The "Pay ALL your debt off by Xmas 2012" challenge

recurrent-ostrich

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Having too many credit cards open can be bad for you, as it's too much access to credit Martin says somewhere to close them if you don't use them can't remember the link now though =/

Yes, your credit check shows the amount of credit you have available doesn't it?

RosaBernicia

recurrent-ostrich wrote: »

I'd love to know how they manage to have a new car every two years, a £300K house and 3 package holidays a year on £40k? Maybe one day, when our debts are cleared and we have loads of spare cash a month........we'll have two caravan holidays to France a year.....the height of decedence! :rotfl:

I don't know how they manage that either, though if they got the mortgage when they were easier to access that could help explain the house.

Re the weekly spending figures, ONS are very reputable, and their data is public, you can see the survey report here but be warned it's 191 pages! It does give some explanations though eg. half of the transport amount is related to personal transport which I take to be car costs. Am :eek: at the gambling of £2.70 a week but I suspect this is lottery players rather than bookie addicts!

Here's an extract from page 3 which gives some more detail on the how the weekly figures are put together.
Of the £64.90 spent on transport each week, approximately half (49 per cent) was spent on the operation of personal transport (£33.30), see Table A1. This was an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year, in line with the overall increase observed in spending on transport. As in 2009 petrol, diesel and other motor oils (£21.60 per week) was the largest expenditure in the operation of personal transport category, an increase from £19.20 in 2009. Households spent on average £12.10 per week on transport services, including rail, tube and bus fares, compared to £9.60 in 2009, however the purchase of vehicles, remained the same at £19.50 per week in 2010.
Approximately a third (31 per cent) of spending on recreation and culture (£17.80 per week) was spent on recreational and cultural services: sports admissions, leisure class fees and equipment hire accounted for £5.30 per week; cinema, theatre and museums etc (£2.40 per week); TV, video, satellite rental, cable subscriptions and TV licenses (£6.00 per week); and gambling payments (£2.70 per week).
Average weekly spend on package holidays fell from £13.20 per week in 2009 to £12.60 in 2010. Of this, £11.60 was spent on holidays abroad, £0.70 less than in 2009. Spending on audio-visual, photographic and information processing equipment (£7.20 per week) remained relatively constant, while spending on other recreational items and equipment, gardens and pets increased to £11.40 per week. The average weekly spend on TV, video and computers increased to £5.20. (Table A1).
Of the £53.20 average weekly spend on food and non-alcoholic drinks , £7.10 was spent on fresh fruit and vegetables; £3.10 on fruit and £4.00 on vegetables; £11.60 was spent on meat, the highest proportion (48 per cent) of which was spent on other meat and meat preparations (£5.60 per week); £5.00 was spent on bread, rice and cereals; £3.20 was spent on buns, cakes, biscuits, etc; and £4.30 was spent on non-alcoholic drinks (Table A1). 81 per cent, £43.10 per week of food and non-alcoholic drinks were purchased from large supermarket chains (Table A2), an increase of £5.40 on the previous year.

The problem with national averages is the same as any other average - it can be pulled a long way from the 'typical' amount by just one or two very high or low amounts. So for example if there are 10 of us, 8 earn 10K, one earns 7.5 and one earns 50K, the average is 13.75 - it's technically right but is a good bit more than the 'typical' person earns. The costs of housing and transport in say the SE and London probably put quite a lot into those figures - if you look at the regional chart on page 7, you can see how some regions are well over the England average line while others are well under. (Oh dear I have spent too long working with data nerds - sorry! )

Rosa xx

beachie

RosaBernicia wrote: »

The problem with national averages is the same as any other average - it can be pulled a long way from the 'typical' amount by just one or two very high or low amounts. So for example if there are 10 of us, 8 earn 10K, one earns 7.5 and one earns 50K, the average is 13.75 - it's technically right but is a good bit more than the 'typical' person earns. The costs of housing and transport in say the SE and London probably put quite a lot into those figures - if you look at the regional chart on page 7, you can see how some regions are well over the England average line while others are well under. (Oh dear I have spent too long working with data nerds - sorry! )

Rosa xx

Sommetimes to even things out you take the top and botton 10% or so off the figures which will get rid of any of the erronous data and give you a better average. Obviously this is not always suitable to use and I don't know if they have used it here.

RosaBernicia

Yes, there are several ways to get closer to the question you're asking and of course a lot of questions about the survey sample, but ONS should follow sensible methodology. I think they would have said in the footnote if they'd done something other than the straight average, and the same table in the report doesn't mention any other calculations. I'm not going to read appendix B 'cause I'm supposed to be home from work now!

loubie_lou

Hi everybodyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I haven't posted for nearly two days, feel like i've lost an arm!

Not much to report. On a week off from work so the NSD are at an end for a couple of days but just wanted to say hello :hello:

Finally calculated all my change pots too!

Loubie.

Choc-addict

kerri_dfw wrote: »

Have you looked in the last place you saw it?

<silly mood>

Ha ha....that didn't read too well did it!! If only it were as simple as hide and seek, i'd happily keep searching in the hope to find it than have to buy a new one!

mf0u1098

loubie_lou wrote: »

Hi everybodyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I haven't posted for nearly two days, feel like i've lost an arm!

Not much to report. On a week off from work so the NSD are at an end for a couple of days but just wanted to say hello :hello:

Finally calculated all my change pots too!

Loubie.

Yay Loubie you're back! I've missed your brilliant craziness. How are you hun? xxx

mf0u1098

Sorry it's a bit late but had a hell of a day...


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:snow_laug Only 390 days until we are DEBT FREE!!!! :snow_laug

:xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree::xmastree:

rosiest

Ive been having a catch - up on all the posts, which im totally loving.

Had two money ideas today one is while catching up on this ive added 13 handbags to sell on ebay. i hate doing it so going to do so many things a week and ive got tons to be selling. Also im in all day just now as on maty and know gas will go up because of this, really chilly in Scotland this week ! so have been making sure all my plugs are off if not in use as im pretty bad at leaving things on at the plug so hopefully that will help to counter act the gas increase.

Anyone else got some money making/saving ideas I can steal ?

dizzybee

no extra money paid today but am having a massive clear out and putting stuff on ebay.
received two £10 vouchers today from surveys i do and a friend has offered to give me cash for them on fri when she gets paid,so will pay this to Advantis although not counting it till its paid.