new here, help and advice, SOA

pearlsasinger

no not a hyprocrite, other people pick up on things you can't see yourself.

its hard paying things off, but got to be done, as you know. i had savings £2k recently, which is the most ive ever had in my life but it had to be spent on a life changing house move

utterly worth it though, it did change our lives for the better

wegle

pearlsasinger wrote: »

i dont have 4 mobiles, one is my parents, one is my sons, one is mine and there's another one/

water is with my council tax as im in scotland,
entertainment isnt particularly spent on anything but i find when i dont have a budget for it, i spend willy nilly.

bank account is for breakdown cover, mobile phone and travel ins. i make use of it

What is the other mobile you are paying for? I noticed you have BB camp on your SOA but you're patents paid for it? Could this £10 be reallocated somewhere else or is it for next year?

To be brutally honest, according to your SOA you easily make your minimum payments with plenty left over to make overpayments. But I suspect in real life this isn't actually the case. Are you left with money at the end of each month? If not its time to start a spending diary to find out where the money is really going. The next step curb any overspending and blitz these debts and be free of them within 6 months. You're in a really good position here, it's only you that can choose how to act from now on.

pearlsasinger

Thanks for your help. Yeah the bb is for next year.
I am keen to get debt free ASAP and that's why I've drawn up a budget. I could probably do it sooner but I fear by not having a doable budget in place I could start to going back to using the Ccs

pearlsasinger

i cant decide what to. at the end of this month, i will have £1372 left, if im careful.

I still have £1000 overdraft to pay, £713 to my dad and the credit cards, I'm tempted to save it to have a cushion and then start hammering the debts next month

AlexLK

Surely getting rid of the debts is the biggest priority? I'd sort whichever has the highest interest unless your Dad is desperate for the cash, I'm sure he won't mind waiting a little longer?

pearlsasinger

my dads not in a hurry no, its on a 0% cc. IM thinking of putting it all into the overdraft so thats at least in credit but then the interest rate on that is only 17.9& compared to the ccs which are 45.9

i know it seems crazy, but i feel really nervous paying off ccs and not having a savings buffer.

on the other hand, i could pay off the ccs this month and that would be
£419,
£185
£155 and
£300

that would be £1059. I dont know what to do, i do realise the answers staring me in the face

AlexLK

Pay off the CCs You always have next month for a savings buffer.

wegle

Cut up the CCs and pay them off. It will be quicker to pay them off and build up your savings again than it will the other way around. Think of all that interest you will be paying!!!

[Deleted User]

Definitely pay them off.

Once they are paid of, you could then put the whole £262pm, toward the loan, which would see it gone in 3 months.

You could be DF by new Year.

Also, I notice you have £500 cash shown under Assets (earning maybe 3% interests, at best), while you have a 45.9% CC.

45.9% is an insane APR. :eek:

Get rid of it NOW.

FBaby

Are you sure your budget is truly realistic? Do you account for all lunches, cleaning products, drinks etc.. in your £120 food budget? This seems quite low with a teenager for everything.

Is £10 clothing a month realistic too. School uniform only will set you there and with boys growing all the time, I find it surprising that's all in cost and that you would not spend a penny on yourself, especially if you are working.

How about things like pocket money, books or newspapers, dental appointments, medicines, subscriptions, school trips, birthday presents/card from friends etc....

The problem is that your SOA might be what you aspire to, but not what is a realistic budget. You need to do both ideally to assess where you really can cut and where you could at an absolute last resort only.