Hi - Where to go for advice?

kylie_smiley

PS: already have a savings account for my MOT/Road tax and have begun one for christmas.

lambda

Ah! Good fun generally costs almost nothing. Here's some suggestions:

Watch TV (freeview) + iPlayer + 4od, etc.
Listen to the radio/CDs/etc.
Read books. Join a library.
Learn to cook (this can be very fun! and it's cheaper too)
Go for walks.
Go running.
Art galleries are generally free.
Even if you do like your nights out, 100 quid is a lot. Perhaps you could ask your friends over instead? Get some drinks in, way cheaper than going out.

Re: your mobile. If you are on O2 you can get cheap broadband + internet for about 20 quid a month.

I think you can afford you haircuts, and perhaps just half your entertainment budget for now. You don't need an emergency budget though (apart from the car one). Oh, and make sure you set up that budget account! It really works!

lambda

A standard current account doesn't require that you pay anything into it. I have a budget account (standard current account) with the RBS. I only pay 350 into a month. You don't need to pay your wages into a current account, those are usually ones with overdrafts, etc. associated with them.

Sorry, and yes: leave your normal account as it is for you bills and wages, etc. And just use the other one for spending. Once it's empty it's tough until the next month!

kylie_smiley

Will go look at RBS then - I do all those things already, with the exception of the art galleries!

It's nice to hear I am doing things right and I think the budget account could really work for me! Will go see if I can get it set up today ready for next month - well, ish!

kylie_smiley

Right - have applied online for the RBS Key Account. Just got to wait for my pack to come through the post now and then get to branch with ID and it will be sorted.

Thanks again for looking at it. I'd never thought of a separate 'budget' account - but it's so simple it might just work ;-)

lambda

Put it this way: on Jan the 1st I was about 1200 overdrawn on payday. Since then I've been using a budget account for spending (fuel + food) at 350 a month. Today (payday) my account is now 65 pounds in credit. So I've paid about 1200 pounds off in 4 months using the budget approach. It really works. Don't take your current account debit card with you or any of your credit cards. Hide them away. Only take your budget debit card with you so you can't be tempted to spend any money.

It doesn't have to be RBS, just pick a bank that's near you. It's best to open with a different bank to the one you are already at, as it gives you more options and flexibility. If you set up today it'll take about 2 weeks in total to be up and running. Good luck!

lambda

Ah I see you've opened one. Excellent. Does it come with a debit card?

KPR11

Hi Kylie,

Well done on taking steps to address your debts.

Here are my thoughts on your SOA:

kylie_smiley wrote: »

A lot - enough to worry me. I can make minimum payments and a bit more at the moment, but am worried it will spiral out of control. I've got a handle on my budget now, but I just can't see it ever being gone. I've just doen a SOA - not sure of the asset figures though. Will post what I have so far.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1751.32 - this will be increasing in september, but so will my perol - new job!
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1751.32

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 446 - are you in a houseshare or do you rent? If you have your own place, do you have a spare room you can let out? Will bring in the extra cash and you won't feel lonely!
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 191
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 70
Council tax............................. 89
Electricity............................. 25
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 18
Telephone (land line)................... 30 - this includes my internet
Mobile phone............................ 35
TV Licence.............................. 13
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 100
Clothing................................ 20 - i think people have different views on this, i think it is sensible to have a small budget for this BUT make do with what you have for now and only spend if you need to.
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 14
Car Insurance........................... 37.62
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 35
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0 - live in an apartment
Contents insurance...................... 13
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 20 - cut this in half for now?
Haircuts................................ 25
Entertainment........................... 100 - can you try and cut this to half for now? take advantage of the good weather, join things like reading clubs etc, if you going out for meals - use vouchers, orange wed etc! I am a classic example of the joys of vouchers etc - (not very MSE and something that many people will frown upon)but I still dine out probably as much as I did pre-debt busting days, however my costs are less than half what they previously were. Orange wed at Pizza Express: 2 starters, 2 pizzas, 2 glasses of tap water - c£5pp
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 50 - again differing views, I set one up when I started debt busting cause I wanted to cut my dependence of debt and get into a savings habit, but maybe you can cut this in half for now?
Total monthly expenses.................. 1416.62


Assets - not sure of asset worth at the mo - could find out tho
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 0........(446)......0
Secured Debt.................. 0........(191)......0 - car loan
Total secured & HP debts...... 0.........-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
VIRGIN.........................6158.14...70........0 - [FONT=&quot]£1608.52 0.0% p.a. until 6 May 2011, - how much is the apr changing to?[/FONT]
- [FONT=&quot]£1515.95 1.9% p.a. until 8 July 2011, [/FONT]
- [FONT=&quot]£2381.29 0.0% p.a. until 7 Nov 2011.[/FONT]
NATWEST........................2900......60........0 - this is 0% too, until Dec/Jan I think - will double check
Total unsecured debts..........9058.14...130.......- - :eek:


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,751.32
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,416.62
Available for debt repayments........... 334.7
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 130
Amount left after debt repayments....... 204.7

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -9,058.14
Net Assets.............................. -9,058.14

Created using the SOA calculator at www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission, using Firefox browser.

You need to try and pay more than the minimum payments in order to make any dent into the debts.

Hope the above makes sense and helps.

Good luck

kylie_smiley

Thank you. I am aiming to pay an extra £100 a month off the larger debt, as that's the one where the APR is going to change soon. I think part of it is going to shoot up to 16.9 v soon, so I need to sort out what I'm going to do about that regarding balance transfers etc.

KPR11

kylie_smiley wrote: »

Thank you. I am aiming to pay an extra £100 a month off the larger debt, as that's the one where the APR is going to change soon. I think part of it is going to shoot up to 16.9 v soon, so I need to sort out what I'm going to do about that regarding balance transfers etc.

You seem to have a decent credit history (basing on the 0% cards that you hold), if you qualify - Barclaycard are offering 20m at 0% on BT!