First post and some major debt help needed!!Please

gtyrel

katie-kat-kins- thats for all your suggestions. The cost of driving to my work is just to much on petrol roughly its aprox 250-280 a month, plus i work in a private campus and i do not have a parking space allocated to me, so the nearest park and ride to my work would mean another £40 a month on top of petrol for the bus to the office. Thats why i get the bus its actually the cheapest way to get to work at £200 it takes me about 3 hours each way, haha but its cheap!

Thanks again for all your tips, i have just found out today my life assurance will be going down once my ex partner is removed from it and i got my contact lenses down £3 (thats another £10 i forgot about)!

Thanks again for your advice.

gtyrel

I have had to cut back on my waxing so its now £40 a month, but i cant stop it due to having PCOS, i need to get it done to remain sane and not look like a man haha! But seriously, its not about going out or having a partner, its actually the more obvious things like my whole face and neck.

you would probably see my second post, i couldnt actually afford to take the car to work each day the bus is the cheapest option. because when i have holidays off work thats months i can save some money to.

Katie-Kat-Kins

You could still wax at home, or try an epilator or depilatory cream (veet or similar). Creams are often best for the face as they don't pull the hair out by the root. Or threading is very cheap (and you can learn to do everything bar your eyebrows yourself) it is also less irritating than waxing. Or you could bleach your facial hair, that is dead cheap and quick too.

It might also be worth comparing the cost of regular waxing with electrolysis.

£60 a month is a lot on waxing, although I appreciate if it is due to PCOS going au naturale isn't something you would want to consider.

gtyrel

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

You could still wax at home, or try an epilator or depilatory cream (veet or similar). Creams are often best for the face as they don't pull the hair out by the root. Or threading is very cheap (and you can learn to do everything bar your eyebrows yourself) it is also less irritating than waxing. Or you could bleach your facial hair, that is dead cheap and quick too.

It might also be worth comparing the cost of regular waxing with electrolysis.

£60 a month is a lot on waxing, although I appreciate if it is due to PCOS going au naturale isn't something you would want to consider.

Thats kidna part of the issue because its the PCOS, its to much hair to bleach, i used to do that when i was younger but the condition has just got worse as i got older so its now impossible to bleach it. I havent actually tried electrolysis, i did have laser treatement but it never worked.

and the creams or shaving don't work, the hair will only stay away for about a day at the most.

I might look into the threading tho, and find some places that do that.

thanks again, i am also doing a new soa to include the bits i couldnt find

gtyrel

Updated SOA

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1373
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1373
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 293
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 27
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 200
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 14
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
waxing.................................. 60
extra bus travel........................ 37
Working Lunches......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1065

Assets
Cash.................................... 100
House value (Gross)..................... 65000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 3500
Total Assets............................ 74600

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 56000....(293)......5.27
Total secured & HP debts...... 56000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin Credit Card.............2300......35........0
Bank Loan......................6300......139.......5.2
Total unsecured debts..........8600......174.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,373
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,065
Available for debt repayments........... 308
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 174
Amount left after debt repayments....... 134
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 74,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -56,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,600
Net Assets.............................. 10,000

Katie-Kat-Kins

Laser doesn't work on PCOS hair, but I believe that electrolysis may do, so it might be worth checking out as for a similar sort of price you would get a more long term result.

Threading is dead cheap at asian salons (or cheapest of all find an asian lady who will come to your house or who works from home) it can be pricey and difficult to get appointments for threading at western salons as it isn't something many beauticians are trained to do. It is also dead easy to do and I believe you can find tutorials on u-tube so you could maybe do it yourself. As you are used to waxing it probably won't hurt too much either.

Good luck with improving the SoA make sure you do a spending diary too so that you can keep track of where your money is going.

Katie-Kat-Kins

gtyrel wrote: »

Updated SOA

Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1373
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1373
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 293
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 27
Council tax............................. 98
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 20
Mobile phone............................ 25
TV Licence.............................. 12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 30
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 40
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 200
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 10
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 14
Life assurance ......................... 14
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
waxing.................................. 60
extra bus travel........................ 37
Working Lunches......................... 40
Total monthly expenses.................. 1065

Assets
Cash.................................... 100
House value (Gross)..................... 65000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 6000
Other assets............................ 3500
Total Assets............................ 74600

Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 56000....(293)......5.27
Total secured & HP debts...... 56000.....-.........-
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Virgin Credit Card.............2300......35........0
Bank Loan......................6300......139.......5.2
Total unsecured debts..........8600......174.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,373
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,065
Available for debt repayments........... 308
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 174
Amount left after debt repayments....... 134
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 74,600
Total HP & Secured debt................. -56,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -8,600
Net Assets.............................. 10,000

You shouldn't have your extra bus travel as £37 a month. You should multiply the total weekly cost by 52 and then divide by 12 and that is your total monthly cost of bus travel. You don't then need an extra £37. So if your bus fare is £37 a week it is £160.33 per month, or £1924 per year.

If you worry about running out of money for your travel you could try piggybanking - that is having a separate back account for certain expenses. You could put one twelfth the annual cost in there each month and there would always be enough for your bus fare!

Bare in mind though that you probably get four or five weeks holiday a year and don't have to buy your bus fare then

[Deleted User]

Is your ex officially off the mortgage? - or is he able to come back once you have paid it and demand equity from the house?

Expenditure
C.Tax: If you are up to date on your council tax until April then pay the extra £98 towards the debt with the highest APR.

If you are in credit with the gas and electric company(ies) claim this money back, you are not recieving any interest by keeping extra cash with them, and you are being charged interest on the debts you are paying.
Also, regardless of whether you are in credit with them or not ensure that you are on the cheapest tariff for your area (check comparison sites, and often if you go through Quidco you will get cashback)

Water: Are you not paying any water rates? If you are and you don't have one already, as you are living alone, consider a meter as it will work out less.

Mobile phone: call the company even if you are tied into a contect, often you can drop a tariff even if you cannot cancel

Entertainment: you have mentioed in a later post that you do go out and meet with friends etc, put this in your budget

Waxing: £60 a month is not something you need to be spending on this at the moment, it's a luxury - see if you can either do it yourself, or if you have a local college then see if they offer this (it will be much cheaper)

Assets
Cash (100) - pay this towards the debt that is charging the highest APR
Car and engagement ring could pretty much clear all your debts - but these are decisions that I imagine are not easy

Debts
You need to find out the APR of your credit card, to see how much it is actually costing you every month, pay your excess (£98 from council tax until April, and surplus at the end of every month (£279?), and your cash asset - £100) off the debt with the highest APR (most likely the credit card, unless you are on a 0% deal or special introductory rate)

See if there is an early repayment charge on the loan, or if you are allowed to make overpayments without being penalised too heavily

You seem to be doing okay, but if you don't have the surplus (£279) at the end of the month then you need to keep a spending dairy to see where your money goes - note down everything that you buy including the small things, and you will see where you are rerally spending your money (coffees, magazines, newspapers, lunch out, top-up shopping etc) and once you know where it's going, you'll be able to see where you will be able to cut back

Hope this helps, Domino9

gtyrel

Just double checked my bus thing, and taking away the 5 weeks holiday i get my yearly bus travel would be £2240, so about £186 a month. i just lift £200 out my account on pay day and put it in a little jar in my house that i then just use for bus tickets for the month, one i have to buy every 4 weeks and another i need to buy weekly.

I havent heard of piggybanking that sounds like a really good idea though, thanks again for everything

Katie-Kat-Kins

Well in that case you don't need to worry about your extra £37 for "long months" £200 is covering it with a surplus.

You do need to identify where your surplus is going because your first post sounded like you are really struggling and panicking but it looks as though you have £200 spare at the end of the month to chuck at your debts - that means you should be able to clear them even if you keep the car!