New DFW

nikki32

Hi,
I've been browsing this site and forum for the past month and it's been a great learning experience.
I was unable to make ends meet and realised major changes had to be made.
I'm adding my soa to show some changes I made after taking tips from this site.

Before Expend
tv licence 10.99
car insure 34.02
life insure 40.45 now 7.20
internet 15.99
Phone 15.00
Loan Norwich union 266.80
Sky 21.00 now 7.50
Cahoot Loan 110
Credit card 67 (min repay) now 200
mobile contract 15 now pag 2.00
morgage 424
rates 92.54
school meals 80.00 now 40
childcare 80.00
petrol 40.00
Electric 48.00 now 32
oil heating 25.00 (approx)
Shop food & household 400 now 280
other - clothes takeaway 90.00 now 0.00 for time being

TOTAL 1875 NEW TOTAL 1683.00


Loans & CC debt £19000

Income
child benefit 116
tax credit 263.40
my wage 800
oh wage 700

Total 1879.40

New Surplus £200

Thanks to info in this site I downgraded and haggled with sky, cut my food and electric bill, got cheap insurance. I transfered my 3500 cc debt to a 0% for 12mth and have increased my repayments. Then cut up cards.

Now what to do with the surplus?? I'm unsure whether to save or put extra towards credit card.
But what I can't believe is that for the first time ever I DON'T WANT TO SPEND IT. :j I'm actually enjoying the challenge.

Any tips advice very welcome.

Regards, Nikki

yung

welcome to the forum,and well done.

postingalwaysposting

hiya nikki you seem to have made a real start and effort with your soa wel done :T i dont do advice very well, but can i say you seem like a pleasent person and i am sure your dfd will be sooner than you think, just reach for the goal (dfd) as much as you can and remember small steps/changes make big ones, good luck hun

CLAPTON

very well done...you're doing a great job here

just to check i understand : your debts are:

a. loan ???? norwich union paying 266.80 per month
b. loan ???? cahoot paying 110 per month
c. cc 3500, 0% APR until ???? min payment 67 (but paying 200 at the moment)
d. and you have a surplus of 200 to make overpayments .


several comment

1. there is no point at the moment in paying more than the minimum on the credit card at 0% ... just pay the minimum (67 per month) and save all the other money in a saving account (best you can find preferrrably an ISA so its tax free) until the 0% runs out.

2. you haven't posted the details of either of the loans or the APR of the CC once the 0% deal runs out so its impossible to say what to do with the surplus money.

3. do you actually find you have the 200 surplus? it seems to me you are running a vey tight budget and will need to spend more than that .e.g, what about
car tax, MOT, AA/RAC, servicing, there must be some school related costs, some presents, birthday expenses, xmas, school shoes, activities, plus a samll emergency fund (for appliance /car /breakdowns etc) etc...all the annual or one off costs need to be included (divide by 12 to get a monthly cost)..

nikki32

Hi Clapton,

Thanks for reply. Here's some extra details.

Norwich Union Loan balance 10k 6% still 3yrs to go.

Cahoot bal 5500 flexible loan
9.1% over 5 yrs approx

Virgin CC 3500 0% for 12 mths. 1 month in. I'm sure my first min payment was £67 this morning statement says £5 ???

I do see that 200 in the bank this month.

My wage & ohs can increase slightly somethings esp around xmas. Great for that time of year.

Tax & mot I never even thought about

We wont need clothes for ages

Have nothing put a side for emergecy. In past this went on CC.

We own car outright.
Newly built & furnished home. So hopefully no big spends for a while.

I hope this gives a clearer picture.

Really interested in any advice you can give.

Nikki

nikki32

"D'oh!"

I've been wreaking my brain and have just figured out why my first Credit Card payment was £67. It included a transfere fee. I have so much money I can just hand it over without even thinking.:rolleyes:

Glass_Half_Empty??

With regards to your phone and internet, I have just haggled with NTL and got mine from 18+14 to 10+9 so in effect if you changed to NTL and haggled you could save over a tenner a month. Every penny counts duck

lynzpower

If you are worried what to do with your savings, I know this goes against conventionbal advice of pying off the highest interest rate first, but I would make serious inroads into that cahoot flexi loan.

There are lots of posts on the loans board, cahoot have doubled my OHs APR month on month till now hes paying 12. odd I think whereas when he moved in a year ago he was paying 6.8 I think. OH isnt the only one,there are LOADS of peeople in the same boat, have a good browse.

If you can get out of the cahoot loan, do by transferrfing to a life of balance CC or even a more fixed loans with over payments.

Good luck , and well done on such a top start! :T

gallygirl

I agree with lynz. If loan is flexible overpay that every month. If you have just got a 12 month 0% card your credit rating is good, so you should be able to get another when it runs out.

Save for tax, MOT etc first though, & make sure you open best account! (Have you signed up to quidco).

Impressive savings on insurance :eek:

Get down to Boots quick - don't know how old your kids are but loads of toys reduced - actually, slashed in price.

CLAPTON

the way i see it

the norwich loan at 6% is a good rate so i'ld leave that alone for the time being.

Lynxpower has already mentioned about Cahoots tendancy is increase the interest rate at will but currently its at 9.1%
and your Virgin card currently at 0% (i think is goes up to 15.9% after the 0% period is finished. (by the way, the reason your minimum payment is only £5 is probably that MBNA often charge min payment of interest plus £5 (virgin is a MBNA card))

if you could be sure of getting another 0% CC at the end of the virgin 0% period then best to pay off the cahoot loan
if not and you have to pay virgin 15.9% then best to prepare to pay off the virgin CC.

so a bit of uncertainty and depends upon your view as to what will happen in the future.

so i would as follows but its really a guess

a. if your credit rating is good and you haven't applied for more that one (two at most) cards recently then see if you can get a LOB life of balance CC or low rate loan and transfer the Cahoot loan (as already suggested by Lynxpower) and then pay the minimum on the CCs and save any spare money in a saving a/c so you have as much as possible to pay the virgin off in a years time when the rate goes up to 15.9%

b. if you can't get a low LOB card (or low loan rate) to transfer the cahoot, i would still save as much as possible in a saving a/c and see what happens..if cahoot keep their rates unchanged then pay as much as possible off the virgin card in 12 months. if on the other hand cahoot rates shoot up then use the savings to paid as much as possible to cahoot.

c. if you can't get a good deal at the moment then keep a look out for good deals to get rid of the cahoot