Truly shocked....SOA etc so here we go!

sueeve

Phones. I don't know where you call overseas, but our £18.99 phone/bband includes North American calls. That would be worth a bit of investigation.

MrsTinks

For your overseas calls I hope you've looked on here...
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-overseas-calls

I use it for calling my family in Denmark... and Russia when my dad is over there with my step mum 1-2p per minute instead of 10 times that...

isy1011

Write down everything you spend in a little book. Set yourself a weekly budget based on that. You have areas you could really cut back e.g. £200 clothing!! That is about comfort shopping or body image I feel.

Sorry to be blunt but you wanted feedback.

Primrose

Your clothing allowance for the month looks as if it could be drastically reduced. What sort of clothes do you both need for work? Does this include protective clothing or uniforms? Have a good look through your wardrobe and see whether you can't manage with what you've got. Do you ever buy clothes from charity shops? There are some excellent bargains to be had if you visit regularly and are there at the right time.
Groceries - do you buy ready processed meals? Cooking at home from scratch could save you a lot of money.
Make sure you both keep a DAILY spending diary. Down to the last penny. You will be surprised where a lot of money can be wasted. Do you buy cooked lunches at work? Taking a packed lunch every day will save money.

saltnvinegar

Hi MrsPiglet

Congratulations on handling this before it gets out of hand.

The DFW's are doing a great job on helping you with your current SOA so theres a few things I picked up in this thread where I think you need some help:

1) It would appear you have £2000 plus between you and your OH that is surplus cash yet you say you don't have any money left at the end of the month. Looks like the SOA is a little light in places! I would start keeping a spending diary immediately and start recording exactly how much you are spending and on what each day. Its easy to pop up to the corner shop each day and spend £10 or £20 but over the course of a week this starts to add up.

You'd be amazed how those latte's and lunches at work add up too!

The good news though is you are not at the point where on paper your outgoings are not more than your income!

2) Once your surplus is somewhere near your SOA figure then you need to look at paying back the debt with the highest interest rate first (In your case virgin credit card). Once this is paid off cut it up and close the account! and then move onto the next highest interest rate. This is the snowballing effect being talked about.

I think a bit of discipline you could have your debts cleared in 18 months and then start using that surplus to make you some money rather than making someone else some money!

Good luck!

SnV

2) Once you have this surplus somewhere near your

looktothefuture

MrsPiglet wrote: »

This made me smile, thank you

I know we have been stupid in the main and I really appreciate how non judgemental the replies have been.

I hoped you wouldn't take offence to it - glad you didn't! Was trying very hard to be polite!

I know you can do this, all you need is a little bump and help!

MrsPiglet

It's been a very busy evening here, lots of talking and trying to find a way out of this mess

We have transferred £4,500 out of the Virgin card and onto the Halifax one as the rate was much more favourable. We also made a good start in identifying what was missing from the SOA and found things like gym membership and train travel amongst other bits as well as a huge amount of money on supermarkets each month - although not all on food. Great stuff on the cheaper phone calls on here - thank you

In addition to this, we have had a number of weddings and special birthdays in the last couple of years where have been very extravagant as well as costly and necessary treatments for each of us. So, I think we are a bit more aware about how we got here.

We still need to think how we improve and we are taking on your suggestions about a spending diary starting from tomorrow. Certainly the 'popping to the shop for milk' and coming back with a trolley load has happened a lot!!!

Thanks again every one, lots of overwhelming food for though

MrsPiglet

looktothefuture wrote: »

I hoped you wouldn't take offence to it - glad you didn't! Was trying very hard to be polite!

I know you can do this, all you need is a little bump and help!

Oh not offended at all Needed to smile, trust me!

I need to wake up tomorrow and feel I can do this, cause tonight, it feels a bit shaky.

Thanks again

debtdesperado

"Over the last few weeks, we have cut down things like house cleaner, puppy sitter for when we are at work (although looking to re-introduce that), dry cleaning and ironing service and have hardly gone out."

Yep - that's where your £2k goes! Start tracking your spending and you'll be genuinely shocked how much a few drinks here and there, and the odd bit of dry cleaning, a few coffees and magazines adds up to... the good news is that you'll be equally shocked in a few months time when you have making little purchases like that under control how much money you have leftover :rotfl:.

Apart from the puppy sitter, which is your choice, the rest are definitely luxuries and can go whilst you are paying back debt... check out flylady.net or the flylady thread here on getting cleaning under control.

Also if you are spending loads at the supermarket, try doing your shopping online...even with the delivery fee you will save loads as you won't be browsing through the homeware aisles buying the odd cushion, or DVD, or clothing, which all adds up.

Also start using cash for every purchase - somehow handing over a card doesn't register as spending, whereas you will be stunned how quickly you burn through cash at the moment...I remember those days at the start of my debt-free journey, when I couldn't understand how someone could have £10 in their wallet and still have most of it left at the end of the week...now two years on I am one of those people.:)

My other tip is doing NSDs... sounds easy but is amazingly difficult at first if you're used to spending money all the time.

Luckystepho

I think that once you have done your budget and spending diary and established a surplus, you should be able to snowball those debts in a relatively short time, so well done on getting it in hand!