Hi all - Report card says 'must do better'

Barebear

Hi all.

First post here guys, so bear with me whilst I get my
SOA together.

I don't have my exact figures as yet, but I plan to
suss it all out and get it down in black and white
asap.

In the meantime, I'll just introduce the type of
spender I am. I live with my girlfriend in our 2
bedroom semi and I own a flat which I rent out. I have
considerable debts from renovating both the flat, then
the house (which is not even close to being finished).
I have 2 credit cards and a store card, but have
recently managed to clear all three balances by taking
out a loan over 5 years. I had to take a more
expensive loan as it seems my credit worthiness is in
doubt.

I am almost finished a design degree on the OU and
have applied to go on a part-time post graduate
teacher training course which is being subsidised by
my employers. I still have all the fees to pay,
although they have agreed to allow me time off work to
take the course whilst still collecting full salary.
:T This course will last 2 years from Aug 2007.

All the assets, eg, flat and house are paid by myself
and my girlfriend works in the local pub and
contributes only £100 per month to the household.
Although more often than not, she buys the shopping.
We do have seperate accounts and nothing is in joint
names.

We love to socialise. We are regulars in the local and
love to go to concerts. We have a very active social
life and if I'm honest, we spend far too much on that.

In recent times, I've had two or three jobs going at
the same time, I also had a spell where I'd be
stressed out by dieting. I also had loads of work to
do on the properties to make them habitable and also
had loads of work to do to get my degree. I have now
prioritised. I am happy to stick with my full time job
and add the post graduate course when it comes along,
nothing else.

I want to become more finacially aware and take total
control of my spending before the course begins mid
August.

Here is my list of ins and outs:

Income

Wages – 1209.90
Rental – 350.00
Other – 100.00

Total – £1659.90


Outgoing

Mortgage (flat)- 333.90
Mortgage (house)- 256.43
Council Tax - 128.00 (edit forgot to add this)
B&C Insurance - 29.10
B&C Insurance - 24.50
Life Insurance - 26.00
Car Insurance – 31.63
Pet Insurance - 9.88
TV (all) - 69.80
Gas - 50.00
Electricity - 30.00
Loan 1 - 100.00
Loan 2 - 153.00
Mobile Phone - 50.00
Home Phone + Net - 30.00
Food - 100.00
Diesel - 80.00

Total - £1374.24


Remaining Per Month - £157.66

These figures look ok, I'm definitley in terrible habits of spending too much. How can I begin to head toward being debt free?


Thanks for listening. Any help is very much appreciated.

BB


p.s. I spent £110 on valentines treats for my
girlfriend, I must be more frugal. That's typical and needs sorted.

sanfrancisco

Could you sell the flat and pay back some of the debt? There is no point have some equity in this, if you are paying lots out on loans. Having said that it doesn't appear that you have any credit cards. Is this right?

You should check that all your insurances are the lowest they can be using confused.com/quidco and reading MArtins articles.

You will learn lots around this site. Get reading and stick around. I used to be a concert lover, so I sympathize, but when the debts start taking over its no good, you must sort them out.

Barebear

Yep, I paid off all three cards with my most recent loan.

I can't really sell the flat as I've got an unsecured loan running at the same rate as the mortgage. It's a Northern rock Together product and the sale of the flat wouldn't cover both the loan and mortgage.

misspoppy

why isn't your girlfriend working more?

To be honest you know the solution to your problems go out less or at least have a budget for less than you currently spend.

Have you cut up your credit cards so you can't spend on them again?

chivers1977

Is the NR Together loan lumped in on the £333 per month.

I do agree that you OH appears to be getting a free ride (sorry if this offends....) or is she studying....

TV (all) - 69.80 This is loads on TV - although I can't talk thanks to OH - are you actually watching all of the channels???
Gas - 50.00 - This is very high. Are you paying arrears off? You need to bring your usage dwn by turning heating down/ off
Electricity - 30.00 - Ditto. Have you looked at new suppliers?
Mobile Phone - 50.00 - Can you bring your package down or go PAYG
Home Phone + Net - 30.00 - Why don't you go for free BB with either your phone or sky.
[/QUOTE]

angchris

maybe get a lodger in your house or move back to the smaller flat and rent house out freeing up extra cash?

Barebear

Thanks for all the advice. I've begun by changing my Building & contents insurance. I've just shaved £85 off my annual cost for the exact same cover.

Barebear

Woo Hoo!!!! :j

I just renewed my insurance for the flat. I saved an amazing £168 :T

Now for my Life Insurance.

chivers1977

Well done!!!

Try Cavendishonline for your life assurance. You can't get cheaper!

lynsayjane

question; if your mortgage for the flat is £330ish and your paying insurance on it at £25ish then renting it out for £350 a month you are working at a loss? is there a reason your renting it so cheaply? i couldn't get a box room in someones basement for that

Barebear

lynsayjane wrote:

question; if your mortgage for the flat is £330ish and your paying insurance on it at £25ish then renting it out for £350 a month you are working at a loss? is there a reason your renting it so cheaply? i couldn't get a box room in someones basement for that

I'm in a rural village in South Scotland so the demand for rental properties here is not as great as it is in the town. I'm really getting top dollar for the flat in our area. It's a really well equipped and well kept modern flat too.

I never realised that I was losing money here. Thanks for pointing that out. I've got it down to £11 amonth for the insurance now so I've got it within the £350.

It was my own flat before we moved to the bigger house, I suppose it just made sense to keep it and rent it out. It's a small price to pay for a decent investment, IMHO. (I may be wrong )