Am so down at the moment and this must change!

Abbafan1972

Hello everyone, this has been brewing up for a while, but feel I need to post now.

Last night I was in tears with the state of our bank account. We have an overdraft of £2,050 which is at the limit, had to transfer money from another account (which we will have to put back as it's for school club fees). Direct debits going out this week and not enough to cover them. Had to get a few bits of groceries today, but have had to use the credit card for that.

I know there are ways we can cut down, Sky is the main one, our last bill was £107. Hubby is always defensive about Sky and initially refused to touch Sky but when he saw the extent of the problem, he's agreed to ring them tonight and scale it down to the basic package (I can't ring them, as the account is in his name).

We both work, me p/t and hubby f/t. A spanner was put in the works last year when I got made redundant and was on JSA for 10 weeks at £71 pw. I have got a new job now, but it's less money an hour than my previous job.

We have a credit card and an Argos card, mortgage which has £90k left on it.

Obviously I want to get the overdraft and the cards cleared, but I just don't know how to do it.

Need some advice and reassurance, before I burst out crying again!

Thanks.

DS4215

If you can produce a SOA detailing your accurate position then people can advise (if you post it on here) - otherwise just working it out for yourself could highlight where the problem areas are.

Most people can make good dents in their debts by cutting down on non-essentials (take-aways, nights out, etc) and trimming the excess from grocery shopping, but it depends on your exact position.

boobiebonboo

I once felt the same as you, i was so upset and ashamed about my money situation but what i did was get a lot of imformation of of this forum and i moved all my direct debits to one account and wrote everything down i spent in a diary, it was quite a pleasant surprise on how much money i had left to put towards my debts.:) i think about money a lot differently now and i enjoy the challenge of saving that little bit extra to go towards a debt, i must say it gets quite addictive in the end which is a good thing but i am so pleased that i dont have them sad days any more. Sending you a big hug and just to let you know it does get better in time

Abbafan1972

boobiebonboo wrote: »

I once felt the same as you, i was so upset and ashamed about my money situation but what i did was get a lot of imformation of of this forum and i moved all my direct debits to one account and wrote everything down i spent in a diary, it was quite a pleasant surprise on how much money i had left to put towards my debts.:) i think about money a lot differently now and i enjoy the challenge of saving that little bit extra to go towards a debt, i must say it gets quite addictive in the end which is a good thing but i am so pleased that i dont have them sad days any more. Sending you a big hug and just to let you know it does get better in time

Thank you for the lovely motivating post! All of our wages is getting eaten up with this overdraft. I have a separate account (which thankfully is in the black), I use that to transfer the money for the school club etc, but I usually end up transferring it back again when there's not enough left in the other account!

DS4215: could you direct me to the SOA template please?

iolanthe07

Why not get rid of Sky altogether? I have Freesat and that comes free with all the channels anyone could possibly need.

Abbafan1972

iolanthe07 wrote: »

Why not get rid of Sky altogether? I have Freesat and that comes free with all the channels anyone could possibly need.

that's a good idea in theory. i don't know what channels you get with Freesat. We have the phone and BB with Sky.

I know the mere mention of getting rid of Sky altogether will be like a red rag to a bull!

DCFC79

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

that's a good idea in theory. i don't know what channels you get with Freesat. We have the phone and BB with Sky.

I know the mere mention of getting rid of Sky altogether will be like a red rag to a bull!

I think sky do a version of freesat which is free, could be wrong.

Or theres free view, channel used to be slightly different a few years ago but have a look for a channel list.

pogg000

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

that's a good idea in theory. i don't know what channels you get with Freesat. We have the phone and BB with Sky.

If you pull you viewing card out, the free channels will remain working

Idiophreak

The single biggest tip I'd offer is to do a yearly budget, not just a monthly one. I find having a longer view on the situation really helps.

For example, I've had a tough couple of months - we've paid for a holiday, my wife's (annual) gym membership and a couple of other big one-offs. Historically, I'd have been a bit demotivated that we've had two months where we've not really cleared anything above the minimum payments - but plugging everything into the yearly budget, I can see that better months are coming as a result and I can keep a real eye on when we're due to finish paying each thing. It just leaves me feeling much more in control and motivated, even if I'm not putting money away right that second...

poledancer49

Please don't cry anymore. Know it's hard but everyone here is so helpful and supportive.

Upsidedown_Bear

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Thank you for the lovely motivating post! All of our wages is getting eaten up with this overdraft. I have a separate account (which thankfully is in the black), I use that to transfer the money for the school club etc, but I usually end up transferring it back again when there's not enough left in the other account!

DS4215: could you direct me to the SOA template please?

SOA template is here

http://www.stoozing.com/msoc/soacalc.php