Right here goes. HELP NEWBIE

berni1310

I am finally facing up to my ever growing debt, I seem to have been stuck in this rut for around 4 years or maybe longer.
I am not very good with money it just seems to go and I'm not a spendaholic, I do have 3 kids to support so its not always easy to budget. I need to start thinking things through properly.
I have listed my sos below, I have included everything and on paper there should be no reason for me to be in debt...

monthly incoming
salary £500
maintanence £180
tax credits £670
child benifit £117
total £1467

Outgoings monthly
Rent £316
water £23
gas £22
ele £37
tv lic £11
sky £18
coun tax £ 79
broadband £17
phone £40
mobile £25
car insur £12
home insur £10
card payments £115
food £300
petrol £30
total £1055 So I should have approx 400 left but where is it...

Debts (cards)
Abbey £2500 0% till 04/07
Virgin £816 0% till 04/07
Bos £1852 0% till 02/07
marks & spensor £1400 0% till 11/06
total £6568 Arrrrgh!!!!

scottishspendaholic

Hi berni,

Welcome to MSE.

Can you post your monthly outgoings too? This will help everyone to help you.

This is a uesful thread for help in doing this - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280.

scottishspendaholic x

james32_uk

To be honest you dont look in that bad shape. However you obviously have things missing from your outgoings otherwise you'd be rolling in £400 per month.

I suggest you make a note of EVERYTHING you spend this month and that should give you a clearer picture. It looks like with a few months cutting back you could get that debt right down.

isgman

As above, work out "What you spend" each month (Everything that is not on your "list") the £400 "must be someplace".. Welcome to DFW glad to see you.

Annie_Fanny

How much are you paying per month to your debts? Minimum payments?

You need to keep a spending diary and track everything you spend even a packet of chewing gum! Alot of people find the £10 taken out of a cash machine to buy a magazine for £2.50 effectively wipes out the £10 because you tend buy additional items that you don't really need or want like sweets, crisps, drinks, papers etc etc but that £10 just burns a hole in your pocket!

The best bet would probably be to 'snowball' your payments in terms of nearest date so that you get the debt paid off before the 0% period runs out. So therefore you would hit the M&S debt first - try and hit it with the £400 that goes missing each month!

Good luck!

Annie

CLAPTON

as already suggested ...start to keep a spending diary and write down absolutely everything you spend..also think about all the annual or one off costs that you're likely to have to pay over the next 12 months (divide these by 12 and add to your budget, because you need to save this amount each month so you can pay the bills when they occur) so a few things that may be missing...you have three children but you have no school related costs...do the kids get birthday/xmas presents..do they attend other kids parties and need to take presents etc. any school outings, what about clothes / shoes..what do you spend during the summer holidays..any trips outs, treats etc do you pay for any child activities, any child care costs, haircuts, school lunches, pocket money:
you pay car insurance but what about car tax, mot, servicing some savings for the occasional new tyre/exhaust etc.?

berni1310

Some good advice given cheers.
I will begin that diary tommorow and I'm gona start saving £2 coins but I don't know how far i'll get I'll have to hide them from the kids.
I must have missed of stuff, it'll be things like the car and personal spending and money for the kids

LookingAhead

berni1310 wrote:

Some good advice given cheers.
I will begin that diary tommorow and I'm gona start saving £2 coins but I don't know how far i'll get I'll have to hide them from the kids.
I must have missed of stuff, it'll be things like the car and personal spending and money for the kids

Spending diaries are the best!! I love mine. Reminds me not to be so foolish with cash when I read it back over a few weeks at a time. The last time I did I was almost sick with shock when I realised just what I had spent and how much of it was me indulging myself. That's not to say I am perfect now but I am making conscious decisions with my purchases and making sure I get something back along the way i.e. shopping via Quidco or Pigsback, getting Nectar or Tesco points etc and I stick to shopping lists and fight myself not to go off on a tangent in the Supermarket! :rotfl:

Remember to consider things like:

Prescriptions
Dentist
Birthdays & Christmas
Kids parties
Kids summer Holiday activities
Lottery?
Haircuts & products/toiletries
Stamps & postage (if you EBAY/Amazon sell)
Shoes & Repairs, Dry Cleaning, Clothes
Personal care i.e. waxing
Babysitters?

Just a few ideas for starters....it all adds up and you need to track every penny.

Just as an idea, I have started banking all my saved coppers & 5p coins along with any "spare" bigger coinage change I may have in my purse, so it saves me frittering it away on silly things.

Good luck and I hope the OS board can help bring that food bill down for you - and of course we like to add what we can when we can