My SOA- feel free to rip apart..

savingmummy

You need to do the SOA 100% accurate.
Groceries is too low so i`m guessing your spending more then £50 a mth. If your spending extras here and there to top up you need to include this or stop doing so.
Just do one shop buying all you need, stops the overspending by popping into a shop for just bread and coming out with bags of bits!

Entertainment needs to be included, magazines, newspapers, take outs, pub, cinema, dvd etc all add up and is probably why you have no money left even though your soa states you do! So your spending diary should help you regarding where the remaining goes each month.

Apart from those 2 things the rest is ok, so it is now a matter of cutting back and throwing the remaining each month at the debts.
Good luck xx

psychopathbabble

I got an account with Halifax with no overdraft, and they turned me down for a loan so I tihnk if you get a basic bank account they don't take your credit rating into account so much.

You seem to getting on track though... I need to get back on it, I've lost my way for a couple of months now!

welshangel

kaz0705 wrote: »

and used one of the tools to see which cards are likely to accept me for 0%- capital

What did you use for this please? x

Youdontseeme

Do you have a water meter? I am also in London, and couldn't get one fitted but some one on here told me about a scheme by Thames Water called the Assessed Household Charge which for me is now which now only costs me about £17 a month as opposed to the £34 I was paying.

So it might be worth giving them a call.

Good luck!

Poosmate

Hi Kaz, welcome and congratulations on posting your SOA.

As others have said, it's not looking to bad (apart from the grocery and entertainment costs being too low/missing).

Well done on opening a second current account for your bills, I've done this for years so I know everything is paid for and I can't accidentally spend money I then need for the gas or leccy bill. The peace of mind it gives is priceless.

Regarding putting your weekly spends into a savings account, if that's what works for you then fine. I found that what was left in my "main" current account was what I could spend but I was always in my overdraft. I have moved my overdraft to a lower % APR now and am making inroads into paying that off as with my other debts.

I know having savings is kind of frowned upon whilst having debts but to me, having nothing saved would mean putting car tax, insurance, MOT, new fridges etc, back on a CC which is partly what got me into my mess in the first place. I started saving just £15 per month into an ISA. Last year was the first year I didn't put all of my annual expenses on my CC! How liberating was that!

I had to pay my car insurance on the CC because the MOT was a nightmare, but I went through a cashback site and will get £70 next week which will be paid straight onto my CC.

My water rates are paid over 8 months (Apr-Nov) and Council tax over 10 months from my "bills" account so more money stays in that account than goes out over those months. Last year I had to use this "spare" money to bail out my other current account (again from an absoultely disasterous MOT) but this year I am going to be able to use it to chip a little more off my CC. Yay!

Like I say, whatever works for you.

Well done and good luck

Poo

kaz0705

Hi guys! Thanks for the new comments! I've had quite a good few days since my light bulb moment!

I took the plunge and tried to get the A&L 0% overdraft acc (with £100) and got accepted!!!! Plus i did it through topcashback so am up £145 (eventually) and will be saving £6 or so a month in overdraft fees (for a year anyway!). I figured that as I know i can't get a loan/ creditcard, it didn't matter if I got another decline on my report as none of my debt was going anywhere fast... BUT! I got accepted. So was very happy with that (almost justified sitting in on Saturday night on my own).

Another thing that wasn incredibly useful was the snowball calculator. Not only did it give me hope that I might be debt free in just over 2 years, it gave me the specific 'extra' amounts i need to be paying each month. I've printed it out and carry it everywhere with me to remind me that i probably don't need *that* [insert shoes/ clothes/ meal out/ bottle of wine] :-)

The spending diary is helping a lot and have already saved money because i didn't want to have towrite down some 'unnecessary spending'... But I've also managed to noticed extras that should be in my SOA. So will be able to update that a bit more sensibly next month (travel to see friends, birthdays 10 months ut of 12(!), toiletries etc).

Welsh Angel, I'm really sorry, can't remember off hand where I found the link. I'm almost certain it would be on one of the 'poor credit' section of the creditcard pages on the main site.... It was definitely on here somewhere but have been quite the explorer over the past few days so can't remember exactly where. If i find it tomorrow, I'll PM you.

Youdontseeme- excellent tip! I'll speak to them tomorrow. Do you know if you need landlord permission?

Psychopathbabble- understandable you've lost your way over the past few months; Christmas and the aftermath is never kind! But your signature is looking good (mostly!) so don't worry too much! :-)

Am off to a pub quiz tonight (£1 spend as determined to drink tap water all night and i might even come away with a profit!!) so will bid you all good night.


Have a good one everyone! :-)

Kaz

xxx

shebrett

Hi Kaz

You remind me of my stepson in the way you spend. Your SOA is very sensible from what I can see but it seems as thought the left overs just .... disappear

We've been helping my husband's son to budget and have found that the best tip for him was to pay for all his groceries and going out in cash only. I know it's one of those old fashoined boring tips but it's a good one for those who spend the way he does.

I would suggest you work out the amounts for all your bills and pay them in full once a month (gas, elec, water etc). Then decide what you honestly think you can live on each week and make sure that you ONLY take out that much from the bank and then don't touch the rest until the next week's installment. I wouldn't do it by the month as you might be more likely to run out.

We find that SS manages well this way and if he spends too much one day then it's only a short wait for the next installment and all the bills are already done so he can't get behind on that side..... we also keep hold of his card for him and just drop the cash off each week so that he can't give in to temptation

I don't know if it helps at all and I know it's a little obvious as you seem to understand what's needed. It seems to me that you really just need those little tweeks to make sure you suit your budget around your "spending personality" and make sure you put rules in place to stop any bad habits from getting in the way.

It might be an idea to think about a second job for a couple of years as well, just until you get the debt to a level you are happy with.

Good luck with it, it's never fun to look at all the debt but you'll get there.

D

DCFC79

kaz when you go shopping have you tried buying reduced items eg mince and freeze it in portions for say chilli or pasta etc, reduced loafs of bread/rolls and then freeze when you get in. Do you shop at aldi or lidl or is there 1 close to you

kaz0705

Shebrett I totally agree with the idea of cash only and will do that from tomorrow- normally i just try to add up all the times i've used my debitcard to figure out what i've spent and, weirdly, that's rarely accurate! :rotfl:. I think i just needed a wake up call on my spending habits so am hoping it's all going to be looking better soon.

DCFC79- I made chilli today!! Spooky! I often buy reduced items and try to cook in bulk for lunches and stuff. I'm generally pretty good at it and am happy enough eating chilli every day for a week if needs be . I don't have an aldi or lidl near me; my two nearest stores are sainsburys local and tesco express! Neither good for price or range! But have just found out that the nearest Adsa (a bus ride away) does delivery... Sounds a bit extravagant but delivery means I can get everything in one go (instead of what i can carry which means heading back most evenings for something else) and asda is much cheaper so am hoping that might reduce the bills somewhat.

I've only been doing my spending diary for 5days now and some clear 'black holes' are appearing. Although, i thought i'd be good at the pub this evening and just have a blackcurrent and soda.... Then got charged £1.45!!!!!!!!!! :eek: Was too shocked to argue! Considering soda's free, that's £1.45 for a shot of blackcurrent squash. Outraged is a word i'd use!

Unfortunately, stuff like that is a bit 'lesson learned'; never order a soft drink in Clapham! :beer:

Night for now.

Kaz

x

DCFC79

You seem to have sorted yourself out and seem pretty clued up