Madnessa's Debt Diary & Change Life by Xmas Challenge

Madnessa

Hello

I am very new here and thought this would inspire me to be better with my money.

Have been reading other threads for a few days and feel very inspired.

Brief history:
Just moved up to York from the midlands and my OH came with me. I moved for my job and OH had to leave hi behind. It was hard for him to find another job up here and I had to pay all bill myself for about 2-3 months. Now he has work on and off through an agency but I am still responsible for most financial things as he only brings in 400-500 pounds on average a month.

We just bought a flat and so we have a £79,500 mortgage. Also have 2510 loan for car and about 3750 on CC as a lot of food and petorl has gone on this.

Now for the big confession...

I like to shop... a lot.

If I wasn't so addicted to retail therapy the CC debt could probably just about have been avoided.

Will sort out my SOA now and post that when it is ready.

Madnessa

Lucy1982_2

Hello and welcome.

Once you have sorted out your SOA people will be able to help a bit more. But I guess you need to get the shopping under control.

Don't forget your APR's as well

Good luck.

Madnessa

Not sure if I am doing this right and it is hard to say how much we have coming in as it changes every month coz of OH's agency work:

In:
Me: 1324
OH: Between 300-800
Total: 1624 (I will quote this figure as is quite a safe minimum

Out:
Mortgage: 475.12
Gas: 40
Electric: 20
Water: 15
Gym: 100 (this is for both of us)
Food: 200
Petrol: 150
Council Tax: 98
Costs of leasehold building: 90 (includes building insurance etc)
Tv Licence: 11
Car insurance: 37 (Just got that reduced from 76:T )
Green Flag: 6.50
Loan repayment: 278.92 (Last payment is Feb 2008)
Credit Card: 150-250 (depends how much money I have on account)
Car tax: £5
MOT: £5
Car Service: £25
Gifts: £15
Mobile me: £5 (it is the one thing I am very good with as I never make unecessary calls and only us it if I really need it)

TOTAL: 1726 (with minimum payment on card)

Ooops. Doesn't look to good does it.

OH normally does get paid more than 300 a month, but it very unreliable. We have no savings as everything went into our flat.

So what I want to do is Pay of the Loan and CC by July 2008. I can do this if I pay off £200 per month on credit card until loan is payed off and then bump this up to 500 per month until CC is paid off.

Will need to check APRs as I am not quite sure of them (blush blush) Credit card is currently 0% but not for much longer so could do with finding a transfer for that.

Also must reduce food costs. Try to get this down to about £30 per week instead od about £50 per week.

Lucy1982_2

Hi

Right I'm going to be ruthless here.

Do you really need to spend £100 a month on the gym? Couldn't you go running or cycling? Surely there are ways of keeping fit without spending this amount each month.

You OH really needs to find some full time work. I know it's hard but he really needs to get good money coming in.

I also hate to say it, but you haven't included any monthly payments for birthday and Christmas. Or for any car repairs.

Hopefully someone else will be along in a bit with a few more comments. But I would have thought that with a few changes everything would be ok. Have you made sure you have all the cheapest services etc?

Lucy1982_2

I mean canceling the gym would mean you end up in credit each month.

Zulu_Dawn

Hi

I have to say it doesn't look too awful as you are nearly breaking even and with loan soon to be paid, your position will improve.

I notice the petrol seems quite a lot. That's around 1,500 miles per month. Is that about right.

Other than that, I think it is about your OH's earnings and trying to drive that up so you can get stuck into your credit card and get rid of that loan.

...and read the board here as there is loads of advice for living a more financially efficient lifestyle.

Best wishes

ZD

lynzpower

you list the car, but nothing for MOT, repairs, car tax, parking .

as Lucy says the gym has to go. I suggest bringing down the food shopping to 100 pcm.

in fact Im looking at this,. must you drive, could you use public transport instead? You can hand the car back on HP, altohugh Im not too sure how it works, Ive never had my own car.

Do you not have any phones? as these are missing from your SOA too

Madnessa

:eek: :eek:

Yes the gym was a s*** idea! I totally know. Just one small problem. Is on a contract for one year so not sure yet how I am going to get out of this!

Also have just moved into new flat one week ago and Npower said the payments for Gas and Electric were probably too high as the last person was a high user (our flat is tiny, tiny, tiny) So in a month or so we will get a meter reading and see if that makes it better. If not I will have to shop around.

i am sure we can reduce our monthly shopping bill by quite a bit as we are total food wasters. But on the upside we don't go out much so save there. You're right about presents but all my family live in Belgium so I get out of that with sending a nice card and as we have only just moved don't have any friends up here yet. That is probably why I may have over-shopped.

Will change SOA to add car stuff and gifts now though.

Skint_Catt

Have you checked out the Old Style board for batch cooking recipe tips that could really cut that down!

C xx

lynzpower

basically in order to break even you HAVE to save 97.00 that wont eat into the debt itself, although will stop you getting into debt to the tune of 97pm.

You say you are a mad shopper- there MUST be something you can sell?

Id go for a big clearout, and sell anything you can on ebay or amazon or even do a car boot sale.

Lucy1982_2

I agree Ebay or Amazon would be good for you.

I've made £71 this month selling stuff that was just lying around!