Please can anyone help - SOA attached

Johnboy36

OK, here's where I am at.

I'm a legal secretary and come home with £1240 a month .. oh and my real name isn't John by the way

Outgoings per month:

Loan - £210 (ends Sept '10)
Mobile contract (ends July '10) £30 - will change that as soon as able to.
Car insurance £28
Contact lenses £35 - I have to have a certain type and unfortunately they are expensive. Shopped around - this is best option.
Minimum payments on credit cards - £320

Total £623

Then I have fuel for car - £120
Food/shopping - £200

... £943

Next month I have car tax, service, MOT and need a new cam belt.
I also shouldgive my boyfriend money towards bills.

I just don't know what to do. In another thread today I have mentioned I have been declined a loan to pay off my credit card debts. I only pay off a few quid of the balance and the rest is interest - they will NEVER go down at this rate. I really don't know what to do for the best

I know when my loan ends in Sept that will free up more money but I thought I would got this loan no problem but my credit score is very poor - 366. It will always be that I am struggling every month. I know I will have to put that extra £210 towards my credit cards - of course and this is my own stupid fault getting into this mess. I can't discuss any of this with my parents - they're pretty unapproachable with this sort of thing in that they can't believe people have credit cards etc Honestly, I really don't know what they would do if they knew how much money I owed. Disown me probably.

I do go without - I don't go out with my friends, I don't have my hair done, I can't afford to buy new clothes - wear the same tatty ones for work. I am beginning to think I am just existing... My boyfriend teases me about "you're wearing that dress AGAIN!"... Oh no... my nose is tingling again now ... I just feel so worthless and a burden to him. HELP? :eek:

IWantToBeFree_2

I think you need to do a SOA in the normal MSE format to make it a bit easier for people to give you advice - have a look through the other threads so you can see what people normally do!

EDIT - Use this link here for SOA http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Also - getting a consolidation loan is not the answer, you need to have a look at your outgoings and see where you can cut back, consolidating your debts is normally one of the worst solutions - believe me, I have done it twice and still ended up with credit card bills higher than what they were before!

Good luck xx

curlytop12

hi there,you've made the first step.well done,
someone cleverer than me will be along soon,but you prob will be asked to do the SOA from the top of page,sorry,don't know how to do links!
good luck.

RAS

Hi

Also join up for www.freegle.co.uk and see if you can get some clothes there.

And check out the freebie and offers forums on this site for cheap/free deals.

curlytop12

ahh there someone came!

Burlesque_Babe

you beat me to it iwanttobefree! Was just about to post a link.

And also to echo your comment, consolidating rarely helps. It frees up the original credit to re-spend and consolidating is heaping interest on interest.

There are lots of ways to cut back and also to make a bit more money - mystery shopping, ebaying, surveys, music magpie, cashback sites (ie quidco).

There are ways around going out/hair cuts (ie inviting friends over/having it done mega cheap at a hairdressing college) and always ways to trim the budget even a bit.

The next time your boyfriend teases you, ask him when he is going to buy you something nice - he'll either shut up or treat you

savingwannabe

Hello you will make lots of friends on here.
I have learned to save money by:
cutting back on my cable tv/phone bill,
by switching electricity providers,
i have switched bank account to First Direct (you get £100),
i am ebaying books,
I am not buying lunch at work,
i have been buying cheaper brands at the supermarket,
i am not taking a taxi or bus but walking.
Most importantly, I have started to keep a spending diary.

I have saved a fair amount of money. This was done gradually over a month and it is nice to make friends on here too.

good luck,

:j

Happytogetdebtfree

Hi and welcome to the boards the first few months of realisation are hard but things do improve as you begin to slip intonroutine. It's very demoralising when you have credit cards with high intrests I now have a direct debt paying mine on time and icheck the balance every few months. Otherwise I get so angry at the amount I'm actually clearing off my cards lol big hugs and chin up :-)

Cloudy456

I earn a similar amount to you johnboy and also pay around £350 to my loan and CC - it can be so demoralising paying a big chunk of your salary to debts which never seem to go down. As well as saving money, look at ways to up your income - could you consider a second job? Or Ebaying and car boot sales can be good. Def post a SOA and the lovely people on here will be all over it with suggestions! Chin up, you're making a massive step in the right direction by coming on here and looking for advice.