Sorry old chap, the money has run out!

Lara44

Tony, seriously you are doing great :j :j

tony_ack

Thanks for the continuing advice and support - this month is almost sorted now - it feels good knowing that I will start next month on an even footing and don't have to worry about settling missed payments.

The project car has now gone. A sad day, but the person I sold it to is going to restore it rather than break it, so that's good news. I got £200 for it in the end, and the guy was pretty pleased with it for the money. I also sold £60 worth of parts, so that brings the total in so far to £460. Not quite there yet, but if I don't manage to sell anything else, a very frugal couple of weeks may get me through. There's still stuff to eBay which I'm listing tomorrow evening, though it may take a couple of weeks before that money comes through.

I'm going to go and see what's left to come out this month and see how far away I am...

With the car boot, it's not necessarily about sticking prices on items, it's more about understanding what things are worth - I need to benchmark against eBay to make sure I don't give something away that's worth a fair bit more. I have a lot of stuff that needs checking though!

The missus doesn't get involved with the monthly bills budget, however I think I may start showing it her at the start of every month so she knows what the situation is. We still keep our financial affairs fairly independent, though the large debts in my name have been amassed by us both!

tony_ack

Well it's 7 days since my first post on this, and it's amazing to see how things have changed.

Last Tuesday, I realised that I was £400 short to pay my monthly bills, and that didn't even include essentials like petrol and food. Even if I could cover all my bills, my £30k debt mountain wasn't going anywhere, and we were getting to the stage where we were struggling to meet minimum repayments. Before posting on here, I really thought that a DMP was the only option.

I've had some great advice since then, and one week later things are looking really bright (must be that light bulb). We've trimmed some of the fat from the standing monthly bills, saving £30 from Sky, and £55 from the garage, which means from next month, I will have £85 per month more money in the budget.

In addition to that, we've taken steps to reduce - or more accurately - to control our grocery bill. We used to spend in excess of £400 per month - on weekly shops, mid-week shops, dinners etc. It's not like we were buying caviar and champagne every week, but there was no forward planning - no shopping list, no meal planner for the next week, which meant we were spending on what we thought we needed without actually knowing what we needed.

I have already produced a draft budget for the next pay cycle, and things are looking up. I will cover all of my bills. Grocery shopping has been included in the budget for the first time at £50 per week. I've added a £100 monthly payment into a contingency and annual bills fund, which will cover car tax, insurance, presents and household emergencies. £20 is set aside for football match subs. And then I have £25 left over - not a lot, but in theory everything should now be covered in the budget!

To make up the shortfall this month, I've been selling some things I don't use much anymore. I've sold my bike, project car and some car parts, and made £460 so far. As it stands, today, the shortfall for this month will be about £5 (again, not including food and petrol for the next week). I am still selling on eBay though, so hopefully there's at least another £100-worth of stuff (using pessimistic estimates) there, which with a bit of luck will see me through.

My partner has shifted her Capital One debt to a 0% card at a much lower interest rate, however on the down side I discovered that my Barclaycard interest rate has crept up to 29.9% over the last year, so this is now the priority.

So a big thankyou to everyone who has helped so far!

ElaineyB_2

Glad to hear things are getting better!

angieamme

Tony had to say you did a great job achieving that

hp48910

Wow, well done! What a difference a week makes eh!

Keep up the good work. Are you using the Barclaycard? If not you could close the account and pay it off at the current rate and avoid any more rises, then look to transfer the balance to something more favourable. I have recently taken out a Barclaycard with 7.9% for the life of the balance with 0% transfer fee. Cards like this are easier to be accepted for than the top 0% offers. We have a good credit score but have previously strugggled to be accepted based on high balances and limited available credit.

Lara44

Tony, that is a seriously awesome achievement, you should be feeling so proud of yourself :money:

Keep the momentum going and the 'negative wealth' can be managed and paid off. Imagine you had no payments to cards or loans, that's a lot of money per month. That's your debt free future - the one you wrote about having in your original post

Amatheya81

Well done Tony, you should be really proud of yourself

tony_ack

hp48910 wrote: »

Wow, well done! What a difference a week makes eh!

Keep up the good work. Are you using the Barclaycard? If not you could close the account and pay it off at the current rate and avoid any more rises, then look to transfer the balance to something more favourable. I have recently taken out a Barclaycard with 7.9% for the life of the balance with 0% transfer fee. Cards like this are easier to be accepted for than the top 0% offers. We have a good credit score but have previously strugggled to be accepted based on high balances and limited available credit.

The plan now is not to use any of the credit cards again! I'm budgeting £100 for contingency from next month which will hopefully cover a lot of emergencies. Car tax and insurance are due in November (insurance in October's pay month, tax in November's), but I'm hoping that ebay and selling will cover a lot of that.

I wouldn't be eligible for the Barclaycard deal as I already have a Barclaycard (though I woudn't qualify for other reasons). I am pretty much maxed out now credit-wise so I'm going to have to tackle this with out and consolidation, which to be honest is no bad thing as it removes temptation.

I did the snowball calculator... the figure that hurt the most was the £18k of interest I would pay between now and my DFD. Debt free date is June 2016 as it stands, but I am eagar to bring it down!

Thanks again for the encouragement. The momentum is important... keeping it going for 5 years is going to be hard work! I am taking pride in each day I go along now without spending any money at all!

I will keep everyone updated occasionally - I don't see much happening in the next 2 weeks, except ebay selling and a possible car boot to make sure I get over the line for meeting this month's bills (I'll be sure to let you all know when I reach my target - £140 to go!)

The next big thing is entering next month's pay cycle, as that will be the first on the new budget. If we can make it through the cycle to the next pay day, still on budget and in control of our spending, then we stand half a chance.

dancingfairy

Indeed it sounds like you are off to a fabulous start. I have to admit I was unconvinced at first as it seemed like you dismissed every suggestion but I am glad to have been proved wrong
Don't forget it is like a snowball effect - things will gradually take on a momentum of their own - in the past it was growing on it's own, now, hopefully the debt repayment will gradually speed up. It also becomes very addictive saving money.
Glad also to see the wife is more in the loop. You will need her on board in order to last the distance.
Let us know how you get on.
Best of Luck
df