Help me with debt, newbie

Shineyhappy

Catt,

Have you tried to get a free view box on freecycle?

nickelodeon

I am afraid I'm going to have a little rant, please don't take offence, I am trying to help honest!

No one is saying you can't have fun, you just need to prioritise, whats more important? downloading the newest songs or paying your debts and providing security for your wife and 6 month old son? You can still have fun doing things that cost absolutely nothing!

You put in one of your early posts that you had £17,000 in the bank and it has all gone on the extra bills in 2 years! This is madness!
I nearly fell off my chair when I read this, you had that money sitting in the bank and it's all just gone on your normal outgoings!
You need to cut back on your spending, if you carry on as you are, you will increase your debts by £17,000 in 2 years!
I presume thats not what you want as you are on here seeking advice, everyone on here knows how hard it is and have all made sacrifices because they have decided that being debt free is more important than having luxuries that they can't afford.

It's sounds like you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices and sort this out and so I wish you lots of luck in this. If you decide you still want to spend money on downloading music then have a look at quidco, you can get 8% cashback with iTunes.

chevalier

Hi there my comments are in blue

monkeymax wrote: »

Below are my figures, i am now at a point where i need to sort out my debts. I worry for my home, wife and 6 month son. Although some debts are unknown to herWhy are they unknown is this fair on her?

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1871.42 Do you get child benefit, working tax credits? Did you get your baby grant from the government? Will your OH be returning to work and is so how soon? I know you then have the issue of child care but with your figures not adding up you need extra income as well as cutting outgoings.

Total - £1871.42

Monthly Outgoings:

Budget account for household bills - £550You will need to tell her that this needs to go up. Are you funding the whole of the difference? If you don't want to tell her about the debt then as I am sure your mortgage has gone up you could explain the need for an increase that way
Phone - £55
Food at work- £94.60As others have said this really has to go. This is £473 over 5 months. If you threw this at your Egg credit card it would be paid off with this money. Good motivation?
Cigarettes - £129.50 This is about 25 packs a months. Does that surprise you? This equates to £1554 a year. If you gave up now in 12 months you wouldn't have an overdraft!
travel card - £88do you need this AND a car?
Loan payments - £298
Credit card payments - £70
Online music accounts - £16If you have been doing this a while, then how about giving this a rest for a while and enjoying the music you already have? It would also show your OH that you are prepared to make sacrifices in order to get debt free
Bank fee's (account and payment protection) - £20
Home phone, interent and TV - £50
Entertainment - £ 100

Total: £1,471.10


Egg CC – Balance £583 (limit £750) APR 12.9%

Abbey Loan – Balance £7,000 APR 8.9% Length of term 5 years, 3 years to go
MBNA Loan – Balance £7,000 APR ? Length of term 5 years, 4.5 years to go
Barclays Overdraft - £1700 (limit £1,700) APR ??

Please help if you can

I don't know about HMRC but can you get an additional job? I know that you would have to explain to your OH why you needed another job, but something to thing about.

I would also suggest that you both keep a spending diary so you know where the fritter away money is going. Someone on here worked out they had a £100 a months latte habit from this!! Needless to say it gave them focus to stop it.

The very best of luck
chev

Skint_Catt

Shineyhappy wrote: »

Catt,

Have you tried to get a free view box on freecycle?

Don't want one! I can get one for £20 but there's nothing on it I ever want to watch anyway - I'm happy with my DVD's! Thanks anyway!

Kelouba

Just think of your son. He should be the motivation for giving up the cigs. Just think of how much damage you are doing to him with your smoke.

monkeymax

i can't have terrestriial TV, i have no TV signal where we live. I have even tried an amplifier to get a signal and nothing. Thats no Freeview either. I have brought a packed lunch today though... look at me, its started

monkeymax

Kelouba wrote: »

Just think of your son. He should be the motivation for giving up the cigs. Just think of how much damage you are doing to him with your smoke.

i don't smoke near my son, i wouldn't do that. Plus i've halved my cigarettes already in stead to quit in 2 weeks.

Cazzdevil

Do you have a microwave where you work? Because if you're saying you don't have time to make up a packed lunch every day then why not just make 1 extra portion at dinner every night which will leave some leftovers for you to take and re-heat the following day.

monkeymax

chevalier wrote: »

Hi there my comments are in blue

I don't know about HMRC but can you get an additional job? I know that you would have to explain to your OH why you needed another job, but something to thing about.

I would also suggest that you both keep a spending diary so you know where the fritter away money is going. Someone on here worked out they had a £100 a months latte habit from this!! Needless to say it gave them focus to stop it.

The very best of luck
chev

Thank you very much for this. I have never looked at what i can pay off with the money i save, thank you again. I will be selling my car as i cannot justify having it as i commute. I will half my download fee per month (thats down to only £8) and cut my Broadband from superfast to standard saving me another 15 a month. Luckily i work for Tax credits so i have claimed everything i'm entitled to as soon as i could, but with our joint income this doesn't give us much.
in regards to an additonal job HMRC has a policy i signed that states i cannot work more than 48 hours pre week, i already do 40 here so to get a job for 8 hours a week is pointless. After tax and travel it gives me nothing and takes away valuable time with my son.

fistfullofdollars

Well done for posting your SOA. I wont comment as I think others have said all that there is to say to improve it.

I just dont think you have had your proper LBM yet. If you had you'd be on the phone cancelling Sky, NTL etc and not moaning about not having it. Have a hard think and cancel anythink that you dont need. i.e. both NTL and Sky or ring up and try and get a better deal.