Needing Help Big Time

carkeyz

Just read through ahh living with the parents I see! xx

carlm1984

theoretica wrote: »

As your company has moved are other people doing this long commute too? Could you ride share? How expensive is the airport bus?

There are some doing the long commute, but they are have a car allowance and i dont. No-one who works down there really lives by me, i have asked, but unfotunatly not. No idea about the airport bus im afraid, i normally drive my car to 1 of the staff car parks, then it is free from there

carlm1984

carkeyz wrote: »

Just read through ahh living with the parents I see! xx

Yeah im living with my parents just now, but there moving away in the next couple of months and im going to have to start looking for somewhere new to live.
As for the comments (thanx for those by the way)
My mobile is £50 a month as i took it out 14 months ago and got an iphone and i didnt think i could change the contract till it ends which is another 10 months away now.
Road tax i pay 160 a year, so spose thats about 12 a month.
Well i have been looking into selling my car 2night and seeing what i could get after, but not having a great deal of luck finding anything that i would like just yet

TUS

Sell your car and iPhone and buy a cheaper car & phone. With the remainder pay off some of your debts and reduce your monthly repayments.

NorthernLas

Hi Carl -

Are there things that you spend on that are not on your SOA? Could you keep a spending diary for a week or two (a month would be better) to check where your money is really going?

E.g. You have nothing for car tax or for entertainment.

Also, do you have an overdraft as well? and are you still using the credit card?

I imagine that the 88 mile round trip each day is pretty tiring as well as expensive. Can you reduce the cost of this in any way?

(say 20 gal at £5/gal and 450 miles, then that is 23 miles/g)

Suggestions:
- can you car share?
- can you drive more economically - drive slower, accelerate/brake gently, make sure you have enough time for the jouney?
- are there workmates that you could room share with in Gatwick?

Do you have posessions that you could ebay or car boot ... clothes, phones, cds, dvds, games ...

Can you open up another bank account so that you put either your bill money or spends in one so that you separate out bills and spends?

carlm1984

NorthernLas wrote: »

Hi Carl -

Are there things that you spend on that are not on your SOA? Could you keep a spending diary for a week or two (a month would be better) to check where your money is really going?

E.g. You have nothing for car tax or for entertainment.

Also, do you have an overdraft as well? and are you still using the credit card?

I imagine that the 88 mile round trip each day is pretty tiring as well as expensive. Can you reduce the cost of this in any way?

(say 20 gal at £5/gal and 450 miles, then that is 23 miles/g)

Suggestions:
- can you car share?
- can you drive more economically - drive slower, accelerate/brake gently, make sure you have enough time for the jouney?
- are there workmates that you could room share with in Gatwick?

Do you have posessions that you could ebay or car boot ... clothes, phones, cds, dvds, games ...

Can you open up another bank account so that you put either your bill money or spends in one so that you separate out bills and spends?

Hiya Northern Lass,

Thank you very much for getting back to me.
Well the only thing i spent on was lunches for work, but in the last 2 weeks ive been making my own stuff and taking it in, which is included in the groceries part. I did try to keep an expenses thing on my phone, but i got rubbish and 4got to put things on there so 4got all about that, although im gonna try hard from end of this month to do that for at least 1 month.

Car tax i put on earlier is about £13 a month and i did forget to add entertainment, spose thats about £40 a month. although that figure comes from things ive spent on the last few months and not in the last couple of months.

I am no longer using my credit card im now just trying to pay that off and yes i do have an overdraft of £2150 and im currently using that all up, so thats what is making this harder for me.

With my car, i did ask about car sharing, but no1 lives near me who i work with so that makes its difficult for that. As of today ive started to drive more carefully and be less economical, so no more stupid speeds down the motorway for me now.
The only thing i do try and stay at my gf's house which takes about 15 miles a day off the journey but thats not everyday im staying there just now, so again, makes its difficult.

I dont have many posessions that are worth much which is my problem. I do have loads of cds, videos, computer games that i dont really use anymore, but i just didnt think they would sell on ebay or at a car boot sale. I also do have a couple of old mobile phones, but again prob not worth much and i did have a look on mazuma earlier and could get 23 back so wondered if i could possibly get better

i spose i could open up another bank account, but as im kinda struggling at the moment, i didnt think that would be the best idea just now

NorthernLas

Hi Carl -

Great that you are making your own lunch and taking it in to work (I guess that will save you at least £80 a month). Do you buy drinks during the day and could you take a bottle of water from home?

I think the overdraft and it's associated charges need to go on the SOA. Depending on the interest and charges this may be the thing to attack first?
Although another bank account might not seem like a good idea, if you have an overdraft and the bank decide you are not using it correctly (by going over the limit) you need to be aware that the bank can withdraw it at any time. So, getting another account is something to look into, if you think the situation is getting worse. Then you treat the overdraft as a debt and pay off a little each month.

For the moment, the more you are less in the red, the less charges I guess you will incur. Maybe you could draw out cash once a week for spends and limit yourself to that (i.e. if you have nothing in your pocket you don't spend). What you need to experiment with is a way that works for you (if a spending diary doesn't work then do something else). Even if it is saying 'do I want it, can I afford it, are there other things I want more' in your head as your hand goes to pocket ...

I hope you mean you will drive more economically! Can you treat it as a game - http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/drive-smart.html - the article says you could save 10% i.e. £40 a month.

For cds, dvds, poss computer games you could try music magpie - they pay £1.50 per cd I think, you send them batches of 10, less money but less hassle than ebay.

NorthernLas

And it might be depressing to see your outgoings getting bigger, but you are being honest with yourself. If you do manage to budget for car tax, then you will be able to pay it in full next time without credit.

Ultimately, you may end up deciding that a diesel runaround would be better for the commute if it is going to last a long time. OK it will be hard to swallow as the car seems important, but do you want a deposit for a flat and to be debt free more?

NGlady

Theres websites where you can find people in your area who are traveling to the area you are going to, it's a car share finder website. Can't remember what its called im afraid, but its meant to be quite good? Especially in big cities, worth a looksie?