Demotivation, tight month, then a massive bill / payment :(

Storm

Hiya

In terms of motivation, would you be able to pay off Argos & Next one month and just make minimum payments on the other debts? Actually being able to strike through creditors is a wonderful feeling (see my sig!) Personally I would throw any extra at these first, then the smaller O/D, because the motivation of actually having settled one debt in full can be good.

I've only been throwing loads at my debt for a couple of months, and so I'm not sure how motivated I'll be 6 months down the line, but can you think of any cheap/free things that you can 'reward' yourself with? As you've got an Orange phone you can get 2for1 on Wednesdays at the cinema, or buy cheap beer from the supermarket for a night in with friends instead of a night out etc.

Keep the footie up - at £2 a week it's a bargain, keeping you healthy, socialising with mates & no doubt a stress reliever!

Storm

PandaPants_2

Who is your car insurance with? £120 a month is expensive! Try quinn direct! Cheap as chips!

learning_to_drive

CREDIT CARDS:

Mint - £920 - 15.9% APR - £50 a month till end of balance >>Have you cut this card up? Keep the bits as you might need to refer to the card information at a later date, but cut it up to stop you using it!

I have cut the card up, did that a while ago, paying £50 a month after consultation with MINT regarding overpayment, they froze the interest (cash advance 29%) on the account that I paid £50 a month.

HP AGREEMENTS >>Do the terms allow you to overpay these at all??(They do, after three months with Black Horse, and all the time with HFC)

Black Horse - £4495 - 20% APR - £140 a month >>See below

HFC - £549.00 - 29.9% APR - £33.95 a month >>Any chance of phoning them, explaining that due to ill-health you have had to take a pay cut and seeing if they will lower the interest rate? At worst, they can say no.

(definitely worth a try, sound advice)

MOBILE PHONES

Orange - £35 a month basic - Contract til July '07 - £50 with bundles etc

Carphone Warehouse - £35 a month - Contract till Jan '07

>>I didn't understand about the mobiles - why do you have two? Can't you see if you can lower the Carphone Warehouse tariff for the interim? If not, is there a trustful friend or family member who might be able to take on the phone and contract in the short term? (someone who will pay the bill!!!!) Do you still have the other handset? You might be able to sell this on eBay or using mobipay. Put the income toward the HP payments or the Mint card!

(Sold the original handset that came with the Carphone contract and the PSP too! I will see if I can lower the tariffs also. I have both because I was running up huge bills on Orange due to overspend and got the freebies with Carphone, still use the carphone contract due to the huge amount of minutes I get. But again, something to look at, could save £65 a month if they both were cancelled. But no can do.

INTERNET

Blueyonder - £25 a month - Very happy with speed, no issues, >>You can shop around and switch and only pay £15 per month - I am with Nildram - 8Mb, never have any problems and only pay that! There are plenty of much cheaper providers out there!!!! – Again, ill look into that, but whilst it’s a lot of money, I use the net a lot and need a reliable connection etc.]



Sports Insurance

CICA - £10 a month - Not overly sure what benefits I get, to be fair, probably will cancel! >>You are paid sick leave at work aren't you? – Indeed, ill cancel it.

CAR INSURANCE

Tesco - £112 a month - 3rd party, first year insurance

OTHERS

Father's Credit Card - £400 - 9.9% with Natwest - Deposit for Car Insurance - Pay Minimum payment or more where possible. >>Although pretty low, Could Dad see if he can move this onto a 0% to lessen the impact even more?

He said he would look at that, ill ask him again

Argos - £70 - Steering Lock - £10 a month >>see below

Next Catalogue - £60.88 - £20 a month till end of balance >>Is this interest free or is interest chargeable? If interest here is higher than Argos, pay this one off first with the £20 you save from switching internet provider and cancelling sports insurance, either way, concentrate on Argos and Next and clear these as they are piddly and it will motivate you paying these off. Then use the £20 per month to pay off extra on the HP loans.

Fair call, its all about using the cash that I free up to go on other debts? At the minute though im constantly in my overdraft, this would leave me in the same situation!!!

Board - £50 (month) - Disgrace really, should be paying more, want to but can't because of the other debts. >>Absolutely, but that is what parents are for, and you have the rest of your life to make it up to them, so concentrate on the debtors first!!!

Football Subs - £2 a week - £8 a month

Ebay - Fees - As and when - >>What do you do with Income?? This should be paying off your HP loan, Mint card and then Dad's card (as HP is a higher interest rate). Anything else to sell?? You need to be strict with yourself and not squander any income from eBay.

Perhaps look to put this income into my HSBC account, pay that overdraft off then use that as a separate account almost?

Those are the basic outgoings, my mobiles upset me greatly, I have a deal with 02 (free PAYG sims) if I topped up £30 a month, I'd get a 1000 free messages, could use the £30 on calls and have done with that. Thoughts?

My credit rating is ok, have tried in the past for credit cards at 0% and failed so unsure whether I will be able to now. >>I don't think they like giving 0% CCs to under 20 year olds. If you have been refused, you will have to find another way.

I need help with budgeting, priorities, is it worth getting a loan so that I can pay off the car?
>>Do you take sandwiches into work? I found I saved loads every month by making my own lunch instead of spending in the canteen or shops.

Again, good call.

Obviously petrol is in there too, but it's not on my direct debit lists, should it be?

Gemmzie

An SOA should definitely be everything, every penny

If it's your first years insurance and judging by your username - why are you paying finance for a car? Is it new?

angelavdavis

learning_to_drive wrote:

INTERNET

Blueyonder - £25 a month - Very happy with speed, no issues, >>You can shop around and switch and only pay £15 per month - I am with Nildram - 8Mb, never have any problems and only pay that! There are plenty of much cheaper providers out there!!!! – Again, ill look into that, but whilst it’s a lot of money, I use the net a lot and need a reliable connection etc.]

I work from home (!) I have no complaints about Nildram - I think it has been down one day since I signed up to them four years ago! You could save yourself £120 a year if you switch to another provider

xela_17

I have orange broadband, which I get free because of my orange phone contract. I note that you also have orange and pay enough line rental to qualify (over £30 per month). You should really look at this. Saving £25 a month on broadband would mean a lot to your debts. I had some trouble with customer service at the beginning with orange but now it works it's fine and we're very happy with it.

Also, definitely pay off Next and Argos asap. Their APR is around the 30/35% mark. Extortionate!

learning_to_drive

Some good points thus far, could do with some assistance on a budget though! In terms of what to include, how to do it etc. I want to but I always end up forgetting something etc!!

With regards to the car, it's a new one '05' plate and is on finance, I got a new ish one when I got my promotion as i thought it was something i deserved, however it's affordable but makes things tight.

There is something that I have to pay the first 3 months payments then I can look to pay it off without being stung for the interest charges. Again it's something I will look at.

The insurance was cheapest with Tesco believe it or not, Quin was marginally more expensive, Tesco was cheaper!!!

I think that covers all the points made, I'm still under contract with blueyonder at the minute though, so will shop around once that runs out. In terms of mobiles, I'll call Orange and get rid of the bundles, not only that certainly cancel the carphone warehouse one as soon as it runs out!

I will list my debts on my sig, and focus upon Next and Argos first, as they are under the parents name, and it would please me to be able to clear that.

learning_to_drive

TONIGHT IS EBAY NIGHT!!!!

Lovely, after much planning, putting off and deciding it's not right, a mass ebay listing commences tonight, I looked at my full cupboard and realised I hadn't bought any clothes for around 6 months (apart from last week, a shirt an jeans) and wondered how much I actually did wear.

So that's my plan, in spirit of having a cheap night in, I'm heading to ASDA to buy some chocolate and get some Cola (never drink at home) and list madly all my things!

What should I use the proceeds for?

Clear HSBC debt? Argos / Next?

Any advice on scheduling listing ending times etc?

tobedifferent

I have a ford Ka also and am surprised that your insurance is so high. A ka is only a group 2 so is virtually the lowest insurance risk in terms of vehicles.

Whilst I have been driving longer than you I am still considered a bad risk. My car is parked on road in one of the highest cost insurance areas (these are also classified in groups, not sure what they are but i'm at the top apparently.) I'm also single and in rented accommodation. Living with family is considered less risk. Lets add to this 2 accidents in the last 3 years, first was my ex, who was a named driver, having a minor prang, the second wrote of my last car in a multi-vehicle pile up. The police kindly told us we had to go 'bump for bump' or else they would do us all for something. How I was supposed to stop when a car swerved right in front of me whilst slamming on the breaks and another right into the side of me on the motorway, oh and then another in the back - 12 cars in the whole pile up, is beyond me, but bye bye my new little no claims record, as is typical the car that swerved in front of me was rather pricy so I have taken a massive hit.

Anyway - despite this dismal record, my insurance for the same car and only a year older fully comp is £60 per month. Tescos have never been able to offer me even a remotely competitive rate. Even third party they were a lot more expensive. I'm now insured with Kwik Fit, as found during a search on confused.com.

The moral of the story is an hour or so on the internet could save you a lot of money and is well worth the search, whats a runaway cheapest for others will not be for you.

TBD
xx

tobedifferent

Oh as for ebay I find I get my highest prices when ending on a sunday evening, between 7 and 9. Don't pay to schedule with them, ebay take enough already. I like auctiva, quicker and easier to use and you can schedule at no extra cost!

My next tip is where possible tie in any TV merchandise to the end of the shows run. I have some lost stuff to sell and will sell just as the finish airing season 3 on sky. Prices will be much higher than the rest of the year. When I used to sell Buffy things they would go at almost 4 times the price at the end of season when fans are looking for a fix.