All about me....

SkintMonkey

I've been quite a regular poster of late and thought that I should perhaps be more constructive and post more details about my finances as I may have been rather vague in the past (not deliberately).

My debt is now:
£2900 on HSBC credit card
£600 overdraft

It once was £4-£5k but somehow (luck and time I think rather than good money management) I got it down to what it is now.

Income after tax and a million deductions is £1,100

My outgoings (monthly):

£100 Northern Rock loan took out to buy car - due to end March 07
£30 - car insurance
£80 - petrol
£10 - pay as you go mobile (Virgin)
£16- Broadband
£500 - joint account for shared outgoings (have reviewed this figure a million times and it's the right amount to put over, any less and I'd put my Hubby in a pickle)
I think that is all, I've double checked everything and I've got the best deal I can get at the moment. Of course on top of this is the random stuff like car MOT, car tax, the odd haircut etc..

I've put a lot of stuff on our intranet for sale board at work - if it all sells it will make me about £20-£25 which is a start. Tomorrow I will begin car sharing with a friend of mine which should knock down my petrol costs for travelling to work.

I'm also keeping a spending diary and enjoying not writing any amounts in it - bought it Friday evening, but not spent a bean since!

That's it at mo..

duncans-mum_2

Hi skintmonkey. You sound as if you are well on your way to sorting yourself out. Is the leftover money you have per month all going to your debt then?What I mean to say is, do you pay the min payment on your credit card, or are you managing to pay more and have you managed to get that on the lowest APR you are able.?

SkintMonkey

[QUOTE=duncans-mum]Hi skintmonkey. You sound as if you are well on your way to sorting yourself out. Is the leftover money you have per month all going to your debt then?What I mean to say is, do you pay the min payment on your credit card, or are you managing to pay more and have you managed to get that on the lowest APR you are able.?[/QUOTE]

I'm not quite sure where my money goes to be honest...my aim is to pay more than the minimum payment on my credit card, but the problem is because of my overdraft my money gets swallowed up and I don't have enough free money to make good dents into my credt card...

I need to sort out my overdraft I think first before I can really start cracking my credit card. On another post someone suggested moving my current account elsewhere and treating the overdraft as a debt. I do think this is a good idea, but I'm reluctant to move my account..so will have to have a think about it...

justruth

Have you tried the good old reclaim your bank charges game, I like it!

The spending diary will be an eyeopener, if your experience is anything like mine. There are some really good current accounts around at the moment so you can find the right one foryou, also when you switch you might get the overdraft at 0% for the 1st year. In my new account I get the 0% over draft, 0%BT CC and decent rate and my credit balance.

Willsnarf1983

presumably if ur putting 500 in and ur OH is putting 500 in what is this 1000 pounds actually being spent on?

Will

SkintMonkey

Willsnarf1983 wrote:

presumably if ur putting 500 in and ur OH is putting 500 in what is this 1000 pounds actually being spent on?

Will

It goes on mortgage which is £600, life insurance, buildings and contents insurance, council tax, landline, water, electricity/gas, repairing our boiler (having probs at the moment), food shopping, hsa dental cover...that's all I can think of at the moment.

SkintMonkey

justruth wrote:

Have you tried the good old reclaim your bank charges game, I like it!

The spending diary will be an eyeopener, if your experience is anything like mine. There are some really good current accounts around at the moment so you can find the right one foryou, also when you switch you might get the overdraft at 0% for the 1st year. In my new account I get the 0% over draft, 0%BT CC and decent rate and my credit balance.

I'm not sure if reclaiming bank charges would work for me. Nothing has bounced or missed payments, so I've not had subsequent charges. I've only been charged for being overdrawn (I have an agreed overdraft of £650), surely I can't claim that back?