Seriuosly running out of ideas...please help!!

beentherewornthetshirt

I have produced a statement of affairs on my system for you and allowed for a single persons food/clothing allowance and you surplus income is £203. This is the amount that you pay to your personal loan each month and therefore you do not have surplus income to offer to your credit cards realistically.

Could you take in a lodger where you are staying or someone to share the bills?

Your expenditure is in now way excessive and I can't see any way of reducing this.

lynzpower

First things first, close down your unused cards. It will improve your credit rating hugely, and remove any temptation. this will show as settled on your credit score.

the only thing I can think of here is do you absolutely need your car? It does seem like you cant afford it.

this money thats left over, what do you do with it?

kinkypixie

I don't have a social life - at all, I just use the money I have left over and divide it by 4 to give me my weekly spend.

I can't take a lodger because I rent and that isn't allowed, I used to live with my partner but he moved out.

I pay the minimum on each card every month, more if I have it.

kinkypixie

I do need my car, I live in the middle of the country and there is NO public transport and my family live 150 miles away. I need my car to get to work also.

OberonSH

kinkypixie wrote: »

Right, here is my SOA

Monthly Income - £1179.39

Outgoings -
Rent - £470 a month
Landline Phone bill - £12.28 monthly average
Water - £14.10
Electric - £17.00 monthly average
Gas - 31.80 monthly average
TV License - £11.37 a month
Council Tax - £80.00 a month
TOTAL - £636.55, I put £660 aside into my bill account, £23.45 over

Car tax - £10.00 put aside each month
Car Insurance - £20.10 a month
Petrol - £60.00
Personal Loan - £202.94, not sure on APR, loan was for £10,000 have £6270.22 left to pay, have been paying for 2 years, 3 remaining.
Overdraft - £200

Credit Cards -

Virgin - £3372.59 (limit £3700.00) 0.9% APR until April 2007 then, 18.9% Can you phone them and see if you can swap onto any new 0% deals they're doing? If not, see if you can apply for one, and balance transfer, This will mean 100% of your payments will go on the debt, not paying them the priviledge of carrying their card

Mint - £397.82 (limit £2150.00) 1.167% monthly interest

Barclaycard - £950.00 (limit £950) 0% til June 2007 on purchases, which this is. 0% APR on transfers for a year. 14.9% after. Ahh! If this is 0% for a year, transfer from the other cards onto this, and avoid paying the interest. Then whenever you clear a bit more off, transfer a bit more across.

&MORE - £255.49 (limit £2000) 0% for 12 months 16.9% after Same with this one. If they're offering the 0% take it. I't'll save paying the 18.9% on your virgin card

Have three other cards, but with nothing on them, just applied for a Tesco one to transfer balances!! No need if you still have 'space' on your other 0% cards.

£500 - loan from my mum, no hurry to pay this back.

I have £871.30 which is money owed on these cards on behalf of others, I have the cash but don't know which card to pay off first!!! Either the higher interest one, or give yourself a psychological boost and clear off a couple of the smaller ones - not only clearing them off, but leaving more space on your 0% cards to transfer your larger balance onto.

I can't change my utility suppliers because I rent my property and am not allowed to. Does it say this in the contract? We're on a gas meter, and it's horendously expensive. Landlord says he wants us to keep it (obviously it means no left over bills for him) but we've told him that if we don;t move out shortly we will take it out, as it's simply coting us too much (£20+) a WEEK for 2 adults & a child)

Thanks every one

All in all you're not looking too bad love, so don;t worry. It's all very manageable with a bit of nifty transferring (called 'tarting' a believe). So go on, be a tart!

I hope you're feeling a lot better today, you're on your way love.

kinkypixie

Thanks Oberon SH, I was a bit upset after one of the comments saying that I couldn't get out of this, coz I really felt positive after your comments yesterday.

Mrs_Sparkle

Just want to say welcome to the board- you're in the right place for support! Have you registered with Pigsback and Quidco yet? You can make a few extra pounds with them.

You will get there-I know it feels awful at first but once you see the total going down it will inspire you and before long you will be addicted.

kinkypixie

What are Pigsback and Quidco?

OberonSH

Oooh!! Girls, She doesn't know about The Pig!! Quick, enlighten her!!

Right, Pigsback.com is a great ste, where you sign up to newsletters, buy stuff from other sites through theirs and enter cometitions. For doing so you get Piggy Points, which can be swapped for Leisure Vouchers, Boots Vouchers etc. Plus it can happen really quick. I only click on ads and newsletters, don;t actually spend anything and still get a £10 voucher every few months. Really helps for birthdays and Xmas. Quidco I'm not au fait with, but is similar only they use actual cash.

There's a thread in the Shopping Board (sub section Freebies) all about it, and people post the answers to the quizes etc daily so it's really easy to do.

Like I said, it won't make you a millionaire, but I save my vouchers and use them for special occasions, saves having to dip into my debt payment pot to buy gifts.

Mizz_Pink

I would find it hard paying all that rent on my own. I would look at why you cant have a lodger, either that or tell them you would have to move out. I have never rented so dont know how it works but buy sharing the rent would help loads I would imagine.

A lot of times people on here say I cant do this or that etc and most of the time its cos they dont find out the right info, i'm not suggesting thats what you are saying but I would look into it if you can.