Newbie DFW

BlueSkyDay

Hi

This is a great site - and such a comfort!! I feel such a fool when I look at my debts & it's good to know I'm not alone. I've built up debts since being a student (a mature student, so should have known better!) & have kept "tidying my debts away" instead of paying them off - and then building them up again. I'm a single parent and bought my own home 3 years ago.

I buy books when I'm stressed - and knowing that my spending is out of control is stressful, so get into even more debt! Crazy.

I stopped smoking in April - and 'let myself' spend on my credit card as a reward for stopping smoking. The balance on the M&S card is all from this year as I'd cleared balances onto 0% interest cards this time last year! I also stopped opening bank / credit card statements and have been paying huge charges for being over my overdraft limit - £125 this month!

Anyway - I found this site on Tuesday evening and faced all my debts - even going so far as to add them up!! Gulp. I opened all my unopened statements, wrote down all my expenses and guessed my food etc needs.

Right - SOA - I also took some actions yesterday, and they are shown in blue

Take home pay £1424
Child benefit £63

Mortgage £406
PPI £27
House ins £23

Gas/elec £57
Water £21
TV £11
Council tax £69

Rail travel £110
Mobile £25 (for my daughter)
Food /toiletries £200 (? guessing)
Charity £5

£8.99pm DVD rental from Amazon (instead of £15 pm rental + also buying some)

M&S cc £2,706 (16.9%)
Virgin cc £2,462 (was supposed to be 0% - long story)
Halifax cc £1,720 (0% but about to run out)
applied for 0% interest for 12 mths for most of above debt - will pay off £1740 in that time at £140pm (will set up standing orders to make sure I do it!!)

HFC x 2 £16.45 & 21.90 pm (£605 total outstanding) (21%)
talked to HFC & have consolidated to one loan at 15.9% at £30pm to pay off in a year

HSBC £185
my internet is charged to this card - created standing order for £25 pm to cover £19.99 internet + a bit to bring the balance down
Store card £80.95

HSBC loan £6,500 at £197 pm
HSBC O/D £1,500
put the overdraft onto the loan at 6.9% - deferred for 2 months. Next month I will apply for a cheaper loan

Actions in the near future:

Most important action - take credit card OUT of my purse!! Resolve not to use one until I can be trusted to pay off whole balance for cashback goodies

Resolve not to use switch card except for drawing cash & Tesco online

Stick to food budget - £100 pm from Tesco online for most shopping. Amount under £100 drawn out in of bank & put in a pin money jar
£20 pw cash for bread / milk etc. £15 pm for toiletries kept separate from weekly £20
Amounts not spent each week put in pms
I'm guessing these amounts and I'll adjust if necessary.

Plan cheap meals
Make lunches - don't buy sandwiches!

I listed some books for sale on Amazon last night and have sold 5 already!! (low prices, not much profit!)
I'll find some stuff to sell on Ebay at the weekend

Other actions to take:

Look at a fixed rate remortgage to stabilise my mortgage payments (and look for a cheaper rate!)

Get my bank charges back - I want to sort the mortgage / personal loan out first - and open another bank account!

Reduce the PPI on the mortgage - I'm sure I'm paying more than I need for that.
Ditto home insurance.

Phew! I've gone on a bit. I'm feeling pretty positive after all the work yesterday. My debts are pretty bad - but I can deal with them if I stick to my budgets. I need to change my spending habits and stop allowing myself to build up debt.

It will be great to count 'down' to work out cash available in my current account rather than 'up'

Thanks again for this site - I'm looking forward to getting in control and becoming debt free

Can I be in DFW nerd member?

JB

yung

good on you for facing up to reality and I am sure you will get some good helps and advice here, it seem that you are already taking some actions to start clearing you debts, however if you have been paying bank charges you must start claiming it back check this site out for more help to start the process of claiming your bank charges all the best. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/

BlueSkyDay

Thanks Yung, I will be getting my bank charges back when I've sorted some stuff out with my bank - need to keep them on my side for a bit

arnie&caseysma!

I am in no way an expert on this site and some of the other will be able to advise you better on your SOA. The things I can see straight off I have highlighted in red......

BlueSkyDay wrote:

Hi

Right - SOA - I also took some actions yesterday, and they are shown in blue

Take home pay £1424
Child benefit £63

Mortgage £406
PPI £27
House ins £23

Gas/elec £57
Water £21
TV £11Do you have Sky etc that you have not included here?
Council tax £69

Rail travel £110
Mobile £25 (for my daughter)Contract or PAYG? Try and change to a cheaper contract or hunt about for a PAYG sim that gives you free texts for £10 topup - and restrict her calls! (easier said than done I know)
Food /toiletries £200 (? guessing)
Charity £5Good for you, even though it is only £5 this could possibly be spent better elsewhere at the moment until you get out of a rut

£8.99pm DVD rental from Amazon (instead of £15 pm rental + also buying some)Can you do away with this altogether and join your local library? Swap DVDs with friends and colleagues, they all have some that you haven't seen!

M&S cc £2,706 (16.9%)
Virgin cc £2,462 (was supposed to be 0% - long story)
Halifax cc £1,720 (0% but about to run out)
applied for 0% interest for 12 mths for most of above debt - will pay off £1740 in that time at £140pm (will set up standing orders to make sure I do it!!)

HFC x 2 £16.45 & 21.90 pm (£605 total outstanding) (21%)
talked to HFC & have consolidated to one loan at 15.9% at £30pm to pay off in a year

HSBC £185
my internet is charged to this card - created standing order for £25 pm to cover £19.99 internet + a bit to bring the balance downYou need to change the payment for the internet from the card to a direct debit coming from your bank account. Are you in a tie-in with your ISP? If not then change to a cheaper package (broadband is cheaper than you think these days)
Store card £80.95 Pay this off as soon as possible as it will probably be the highest interest rate you are paying - if you can tighten the purse strings to get rid of it in one payment then do so...

HSBC loan £6,500 at £197 pm
HSBC O/D £1,500
put the overdraft onto the loan at 6.9% - deferred for 2 months. Next month I will apply for a cheaper loan

Actions in the near future:

Most important action - take credit card OUT of my purseand cut it up! I no longer have any credit cards and I am working towards getting myself sorted out!!! Resolve not to use one until I can be trusted to pay off whole balance for cashback goodies

Resolve not to use switch card except for drawing cash & Tesco online

Stick to food budget - £100 pm from Tesco online for most shopping. Amount under £100 drawn out in of bank & put in a pin money jar
£20 pw cash for bread / milk etc. £15 pm for toiletries kept separate from weekly £20
Amounts not spent each week put in pms
I'm guessing these amounts and I'll adjust if necessary.

Plan cheap meals
Make lunches - don't buy sandwiches!

I listed some books for sale on Amazon last night and have sold 5 already!! (low prices, not much profit!)
I'll find some stuff to sell on Ebay at the weekend

Other actions to take:

Look at a fixed rate remortgage to stabilise my mortgage payments (and look for a cheaper rate!)

Get my bank charges back - I want to sort the mortgage / personal loan out first - and open another bank account!

Reduce the PPI on the mortgage - I'm sure I'm paying more than I need for that.
Ditto home insurance.

Phew! I've gone on a bit. I'm feeling pretty positive after all the work yesterday. My debts are pretty bad - but I can deal with them if I stick to my budgets. I need to change my spending habits and stop allowing myself to build up debt.

It will be great to count 'down' to work out cash available in my current account rather than 'up'

Thanks again for this site - I'm looking forward to getting in control and becoming debt free

Can I be in DFW nerd member?

JB

Well done for facing up to the debt and resolving to do something about it. I have not had the courage yet to post my own SOA although I have been watching with interest and taking all the advice that I possibly can and putting it into practice.

You will find lots of friendly helpful advice on this forum so please do check back regularly for any hints and tips you can.

Good luck.
A&CM x

atypicalblonde

hello!! :hello: I am not an expert.... others will help better than me in term of the financial side, but just wanted to say how fab it is that you are taking such a positive approach to it all - well done that is the first step!! :T xx

tryhard_2

BlueSkyDay wrote:

Hi

This is a great site - and such a comfort!! I feel such a fool when I look at my debts & it's good to know I'm not alone. I've built up debts since being a student (a mature student, so should have known better!) & have kept "tidying my debts away" instead of paying them off - and then building them up again. I'm a single parent and bought my own home 3 years ago.

I buy books when I'm stressed - and knowing that my spending is out of control is stressful, so get into even more debt! Crazy.

I stopped smoking in April - and 'let myself' spend on my credit card as a reward for stopping smoking. The balance on the M&S card is all from this year as I'd cleared balances onto 0% interest cards this time last year! I also stopped opening bank / credit card statements and have been paying huge charges for being over my overdraft limit - £125 this month!

Anyway - I found this site on Tuesday evening and faced all my debts - even going so far as to add them up!! Gulp. I opened all my unopened statements, wrote down all my expenses and guessed my food etc needs.

Right - SOA - I also took some actions yesterday, and they are shown in blue

Take home pay £1424
Child benefit £63

Mortgage £406
PPI £27
House ins £23

Gas/elec £57
Water £21 (are you on a water meter - will be cheaper generally)
TV £11
Council tax £69

Rail travel £110
Mobile £25 (for my daughter)
Food /toiletries £200 (? guessing)
Charity £5

£8.99pm DVD rental from Amazon (instead of £15 pm rental + also buying some) can you stop this or is it a contract

M&S cc £2,706 (16.9%)
Virgin cc £2,462 (was supposed to be 0% - long story)what is the apr now?
Halifax cc £1,720 (0% but about to run out)
applied for 0% interest for 12 mths for most of above debt - will pay off £1740 in that time at £140pm (will set up standing orders to make sure I do it!!)

HFC x 2 £16.45 & 21.90 pm (£605 total outstanding) (21%)
talked to HFC & have consolidated to one loan at 15.9% at £30pm to pay off in a year

HSBC £185
my internet is charged to this card - created standing order for £25 pm to cover £19.99 internet + a bit to bring the balance down
Store card £80.95

HSBC loan £6,500 at £197 pm
HSBC O/D £1,500
put the overdraft onto the loan at 6.9% - deferred for 2 months. Next month I will apply for a cheaper loan

Actions in the near future:

Most important action - take credit card OUT of my purse!! Resolve not to use one until I can be trusted to pay off whole balance for cashback goodies

Resolve not to use switch card except for drawing cash & Tesco online

Stick to food budget - £100 pm from Tesco online for most shopping. Amount under £100 drawn out in of bank & put in a pin money jar
£20 pw cash for bread / milk etc. £15 pm for toiletries kept separate from weekly £20
Amounts not spent each week put in pms
I'm guessing these amounts and I'll adjust if necessary.

Plan cheap meals
Make lunches - don't buy sandwiches!

I listed some books for sale on Amazon last night and have sold 5 already!! (low prices, not much profit!)
I'll find some stuff to sell on Ebay at the weekend

Other actions to take:

Look at a fixed rate remortgage to stabilise my mortgage payments (and look for a cheaper rate!)

Get my bank charges back - I want to sort the mortgage / personal loan out first - and open another bank account!

Reduce the PPI on the mortgage - I'm sure I'm paying more than I need for that.
Ditto home insurance.

Phew! I've gone on a bit. I'm feeling pretty positive after all the work yesterday. My debts are pretty bad - but I can deal with them if I stick to my budgets. I need to change my spending habits and stop allowing myself to build up debt.

It will be great to count 'down' to work out cash available in my current account rather than 'up'

Thanks again for this site - I'm looking forward to getting in control and becoming debt free

Can I be in DFW nerd member?

JB

hello blueskyday and welcome
some of my comments are in red; there are other items in SOA that you might want to look at like car tax mot, gifts, christmas holidays.

re dvd - https://www.lovefilm.com/times8 gives you a free trial - see the code in online discounts board - lets you choose 10 items free

tryhard_2

if you try this budget planner you will get a better idea of your outgoings and it will be easier for others to guide you
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1089226742,17582,#planner

oops_a_daisy

just to add to the brill advice already given, if you are looking at renewing your insurances try to find ones that give cashback to switch and check out Quidco as they offer a referal bonus so you can end up getting money back for switching and pay less on premiums. I did this with my buildings insurance through Quidco and got £65 cashback and premiums reduced, on my contents insurance I went to Barclays because they were offering to beat your renewal quote and give £50 cashback ( not sure if this offer is still on though )

Well done on posting and good luck

BlueSkyDay

Hi

Thanks for all the advice - it's all good! I'll try to answer all of the points:

I don't have a car, so no car tax etc on the SOA
The dvd rental is a cut back from previous renting habit - I know I won't be able to resist 'just one dvd' when I'm tired and want to crash out & relax. I'll look at getting rid of it later, maybe
I'm on a water meter - the cost has risen from £80 in Feb to £127 in Sept, so might have overestimated the monthly amount
I will be paying off the store card and other small amounts in the next couple of months - a nice incentive to keep saving.

I think that's all, but can't get back to the previous message to check.

Thanks again for the support

Jenny