Joining the club

yellowmoon

I've done what I can think of so far. I started by lowering my interest rates, changing bank account, getting extra work, getting an extra credit card at a lower rate, just got a new rate on my mortgage in Nov. I'd really like to be debt free but feel I have a long way to go. You may think that as my income exceeds my outgoings this should be possible but the total always seems to remain the same. I am becoming stressed and feel I'll be in debt forever.

I'm hoping that this forum will help me to keep focused, as you guys seem to be, so that I can see the end of my debt. I think having to post you with updates will help and I want to know how to do one of those bits at the bottom of a thread where you write your totals as the come down, but it's taken me hours to get this far and I'm now working long hours too.

Ok folks here goes with my SoA.

Capital One 1,941.32 min 58.23 mtly0.482% APR 5.9%
Lloyds TSB 5,126.86 min 103 mtly0.482% APR 5.9%
NatWest Loan 5,545.80 regular 103 6.9% flat
M&S card 0.00 waiting to get this for transfer APR 3.9%
Am Ex card 2,819.23 min 71 mthly 0.40 APR 4.8%
Mum Loan 7,565.00 30.00 0%
overdraft 2,100.00 just leave in what is left - not sure just closed my Natwest Advantage Gold to save £15 a month now just normal account will check on Monday.
NatWest card 1,221.22 pay in full - would be 18.9%

Total Debt = £ 26,319.43

mort 805.01
council tax 137.00
bldgs ins 22.83
conts ins 3.00
food etc 70.00
tv lic 11.41
gas 75.00
elec 79.50
life ins 12.66
phone 60.00
water 33.62
hols 150.00
gym 40.00
m fone 15.00
union 15.00
clubs/AA 6.00
car ins 20.00
petrol 100.00
MOT etc 27.00
car tax 16.00
teeth/eyes 13.00
training fees 35.00
hair cuts 10.00
gen. spending 20.00
gifts 100.00

Total 1,877.03

and then Loans and Cards

Capital one 58.23
Natwest Loan 103.00
Lloyds card 103.00
Am Ex card 71.00
Mum 30.00
Total £365.23

Grand Total = £2,242.26

Total of all income = £ 2,486

Leaving me with £243.74 per month to work on these.

fatbelly

yellowmoon wrote:

I'd really like to be debt free but feel I have a long way to go. You may think that as my income exceeds my outgoings this should be possible but the total always seems to remain the same. I am becoming stressed and feel I'll be in debt forever..

Then you're missing something(s) on your SoA. Do you keep a spending diary so you can see where it's going?

Your interest rates are well controlled and you have a healthy income so it's the expenditure side that needs work. I'll leave others to make more specific comments but with £100 per month on gifts, you're clearly a generous guy!

angelavdavis

Ok my comments:

gas 75.00 - are you sure this is the cheapest you can do? I think you might need to turn down the thermostats, etc. Check out uswitch.
elec 79.50 - ditto
phone 60.00 - this can surely be cut down - this is a lot of calls on top of a mobile. Look at switching to a cheaper provider - check out Martin's posts on this.
hols 150.00 - £1800 is a lot for holidays per year, can you not go without this year and stay home?
gym 40.00 - is this necessary?
training fees 35.00 - what is this for?
gen. spending 20.00 - is this necessary on top of food, haircuts, etc?
gifts 100.00 - £1200 a year on gifts when you are in £26k debt??

If you cut back on phone, hols, training fees, gym, gen spending and gifts - this would mean having £300+ per month to pay off debts or your 21 year loan payments to Mum(!)

As fatbelly mentions, you need to keep a record of your spending. Keeping a spending diary will show you exactly what you spending your additional money on. With the savings above plus the "missing" £243.74 per month you should have over £500 per month to throw at debt!

yellowmoon

Thanks . . . Right I need to keep making changes. These I can do today.

1. I have found myself a book to record all my spending.
2. Decided that even though I don't pay any interest to my mum I need to pay mor off per month so I'm probably going to up it to £100.
3. Think about the type of holidays I have been taking and what I spend on family and friends birthdays and Christmas.

I will have another look through your comments later when I get home from work.

CLAPTON

a spending diary will greatly help to find where the money actually goes but you dont seem to have anything in for socialising, clothes, any takeaways, work lunches/coffees and 70 for food seems very low.

is there just one of you?

in reality you are in a very good situation as you can relatively easily choose to reduce your spending if you are minded to.

with the gym, presents, holidays coming in at almost 3,600 per annum and gas and elec at almost 2,000 , these could be massiviely reduced if you wished.

how big is the property ? could you rent out a room to increase income?

yellowmoon

Thanks for the comments everyone. My spending diary should help me to account for my missing funds. The gas and elec. Will not be possible to reduce just jet as I’m repaying for their very low estimations of what I was using previously – but I will unplug and turn down the thermostat. The £60 phone includes my broadband connection but I need to limit calls too – target £40 for next month. Holidays – this is a weakness I admit – probably the reason for some of my debts. The crowd of friends I have do big holidays and it’s been difficult for me not to join in. I have already been strong and not been away with them for our usual New Year bash. That has saved me extending my debts further. Next is to resist the Easter week and then the summer fortnight! Therefore I have listed £150 just in case but intend to make it much less by taking a camping holiday as I already have a tent. The gym and training fees are my hobby – being fit. This is my socializing plus the cinema once in 3 months perhaps. Clothes, I have enough and cannot really justify buying more. I don’t buy any takeaways. Work lunches/coffees were the £20 spending and £70 for food which “seems very low” probable is so I need to find the true cost with my spending diary! The possibility or renting a room out is reasonable, I do have a room but I feel that I should be able to cut my debt without doing that at this stage.

I can see that it is down to my self control not to keep spending but do something now. I have begun and thank you all for commenting and helping me to face up to my debt.

How have people on this sight been able to work out a realistic debt free date to aim for?

Kazonline

Hi Yellowmoon, a spending diary is certainly a good place to start - and often the hardest! (In my opinion anyway)
I thought I'd pop on to give you the following link as I think it could help you with motivation to cut back on spending and paying more off your debts - plus of course it can give you that important Debt free date.
http://whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx
If ever you're tempted to splash out try using the feature that tells you how much something 'really costs' with your current debts - quite an eye opener!
Best wishes,
Kaz x

yellowmoon

Thanks for the link - 5 years to clear them! This sounds like a long time so I must look for adding more snow to my snowball!

How do I add a thnak you to your total?

Kazonline

It's quite inspiring isn't it?
I wish I'd done this when I had the chance. My situation has now changed so I can't - and without drastic action I would now end up paying over a million pounds in interest if I paid at the rate I can afford!!!!
As a result I now have to go onto a Debt Management Plan and my almost perfect credit history will be ruined - but at least I will eventually pay it off .
Anyone's circumastances can change at ANY time - and insurances rarely pay out, so please, don't make the same mistakes I made.
Kaz x

Lydia.42

Sorry, just got time for a quick comment, but ill try and return later.
With regard to uping your payments to your Mum to £100, i would leave this at £30 (or reduce temporarily if you can), and put the money towards debts that are charging you interest. Start with the one that cost's you most in interest and work on that one first...this is snowballing. It will clear your debts fastest and mean you pay less interest overall.

Keep posting and stick with it.

Kazonline

I agree with Lydia. I know it might not feel 'right', but I'd imagine your Mum lent you the money to try and help keep you out of debt. If you pay off debts with interest first you'll be debt free a lot quicker - and I'm sure that's what your mum wants.
On the other hand if you know your mum needs the money now then that's another istory altogether. Have a play with the snowball calculator and see what difference it makes time wise to pay your mum after you've cleared your highest interest accounts first.
I think the most important thing for you to stick to is creating a repayment plan and sticking to it - it's all too easy to get in the habit of only meeting minimum repayments 'just this once', IYKWIM.
Kaz x