New here....

jenagain

Hey everyone,

I'm Jen, 20yrs old and in £3000 worth of debt. This is split between an £800 overdraft, £1500 loan I took out to pay off some other things, a £500 credit card, a Next account, and a Dorothy Perkins card (£100 on each).

Both my fiance and I are claiming charges back from First Direct at the moment. Done it once successfully already and got back £165 and £250. This time claiming for £160 (me) and £400 (fiance).

We are getting married in July 07 and have a 9 month old son. We own 45% of a shared ownership flat and are paying out £800pm on mortgage and rent.

We don't spend a lot on food shopping or ourselves, my fiance is an apprentice so is earning less than minimum wage and I am the main wage earner, working from home. I pay all the bills and he pays for food. Things will be so much easier when he qualifies in June 07 but until then I am going to attempt to sort out as much as possible.

I know it's not a lot of debt compared to some people but it's really starting to make me feel down. I've been reading the forums for a while now but thought it was time to register and introduce myself. I needed to write all that out to get it out of my head and into black and white!

Hope that makes some sense

Jen x

1st_Time_Saver

Hi Jen

Welcome to MSE! Im still pretty new myself so i'll let one of the more experienced members give you some sound advice, just thought id say hi!

1st TSx

angchris

welcome to mse :T do you get working families tax credits? if not id look into it straight away

calleyw

Welcome

Before anyone can help we need a Statement of Affairs see sticky at top of page so we can see where money is going.

Once that is done then we can help you and see where you can save.


Yours


Calley

Wonder_Girl

Hello and welcome!

Well done on taking the first step it’s a long road but very rewarding and with lots of help along the way

First we will need your SOA, after that we can help with ideas

WG xx

jenagain

Ok here goes....

Income:

£1500 approx wages (I get paid per hour so it varies)
£70 pm Child Benefit
(I still haven't applied for Child Tax Credits :mad: Form is so confusing and it's a hassle to get info from fiance's employers but I'm on the case)

= £1570 pm

Outgoings:

Mortgage = £490
Rent = £288
Council Tax = £130
Water = £19.50
Gas = £20 (we hardly use any gas as we never use the heating - flat is far too hot as it is, we keep getting money back as we're always in credit)
Electric = £20
Home Insurance = £10
Life Insurance = £23 (2 people)
Baby Formula = £30
Nappies/Baby Essentials = £30
Phone = £22
Broadband = £23 (contract until Feb 07)
Phone Insurance = £10
Mobile = £30
Loan = £135
CC Minimum Payment = £10
Next Minimum Payment = £10
Dorothy Perkins Minimum Payment = £10
TV License = £10.50
Sky TV = £10 (2 months left of offer, then going to cut down to lowest package)

Total = £1331

Leaving £239 a month that disappears.... I smoke so that was £100 a month (switched to rolling my own a few days ago). The other £139 is spent on baby clothes (growing too fast), monthly supply of cleaning products/shampoo/shower gel etc from Tesco online (making use of whatever deals they have on and money off codes if we combine it with our shopping that week) and the odd night out etc.

That doesn't include my partner's wages or any food/car/petrol because he deals with all that.

My partner's employers are awful at paying him, often late or missing weeks altogether, resulting in him missing DD's and getting bank charges. They've often left us with no money for food so I have to pay that out occasionally.

We don't often really struggle with day to day money but these debts hanging over our heads is getting a bit too much

bargainbetty

Hello and welcome!


Just a few quick ideas...

jenagain wrote:

Mortgage = £490
Rent = £288
Council Tax = £130
Water = £19.50
Gas = £20 (we hardly use any gas as we never use the heating - flat is far too hot as it is, we keep getting money back as we're always in credit)
Electric = £20
Home Insurance = £10
Life Insurance = £23 (2 people) Have you lookedfor cheaper options? Try the links on the site - mine is £5.70
Baby Formula = £30
Nappies/Baby Essentials = £30
Phone = £22
Broadband = £23 (contract until Feb 07)
Phone Insurance = £10 Check if this is included in your house cover
Mobile = £30 Can you switch to a lower tariff or PAYG
Loan = £135
CC Minimum Payment = £10 Switch to a 0% card?
Next Minimum Payment = £10
Dorothy Perkins Minimum Payment = £10 Look at the store card with the highest interest rate, and pay it off first, or look at switching all to a 0% card
TV License = £10.50
Sky TV = £10 (2 months left of offer, then going to cut down to lowest package)

Total = £1331

Leaving £239 a month that disappears.... Start a spending diary - you will spot the waste really quickly!

My partner's employers are awful at paying him, often late or missing weeks altogether, resulting in him missing DD's and getting bank charges. They've often left us with no money for food so I have to pay that out occasionally. If he has a training contract with them, then they should pay him on time. If monthly is a problem, he could approach them about being paid weekly instead

Good luck -I hope it works out soon for you!;)

jenagain

Hi!

I will look at switching our life insurance, I thought that was a bit too much but it was almost a year ago that we started the process of buying this place so just went with what the financial advisor said.

I need to check the phone insurance - thanks!

I always spent more when I had PAYG as I use my mobile for the majority of calls I make (1000 free minutes a month) - we barely use the phone line.

I've applied for a Virgin card (0% on balance transfers for 12 months) and just waiting to hear back from them.

The store cards I will attempt to make sense of in the morning, I could transfer those to the Virgin card too possibly? Or put my bank charge reclaim money towards paying them off!

My partner gets paid weekly at the moment, but they give him a cheque on a Monday now, sometimes not until later in the week. They really mess him around, and they are the reason we can't finish filling in the tax credit form yet. I've been trying for weeks to get them to give us the information we need (PAYE reference etc) but it's a nightmare. He can't change companies as they are paying for his 1 day a week at college. I've told him to speak to his contact at college about the way he has been treated so hopefully she can do something about it.

Sorry for waffling on....

newmum1

i think you need to hurry and claim your tax credits as you could be losing out on quite a bit if you are on low incomes, also they only back date three months i believe someone correct me if im wrong.

jenagain

Yep they are backdated for 3 months so I'm getting more and more annoyed every day.

I have just had to cut down my hours for work (not a lot to do at the moment) so have gone from £2500 to £1800 before tax (ish) a month so we're having to adjust. Hopefully my partner will be getting a payrise soon - that means he could give me £200 a month towards bills.

Also I've just remembered his final car insurance payment (£150!) comes out of his account in the next few days, so he will start giving me that money towards the bills. He wrote off his car in June but had to pay until the year was up - he now drives my car (which was still waiting for me to pass my test) and he'll now pay £95 a month to my mum who has insured it.

Means my income will go up by £55 a month from October onwards, then possibly £255 a month if his employer decides he can finally get a payrise (after promising one after 6 months - he's worked there for 13 months now!)

When he qualifies it'll mean we can use 2 proper salaries to pay the bills, instead of one and a bit.

Maybe I'm better of paying off as much as I can, but transferring the CC balance to the 0% interest card I've applied for, leaving it for a year, then applying for another one to transfer again, and pay it off when we're both earning more? Any thoughts on that?

I feel under so much pressure at the moment to sort everything out, I work 8hrs a day, but take care of our (demanding but lovely!) son and do the 'housewife' routine during the day so I work from 6pm - 2am. I have no time for myself at all and debt worries don't help. If I leave the CC for a year then we can both contribute to it (it was spent on things for both of us).

I'm sorry that all I seem to do is waffle, but as I said before - I need to get it out!

angchris

i was under the impression tax credits took it from the date you sign on the form might be wrong though either way the form needs to be filled in and posted yesterday! cos every day that goes by you are losing precious pennies :eek:
ok nappies, use washables with flannels as wipes will save you an absolute fortune and you can get some really great ones nowadays like motherease even if you only buy half a dozen or buy them second hand (ebay) its gonna save you loads :j
baby clothes:- ebay ebay ebay can pick up some really nice hardly worn bundles of clothes dirt cheap and lets face it the little bundles of joy arent in them 5 mins and they dont care anyway so long as they are loved and fed/warm etc
monthly supply of cleaning products???:eek: try stardrops and a microfibre cloth!! all i have under my sink is stardrops, microfibre cloth, vinegar for clothes softener, homemade washing powder and bleach. stardrops is the answer to everything a squirt of that and a bit of elbow grease and the jobs a good un :T :j my house sparkles so theres no need to buy all the fancy expensive cleaning stuff, i even use stardrops for washing up!:D best of luck angchris :beer: