Desperate and Scared

livinginhope · 11 January 2007 at 10:41AM

Hi again viv,just a quick question,what is your income? I've looked at the SOA,well done on remembering all that,but can't see the amount you have coming in.
LIH

livinginhope · 11 January 2007 at 10:42AM

Oops,soory! just seen it in first post.
LIH

lynzpower · 11 January 2007 at 10:44AM

Ok
Ive restructured this for you

INCOME you need to say what it is

OUTGOINGS
Mortgage: £1070,
Rates, £127,
Water £30,
Electricity £40, ( look at est.org.uk, as this will help you save energy, if you follwo all th etips & bring your consumption down)
Phone £20, ( landline and... )
His Mobile £30, ( can this be downgraded to a cheaper package)
My Mobile £13, ( is this Payg?)
house Insurance £35, ( this is high, I pay 22 for both)
Car Insurance £25 ( checked its the cheapest)
car ins 2- 35 ( i take it this is higher due to his tuition)
Petrol (mine) £200 – ( WOW, can you save any journeys, drive less?Do you ABSOLUTELY need you car?could trains/ buses be cheaper?)
Husband’s varies massively according to the number of lessons he has),( about?)
Food £160 (Inc Dog). ( this can be brought down via tips from the OS board)
Broadband is free – a deal through his Mobile provider

DEBTS
Me:
Lloyds TSB Visa £8000
Amazon Mastercard £5000
Capital One M/C £ 900
Mothercare £ 300
Evans £ 340
Comet Edge £ 300
SimplyBe £ 150
Husband:
Egg £10000
Mint £ 3600
Lloyds TSB Visa £ 2000
Lloyds TSB Loan £ 3100
GMAC Car Finance £ 1400
HFC Furniture Finance £ 1700

Other outgoings per month would be:
.

ou need to know what the APrs are- do check this tonight.

Could your hubby get a full time day job and do his lessons in the evening? Even some agency work would help?

MRS-MT_2 · 11 January 2007 at 10:46AM

Hey Viv,
you've made the biggest step.
I was in panic mode on monday as a newbie, but everyone is brill and have a great wealth of experience.
You're not the only one, look at my signature ! We had £11.30 to live off this week, and by george I think we're gonna do it. We've done lots of shuffling around. loads of stuff going on Ebay tonight (10p listing day) Use all the knowledge & experience from this board, and once you've done your SOA you'll feel a lot calmer.
Well done, we can all do this together.
Keep us posted
MRS-MT

Storm · 11 January 2007 at 10:51AM

Hi Viv,

The outgoings you've listed come to £1785 before any debt repayments or your OH's petrol - and I'm guessing your take home pay is around £1300 a month?

Mortgage: £1070, Rates, £127, Water £30, Electricity £40, Phone £20, His Mobile £30, My Mobile £13, house Insurance £35, Car Insurance £25 & £35, Petrol (mine) £200 – Husband’s varies massively according to the number of lessons he has), Food £160 (Inc Dog). Broadband is free – a deal through his Mobile provider.

I've highlighted in different colours areas you can look at:
RED Check these are the cheapest you can get
BLUE £63 a month on phones is a lot - check your tariffs, switch to PAYG etc
GREEN These can be reduced - walk for shorter journeys, see if anyone you work with can car share etc. The Old Style board is brilliant for recipe ideas, and if you plan your menus you can reduce your food bill drastically. How many are you feeding?

I would suggest trawling the house for anything you can sell on Ebay/Amazon etc as you might be able to clear a couple of the smaller debts this way.

If you're sure the work will pick up again in a few months then it may be worth phoning your creditors & asking for reduced payments for a few months

Storm

deliciosa · 11 January 2007 at 10:56AM

Hi Viv

well done for facing the problem, believe me things will only get easier from now.

The guys here helped me a lot with very sensible advice, all you need to do is to be committed and put effort in finding out cheaper, better deals - see other, smarter people's posts!

Wish you good luck and try to think of being a DFW as an adventure - imagine the joy of seeing the debt balance going down and down and down...

LEt me just give you one advice: stop spending on the credit cards. are you paying the minimum amount on all cards each month?

If yes, a very easy (and not cutting back) way of paying them off much much faster: pay the PRESENT minimum amount this month and stick to THAT figure. So it its £125 for January, and its, lets say £119 for February, still pay £125 in February - you already allocated that amount in your January budget, won't miss it. And so on... see this for more info, very worth reading:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1095079865,8297,

good luck and let us know how you're getting on