Is it better to consolidate?

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Pop_Sox wrote: »

I have my haircut about once a year, have long hair so just have it trimmed. My son has about four haircuts a year at a fiver a time. Birthday presents I counted in with the groceries - I usually buy stuff like that from Asda with the weekly shop. Clothes I suppose you could add in £20 a month, I normally get them from George too, mostly for my son - I don't buy myself much these days - I have a wardrobe full of clothes from my credit card spending!

The money must be going somewhere and that "somewhere" is not on the SOA.

Do a spending diary for 3 months and that will solve the mystery.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

According to your SOA you have about £500 spare per month after making debt repayments.

That is £6000 per year.

So either your income figures are not right or your out going figures are not right (or both).

Or you are in denial;) underestimating your spending levels on things in the SOA etc. or excluding things that you do spend money on.

see my point ?

Pop_Sox

I have put in the SOA what I could live on, and live on comfortably - undoubtedly at the moment I spend more - I just don't know how to start living to that budget, and it seems such a long way off having money to pay more than the minimum each month.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Pop_Sox wrote: »

I have put in the SOA what I could live on, and live on comfortably - undoubtedly at the moment I spend more - I just don't know how to start living to that budget, and it seems such a long way off having money to pay more than the minimum each month.

I guess it sounds easy but the solution is to STOP SPENDING.

ony spend one pound if it is essential. That take away or extra drink or taxi is not essential.

It is self discipline and motivation.

or keep on spending / consolidating etc and come back here in a few years time with a 150K mortgage and 50K on credit cards.......

and begin a thread "My house is about to be repossed what shall I do....."?

It up to you are you having your "light bulb" moment today or not ?

I wish you well.

CLAPTON

when you start budgetting like you are now, it is best to write down what you actually spend rather than what you would like to spend... so if you actually spend 100 on takeaways and 200 on food then start off with those figures etc.
once you have done that you can review your priorities and so are better placed to make the difficult decisions on how to reduce spending and pay more off on the debts.

weeg

Here's my advice on realistic spending, for what’s worth.

There is no point in making a budget you won’t stick to. Learn your weaknesses and work with them – here’s an example from my life, to show you what I mean.

I like pizza. I know I shouldn’t really eat pizza, but I know I do. Especially if I’ve been busy all day and I don’t feel like cooking. That’s when I call Dominoes. So, I have learnt ALWAYS to keep pizza (preferably bought on offer, or reduced to clear) in my freezer. That way my pizza costs £1-£2, not £10. I tried not having pizza – I just spent more money.

The same applies to things like smoking. Giving up is hard. Switching to rollies and cutting down is a financial step in the right direction.

Pop_Sox

Thanks for all your advice.

Would I be better off dividing the money I have available each month equally between my debts, say a £100 on each debt, should I be working out a pro rata payment for each one according to what I owe, or should I concentrate on clearing one at a time, continuing to pay the minimum on the others?

Should the overdrafts take a higher priority than CC debt?

ifstar

Lifted from this thread -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280


Now you may have, or been tempted to, consolidate your debts. Now although I wouldn't totally disregard the idea quite often just shuffling your debts around can prove to be a far more cheaper and practical way to go about things!

There is a fantastic online calculator (link below) that you input all your debts and the amount you can afford to pay each month, and the calculator will tell you what debt to pay first and how much to pay each month. It also gives you a debt free date which can be a great motivation and a target to work to.

http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx

Basically it is better to try and clear the highest rates off first then work down to the smaller rates so in your case your Egg card is at 16.9%. It might be worth calling the card companies to see if they can reduce the rate for you if you explain your situation, at the end of the day the worst they can say is no and you will be in the same situation but you never know, 1 or 2 might drop their rate down a little.

onedayiwill

Conventional wisdom says SNOWBALL (pay those debts with highest interest first while making minimum payments on the rest).

For me, though, it was very important to get out of my overdraft to have a psychological boost and actually see money in my bank account! So this was my first priority - I lived for a long time seeing my permanently negative balance thinking ... I don't have any money so spending a little more won't make any difference. Now I like the budgeting and balancing to keep my bank account permanently in the black.

You can play with the different options ats whatsthecost.com

spendthrift66

Hi all - I've got a question about the OPs original question (and the answers both here and all over the forums). My egg card is at its max and I am out of work ... I spoke to them the other day and they said I may be able to take out a loan. The thing that made me sit up and think was that she said, 'your monthly payments will go down by about 33 a month' NOT MUCH, I agree - but she also said I would save about 2.5K of interest over the term....
So surely to save OUR money, consolidation loans are better? I would be grateful for your thoughts?