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My LightBulb Moment... Newbie
2brownboots
Posts: 19 Forumite
I've been managing my debts & following the boards for some time, but recently had my lightbulb moment just after OH & i agreed to a finance plan on a (nearly) new car! (yes we went through with it)
I appreciate that my/ our debts are no-where near as big, or as stressing as those that others have...
The debts started when i was an under-graduate, gradually increasing as i followed further courses in pursuit of my chosen career (architect), and trying to eek out a living, and a few fits of spending for the sake of it.
OH proposed last November, and our goal is to be free of our personal debts by the wedding Day (Aug.'07) - leaving just the mortgage & the outstanding car finance - we want to be able to pay for our own wedding day without taking any loans, so our task is to pay off our personal debts AND save for the wedding!
Although it would be no bad thing if we took out a small short term loan (say no more than £5k over 12 months), SO LONG as we've paid off the other debts...
The bigger plan is then to save for the car finance balloon payment (pay it all off sooner if we can), set up our retirement plans, over-pay the mortgage & set OH up in business, and eventually start a family - not necessariliy in that order! So we will be posting on other boards in the future...
BTW i'm 28 & OH is 34...
Our joint SOA looks healthy, although there is room to reduce grocery & non-essential costs, which i'm still looking at.
It's my personal one that needs more thought (and his - but i'll post that another time)! Any more suggestions, on how i can reduce my debts sooner?
We've already had a clearout & eBayed/ car booted it (made nearly £200!). I could take on private work but the compulsory Professional Idemnity Insurance cost is probhitive to what i'd actually have the time to do (and therefore earn).
I'm not bothered about the SLC as its rate is so low, and repayments are affordable. Personal debt is as signature
Net. salary - £1820 pcm min. also sometimes have overtime & expenses which get chucked straight at overdraft & cc (where they originated).
Joint account contribution standing order - £800 This account covers mortgage, car finance, bills, groceries, gym membership, sky, phone & broadband, i.e all 'household' stuff
Cash ISA s/o - £150 (emergency fund)
Online savings s/o - £100, Bal. £650 - travel to NZ in Feb '07 for best friends' wedding (need £1.5k to cover flights, accom., food etc). After Feb this will go to wedding savings or debts - can't decide which!
Regular Saver s/o - £100, Bal £0 - Annual stuff - car, birthdays, christmas, holidays etc. Have just paid for lots of things, though...
Wedding Savings s/o - £5 (eBay dresses methinks)
SLC (old mortgage style) repayments d/d - £117.06 min.
CC d/d - £100 (will start snowballing this & Cahoot Loan properly this month)
Cahoot Loan d/d - £200 (min. £62)
Mobile Phone d/d - used to be £35, should now come down to around £23 (in Aug) with recent tariff change & customer discount (I'm useless with PAYG - never any credit)
Life Insurance d/d - £42 (my job affects this!)
Weekly pocket money (every Friday) £20 (socialising, cinema, taxis, coffees, occasional lunch, stamps, £2 Pig, etc)
Haircut (every other month) OR clothes - £35 My hair is naturally curly & requires a good cut - could try reducing cost though (like not being blow dried - then £28). Like all architects i wear mainly black, so i don't think anyone will notice if i don't buy new clothes for a while - its just the shoes & handbags i have to resist!
Toiletries/ Cosmetics/ repeat prescriptions - approx. £20 (can vary by +/- £5)
Total = £1784.06 The overdraft seems to absorb the remaining funds - Think i'll hang onto all my receipts & see if i'm still overspending!
So end of Aug, i should have at least £54 left from my income, maybe even £82 (bye-bye OD in Oct'06?)
Oh yeah & the £2 pig gets fed regularly too - £10 this weekend! We've decided that this is our honeymoon fund - so far off-season camping in Wales - we want to go to Fiji!!
I also still have other cc's all at Bal. £0, left over from tarting - Capital One Platinum (limit £4k), MBNA Platinum (limit £10k!!) & Lloyds TSB Asset Platinum (online Bal. says £3.5k, paper statement says 0???) - Worth hanging onto the best rate & cancelling the others?
Thanks in advance, Peeps!
I appreciate that my/ our debts are no-where near as big, or as stressing as those that others have...
The debts started when i was an under-graduate, gradually increasing as i followed further courses in pursuit of my chosen career (architect), and trying to eek out a living, and a few fits of spending for the sake of it.
OH proposed last November, and our goal is to be free of our personal debts by the wedding Day (Aug.'07) - leaving just the mortgage & the outstanding car finance - we want to be able to pay for our own wedding day without taking any loans, so our task is to pay off our personal debts AND save for the wedding!
Although it would be no bad thing if we took out a small short term loan (say no more than £5k over 12 months), SO LONG as we've paid off the other debts...
The bigger plan is then to save for the car finance balloon payment (pay it all off sooner if we can), set up our retirement plans, over-pay the mortgage & set OH up in business, and eventually start a family - not necessariliy in that order! So we will be posting on other boards in the future...
BTW i'm 28 & OH is 34...
Our joint SOA looks healthy, although there is room to reduce grocery & non-essential costs, which i'm still looking at.
It's my personal one that needs more thought (and his - but i'll post that another time)! Any more suggestions, on how i can reduce my debts sooner?
We've already had a clearout & eBayed/ car booted it (made nearly £200!). I could take on private work but the compulsory Professional Idemnity Insurance cost is probhitive to what i'd actually have the time to do (and therefore earn).
I'm not bothered about the SLC as its rate is so low, and repayments are affordable. Personal debt is as signature
Net. salary - £1820 pcm min. also sometimes have overtime & expenses which get chucked straight at overdraft & cc (where they originated).
Joint account contribution standing order - £800 This account covers mortgage, car finance, bills, groceries, gym membership, sky, phone & broadband, i.e all 'household' stuff
Cash ISA s/o - £150 (emergency fund)
Online savings s/o - £100, Bal. £650 - travel to NZ in Feb '07 for best friends' wedding (need £1.5k to cover flights, accom., food etc). After Feb this will go to wedding savings or debts - can't decide which!
Regular Saver s/o - £100, Bal £0 - Annual stuff - car, birthdays, christmas, holidays etc. Have just paid for lots of things, though...
Wedding Savings s/o - £5 (eBay dresses methinks)
SLC (old mortgage style) repayments d/d - £117.06 min.
CC d/d - £100 (will start snowballing this & Cahoot Loan properly this month)
Cahoot Loan d/d - £200 (min. £62)
Mobile Phone d/d - used to be £35, should now come down to around £23 (in Aug) with recent tariff change & customer discount (I'm useless with PAYG - never any credit)
Life Insurance d/d - £42 (my job affects this!)
Weekly pocket money (every Friday) £20 (socialising, cinema, taxis, coffees, occasional lunch, stamps, £2 Pig, etc)
Haircut (every other month) OR clothes - £35 My hair is naturally curly & requires a good cut - could try reducing cost though (like not being blow dried - then £28). Like all architects i wear mainly black, so i don't think anyone will notice if i don't buy new clothes for a while - its just the shoes & handbags i have to resist!
Toiletries/ Cosmetics/ repeat prescriptions - approx. £20 (can vary by +/- £5)
Total = £1784.06 The overdraft seems to absorb the remaining funds - Think i'll hang onto all my receipts & see if i'm still overspending!
So end of Aug, i should have at least £54 left from my income, maybe even £82 (bye-bye OD in Oct'06?)
Oh yeah & the £2 pig gets fed regularly too - £10 this weekend! We've decided that this is our honeymoon fund - so far off-season camping in Wales - we want to go to Fiji!!
I also still have other cc's all at Bal. £0, left over from tarting - Capital One Platinum (limit £4k), MBNA Platinum (limit £10k!!) & Lloyds TSB Asset Platinum (online Bal. says £3.5k, paper statement says 0???) - Worth hanging onto the best rate & cancelling the others?
Thanks in advance, Peeps!
PO CC: gone!; HFC/pc loan: gone!; Cahoot Flexi. Loan: gone! Overdraft: gone! Mint CC: gone!
MBNA (new since LBM!): £100 going this month!
Natwest CC: £4.1k@0%('til July); SLC Loan: £2k@4.8%;
Savings:£5k+
Shared Debt (with OH): £15k@10.7% & £82k@4.9%mortgage
MBNA (new since LBM!): £100 going this month!
Natwest CC: £4.1k@0%('til July); SLC Loan: £2k@4.8%;
Savings:£5k+
Shared Debt (with OH): £15k@10.7% & £82k@4.9%mortgage
0
Comments
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Start a spending diary so you can see where your cash really goes!
And hang on - i'm sure more help will be along soon....2021 Decluttering Awards: ⭐⭐🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇 2022 Decluttering Awards: 🥇
2023 Decluttering Awards: 🥇 🏅🏅🥇
2024 Decluttering Awards: 🥇⭐
2025 Decluttering Awards: ⭐⭐0 -
Welcome to DFW. someone should be able to help.. just hang on.. :-):beer: Keep your Chin up.. it can only get better :beer:
I'm one of those people who was born to have money, but I just don't have any!0 -
Why why why why why have you got money in savings earning you 4.55% when you have debt and are paying 15.9% for the privilege of it??? <<Scream>>
Please please please read Martin Lewis' article on this commonly made mistake especially note 'Are you ready to start saving?'
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103213261,45760,
You really would be much better off paying off your debts and starting from scratch.
Also you should knock Sky and your gym membership on the head.
Sorry if I sound harsh but words fail me.
P.S. your overdraft is probably costing you somewhere in the region of 18% as well unless you have a student/graduate account or a 0% introductory offer one."Debt makes plans for you" - A quote from my friend Catherine. How true!0 -
SAVING MONEY WHEN YOU HAVE DEBT COSTS YOU MONEY! really!
Use those savings to pay off the 15.4%apr debt for starters, in fact pay as much as possible off on all your debts and pile every single peny you have in towards paying off your debts before you start saving for your wedding. £1700 to go to your best friends wedding seems a tad much - I could arrange a wedding with 150 guests for less than that! Make sure that you at the very least get something out of it like frequent flyer miles, casback etc maybe money off vouchers for your own honeymoon?
I know your best friend is important but push come to shove then you are looking at spending money on attending a wedding when you will be struggling with affording your own... Just a thought...DFW Nerd #025DFW no more! Officially debt free 2017 - now joining the MFW's!
My DFW Diary - blah- mildly funny stuff about my journey0 -
I agree re the savings v loans. You don't seem to have any problmes getting credit so pay off all debts you can now using savings, then concentrate on savings and apply for 0% CC nearer the wedding. You really are throwing money away at the mo.
What about the £800 contribution? We need that broken down so we can give advice on savings.
Love the honeymoon fund though.... monthly updates on geographical location please !!!!
Welcome by the way!!!A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort Mortgage Balance = £0
"Do what others won't early in life so you can do what others can't later in life"0 -
you need to post a full SoA...i.e. one that include the '£800' , there may well be opportunities to reduce spending there.
where is car tax, insurance, servicing, AA/RAC, petrol?
i very confused about your level of debt, you quote £7,700 in your signature but surely your actual level of debt =£7,700 plus the car loan plus the bubble payment....so what is the real total? you seem to be saying that the car loan is somehow less real than the CC debts are?
also confused about being 'debt free' except for perhaps borrowing an extra £5,000..how is that debt free?
as already said it really makes little sense saving at 4.55% (gross or is it taxed) and borrowing at 15.9% e.g. you cc bill of 1,700 costs £270 in interest per year where savings of 1700 at 4.55% give £77 per year (or only £ 61 if taxed)...also find out the interest rate on the overdraft and find out what rate you will be paying on the cahoot loan in August 06.
so go back to basics
post a full SoA
post full details of debts including car and bubble payment
get all the APRs
reduce expensive debt by using savings
without wanting to intrude into personal issues but at 28 you may be thinking of starting a family in a few years ....for this you should be thinking totally debt free (except mortgage) and actually lots of savings to lessen the income lose and expense of children.0 -
I :heart2: CLAPTON"Debt makes plans for you" - A quote from my friend Catherine. How true!0
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Yep... you're all right i do need the FULL SOA (i hang my head in shame) - that'll take a little longer to go through properly...
And yes the savings... could easily wipe out a loan/ cc (highest rate 1st of course) . I should sort that out ASAP to avoid more unnecessary interest!
The Wedding can be done on a budget... (we don't particularly want big or flash)
have already collected a number airmiles/ other points that could be used for trip to NZ, or our honeymoon, just need to work out how many & what they're worth...
Thanks for the butt kicking - obviously much needed - i had a horrible feeling i was still seeing sand around my head!
Will get back to you soon as SOA is more substantial...
2BBPO CC: gone!; HFC/pc loan: gone!; Cahoot Flexi. Loan: gone! Overdraft: gone! Mint CC: gone!
MBNA (new since LBM!): £100 going this month!
Natwest CC: £4.1k@0%('til July); SLC Loan: £2k@4.8%;
Savings:£5k+
Shared Debt (with OH): £15k@10.7% & £82k@4.9%mortgage0 -
Sorry not really to do with the grand figure, but a little advice nonetheless!!
It's our 1st wedding anniversary this weekend - weeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeee.
Our beautiful day cost just £6000 and our honeymoon was paid for by our guests as we didn't have a wedding list - we'd been living together for 4 years and didn't really need anything. Whenever anyone asked we just said that cash would be really helpful to go towards our honeymoon. I admit it's a really hard thing to ask for but everyone (and I mean everyone) thought it was a brilliant idea. We had our 10 day honeymoon in Ibiza last July in a 4 star hotel with the most beautiful views.
Good luck with everything and definitely keep your eyes peeled on MSE for brilliant wedding ideas. I didn't know about this website last year but seemed to do a canny job moneysaving anyway! Must be in me blood!!!
Cheers!
TDEBT FREE SINCE SEPTEMBER 2015 :beer::beer::beer:0 -
dirtyepic wrote:Sorry not really to do with the grand figure, but a little advice nonetheless!!
It's our 1st wedding anniversary this weekend - weeeeeeeeeeheeeeeeeee.
Our beautiful day cost just £6000 and our honeymoon was paid for by our guests as we didn't have a wedding list - we'd been living together for 4 years and didn't really need anything. Whenever anyone asked we just said that cash would be really helpful to go towards our honeymoon. I admit it's a really hard thing to ask for but everyone (and I mean everyone) thought it was a brilliant idea. We had our 10 day honeymoon in Ibiza last July in a 4 star hotel with the most beautiful views.
Good luck with everything and definitely keep your eyes peeled on MSE for brilliant wedding ideas. I didn't know about this website last year but seemed to do a canny job moneysaving anyway! Must be in me blood!!!
Cheers!
T
I'm pretty sure a wedding could be done for a few hundred(AKA HRH_MUngo)
Member #10 of £2 savers club
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton0
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