Light bulb moment......I need help though!

Poppy93

Hello All,

I had my light bulb moment today when I got my morning text from my bank saying I had £84 left and don't get paid for another 17 days. Luckly all bills have been paid.

So today I have counted and have a breakdown as follows

Student Loans company = £1770.78 (paid monthly by DD, 1.5% Interest)
Barclaycard = £364.41 (Standard interest)
First Direct Credit Card = £790.89 (0% about to end)
Virgin Credit Card = £11812.82 (0% till December)
Mum = £200 (Pay £100 monthly)

I have a budget spreadsheet which I play at filling in on a monthly basis but I haven't felt it's helped me.

Can anyone assist me in how to start sorting this mess out? I get a good wage but live on my own. I have been reading the Forum for months but feel lost. I can't tell anyone in my family my situation as I feel they will judge and make me feel worse not help.

bargainbetty

Firstly, welcome!

Secondly, make yourself a brew and sit down to do a statement of affairs. Use your budget and bank statement and work out what all your essential bills are. Put in your ins and outs, and see what you have left over.

If all your bills are paid for this month, it's time to tighten your belt for the end of this month! Have a really good stocktake (food, toiletries, household, everything). See what you already have and work out the barest minimum you can get away with buying while using up what you have. Build menus around the random stuff in the fridge/freezer, decant all the dribbles of half a bottle of shampoo into one and work your way through it, etc - the Old Style boards have lots of tips for menu planning and household expenditure controls. This will also help you understand where you are overspending, and possibly why. Once you've cracked that, it gets so much easier.

You can spend your 17 quiet nights in using up toiletries for pampering nights, or cooking a 'curry surprise' for mates who will come over or just having a good sort through for stuff you can sell on ebay to declutter your life. Or read the books you haven't read (library, don't buy them) or watch the DVDs you bought but haven't watched. Cheap entertainment, but keep yourself busy.

Lastly, think positively. You have £200 left to pay your mum. Once that is done, you can add it to the Barclaycard debt to clear it within another three months. If they offer you a transfer rate, you can use it to reduce the rate on your debt elsewhere. As you clear each bit, use the money saved to throw at your other debts. Use the snowball calculator to work out which order to do this in, once all the APRs have kicked in.

Best of luck x

Calling14

Welcome new diary, Statement of Affairs essential I also live on my own and realise I need to sort my mess out(well some inherited from ex) but it can be hard going on your todd. Lovely words of encouragement on here, most peeps are in the same boat or been on the long debt free road. Great for advice and money saving tips.
Good luck will pop into yr thread to check up on you

NinjaSavingKat

Poppy93 wrote: »

I get a good wage but live on my own. I have been reading the Forum for months but feel lost.

Hello Poppy93...

I shall reiterate the great words of BargainBetty - get a brew on! Kinda makes things a little calmer and a little easier to deal with! Firstly DON'T PANIC! In the wondrous words of the great leader - :money: - there is no debt that cannot be dealt with!

Firstly you need to post an SOA - this gives us an idea of where all your money goes in the month and many folk on here can give you great advice. What you think it normal might be "paying over the odds" and until you here it from someone else you will never think about it...

Secondly I love the post above.. this mean you have room to go super hardcore should you wish. But this depends on you - you will obviously want to live to a certain extent by my idea of living ( hot drink and quiteness to read ) might certainly not be someone elses... how much do you WANT to be debt free..

Can someone please post to SOA link.. I don't know where to find it!

Choosing that date where you want to reclaim your life back is the first step. You might see it shift by a few months here and there but having the goal is one of the most important decisive factors as to whether you succeed or fail....so well done!

I will stop here as I could go on and on but knowing where your money is going will help us figure out where you can go from here - although BB has offered some great advice already.

We all want you to succeed... :T

HOK3Y

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

We all want you to succeed... :T

Amen NSK!!!

Good luck Poppy - I'll subscribe and check in with you.

Poppy93

Wow

Thanks everyone, I am literally sitting here and feel like I want to cry, not because I am sad but because theres other people I can talk that haven't shouted (Like mum would) and haven't judged.

I will do a SOA tonight if someone can send me in the direction of a template and I had already planned to cook a few meals with food from the fridge and freeze in individual portions to take to work or have for tea.

I have huge stocks of makeup and soap etc so I will start using it up rather than buying new. I also have loads of clothes to sell but feel like when I have tried this before I end up spending on listing fees and don't really breakeven. Any advice?

I suppose the one good thing about living alone is that I can make sure I cut down on the bills by turning off lights etc but the other side of living alone is that when you stay in to save money it can get pretty boring and makes me a little sad :-( (I think I go out alot to make up for this and it's probably where my money goes)

Thanks everyone for your help so far. xx

NinjaSavingKat

Check out my main diary - Ultimate Challenge.... I have cleared £14400 in 1 year ( which you can EASILY do) especially because I live and look after only me. You can do this and I am so please you have chosen a DFD (debt free date) that's next year.... this is SO achievable...

Hang on I will dig for the SOA thingy....

yes use up every scrap of make-up before buying more, you can wash yourself with soap and no more shower-gel, avoid eBay unless you post on a "free listing" weekend and start at 99p... but like you said it might not be worth it...

• Trade books in at Amazon for credit to spend online.
• Use Approved Foods for basics but watch out for delivery costs.
• Start living on supermarket own brands and saver branding (Every Day Velue etc..) - how much do you spend on food?
• NEVER buy lunch out - start bringing your own..
• Stop going out unless budgetted for and limit yourself to twice a month to start with...
• Consider a Taste Card when it's on offer - do not buy at full price...

Right SOA searching...

NinjaSavingKat

Ta da... http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Choose the MSE option at the bottom before adding as it will make is much easier to read....

Good luck...

Poppy93

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2541.85
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2541.85
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 675
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 117
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 20.23
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 47
TV Licence.............................. 12.18
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 29
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 200
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 50
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 7.25
Life assurance ......................... 5.69
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 35
Entertainment........................... 400
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Car insurance savings................... 40
Christmas Savings....................... 50
Car Payment............................. 226.02
Total monthly expenses.................. 2074.37

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Student Loan...................1770.78...169.......1.5
Barclaycard....................364.41....5.........18.9
FD Credit Card.................790.89....24........0
Mum............................200.......100.......0
Virgin Money Credit C..........11812.8...138.......0
Total unsecured debts..........14938.88..436.......-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,541.85
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,074.37
Available for debt repayments........... 467.48
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 436
Amount left after debt repayments....... 31.48
Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -14,938.88
Net Assets.............................. -14,938.88

John1993_2

Well done for posting it.

First, a question...

Have you had a major change of cisrcumstances recently? I ask because your statement of affairs suggests that you've got quite a lot of debt, but that you spend less than yo ubring in each month.

What I mean is has your debt been slowly dropping recently, which your SOA suggests that it should be, or has it been growing, suggesting that there must be things missing from your SOA, as you don't get into debt by livig as your statement implies.

Next, one item that stands out (to me) on your SOA is £400 per month for "entertainment". It looks quite a lot relative to your income, and debts. Is this going out a great deal? It looks a prime entry for cutting back on a bit.

foxgloves

Hi,
Well done on your LBM. It all starts with that SOA. There are definitely things you can cut down on here, so that's a good start. The things that jump out at me are:
*Groceries - It ought to be possible to cut this a little for one person. Shop around, use local markets for fruit & veg, plan your meals weekly or monthly before you write your shopping list & be prepared to cook more from scratch.
*Mobile - £47 is high. My contract is £12-25 a month (I got a discount, it'd be £15 a month without that, but it's a long way from £47 & also came with a nice shiny new smartphone)
*Entertainment - £400 is obviously unsustainable, because if you could afford it, you wouldn't have nearly £15k of debt (I ran up lots of debt when I lived on my own, too. You sort of feel footloose & fancy free, then you wake up one day & go 'Aaaaaaghhhh!') You need to hack this back big time while you pay your debts off. See how creative you can be in coming up with cheap or free entertainment ideas.
*Christmas fund - Always a good idea to have one, but I don't think you can afford to spend £600 on Christmas with your current level of debt. If this amount is mostly for buying presents, start thinking about things you can make that take a bit of time & care, but not much money.....things like making preserves, fudge, little hampers of things like hair care stuff, etc, which, look nice but don't need to cost a lot. Or make some vouchers & give your time.....an elderly relative with a big garden might appreciate a couple of hours of weeding, a couple with children would maybe like a free babysitter for an evening, etc. If you like crafts, you may already have supplies of stuff in which you can use to make gifts.
The most important thing is to look at how these debts have arisen. You will probably be able to think of 3 or 4 examples of money-wasting behaviour straight away (I know we could, when we started debt-busting!) Then you can look at how you could do things differently. It feels difficult at first, but as you go on, you might find like we did, that NOT spending money becomes as enjoyable as actually spending it! I've said this before, but there is honestly no bag of tat I could come home with now, that would make me feel as good as being debt-free.
Good luck! Lots of good advice on here. If you're truly ready to tackle it & get yourself into a stronger place for the future, you will do it!
x