not just grab a sandwhich or something easy between shouts but you need to reduce your food bill... sandwiches from home they won´t kill you
Can you pick up an extra shifts, any private work like the large festivals etc that hire in paramedics for the weekend/week to provide cover?

If you could get a lodger from work that might also mean you could share lifts to work when your shifts match up etc so there could be another saving...

letsfaceit

Thanks for all the ideas - The FREEVIEW one with ESPN is one Im looking into today!!!! - It hadn't even crossed my mind.
Id love to have got a lodger in but my house is only 2 bedroom and the second room is my daughters who will be staying with me shortly which will reduce my child maintaenence payments but will obviously balance out with the living costs/days out we'll be having together.
Unfortunately at present 90% of the overtime has been cut in the current financial climate which makes things difficult. Im just finding it really hard to work out where this extra ££ to pay these items off will come from. I know I have to be more disciplined with my spending and I am awful with money, probably the worst out of all my peers, I just find if I have money in my pocket I HAVE to spend as childish as that sounds!!

Pinky15

Just wanted to say Hi! and well done for taking the first step we have all been there. Try popping over to the oldstyle board they have some great tips for saving money on food I reckon you could easily knock £200 off that bill.
As someone else said could you take a lodger in that would hellp knock down some the debt?

Verbatim

If the issue is partly "if it's there I spend it" it sounds as if you need to plan. Set up direct debits to one or several savings accounts with a different provider from your bank, (so it's harder/ takes longer to transfer back to your current account) for all the stuff you need to save for (road tax, car maintenance, TV licence, emergencies) and dds for all your debts. Try to make sure they all go out straight after you're paid.
Planning ahead what you are going to eat and how much it will cost will also give you a better chance of staying within your budget.

MORPH3US

OP, have you ever thought of *cough* watching football / boxing free online *cough*....

what was I saying?!? Oh never mind, its gone.....

slig

If you are at least £400 short each month then you need to be making big changes not small ones unfortunately, unless you can bring in significant extra money. Otherwise the debt spiral will just get worse and worse. To start with you need to be aiming to make minimum payments on your debts and not adding to them, and once you get to this stage you can start to look at how you can overpay your debts to get rid of them quicker. It'll be tough but you can do it; have a read of some of the success stories here if you ever need inspiraration or a bit of a push. Good luck. Here are a few suggestions.

letsfaceit wrote: »

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1672
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1672
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 246
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 54
Electricity............................. 10
Gas..................................... 32
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 50 Agh. When will you be able to reduce this? There are PAYG deals that give unlimited texts and internet with a £10 monthly top up, so the £10 can be spent on calls. Also, if you have an iphone I think there is an ap that effectively gives you free texts, I can't remember what it is called though. Otherwise, text less, facebook more!
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 67 I think if you really want to tackle the debt you need to reduce this to the minimum you can.
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 This is a lot. I spend approx £80 a month on me and that's having whatever I want rather than scrimping. You're probably feeding your daughter too sometimes, but even so I think you could at least halve this.
Clothing................................ 20 You can't afford this at the moment
Petrol/diesel........................... 200 Any way you could use the car a bit less?
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0 You need to budget for these car related things or else you will have to put them on credit next time round.
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 214
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 25
Other insurance......................... 18
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15 Do you need to spend this much every month? You can't afford to really. Can you restrict to just presents for your daughter (birthday and Christmas only) for now?
Haircuts................................ 8
Entertainment........................... 100 I think you have to reduce this to the absolute minimum (£0 really, or a tenner if you don't think 0 is possible) for a while til you start to make a dent in your debt. Can you invite your friends round to yours instead of going out (and get them to bring their own beer), etc?
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1321

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 120000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 3000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 123000

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 117000...(246)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 117000....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Credit Union...................17000.....401.......0 What are the aprs?
Virgin.........................4400......100.......0
CitiCard.......................4000......97........0
Student Loan...................5000......107.......0
Tesco Card.....................1800......50........0
Total unsecured debts..........32200.....755.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,672
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,321
Available for debt repayments........... 351
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 755
Amount short for making debt repayments. -404
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 123,000
Total HP & Secured debt................. -117,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -32,200
Net Assets.............................. -26,200

Re the BUPA - you cannot afford this, get rid ASAP. It is not an essential and you can only afford essentials at present.

Re a lodger. Could you convert the lounge into a bedroom for you, and rent the main bedroom out? Not ideal but you could just do it short term and see how it goes. You could sleep in your daughters room when she is not there and in the lounge when she is.

misscousinitt

Hi

Have you got anything you can sell to make a dent in the Tesco Card? ebay, amazon, car boots etc... The quicker you can get rid of the smallest debt, the better, it will give you a boost and free up £50 per month.

Agree with the others about Mobile, TV, Groceries, Clothes, Entertainment, BUPA etc... you have to find the money from somewhere and these are the obvious areas you need to make cuts to help balance the budget.

Your petrol is quite high too? Any particular reason for this? Is it all essential?

Good Luck.

MORPH3US

Slig is spot on... if you are £400 short each month and are serious about getting yourself sorted then you MUST be strong and firm...

For example your £60 a month gym membership - we can all appreciate what you are saying about "needing it" because its preparing you for your triathlon, but seriously, I cannot see why you do "need" it...

Unless you are in the pool every day then paying as you go at a local council run place would be fine for the swimming and then just run / cycle at home (machines - I got an exercise bike from ebay for £20) or outside preferably....

Join a club / internet forum with like minded people who can tell you how much and when you should be training, much better than a gym IMHO.

I hate to bring this up but to emphasise your situation.... whilst you are on an interest only mortgage you should also be paying into a repayment vehicle or else in 25 / 30 years you will still owe what you started off owing.

I would also agree with using the car less if at all possible (or preferably not at all and sell it) - only you can honestly say how much this can be done.

I would ditch the Sky sports definitely (watch matches online) and the whole sky tv package although I accept that you may need your internet so might have to think carefully before cancelling sky altogether if you can get a cheaper internet deal elsewhere first.

Same for entertainment - I think I only spend about £50 a month on entertainment - never hardly go out at all and i'm not even in debt so you should definitely reduce that if possible.

A lodger would be a huge help and I can't see any reason why your daughter can't sleep in a room with her dad, or as someone else said, sleep in the lounge...

It'll be bloody tough but it'll be worth it when its all paid back and you can spend money on yourself and your daughter instead of stupid debts. Its all about short term pain for long term gain... questions is how much "pain" are you willing to take now to make that pain shorter than it could be.