Newbie - first post, scarey!

anh1904

Debts at start Oct:
Debts to service:
Abbey £4400 at 0.9% till March 07
Bank of Scotland £2280 at 0% till December
Capital One £1280 at 5.9% forever
Sainsburys £7100 at 5.94% forever
Morgan Stanley £8800 at 0% till December
Egg £4700 at 0% till 1st Jan
£28560 total

Extra income this month included £120 Ebay, £80 Market Research, £200 for the sale of some Disney tickets to someone in the family, £230 through matched betting and £115 shopping vouchers through a loyalty scheme.

After some 0% juggling, the picture now looks like this:
Abbey £4100 at 0.9% till March 07
Bank of Scotland £1280 at 0% till December
Capital One £0 paid off with 0% deal
Sainsburys £6700 at 5.94% forever
Morgan Stanley £0 at 0% till December
Egg £4460 at 0% till 1st Jan
MBNA £11275 at 0% till August 2007
MBNA 0% purchases £600
Total £28415
This has included getting the car through the MOT, which I had budgeted £400 for, but did the work myself and got it all through for a measly £85 including the test fee, so added to the vouchers and cash in pocket, this next month looks ripe for significantly better progress. I have also paid annual car insurance, so the accruals mean the position is better than it looks, slightly anyway!
Veg oil instead of Diesel (20-30% mix) is running fine too, petrol spend being under budget.

Paige

Hi
I just wanted to say well done for addressing your situation XX

tryhard_2

hi
well done. your second total should be lesser than 28,000 as you have paid off more than 150

anniee1981

Hi I am new to this forum too have finally realised that I need to sort myself out. They have all been so very helpful on here in just 2 days I have managed to cancel some direct debits for things I didn't need like savings and insurance policys. I know it's hard when someone else trys to tell what is best to have and not have but you have a lot of outgoings that are really not needed hope this helps:


Outgoings (monthly, or monthly equiv when paid annually):

Mortgage £987 (due to go up I guess after tomorrow interest rate decision)
Life Ins £35 - Can you get a cheaper quote we reduced ours by £10.00
B&C £30 (what is this ?)Repairs/emergencys £100
Two cars (petrol ins, mots, servicing) £394.17 ( Do you really need two cars)
Coucil tax, Elec, Gas, Water, TV lic £288.33 Just managed to swap supplier for Elec & gas to NPower thats a £20 monthly saving for me
Cable £45 (just negotiated on phone down to £35 for same deal!!) - Does this include Internet too, just reduced ours with Telewest it was £58 now its £38 as we have gone down to Freeview.Mobile £36.99 (till December) - Cancel once contract is up and get a PAYGSaving policies for 3 kids £60 - Are these really needed at the moment, we had a saving policy for my daughter but we cancelled as she always gets money for Xmas and birthdays so pay that in and will restart it when we are in a better situation.Student Loan £60
Food £500 - Wow thats a huge food bill how many do you buy for ? We spend about £160.00 a month for 2 adults and a 18month old this includes nappies etc.Clothes £100 - Is this every month ?
Dentist (loads of problems) £20
Products (hers) £30 - What kind of products ?
Days out budget £75 - This could be reduced
Meals out £80 - Do you have to eat out it can be just as fun having a night in I promise Gym (him) £40.50 (£486 paid annually) - Again I know it so good to go to the Gym but imagine how much you could save if you worked at home
Gym (her) £47 - Again the same
Monthly petty cash £50 - What is this for ?
Golf subs £83.33 - Mmm difficult one my hubby is a golf fanatic he doesn't have membership as it costed to much just has a game every so often.
Holidays £125 (£1500 a year budget) Can you perhaps have a cheaper holiday we do the Sun Promotions they are brilliant and we upgrade which costs us about £90 in totalHair (her) £25 - Hmm I can't comment as I get my hair doneNew baby (clothes, toys, etc.) £75 - Again do you spend this every month ?Annual present buying family and friends £30 (will surely never stick to £360 though for all birthdays and Christmas for everyone - last year was over £1000!) - Again another hard one perhaps buy things in the sale or on the net over the year plan aheadChild care £100
Maintenance to ex wife £570
TOTAL £3990.32

Income
Him £2790
Her £1200

I know its easy for me to comment but we are really cutting back on everything our financial situation has to get better if we want another baby I could not afford to go onto Maternity pay at the mo. What do you do for a living are there options of overtime maybe ? Add up all the what I call unecessary bills like the Gym and memberships and policys etc and see the difference you will be amazed.

Sorry if I sound patronising I really am not trying to be just want to help as I they have all helped me on here too, the money we had left after bills was only £350 and that had to pay for food etc etc and nows its just over £475 just but cancelling some un-needed policys etc.

Hope this helps.

A x

poppycracker

Well done on sorting everything out so far. :T :T

anh1904

One of my grandparents has been really ill for the last couple of months, which has meant lots of extra petrol travelling, and alas, lots of take-aways to try to cope with the limited time to get everything done. She passed away last weekend, luckily without any pain and while maintaining all her dignity.

I was actually scared to get everything written down to see how things have progressed as I was expecting with Christmas and everything else, it would be quite depressing - but it's a pleasant surprise after all.

I am sure the following thigs have all helped:
Matched betting has brought in a net £750 but is on hold at the moment as simply haven't had the time to sort the more obscure ones out, and mistakes would be too costly.
Christmas and new year I worked in the social club for some cash in hand, and with tips, this turned out to be a very good idea!
Ebay sales temporarily halted, but gathering stuff ready to sell, and 10p listing day today means I have a busy night ahead.

The progress means the following current picture
0.9% till July Abbey £4037.10
15.9% Bank of Scotland £NIL
5.94% Capital One £NIL
5.9% for ever Sainsbury's £1731.5
0% till August MBNA £12025
(0% purchases till July) MBNA £6632.5
0% till June 30th Citibank £3094.5
TOTAL £27520.60

Hopefully will hit the Sainsbury's card with anything and everything for the next couple of months.

Verbatim

Just a thought but are you missing child care costs? Or have I just not read correctly? As your partner and you both work and there's a new baby I presume you must have these costs.

Verbatim

Whoops just seen the £100.

anh1904

I wish I could miss them (only joking girls!)

Maintenance to ex wife £570 always been there.

anh1904

Sorry, child care, not maintenance. Yes, we are incredibly lucky, the in-laws will not take a penny more than £100, they thought that was far too much, but if it were a commercial rate, would be £500 ish I guess.