For all to see - SOA

goggers_2

Okay, my aim is to clear as much of my debt as is humanly possible before November when i am moving in with my lovely money savvy boyfriend. I want to prove to him that i will be good with money and that i'm not a financial liability. I lost my way quite a bit over the last few years and now i'm sorted, i want my finances to be sorted too.

Pay is £1488

Rent £475
Water £14
Elec £20
Gas £20
Coucil tax £65
Gym £20
Tv licence £12
credit card £140 (16.8%) £3940 remaining
loan from mum £105 (11%) £2400 remaining
Barclay loan (19.8%) £1120 remaining
Travel (bus £60)
Food (budget £120)

So I should be able to put about £300 a month towards my debts as long as i'm disciplined with the moolah!!

I did have some money after selling my house but i passed my driving test last year so promptly went out and brought a car and paid upfront for the insurance (third party) and road tax and a holiday to egypt; then unfortunately had a car accident and had to pay £300 to have it towed and scrapped as the roof had to be cut off to get me out. So no money left there then.

I have managed to scrape together almost a grand and was going to pay off my barclay loan, but wonder if it would be better just to keep chucking every spare penny at the credit card??

mrsspendalot

Go to https://www.whatsthecost.com and input your credit card and loan details into the snowball calculator and it will tell you the best way to pay off what you have in the quickest time possible paying the least amount of interest .... it is fab and very motivating to see a debt free date

oh, and welcome to DFW

mrsspendalot

p.s. try and cancel the gym and see if you can reduce your food bill - if that is just for you, then you should be able to reduce it by about £40. I have been feeding a family of 5 on £35-40 a week. Pop over to the oldstyle board for ideas.

lynzpower

definatley pay off the loan - it has the higher APR. Plus will improve your credit rating to have a settled bill.

what are you paying off your loan at the mo, this payment should be directed to your CC

Ytaya

Your loan is the highest APR, and is therefore your most expensive debt. Pay it off first. Then throw your monthly loan repayments towards your credit card debt, and then finally you can put both your loan and cc payments towards your debt with your mother. Go to the snowball site to see the hard figures about how much this will save you, but the basic rule is: pay off your debts in order of expense. Highest APR first.

If you're serious about clearing as much as you can by November, then ditch your gym and head over to the Old Style board to reduce your food budget. You can easily get it under £100/month, and you can get it under £80/month with a small effort. That's another £60/month to throw at your debts. Play with Snowball to see the difference that'll make to your debt free date

angelavdavis

You have had excellent advice ref the loan so I will leave it there.

Do you have anything you can eBay or carboot to get the credit cards down - by hitting these with the overpayments and any extra income you can generate - they will soon start coming down.

I don't know who your credit card is with, but (provided you have a good payment track record) I would phone them and try your luck at asking for an interest rate cut. Pretend you are looking to switch the balance elsewhere - its amazing how many lenders will offer a cheaper interest rate rather than lose a customer. The worst that can happen is that they will say no! Reducing the interest rate this way will not detrimentally affect your credit record, unlike applying for other credit cards.

art_student

Welcome to DFW!!
Here are my thoughts on your SOA.

goggers wrote: »

Okay, my aim is to clear as much of my debt as is humanly possible before November when i am moving in with my lovely money savvy boyfriend. I want to prove to him that i will be good with money and that i'm not a financial liability. I lost my way quite a bit over the last few years and now i'm sorted, i want my finances to be sorted too.

Pay is £1488

Rent £475
Water £14
Elec £20
Gas £20
Coucil tax £65
Gym £20 can you go for a run and do press ups and sit ups at home instead?
Tv licence £12
credit card £140 (16.8%) £3940 remaining has this got PPI? If so, can you cancel it?
loan from mum £105 (11%) £2400 remaining
Barclay loan (19.8%) £1120 remaining has this got PPI? If so, can you cancel it?Travel (bus £60)
Food (budget £120) you can reduce this if it is just for one - have a look at the Old Style board
So I should be able to put about £300 a month towards my debts as long as i'm disciplined with the moolah!!

I did have some money after selling my house but i passed my driving test last year so promptly went out and brought a car and paid upfront for the insurance (third party) and road tax and a holiday to egypt; then unfortunately had a car accident and had to pay £300 to have it towed and scrapped as the roof had to be cut off to get me out. So no money left there then. At least you don't have a car loan which alot of people do!!
I have managed to scrape together almost a grand and was going to pay off my barclay loan, but wonder if it would be better just to keep chucking every spare penny at the credit card??

yes, pay off the loan, it is the highest APR

There are things missing off your SOA eg. Birthdays, Christmas, Holidays, Car tax, MOT etc - all the little things that just add up. If you can budget for as much as possible you'll have a far better grip on your finances and you will make your boyfriend very proud!!!:D

david_hellier

Hi,

According to my figures you have £93.93 per week to spend on food and anything else. Firstly we need to prevent further overspend, so I suggest you write this amount in a little book on a Monday (a spending diary) and keep a note of what you spend by subtraction. If you have any over at the end of the week use this to pay off your most expensive loan (Barclays). Also use your current savings for this; you are not in a position to save whilst you have debts.

You did not give a figure for the repayment so I have assumed it to be £150. If this is wildly out, let me know and I'll re-calculate. Do not make any more purchases using your credit card and keep the repayment level the same, never the minimum.

You will need to redo these figures when you are under the same roof as your boyfriend, otherwise money will become a relationship issue.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 1488.00
partner







total 0.00 1488.00 divide by 4.33
£343.39

£343.39 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 475.00
council tax 65.00
elec 20.00
gas 20.00
water 14.00
secured loans 0.00
TV licence 12.00
fines 0.00
gym 20.00
cc 140.00
mum 105.00
bc 150.00
bus 60.00



















total 0.00 1081.00 divide by 4.33
£249.46

£249.46 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = £93.93 per week

goggers_2

Hello again,

thanks for all the advice. My current Barclay loan repayments are £70 a month, I budget £200 for travel and food for the month (£50 a week, thought that would be a sensible amount) but i'm actually spending less than that.

I will be paying that loan off first, you've cleared that one up for me. I was dithering because i wasn't sure if it was best to clear a chunk off the credit card.

No MOT or Car tax to worry about, i won't be driving again for a while, mostly for monetary reasons...and a little because i need time to get my confidence back after the accident.

I've spoken to my folks about birthdays, as they run a shop they're not really very wealthy at the moment so we've agreed that presents will just be a token, nothing expensive. I plan to use my boots points and the points earned on my credit card. anything else will come out of the £200 a month budget after food and travel.

goggers_2

my holiday is already paid off. and i've already put aside the money i will take with me.

Got 25% off per person with a code from Zest magazine (i don't buy it anymore as i'm being good) and a futher £50 off by booking online on a Crystal active holiday.

goggers_2

art_student, no PPI on my credit card or any of my loans, my job is pretty secure (touch wood) and i've been in it long enough to have full sick leave benefit in the event of illness.