Another 1st timer!!!

auntie_brenda

Must be the time of year for it.......

I have a smaller debt than many on here, but it is like a mill stone round my neck. I have a large mortgage also, and want to pay that off early. This all happened following / during a messy divorce. Before that I had a slap dash attitude to money, never saved a penny, but because we had 2 good incomes I wasn't in debt either. Basically I want to pay off my credit card asap to give me more options for the future. But, having had a bad few years I also want to have some pleasures, chief one of which is holidays......

OK, debt is £7700:eek: , but the (relatively) good news is that it has just been transferred onto a Virgin credit card at 0% for 12 months.

I've done my SOA, hopefully it's right, if not am sure I will be corrected :rolleyes: . Am also preparing myself to justify some items on it..... but all advice welcome, thanks.

Income
My wages 2123.47
DD Housekeeping 80.00
Total 2203.47

Outgoings
Mortgage 809.67

Life Insurance 11.70
Life Insurance 11.39
Critical illness Cover 12.46
Health Insurance 5.85
Contents & Buildings Insurance 10.94

Water 30.00

Council Tax 100.00

Electricity & Gas 75.00

TV Licence 11.37
BT 17.50
Internet 17.99

Savings - regular savings 20.00
Savings - 10 yr plan 25.00

Charity 15.00

Car Tax 9.17
Car Insurance 20.83
Car Servicing, Repairs 0.00
Diesel 80.92

Holidays 0.00

Glasses 21.92
Dentist 12.50

Clothes 50.00

Cleaner 60.00

Food, toiletries, going out, osteopath, hairdresser, lunches etc. 433.33

Xmas & birthdays 62.50

Ccard payment 154.00

Total 2079.04

bonnie_2

welcome to the board.
first things i would stop are savings and charity payments no point saving when your in debt, charity starts at home. That's £60 a month.
£433 a month is excessive for food etc.
A good way to cover dentist, optical and osteopath is to join hsa for£24 a month, then you can claim it all back.
why do you need a cleaner.
£50 for clothes a month is also excessive, £20 should be more than enough.
good luck, plenty of savings to be made here.

gallygirl

Hello Auntie B and welcome! You are right, your situation is not as bleak as others, but it's still a problem to you. OK, my thoughts -

auntie_brenda wrote:

Income
My wages 2123.47
DD Housekeeping 80.00 Not a lot to pay for board?
Total 2203.47 As least you have a good wage coming in.

Outgoings
Mortgage 809.67 Yikes, this is high!!! What kind of a deal are you on, would it be worth remortgaging?

Life Insurance 11.70
Life Insurance 11.39
Critical illness Cover 12.46
Health Insurance 5.85
Contents & Buildings Insurance 10.94 Why 2 lots of life insurance? Are health insurances worth it? Contents and buildings seems on low side??

Water 30.00 This is high - have you considered a meter?

Council Tax 100.00

Electricity & Gas 75.00 This is high - are you on best deal, or paying arrears off? Check with uswitch.

TV Licence 11.37 What about sky, or do you have a freeview box?
BT 17.50
Internet 17.99 Would it be cheaper to combine phone & broadband?

Savings - regular savings 20.00
Savings - 10 yr plan 25.00 Should you be doing this while you are in debt? How much is in them, can you cash in?

Charity 15.00 Should you be doing this while you are in debt?

Car Tax 9.17
Car Insurance 20.83 Have you shipped around for best deal? This is high
Car Servicing, Repairs 0.00 0????
Diesel 80.92 This is a lot .... could you use public transport?

Holidays 0.00

Glasses 21.92
Dentist 12.50

Clothes 50.00

Cleaner 60.00 Oops, seems a luxury to me.....

Food, toiletries, going out, osteopath, hairdresser, lunches etc. 433.33 This is £100 a week - can you split it down further? How many are you feeding?

Xmas & birthdays 62.50

Ccard payment 154.00

Total 2079.04

It actually ads up to around £1800 - have you missed something?

auntie_brenda

Thanks for your replies.....

Bonnie, you're right about the charity. The problem is I sponsor someone, so feel involved. last year, when my situation was worse I nearly did, but felt so bad I didn't. As I can easily service debt, am just looking for way to get rid of quicker, I think I'll keep it for now.

Savings - You are right, this is silly. However the savings plan has a large adjustment type thingy involved, so would lose a lot if I cancleed. I will look at making it paid up theough (a 10 yr plan, 5 to go). The regular savings is an account I've had for years, it is a mutual BS which was tipped at 1 time to go public, so I joined to make a fortune :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Still a mutual 9 yrs later . I can only make 1 withdrawal a year (did 1 in the summer), have around £100 I can lift in January or may wait till interest free cc deal up (Dec 07) and pay lump sum off then.

The £433 for food etc.need addressing, in my defence it does cover all ad hoc spends. But I am going to menu plan and keep a spending diary.

I know I should be criticised about the cleaner . In my defence I leave home at 6.30am and get home at 7.30pm, 4hr commute daily. Saturdays are taken up with looking after elderly father's needs. Sunday is my 'day of rest' (though will be doing batch cooking it appears!). I am exhausted all the time, which is 1 of the reasons I want to get out of debt.

I have started looking at HSA etc, have followed a link form this site, however most exclude pre-existing conditions. The Birmingham Saturday one looks good, will go back & look in detail. TBH, didn't realise how much I had spent in last year till went back over statements (osteopath is probably around £10 a month but as I pay with cash haven't a record).

I was shocked when clothing added up to £50 a month. I hardly spend anything compared to most friends and colleagues (always promising a splurge 'when' I lose weight ). Still can't believe it adds up to that. Almost £200 was on 2 pairs of boots. That will not reoccur!!!! I shop in charity shops a lot of the time. Am still shell shocked!!!


Thanks for your advice, it has made me think....

chevalier

Could you cleaner come every other week? That would save you £30 a month. If there are only 2 of you in the house surely you don't make THAT much mess?

As regards extra income, can you ebay all the clothes, etc that you haven't worn for a year. I am doing this at the moment, as we are moving, and I have had to face facts that I am not going to be a size 12 any time soon! I agree with another poster that £80 keep seems low. I was paying that much 15 years ago to my (also single parent) mum.

best of luck
chev

auntie_brenda

ali007, thanks for your advice also.

DD lives 1/2 with me & 1/2 with ex and pays us both 80pcm. She is saving to do a post grad course so don't want to increase.

Yikes, yes, my mortgage is high!!! Is fixed at 4.79% for 2 yrs. Nearly added ccard debt on, bur resisted!! Will stick with it as fairly good rate and high penalties.

The 2 lots of insurance - was cheaper to take out a new additional policy than cancel existing and take out a completely new 1, IFSWIM. I want to be able to leave sprogs something - this covers mortgage with some extra.

Have addressed the health insurances myself. The critical illness is a good deal I got around 5 yrs ago, guaranteed premiums for 20 yrs. If I cancelled then reinstated in future it would cost an extra £20 a month. The £5.85 is a policy for 'woman's stuff'. TBH, can't remember even who it's with, need to look into it.

I am on a water meter. DD and I love baths..... was £65 in credit in August, if same at next bill will ask for refund and reduction. Am having a lot more showers than baths now, and turn taps off, have hippos etc.

The electric & gas are on a fixed tariff with Powergen,, taken out literally days before they announced 1st big rise. My vice is the tumble drier - can't drag myself out of bed any earlier (get up at 5.45 as it is), but use economy 7. I've been paying off arrears (had no intention of increasing my monthly payment till they forced me, £200 better in my pocket than theirs!). Now clear so hopefully will be reduced after next bill. I use Ec 7 wherever possible, switch everything off, use slow cooker etc.

No sky or freeview, not interested, so no savings there! Am looking at switching to BT as don't like orange, not sure if will be cheaper though (have wireless broadband).

Oops - info hasn't posted right. Car servicing should be :eek: :eek: £112 a month. Due to being under warranty so need to be serviced at delaer, also 4 tyres. Now out of warranty so hopefully will 1/2 (can't really budget as on intelligent servicing so it makes up its own mind when it needs servicing. I do 25000 a year though...
I did shop around for car insurance, this was the cheapest I could get as it covers business use & has protected no claims. Diesel is my expenditure less meileage claims from work. Public transport no good for work as £75 a day!!!! I spend around £9 a day for work, around 7 times a month (out at clients the rest of the time). Car is diesel so can't do any cheaper!

As I've said above the £433 is way too high. Only me & D - but she has expensive tastes, even for packed lunches!!! She suffered a lot with divorce so don't want to cut back on her stuff. I already take packed lunches whenever I can, and am going to meal plan. Have also decided to keep a spending diary to see where it all goes!

Have already put forward my justification for a cleaner . Need to 'fess up to holidays as well, that too didn't copy over, has been £95 a month over last yr. This has included a week in Africa, week in Turkey, 2 long weekends in Spain, 1 weekend in Poland, 2 weeknds in UK. I always shop around, and think I have had real value for money! However, am cutting budget to £50. As with cleaner, I really need my breaks to stop me collapsing - journey to office and other trips is waering me out. However, hae well paid job and would 1/2 salary if worked local. moving not an option because of dad.

Thanks again. I've found this whole expereince really cathatic!

CLAPTON

just a few thoughts

as already said you should break down the food etc category at 433 per month and create a proper budget for each item ... it looks more like a balancing total rather than an actual budget.

have you considered keeping a spending diary so you can actually track where all the money goes and then make a realistic budget for each item.

as a house holder and a car owner some sort of emergency fund is essential ... its virtually certain that in the next 12 months something will need repairing, replacing, redecorating etc, so you need a realistic short term savings pot that can be used to pay for these things so you dont need to use the credit card and increase debt again.


10 year saving schemes are rarely good value these days. however as you have very cleverly moved your debt to 0% card i would suggest you see what happens when the 0% period ends and then consider cashing the saving plan in....if you start having to pay 15% or above APR on the card and as there is no way your 10 plan will be returning that rate.

auntie_brenda

Chevalier, I asked the cleaner about fortnightly but she won't - she has people queuing up for her. She does more than cleaning and ironing though - she will run errands for me etc and is invaluable really. You'd be surprised how much mess we can make :eek: .


DD is paying £80 to ex also as she is there 1/2 the week, and is saving for post grad course - so if I increased her board would end up giving her more next year!

I will ebay everything that doesn't move!!!! Is obviously the wrong time to sell clothes, but will spend time between Xmas & New Year turbolisting then list in Feb or March. Have also listed a load of books on GreenMetropolis - sold 2nd this week, yeah!, bought most of them for 10p from charity shop so good profits!

Clapton, the £433 is not a balancing item (I only use those at work ) - it £100 a week x 52 / 12 to give a monthly figure. But I have got a spending diary ready and will be interested to see where it all goes....

You're right about the savings pot. I tend to bung on credit card and pay off (ish!) the next month. This is silly. My new mortgage has an offset feature, I have just set up a standing order to pay £300 in every month, this should cover all car, house, holidays, clothes etc. I can transfer money in & out at will so can draw out when required but will do my best to leave in! Have set up a spreadsheet to keep track.

I also agree about savings plan, but market rate adjustment would take big chunk :mad: . Also it's with another mutual, so is part of my get rich strategy :rotfl: :rotfl: . It hadn't occurred to me about paying interest at end of 0% deal - just assumed I would get another 0% card for balance . Rather naive I suppose!. If I pay £154 a month I will owe around £5850 when deal ends. I MUST reduce this substantially by then!!! I WILL NOT pay interest!!!!

Am off to think up a challenge for myself.....

Prudent

Food is very high. I spend around £90 per month for myself, teen daughter and two picky cats. I only spend another £50 ish on the other things you have added in.

Read the old style board for ideas to get it down.

The cleaner is also a big expense. I do a very demanding high stress job and combine it with full time single parent hood. I have often though of getting a cleaner.. but then think what else I could do with that money. I did pay off my mortage and and am now at the stage of refitting bathroom and then kitchen. Owning your home outright is a great feeling and to me it was worth sacrificing a cleaner for.

lynzpower

Can I ask what you spent the debt on?

bonnie_2

How old is your dd.