Well here I am

redlady_1

Long time lurker, finally come out of the closet. I am in debt to the tune of £5k however, I have just bought a house and that explains alot of it. The reason I am here is because I want to pay it off asap and you guys have lots of hints and tips. Im going to sell all my old gold, ebay is my friend and any other suggestions of making extra cash would be appreciated. The overpayments of the debt will be funded by any extra cash I can get my hands on. The sooner it is gone, the sooner I can start on the mortgage.

Whilst I appreciate its not that bad and Im not in any kind of trouble, now I have the house, money is tight. Im still managing to save £150 per month (which covers bills as I dont like dd's) however, I am considering reducing this to £100 and paying an extra £50 off the credit card. I need savings otherwise I flap and I am scared of being caught with an unexpected bill and not being able to pay for it.

Sorry for waffling however, I have been up since 4am as my mind just will not be quiet! Wow I am going to be fun at work today!!

Finally, I just wanted to say some of you guys are a real inspiration to anyone with any kind of debt manageable or not. I really admire the balls you have and it's driven me on to tackle my debt situation before it becomes a problem.

tealady

Hi and welcome.
I have 3 suggestions
1) Put up your SOA to see if we can help you tweak the budget
2) Start a spending diary
3) Hop over to the "Up your income" boards, loads of ideas there
HTH

schoolrunmum

Well done to you Red-ypu'll have it sorted in no time with help available on here!Re selling your gold,do shop around,there are some TERRIBLE deals about. BBC ran a piece a few months ago and there was a jewellers in Bristol area offering best prices for old gold...I found them on Google....Good luck! SRM xx

PurpleJay

Hi and welcome Well done for tacking the issue before you get in trouble too :beer:

I have only posted here a few times but have been lurking for ages and taking part in challenges too. That really helps me to keep on track.

I put my SOA up yesterday and got loads of helpful comments so it is really worth doing. It takes a couple of hours to work out your budget if you don't know it already but it will give you a good idea what you actually need for your bills. What do you have against DD btw? I have seen others say the same but I find it really helps me to budget and often saves a few quid too - it isn't like your money makes you much sat in your bank these days either.

If you aren't doing DD, you need to have a good idea when to expect your bills - put it on the calender maybe and make sure you have the money to pay (which it sounds as though you are doing).

I make a few quid on ebay and quidco and get treats with ipoints, tesco clubcard etc which helps top up. The up your income board is great. Also have a look at the old style board and Martins tips on grocery shopping - you are bound to be able to save a bit there. You may be able to find a bit of spare cash to pay of your cc sooner.

Good luck.

savingmummy

Hello and welcome.
You sound very focused which is fab start
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html
Post a Full accurate SOA and include all in comings and all outgoings, once you have done it hit the MSE button and post it here for us to see how we can help!

Regarding selling your gold be careful not to take first offer, my in laws done the `gold in bag` they offered very little so in laws refused and it was returned. They then went to Two local jewellers and was given 2 different quotes. Third jewellers they went too offered almost double overall so they went with them.

Main tips to reduce monthly outgoings for us personally is..

Council Tax - pay over 12 months not 10 months

Elec/Gas - shop for cheaper, ensure elec appliances are not on standby, change light bulbs to energy saving, sort out any draughts to help cut heating cost!

Mobiles - go payg or stop altogether. Some contract will let you cancel if you explain finances.

Car - shop around for cheap car insurance, reduce petrol where possible
No eating at work - take our own

Groceries - meal plan, stick to a shopping list each week of what we NEED, ensure we get ALL we need to stop a pop to the shops in between main shop! Drop brands, BOGOF`s and shop later to bag a bargain.

Clothing - we use what we have! Some buy new every month!!!

Sky - reduce package or go freeview

Cut back on any luxuries ie, pubs/clubs, meals out, wine/beer, takeaways, magazines, cinema, DVD rental etc.

It is suprising how much you can reduce each month

mijm0t77

Hi Redlady,

i haven't much to add at the moment, as i am quite new to the site, but can say you are in the right place. i have found great inspiration and money saving ideas on here.:)

everyone on here are very helpful and over the past few weeks i have notice my attitude towards money changing. now the saying "look after your pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves" really makes sense.

good luck in ridding your debts quickly and if its ok with you, i will join you on your mission.

redlady_1

Wow, thanks very much for the advice. I will sort the SOA asap. However, in the meantime...

I dont have a TV (only trash on there anyway so made a conscious decision not to have one once I moved)
Electric - not sure of bills at the moment as I have only been in the house a month. Having just come from rented accomodation where I was on a key meter it has given me an idea of cost but also I turned everything off as I would watch it tick down to zero!
Mobile - I swapped to a £20 per month contract with O2 as it gave me unlimited texts and I am in a group of 5 whereby if we ring or text each other (all on O2) then you dont pay anything - the OH set it up!
Car - I pay my insurance annually and this year saved £250 on it! All other maintenance costs comes out of the savings.
Pet Insurance - just changed and saved £10 per month.
The two months I wont pay on Council tax are going straight off the card.

The thing is once I bought my house I really did cull alot of stuff financially. I guess this coming month will see exactly what all of my bills should be and how much the little changes will have saved me.

I grow all my own veg and have a fab family who, when I go and visit, treat me to £50 of meat! How spoilt am I?!! That lasts me about 3 months if I plan well.

Last night though, I was so freaked at the thought of a £5k credit card I couldnt sleep. The magnitude of buying a house which is also a renovation project has finally hit home! So I tapped into the HGM thread on up your income with a view to selling the gold. However, I can see I will need to trawl the jewellers first Bristol isnt too far from me either.

I must admit to being a "products" junkie so am now using up all the stuff I have (if I can find anything with it all still being in boxes!) What has amazed me is how many cleaning products I have :eek:

The more the merrier on this little journey I say...:D And a big thank you for your advice :T