Help me... I guess it's time to just reach out and touch...

hypno06

:T welcome to the wonderful world of MSE/DFW!!

Expect to be seeing a lot of you over the next few months

System

Hey well done on telling your dad, something I have comtemplated for some time. But I dont want to because 1. Whilst it wouldnt finish him off it would shatter any illusions he had of me and 2. He would probably offer to pay most of it if not all back. And do you know, whilst I realise this would solve my problems overnight, I'm too proud to let him help me on this one I want to do it myself.

findingmyownway

Welcome and well done for posting.

A cheap car cooler thing would certainly seem like a good idea. Or even better you can buy lunch boxes with built-in ice packs now - keeps pasta salad cool in my car for hours. Are you sure thats the real reason for not taking lunch to work? I only ask because your £60 petrol/month doesn't suggest you do that much driving around. If you are worried about 'keeping up appearances' etc then have a think about how you could handle conversations. You don't have to tell people you are eating homemade cos you're skint - why not say you are trying to be more healthy and have a more varied diet etc etc?

Why are your moble bills so high? Could you chat via MSN/skype etc instead?

You sound very motivated and so why not set yourself little challenges? Like cooking one of your favourite meals but paying attention to the cost - eg making sure you use seasonal vegetables etc. Meal planning is a great way to take control.

PanickingHARD

Hi Guys...

Sorry I've not been on to thank you all... I've had rather a busy weekend... I had the day off on Friday to recover from Thursday night (needed), and I've had friends round all weekend...

Anyhoo...

Firstly, thank you all for your help, advice and support... I'm going to get onto writing myself an action plan tonight... but just to answer one comment from the posts so far, as a few have mentioned it:-

findingmyownway wrote: »

A cheap car cooler thing would certainly seem like a good idea. Or even better you can buy lunch boxes with built-in ice packs now - keeps pasta salad cool in my car for hours. Are you sure thats the real reason for not taking lunch to work? I only ask because your £60 petrol/month doesn't suggest you do that much driving around.

Car cooler purchaced at the weekend...

And the petrol thing is deceptive... I claim it all back on expenses... I don't do MASSIVE milage (circa £20k p.a.), but I do have to leave, often at the drop of a hat, and be out all day... makes planning VERY difficult... but with a car cooler, I can make food on a morning, stick it in the office fridge, then if I have to leave, it can go in the car, if not, I eat it here!

I'm going to open a Savings account today, just to pay whatever I can into, when ever I can... I figure batting away small (virtually interest only) payments on cards is useless, so if I put some away, I can use it to pay larger lumps off when I can... that's in addition to the rest I'm doing... I've started a loose change collection and I've set a standing order up for £20 p.m. to an old (and long since wiped out) ISA account... I am going to forget that even exists and see what happens... Other than that, I'm going to have to look at sorting out the credit cards and my loan ASAP... the card payments are going to KILL me... I need to find a way of getting them onto interest free, or MUCH lower than they are...

I've also been hassling my ex about the house and she's going to try and sort a remortgage out on Sat afternoon... That could mean I'll have about £10k... I can't get my hopews up, but I know she will do everything she can to sort it out...

Sorry for rambling on so much... I didn't mean to at all... anyway... Things I need the most help with...

1) Credit Cards... There has to be better ways to deal with this debt than just leaving it where it is and trying to chip away at it... regardless of the fact that I am not a great credit risk at the moment, any ideas on how to manage this would help... And advice on where to look to transfer it to, and the effect on my changes of having credit checks done on me...

2) I've heard a lot of mentions of the "old Sytle" boards... I don't have a clue what this means...

3) Loan... is it worth refinancing and consolidating with card debt... this was my initial question, right at the start... Seems like months ago now... :eek:

4) IF... and I can only say IF for now, I get this £10k from the house, (maybe more, maybe less) what should I do with it? I need to use it in the most effective way I can... Ideas would be great...

Thanks again... from the bottom of my heart...

findingmyownway

PanickingHARD wrote: »

Hi Guys...

I'm going to open a Savings account today, just to pay whatever I can into, when ever I can... I figure batting away small (virtually interest only) payments on cards is useless, so if I put some away, I can use it to pay larger lumps off when I can... that's in addition to the rest I'm doing... I've started a loose change collection and I've set a standing order up for £20 p.m. to an old (and long since wiped out) ISA account... I am going to forget that even exists and see what happens... Other than that, I'm going to have to look at sorting out the credit cards and my loan ASAP... the card payments are going to KILL me... I need to find a way of getting them onto interest free, or MUCH lower than they are...

I've also been hassling my ex about the house and she's going to try and sort a remortgage out on Sat afternoon... That could mean I'll have about £10k... I can't get my hopews up, but I know she will do everything she can to sort it out...

Sorry for rambling on so much... I didn't mean to at all... anyway... Things I need the most help with...

1) Credit Cards... There has to be better ways to deal with this debt than just leaving it where it is and trying to chip away at it... regardless of the fact that I am not a great credit risk at the moment, any ideas on how to manage this would help... And advice on where to look to transfer it to, and the effect on my changes of having credit checks done on me...

2) I've heard a lot of mentions of the "old Sytle" boards... I don't have a clue what this means...

3) Loan... is it worth refinancing and consolidating with card debt... this was my initial question, right at the start... Seems like months ago now... :eek:

4) IF... and I can only say IF for now, I get this £10k from the house, (maybe more, maybe less) what should I do with it? I need to use it in the most effective way I can... Ideas would be great...

Thanks again... from the bottom of my heart...

Welcome back, glad you have had a nice weekend.

I think most on here would advise against starting savings in ISAs etc when you have debts. The interest you earn on them is (almost) always far less than you are paying on CCs. The small CC payments really do add up and every one reduces the total interest you have to pay. Having said that, if you prefer to make less regular larger payments then its down to individual choice and there are many on here who make that system work too.

The 'Old Style' Board is here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33
It contains threads mainly on reducing the cost of cooking/cleaning/general living and has tons of useful information.

Any potential 10K from the house would most sensibly be applied to the debt with the highest APR. Thats the general rule to follow really - pay off the highest interest rates first. Have a look at https://www.whatsthecost.com to learn about 'snowballing' debts and calculate yourself a DFD (debt-free-date).

As for moving the CCs around, have a look at Martin's article on the current best buys. You could either go for a low life-of-balance card to transfer from you most expensive debts OR a 0% card if you can commit to changing again and again each time the 0% offer ends.

Good luck

Lara44

Hello Panicking Hard

Looks like you have had a great start to your DFW journey. I just have to second that you can still get great ingredients for £80 per month - I shop at organic farmers market stylee but still keep to this figure through using cheaper cuts of meat and planning meals so I ony buy what I need for the week. This figure includes packed lunches and toiletries etc.

I'm another vote for not saving until all the cards are paid off as the interest is a lot lower. However you might want to gather up all the little bits of cash in a savings account and make lump sum transfers to the card. If so it's usually easier not to do this in an ISA...

InTheRed

Hi PH,

Good to hear you are sorting out the finances!
With your question around re-financing loan with CC debt, I would be cautious only consider it as an option if the APR reduces with the term of paying it back remaining the same.
Have you phoned your Credit card companies to find out your apr's? My MBNA card statement did not even state it and when I phoned and found out it was 29.9% :eek:
That is why I am paying that one bank by Sept this year! The definate snowball!
Although it seems tempting to bundle all together in one managble payment (sound like an advert on the telly!), it is generally a lot more expensive and you do not get the fun of cutting up each card as it is paid off.
Check out the snowball calculator regularly referred to on this thread, or if you would like a spreadsheet with the ability to track all of cards and debts with monthly variable payments PM me and I will email.

Best of luck

Ellie

PanickingHARD

OK... just a quick note to say I'm back home from work and have decided to devote the entire evening to sorting this mess out, once and for all, and getting my plan together that I can follow... with the help of you lovely, LOVELY people and your delicious brains!!! You are all truly amazing, and should walk 2 foot taller than us mere mortals...

:kisses3: to you all!!!

I'll be back on in a bit, so keep the advice, ideas etc coming... please... but for now, I'm researching etc to see what I can get on with... I swear now, that if it takes for ever, I will pay all your unbelievable kindness back in any way I can...

Seriously, I love you all!!! xxxxxxxxx

PS: Ellie, you should have a PM... xx

PanickingHARD

Ok... I've got my interest payments on my Mastercard...

It says
CASH INTEREST AT 2.075% PER MONTH
MERCHANDISE INTEREST AT 1.313% PER MONTH

What does that equate to?

And I'm paying 79p per £100 for CREDIT COVER PREMIUM...

I'm assuming this is payment protection, is it?

Sugar_Junkie

Sounds like payment protection. Give them a ring. If it is I'd cancel it. If you want cover for your cards you'll be probably be able to get a much better deal elsewhere that'll cover all of them.