Major debts - all advice needed!

Mrs_Sparkle

Hi Jobelle and welcome. Don't be embarrassed- you're doing the right thing by coming on here. There are plenty of us in the same boat and we all support each other.

Mizz_Pink

I used to work for Boots and its a rip off. If you can get toiletries and cleaning stuff from Wilkinsons. When I worked at Boots I was spending £100 a month there. Lancome and Chanel make-up was far too tempting .

jobelle

MY SOA:

mortage -504.64
council tax - 108
telewest broadband and phone package - £65 (normally £45)
student loan compnay - £137.33
RBS loan - £190
RBS current a/c charge £6.00
MBNA credit card - £95
denplan - £16.67
tv license - £11.37
scottish provident policy insurance -£16.42
buildings & contents insurance - £14.53
Travel card - £36
Mobile £35 (average month)
Total - £1235.96


grocery shopping £115.57
clothes - £139.46
petrol -£25
socialising (take away food, nights out, cinema, dvds) - £195
gas £43 (will be higher in winter I approx at £60)
electricity £38 (again higher in winter approx £50)
odds and sods (the magazines, coffees, picking up a book, sandwiches for lunch ) £203
typical work expenses – (parking, petrol and travel costs) £100

Total : £859.03


Total all spend: £2094.99



car insurance (I buy this upfront every year this year was £240 so I don’t pay monthly )

overdraft on RBS current account - limit is £750 - today im up to £751.53 . 2.20% per month on unauthorised and standard on authorised is 8.9%

credit card - limit £6500 - up to £6510.43 APR 14.9% (swapping this over to m&s low 3.9% FIXED FOR LIFE balance transfer)

RBS loan of £20k - is sitting at £19550 (a 15 year loan) APR 8%

Student Loans - £7149.50 APR 2.40%


My average monthly income over last 3 months is £1600 after tax. This can vary. The highest I can earn in any month is £1900 and the lowest £1449

jobelle

lynzpower wrote:

is your council tax with a single persons discount?

hey there it is
Jobelle

all_hours

Even though you pay the car insurance and tax once a year you need to include the monthly amount in your budget. When it is up for renewal shop around and if possible purchase via quidco.com to get some cash back.

The same with birthdays and christmas presents think about what you spent last year - add this all up and divide by 12 to get a monthly amount.

You put these amounts aside each month so when the bill arrives you don't end up putting it one a credit card or overdraft.

CLAPTON

currently your figures seem to show you overspend by about 500 a month i.e. your debts are increasing about 500 each month (6,000 per year).
In reality, because you haven't included all the yearly costs (car tax, insurance, MOT, RAC/AA, servicing, holidays (do you plan on a holiday next year), present, xmas, any spending on the house? etc.) your over spend is probably nearer 6/700 per month (up to a massive 8,400 per year increase in debt).

so you really have two options, firstly can you increase your salary ? and /or you need to massively reduce your spending by 6/700 per month.

Firstly start that spending diary ..write down absolutely everything you spend, every coffee every newspaper etc.

clothes...you must have a lot so lets say zero for at least 6 months, saving 140 per month
socialising lets say 50 per month saving 150
odds and sods lets say 25 per month saving 175

so that comes to about 470 leaving another 200 to find.
do you need the car you dont spend much on petrol and have a travel card as well.

all_hours

These are the areas you could cut back.

grocery shopping £115.57
clothes - £139.46
socialising (take away food, nights out, cinema, dvds) - £195
odds and sods (the magazines, coffees, picking up a book, sandwiches for lunch ) £203

If you've spent £400 on clothes in the past 3 months it's unlikely you'll need to spend anymore for a while. Cut your clothes budget down to £20 or £30 this will allow you to replace shoes and other things as they wear out.

The take aways and nights out need to be reduced. For DVDs sign up for the free trials via quidco and be a DVD tart for a couple of months. Keep an eye out on the freebies, grabbit and discounts forums for 2 for 1 meal offers and cinema tickets.

Stop buying new books. Use the library or buy from charity shops.

Take your own lunch to work. Look on the oldstyle forum for cutting back on your grocery budget. Plan your meals and lunches and only buy what you need. Make meals from scratch as much as possible and look out for bogofs and use the reduced counter.

On a lower paid month you have a deficit of £600 on a higher paid month a deficit of £200. Cutting back on the luxuries will put you in a position of just about breaking even on a low month and give you a surplus to overpay the debts when you earn more.

lynzpower

Personally speaking, i would try and budget based on the MINIMUM you can get each month. ( ie with no bonus)

then any bonus can be used towards overpayments

Also then if a recession hits and you dont get bonuses as high, you will be more on an even keel with your budget.

jobelle

gosh thats scary to see how much im overspending on absolutely unnecessary rubbish. im going to sit now and give myself a limit for everything as advised above. im also going to go through my stuff and see if i can ebay anything. i have a real issue with my work with regards to car/expenses. i need the car to get around cities and am paid 15p per mile. the travel card i buy to get to work on days i dont need the car. part of my contract states i must have my own car to get around. however when im away working from home they wont expense my food bills , hotel food aint cheap. i have been offered similar work on a cash in hand basis when it comes along from an old work colleague but my contract states i cannot do this - -i culd be earning an extra 500 a month if i took her up on this but its risky.

jobelle

would anyone recommend ways of reducing rates of interest on my debts? just been doing my budget spreadsheets since last post and the interest is crippling paying off. If i were to approach these lenders what is the likely outcome?