Has anyone ever manage to do this?

flumpkin

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

No offence but yes, it is stupid.

The sooner that mbna card is gone, the better.

I hear you and I know you are right

Tinwhistler

Hi Flump, what Foxgloves said about debt charity reminded me of a link that another poster linked on this site: http://www.turn2us.org.uk/

eyeopener2

Hi again,

YOu are making the right noises and that's good but to do this you have to make big sacrifices. Bedsit Bob has started either the main ones (pay tv has to go so try and negotiate it out of your contract). I would include holidays, forget these for a couple of years - we didn't have anything for three years barring a 3 day break in Scarborough.

Couple of things on your soa, do you really on spend £10 a month on entertainment? £30 on Christmas and birthdays? You may be surprised how much you actually spend on these things, it's probably way, way more. Think back on how much you spent on Christmas presents recently.

You can do this, it's hard at times but really, really worth it in the end.

flumpkin

Thanks again everyone. I honestly do appreciate the need to make sacrifices and cut right back.
Going to monitor things for rest of this month - not much I can while waiting for payday. Apart from spend nothing, meal plan, walk etc.

love flump x

foxgloves

Hi again Flump,
Glad you like my signature. Me & mr f really do live by that rule now, apart from our mortgage. Re meal planning, to which I'm a total convert. A practical plan for now would be to do an inventory of your larder, fridge & freezer. Base the next week's meals on what you already have in stock. Your shopping list should then contain only what you need. If you regularly run out of bread & milk, buy an extra one on shopping day. You can freeze a spare loaf so it doesn't go stale. If popping out for these sees you running up a £20 spend on unplanned extras, this suggestion would prevent this. Work out what you need for things like packed lunches. If you include a bag of crisps a day (you can get v good look-a-likies from Aldi, by the way), then buy only that amount of crisps. If they run out mid week because someone has eaten them, tough, they don't get bought again till your next proper weekly shop. (just using crisps as an example!) Cook from scratch & be creative. We had roast chicken today. Tomorrow, I will take all the remaining meat off it, which will be divvied up to make chicken fajitas for Mon, spicy Mexican style pizza for Tues, stew for Weds & at least 2 filled rolls for packed lunches. The carcass will go in the slow cooker for stock, which will be frozen & used to make soup at a later date. That's 4 days of dinners sorted already. We usually have a veggie meal using pulses on Thurs as they are healthy & inexpensive. One night a week, we have jacket potatoes topped with something I've previously batch cooked & frozen or something that needs using from the fridge, such as hummous & salad. I am not currently working, which does give me more time, but I was working full time when we started debtbusting & still always cooked from scratch as the healthier & cheaper option. It does require planning but it will save you money. Try to cut back to £300 pm immediately, then £280, & see if you can aim for £250. Auditing your food stores is a very practical achievable task at a time when the LBM feeling may be overwhelming, & I'm suggesting it because it will almost certainly help you feel you are taking control.
Regards,
Foxgloves x

dancingfairy

Hi. I've just seen your posts. Mathematically it may not make sense to pay off your smaller balance however:
1) if it motivates you to tackle your others then that's got to be a good thing.
2) It's 1 less debt to manage
3) when you phone up to close it they may offer you a decent balance transfer.
Paying off any debt is good so I wouldn't knock it if you paid off the smaller one first. Do you think they might offer you a decent transfer rate?
df

[Deleted User]

dancingfairy wrote: »

1) if it motivates you to tackle your others then that's got to be a good thing.

Normally I'd agree, but the difference between the mbna card and the next highest APR debt, is a whopping 10.4%, and that is HUGE.

If you paid those two in reverse order, you would pay an extra £1,192 in interest.

What's the point in cutting back, if you are going to throw away almost £1,200 in extra interest :huh:

Every month you overpay another debt, is another month you pay unnecessary interest on the mbna card.

eyeopener2

Where are your overdrafts in the SOA? I thought you used them or are you back in the black all the time now ( sorry if I've missed this).

It's just that your signature says £4430 of overdrafts, and isn't included in your soa, so that must be costing you a lot?

Gym_Addict

Flumpkin, I've been in your position by using credit cards to fund holidays etc, then having to take loans out. It was my wife who made me tackle these. I think the best thing you can do is to get some independent financial advice now that you have SOA list. There may be obvious things like reduce mobile bill; tackle the highest interest cc first etc. But some proper advice is needed. Good luck.

flumpkin

I did miss the overdrafts from my SOA. They cost me about £30 a month for our current account and then we have an old closed account with 830 owing which I pay £30 and about £10 comes off balance. Not sure on interest rate? May pay the old 830 off first as our quick win then hit mbna?

thoughts?