Help me with debt, newbie

weeg

I'm about to be a cow. Please don't hold this against me.

You need to prioritise. And you need to read some of the diaries on here.

You have too many 'treats' . If you want to get rid of the debt, you need to get rid of the treats. I'll give you a bye on the smoking, for now, BUT you do not NEED sky, NTL, Superfast broadband, music downloads, and and entertainment budget.

switch to basic sky, and you would be £75 a month better off. That's a long way into your surplus. If I was being really harsh I'd tell you to dump the lot and get a freeview box, and you can get broadband/landline for less than £20/month.

How many pets? what kind? It's a lot of insurance.

Your gas seems very high too. Tried switching suppliers?

THis is the land of "every little helps". And it does. A few cuts here and there can and do make a world of difference - 1 debt at a time.

You can spend the time you're not downloading music making packed lunches, whilst listening to the radio.

What about other car running costs? Do you need 2 cars. Like, yes, NEED?

Cazzdevil

monkeymax wrote: »

me and my wife pay 500 each.

Well the breakdown you provided totals £1524 so split between the two of you that's £762 each - £262 short of the £500 you budget for so there's a massive chunk of extra unaccounted for money swallowed up without you realising.

monkeymax

weeg wrote: »

I'm about to be a cow. Please don't hold this against me.

You need to prioritise. And you need to read some of the diaries on here.

You have too many 'treats' . If you want to get rid of the debt, you need to get rid of the treats. I'll give you a bye on the smoking, for now, BUT you do not NEED sky, NTL, Superfast broadband, music downloads, and and entertainment budget.

switch to basic sky, and you would be £75 a month better off. That's a long way into your surplus. If I was being really harsh I'd tell you to dump the lot and get a freeview box, and you can get broadband/landline for less than £20/month.

How many pets? what kind? It's a lot of insurance.

Your gas seems very high too. Tried switching suppliers?

THis is the land of "every little helps". And it does. A few cuts here and there can and do make a world of difference - 1 debt at a time.

You can spend the time you're not downloading music making packed lunches, whilst listening to the radio.

What about other car running costs? Do you need 2 cars. Like, yes, NEED?

tee hee, i like your harhness

I need to concider changing Gas and electric as yes they are too high. We don't need two cars, but as i commute i find it hard to let go of mine... i know i should sell it and this may be step one. Music is my only hobby, my only vice your saying not to have any fun? that would e the one thing i want to keep. Smoking is a work in progress. I only have one pet, though he is a rescue dog. He was free but we have had to shell out £2000 on vet bills in the last two years, he isn't a well dog. That has obviously made our insurance premium as high as it is. Freeview is a no no. I only have SKY because we have a terrible non watchable signal. Radio while making sandwiches sounds good though. Thank you

monkeymax

Cazzdevil wrote: »

Well the breakdown you provided totals £1524 so split between the two of you that's £762 each - £262 short of the £500 you budget for so there's a massive chunk of extra unaccounted for money swallowed up without you realising.

thats why we've eaten into nearly 17k off our money made on our last property.

Shineyhappy

You can always keep updating this thread.

I think Weeg is probably spot on. We dont want to be mean or to put a dampner on anyones fun, but I think a lot of us have made severe cut backs to clear ou debts asap and especially if you have a family to consider you need to be as efficient as possible.

I know you said you will be giving up on the 1st of July (I can say this as been there bought the t shirt), what happens if you cant manage it? so switch to roll ups now! That way you are minimising the spend until it can be cut out 100%

monkeymax

Shineyhappy wrote: »

You can always keep updating this thread.

I think Weeg is probably spot on. We dont want to be mean or to put a dampner on anyones fun, but I think a lot of us have made severe cut backs to clear ou debts asap and especially if you have a family to consider you need to be as efficient as possible.

I know you said you will be giving up on the 1st of July (I can say this as been there bought the t shirt), what happens if you cant manage it? so switch to roll ups now! That way you are minimising the spend until it can be cut out 100%

But i can't even roll?!?!?!
It is a good idea, i'll give it a try.

CLAPTON

it takes a bit of time and effect but finding out where all the money actually goes is the first essential step so you can then see what you value most and can prioritise with good information...

but some things you dont seem to mention.. you have two cars but have no car tax, fuel, servicing , repair fund, there is no allowance for holidays, present, xmas
and you seem to spend nothing on food either

work on that budget and all those one off/yearly costs and i'm sure you will see that yu can't sustain some of those luxories.

monkeymax

CLAPTON wrote: »

it takes a bit of time and effect but finding out where all the money actually goes is the first essential step so you can then see what you value most and can prioritise with good information...

but some things you dont seem to mention.. you have two cars but have no car tax, fuel, servicing , repair fund, there is no allowance for holidays, present, xmas
and you seem to spend nothing on food either

work on that budget and all those one off/yearly costs and i'm sure you will see that yu can't sustain some of those luxories.

that is the missing income from the calculator... thank you
although Holidays don't exist this year as our son was born.

Skint_Catt

Sky, NTL, music downloads AND broadband!!!
I have terrestrial TV only - yes only 4 channels!!!! (we can't get Ch5 thank God), dial-up internet & my luxury is Tesco DVD rental at £6 a month (I pay in blocks of 6months). So inc TV licence thats £26 per month. If you cut yours back to this (you can survive!) then that's a load into your budget!!!

weeg

I could be missing something (I'm a luddite, with a mere 5 channels) but if you have NTL tv why do you need sky? Especially as music is your only hobby .

(When i posted my SOA my big luxury was, and is, my cinema subscription, so I do understand about needing SOMETHING, but mine is £12/month yours is, what? £16 + how much for broadband?)

The other thing I have gathered from this board (I'm a sad, single luddite) is that it's best to come clean - totally clean to your wife. After all, how do you know she isn't hiding debts from you too, and your problems could be twice the size you think they are? (unlikely, I know). For better, for worse. That way when you start to make changes she will know you are doing this for her, and not being inconsiderate taking away her gin and tonic money (or whatever).

Who does the shopping/cooking in your house? Do you know how much you spend? Hint: if you shop exclusively at Waitrose you are spending too much.