Help. I'm a new debt free wannabe and don't know where to start.

jen30_2

Hi, I've just started to work out how much me and my OH owe and i'm scared. I hadn't realised we had so much outstanding.

Here's our S.O.A

Monthly income

Mine - 720.00
OH - 1,500
Benefit 163.40

Monthly outgoings

Mortgage 347.79
Gas 39.50
Electric 36.00
TV licence 10.99
Water 19.98
c/tax 100.00
sky 21.00
ntl 17.99
life insurance 23.66
accident insurance 10.80
car insurance 59.81
car insurance 45.85
caravan insurance 16.20
phone 81.00 ( 1 landline & 2 mobiles)
student loan 75.00
My car loan 131.69
Oh car loan 120.07
caravan loan 105.91
loan 134.20
loan 216.41
egg 25.00
virgin 45.00
halifax 10.00
my overdrfat interest 19.00
Oh overdraft intersest 13.00
Car tax about 30.00
Petrol 60.00
Food 400.00




Debt

Creditcards

Egg 1,200 (limit 1,250) 0% till oct
Virgin 1,631 (limit 1,700)
Halifax 340.28 (limit 350.00)

Loans

Halifax 4321.51 outstanding, apr 9.9%, due to end 13.12.09
Abbey 5299.30 outstanding, 5.8% apr, due to end 01.2010
Blackhorse(Car) 3683.89 outstanding apr 19.5%, due to end 09.2009
Blackhorse(caravan) 2694.57 outstanding, 14.8% apr, due to end 11.2008
Allience & Leicester 6,298.83 outstanding, apr 6.9%, due to end 10.02.2009

Overdrafts

Mine 2,500.00
Oh 1,500.00

Both are at limits most of the time.

I also have student loans outsatnding of around 5,000 but these are defered till next year.

If anyone can help us that would be great.

Floss

Ok, just a few questions while we wait for the experts to come along!

How many does £400 feed - just the 2 of you? Have a look on the Moneysaving Old Style board for help with this.

Does your student loan go direct from your wage (meaning your take home figure is AFTER paying it), so have you added this in twice?

Which benefits are you on?

Why do you have Sky, NTL & landline? merge into 1 bundle - usually cheaper - NTL have a £30 offer on at the mo (but may be new customers only - ring & ask)

Also, start a spending diary so you can see where your cash goes

Welcome to the gang & well done for takingthe first step - you've just launched yourself into the DFW canyon!

jen30_2

Food bill is for 5 of us - I have 3 children aged 6,5 and 3.
Student loan is deferred , the amount I pay is for amount that built up whilst trying to get it deferred. It's around 650.00 and am paying 75.00/month.

Benefit is child allowance for 3 kids.

OH prefers sky to ntl for tv but ntl for broadband and I wnated a landline incase kids are ill. Don't really use it for outgoing calls. Use mobile instead.

mrs_mug_2

Hi! I've only just joined but managed to shave off £135 per month thanks to the guys here - hope you can do the same.

I've just called sky to cancel our subs to them. They've offered to reduce the monthly payment to £7.50 for the basic package for 6 months. Well, considering we'd have to pay 1 more lot of £20 after the subs are cancelled we thought we might as well do it and cancel after the 6 months. Can you do the same?

We also went to LIDL last night and bought a weeks worth of groceries for £38. I was pleasantly surprised by the brands and quality of the food they sell - it appears it has improved greatly over the last few years. could you give it ago to reduce your food bill?

Anyway, hope you can get some more ideas from this board.

bluezone

jen30 wrote:

Hi, I've just started to work out how much me and my OH owe and i'm scared. I hadn't realised we had so much outstanding.

Here's our S.O.A

Monthly income

Mine - 720.00
OH - 1,500
Benefit 163.40
So your total income = 2383.40

Monthly outgoings

Mortgage 347.79
Gas 39.50
Electric 36.00
TV licence 10.99
Water 19.98
c/tax 100.00
sky 21.00You cant afford this so get rid of - go with freeview
ntl 17.99
life insurance 23.66
accident insurance 10.80
car insurance 59.81
car insurance 45.85
caravan insurance 16.20
phone 81.00 ( 1 landline & 2 mobiles)This too is quite high
student loan 75.00
My car loan 131.69
Oh car loan 120.07
caravan loan 105.91
loan 134.20
loan 216.41
egg 25.00
virgin 45.00
halifax 10.00
my overdrfat interest 19.00
Oh overdraft intersest 13.00
Car tax about 30.00
Petrol 60.00
Food 400.00OMG! :eek: how many people is this for? If it is for 2 then you should be able to cut down to about 150 Sorry just seen your reply about this - I didnt realise how many people you were feeding.

At the moment your normal outgoings are 2215.85



Debt

Creditcards

Egg 1,200 (limit 1,250) 0% till oct
Virgin 1,631 (limit 1,700)
Halifax 340.28 (limit 350.00)

Loans

Halifax 4321.51 outstanding, apr 9.9%, due to end 13.12.09
Abbey 5299.30 outstanding, 5.8% apr, due to end 01.2010
Blackhorse(Car) 3683.89 outstanding apr 19.5%, due to end 09.2009
Blackhorse(caravan) 2694.57 outstanding, 14.8% apr, due to end 11.2008
Allience & Leicester 6,298.83 outstanding, apr 6.9%, due to end 10.02.2009

Overdrafts

Mine 2,500.00
Oh 1,500.00

Both are at limits most of the time.

I also have student loans outsatnding of around 5,000 but these are defered till next year.

If anyone can help us that would be great.

At the end of paying out you have 167.55 leftover. If you can even half your shopping you can have 367.55 leftover. If you get rid of sky you will then have 388.55 leftover etc. The list cann go on and on.
Others will be along shortly and I'm sure they will suggest you lose one of the cars or sell both and buy cheaper.

Use a spending diary for a month to see exactly what you spend your money on (even if its a pack of chewing gum etc)

The money that you save by halfing your shopping etc you can then throw at the highest APR card, overpay on the loans or pay it off your overdraft. I hope this helps

Regarding your OH preferring SKY to NTL tv - tell him tough you simply cant afford it

linniestorm

The others have already mentioned the main ones I'd noticed re: ntl, sky etc. so the only other thing I can see is this:

And I might be a slight killjoy in saying this, but do you really need the caravan at the minute? Wouldn't it be better to sacrifice this in the short term to pay off some of the debt and save up for a deposit on another one when you're debt free? You'd be freeing up another £122.11 per month (loan payment and insurance) and maybe a profit after you've sold it and paid off outstanding loan?

Sorry, as this may be your only source of hols for you, OH and the little uns at the moment, and don't know about early redemption penalties on the loan, but you could always use vouchers/cheap deals to do a haven/pontins thing when you're in a better financial position? Just another something to think about.

wanna-be-mortgage-free_2

jen30 wrote:

Hi, I've just started to work out how much me and my OH owe and i'm scared. I hadn't realised we had so much outstanding.

Here's our S.O.A

Monthly income

Mine - 720.00
OH - 1,500
Benefit 163.40

Monthly outgoings

Mortgage 347.79
Gas 39.50
Electric 36.00
TV licence 10.99
Water 19.98
c/tax 100.00
sky 21.00 (Is this the lowest package you can get? Try the old trick of phoning up and saying you will cancel and they may give you some kind of discount)
ntl 17.99 (ditto as above)
life insurance 23.66
accident insurance 10.80
car insurance 59.81 (May be worth considering having just one car while you try sorting your debts out)
car insurance 45.85
caravan insurance 16.20
phone 81.00 ( 1 landline & 2 mobiles) (Are you on payg? If not, I would move to it right away and only use in emergencies)
student loan 75.00
My car loan 131.69
Oh car loan 120.07
caravan loan 105.91 (would you consider selling caravan until you got debts cleared?)l
oan 134.20
loan 216.41
egg 25.00
virgin 45.00
halifax 10.00
my overdrfat interest 19.00
Oh overdraft intersest 13.00
Car tax about 30.00
Petrol 60.00
Food 400.00 (This can be cut by having a look at the oldstyle board, you could probably cut this by at least £100 each month with some careful planning and making dishes from scratch)




Debt

Creditcards

Egg 1,200 (limit 1,250) 0% till oct
Virgin 1,631 (limit 1,700)
Halifax 340.28 (limit 350.00)

Loans

Halifax 4321.51 outstanding, apr 9.9%, due to end 13.12.09
Abbey 5299.30 outstanding, 5.8% apr, due to end 01.2010
Blackhorse(Car) 3683.89 outstanding apr 19.5%, due to end 09.2009
Blackhorse(caravan) 2694.57 outstanding, 14.8% apr, due to end 11.2008
Allience & Leicester 6,298.83 outstanding, apr 6.9%, due to end 10.02.2009

Overdrafts

Mine 2,500.00
Oh 1,500.00

Both are at limits most of the time.

I also have student loans outsatnding of around 5,000 but these are defered till next year.

If anyone can help us that would be great.

Other more experienced with cc's and loans will be able to advise you further on the best course of action.

Welcome to the board :hello:

wbmf

jen30_2

We bought the caravan because it was the only way we could affrod to go on holiday with three young children. Selling it would be a last resort but something to consider. WIll getOH to phone sky & ntl and see if we can get cheaper deals. They're in his name and so they won't deal with me.

My OH and I are both terrible with money although we are both trying to improve. We shop around for best deals and try looking at carboots for things we need. 400/month for food was a rough guess. We are looking at remortgaging. Our house is worth about 90,000 and our outstanding mortgage is about 46,000. We got into this state because I was off work through ill health only got a new job in January.

Mobiles are both on contract till next year. Have just changed gas/electric supplier to reduce them, was paying 106.00/month.

Floss

jen30 wrote:

Food bill is for 5 of us - I have 3 children aged 6,5 and 3.
Student loan is deferred , the amount I pay is for amount that built up whilst trying to get it deferred. It's around 650.00 and am paying 75.00/month.

Benefit is child allowance for 3 kids.

OH prefers sky to ntl for tv but ntl for broadband and I wnated a landline incase kids are ill. Don't really use it for outgoing calls. Use mobile instead.

Sky existing customers can now get "free" broadband - ring them, also ring NTL to find out how long your contract tie-in is. Then dump NTL. Or the other way round, dump Sky & add cable tv, then local calls will be free.

Also, i understand about the caravan, but how about selling it & buying a tent? Cheaper site fees, less to trundle around even if you havea trailer), same principle but more DFW than a caravan! And at the seaside, the seagulls can't land on top of it!

Careful_girl

jen30 wrote:

Monthly outgoings

Mortgage 347.79 When did you last check this is the cheapest? Fees free advisor can help or post a question on the mortgages bit for some ideas.
Gas 39.50
Electric 36.00
TV licence 10.99
Water 19.98
c/tax 100.00
sky 21.00 Don't need this -freeview.
ntl 17.99
life insurance 23.66
accident insurance 10.80
car insurance 59.81
car insurance 45.85
caravan insurance 16.20 All insurances can be checked for the cheapest via the main site. Sometimes it is cheaper to have all insurances with the same company as they give you extra discounts eg. Direct Line.
phone 81.00 ( 1 landline & 2 mobiles) Search for the cheapest via the site
student loan 75.00
My car loan 131.69
Oh car loan 120.07
caravan loan 105.91
loan 134.20
loan 216.41Can any of these be put on lower interest or 0%cc?
egg 25.00
virgin 45.00
halifax 10.00
my overdrfat interest 19.00 Can you get a free overdraft? A&L do one for a year.
Oh overdraft intersest 13.00
Car tax about 30.00
Petrol 60.00
Food 400.00See the moneysaving old style and try the Tesco Value stuff. Lidl and Aldi might be worth a visit.
quote]
Can you ask for an increase on the limit of the 0%cc to do another bt?Make sure you sign up for the tart alert.
As for all the loans and overdrafts I would call all your banks and see what they can offer. Then if you can move any of the loans to cheaper rates then I would. If you are good at paying you may be able to get another 0% cc to move some of the debt to.
There a few ideas. In bright blue!
All the best,
CG.:beer:

Careful_girl

If you are looking to remortgage then I can happily recommend AndrewSmith who posts on the site as a efficient and knowledgable fees free mortgage advisor. I will recommend him because he has done wonders for my situation and he can do a life quote for you too. His website. http://www.andrewsmithmortgages.co.uk/
CG.:beer: