misstiques debt diary help me pls!!

misstique_2

hi everyone
ive been reading other peoples diarys and i see how fab you all are at money saving!! so i need your help!!
i am 27 and starting to get deeper and deeper in debt i have a loan for £5000 with royal bank of scotland
£1500 on halifax card
£850 on royal bank of scotland card
£3000 on virgin card
£60 on store cards
an still have to pay £500 on my holiday! in sept
my intrest free period will run out in augs on my virgin card!
i think all my debt comes from shopping!!! i am totaly addicted to collecting things !! and i know you all think well why dosent the girl stop but i realy am trying! the biggest problem is that im a manager in retail im always surrounded by offers and bargains !! its kinda like a chocholic working in cadburys!!!
the worst thing is at work i manage all the finances and we are always under buget!! i need your help please feel free to rip my money spending ways to shredds i think i need it!!
although i have made a start i have put some things on ebay i have worked out my buget with martins money planner and even started doing my food shop with my mum at her staff shop everythings half price!i was spending £170 a month on food thats not to mention the 10 a day i would spend at work!
i must admit it feals so much better just getting this off my chest if you have any ideas please let me know thanks

mae

There will be some people along shortly I am sure who will give you loads of help, however I know the first thing they will ask you is to do is post your SOA and also post all the interest rates of loans and credit cards.
Well done for posting coz thats the first step in getting control of your money so be pleased with yourself for starting the journey and giving yourself peace of mind.

misstique_2

mae wrote: »

There will be some people along shortly I am sure who will give you loads of help, however I know the first thing they will ask you is to do is post your SOA and also post all the interest rates of loans and credit cards.
Well done for posting coz thats the first step in getting control of your money so be pleased with yourself for starting the journey and giving yourself peace of mind.

thanks mae! ive only been able to tell my mum , friends and family dont know im strugging im too embarist to tell them! hopefully i will be able to sort it out myself with all you guys help! and then ill not only be debt free but stress free !!
really thick question whats a soa?
carnt you just tell im new to this !!

silkglade

hi hun and welcome to mse.

1st thing we need is your soa - total income and total expenditure each month.

Includes the payments to the loan and the credit cards each month.

Then we can advise you to the best of our ability

asp746

hullo missteeque,

first thing I'd say is thankfully, compared to some other people your debt is pretty low - i can appreciate it's making you anxious and rightly so i just wish people would realise sooner like yourself rather than later when their debts run in to tens of thousands and it literally drives them to despair.

looks to me that july's salary has to go to the holiday - so just bite the bullet for one month and then take things from there.

one of the best suggestions i've had is having a spend free day - i no longer buy 2 newspapers per day or sandwiches from the local buttie bar - i read the news online and take my lunch in. some expenses you absolutely can't do without ie travel expenses but little steps add up.

good luck

tealady

Hi The statement of affairs (SOA) is just a list of your incomings and outgoings. It helps people see where your money is going so we can give appropriate advice. Well done for looking to get debt free whilst it is a small debt, it increases your options.
A useful tip if (like me) you fritter money easily, is to only take a limited amount of money to work and leave the cards at home.

misstique_2

my out goings a month....
rent £215
home insurence £8.10
council tax £54
water rates£21
electricity £17
phone bill £25
internet£10
mobile £20
food shopping£222.5 that includes all work coffees and food
petrol £49
car insurence £33
car tax £14
rbs loan £132
rbs c card £18
halifax c card £28.46
virgin c card £5.00
cable and broard band £20.00
gifts £40 b days ect
new clothes £78
work clothes £48
hair cuts £36 not every month
going out £60
other bits eg cleaning products papers mags ect £59
my total is £1219.7
my total income is £1000 but on occasions i get a bonus but not verry often so i havent included it!
im 219 a drift

my virgin card is 0%till aug
my rbs card is 22.47%
my halifax card 26.75%
looking into my loan i think its 9%

i carnt belive how stupid i am!! i carnt wait to be debt free!!!!

tealady

Right, food seems VERY high for one person, hop over to the old style board for advice on cheap shopping. You need to cut down on clothes papers and mags, can you just buy fewer or share with a friend. Hair cuts, try a hairdressing college, it will take longer but the students are all supervised (mine usually costs less than £5 compared with a salon price of £25 - £30).
Check for a cheaper mobile tarif, go via a cash back web site. Finally when you do have some money to throw at your debt pay the maximum you can afford agains the one with the highest APR (annual percentage rate) and minimum payments to the others. As you clear each card CUT IT UP and cancel the account.
Thats a few ideas for you, I'm sure there will be someone along soon who will have some better ideas.

misstique_2

tealady wrote: »

Right, food seems VERY high for one person, hop over to the old style board for advice on cheap shopping. You need to cut down on clothes papers and mags, can you just buy fewer or share with a friend. Hair cuts, try a hairdressing college, it will take longer but the students are all supervised (mine usually costs less than £5 compared with a salon price of £25 - £30).
Check for a cheaper mobile tarif, go via a cash back web site. Finally when you do have some money to throw at your debt pay the maximum you can afford agains the one with the highest APR (annual percentage rate) and minimum payments to the others. As you clear each card CUT IT UP and cancel the account.
Thats a few ideas for you, I'm sure there will be someone along soon who will have some better ideas.

thanks i will look into how to book in at my local college i live quite near!!:T
im on pay as you go mobile with voda phone will definatly see if i can cut that bill!! again THANKYOU!!!

mae

Are you able to get any more 0% credit cards to transfer from those high interest cards? Then you close the other accounts so there is no temptation?

Also if you buy star drops 59 pence ish (instead of expensive cleaning products) and stopped buying mags and papers and used the internet and the library instead you could throw that £59 per month at your debts and that works out £708 off one of your debts just in that easy step which surely wouldn't be too hard. If you don't know what star drops are then go on the old style board there is a thread about it and basically you use it for all cleaning purposes and stop buying all the expensive brands, many people swear by it.

I don't know your work hours but is it possible for you to get a part time job maybe bar job or something?

Is the food bill just for you? If so as someone has already said this is high, you could maybe save a fair bit on this a month.

I have just read your post again and as you are down by £219 I would not throw the £59 I suggested at your debt it will just take your short fall down to £160 and if you can save £60 on your food bill then you are down to a £100 shortfall then if you do not buy any new clothes or work clothes (for the time being)you would not have a short fall at all. I hope that makes sense and you get the idea.
Good luck you'll do it I'm sure now that you've decided to stop burying you head.

misstique_2

mae wrote: »

Are you able to get any more 0% credit cards to transfer from those high interest cards? Then you close the other accounts so ther is no temptation?

i have tryed to apply today butmost of the cards are run by the same companies so they wont let me have another! dont blame them realy i have appled to barclay card and they said they would reply in the post so im not sure about them.
i then rang all my current c card to see if thay have lower rates for balence transfers and they all seam to be offering 6.9 for the life of the transfer! but i read the artical credit card shuffle that martin wrote and im not sure what to do?? cause i will be paying off the chepest rate off first on that card and but will still be paying the high rate of the old debt on that card if you get what i mean.
so im thinking maybe i should wait to here from barclaycard before i do this ??
my bank also keeps ringing as they said they can consolidate my debt but im not sure if this is a good option as i know i will not pay it off as quickly!
but on the positive ive just switched to british gas as it said it would save me £82 per year and martins put the green light on switching, ive just looked at my local college page and theres alsorts of things you can get done cheep!! so gonna book an appointment on mon!! ive done a post on the old school page for recipies .
thanks mae for your help!!!