Someone else looking for advice

Tartan_2

Monthly Outgoings
Mortgage £549.71
Shopping £300.00
Diesel £100.00
Car Loan £302.76 (Northern Rock 6.2%, 24 Months left)
Council Tax £127.40
Gym Membership £84.00
BT - Phone & Broadband £35.00
Car Insurance £35.52
Electricity £53.00
Sky Subs £37.00
Life Insurance £31.93
Gas £24.50
Pet Insurance £16.27
Mobiles £35.00
House Insurance £15.14
TV License £10.99
Lottery Subs £9.00
Property Management £15.00
Xmas Savings £40.00
Total Out £1822.22

Monthly Incomings
My Wage £1,636.49
Partners Wage £815.80
Total In £2,452.29

SMART CC – Balance £4,037 APR 0% until start of Aug 2007
Overdraft - £1526 (limit £900) APR 5.9%

As you can see from above I currently have a debt of around £5,500 (I don't include the car loan in that debt).
Myself and my partner have been struggling to get on top of the debt with spending probably rising each month (I have only shown Direct Debit and Standing Order outgoings there is our own spending on top - entertainment, drinks) We can cut down on entertainment and drinks but don't want to give it up completely - need to have some fun :beer:
1 problem I have is that due to the fact I work away a lot with work I build up expenses on a work AMEX card. These expenses are paid back to me but I don't actually have to pay the AMEX card until a later date so I then tend to spend that money as my own (which it isn't) hence the fact I am £1500 OD although my OD is only £900 (it will eventually catch up with me)
The CC 0% is due to run out soon and I am not sure whether to swap to another CC or take out a loan for the combined amount of the CC and OD as it is more manageable with 1 payment each month. This would also let me resolve the expenses issue as I plan to set up a system of moving the money out of my account when it arrives to stop me using it.
I don't think I have explained myself very well but any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Shineyhappy

Tartan wrote: »

Monthly Outgoings
Mortgage £549.71
Shopping £300.00 (how many is this for? Look at Old Style board to try and reduce it)
Diesel £100.00
Car Loan £302.76 (Northern Rock 6.2%, 24 Months left)
Council Tax £127.40
Gym Membership £84.00 (I would ditch this until you are debt free, Summer is great for free exercise)
BT - Phone & Broadband £35.00
Car Insurance £35.52 (could you get a better deal? See Martins tips and possibly cashback through Quidco)
Electricity £53.00 (seems a bit high)
Sky Subs £37.00 (could you cut this down/get rid and swap to freeview or haggle?)
Life Insurance £31.93 (This seems a bit steep, can you shop around?)
Gas £24.50
Pet Insurance £16.27
Mobiles £35.00 (Can you swop to PAYG?)
House Insurance £15.14
TV License £10.99
Lottery Subs £9.00 (I would ditch this)
Property Management £15.00
Xmas Savings £40.00 (How many people is this for? Have a look at Pigsback and other click through sites for vouchers to put towards Xmas)
Total Out £1822.22

Monthly Incomings
My Wage £1,636.49
Partners Wage £815.80
Total In £2,452.29

SMART CC – Balance £4,037 APR 0% until start of Aug 2007
Overdraft - £1526 (limit £900) APR 5.9%

.

If you are regularly running up high Amex bills could you sort out a DD that takes Xpounds from your account on payday?

I think you should keep a spending diary too so you can see where the extra cash goes.

Have a really good look around this site, you soon pick up good tips. I never use my tumble drier anymore, I go to the supermarket when they tend to have the most reductions. I send off for loads of freebies and I have cut down on the amount of Quorn I eat as its so expensive. I have joined Quidco, pigsback and loads of survey sites and that will hopefully be paying for a lot of my Xmas pressies.

Shineyhappy

Pardon my manners!

Sorry I meant to also say:

Welcome to MSE and the DFW board! It does get easier from here on!

the_cat

hi
the good news is that there seems to be plenty of scope to cut down on your spending, try putting your details into the snowball calculator on www.whatsthecost.com and then playing around with the figures

eg if you cut down on the (at present very high!) shopping bill by £100pm how much will you cut the interest/term...... it certainly makes you think a lot more about how much you really NEED the luxuries!

misspoppy

Hi

There are two things you need to do.
1. open a seperate account to have your expenses money paid into then set up a DD to amex to cover the money, if you don't see it you don't spend it.
2. you need to actually know what it is that you are spending so you and your wife need to keep a spending diary for a month noting down every penny that you spend. You need to look at where you are wasting money for example you have a lottery subscription cancel it, youu don't really need sky but you'd like it, call them up and tell them you want to cancel they will probably give it to you at a reduced rate but you could live without it. Do you actually go to the gym if not cancel that. You haven't included costs for the car like car tax and maintanence what about food how much do you spend on that?

Its no wise to get another loan it would be better to switch to another 0% card if you can and then plan to pay it all back before your 0% period comes to an end.

by making changes like checking your electricty and gas are on the lowest tarrif and canceling things you don't need you can soon pay off your OD and work on the cards.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi welcome to MSE !:beer:

Sky and gym can go and if you miss them get them back when you are debt free.

Your Mobile bills seem very expensive. I have a pay as you go and use it only for essential / emergency calls. I spend about £10 every 3 months on calls.

If you can keep your car going longer than your car loan then in 24 months.(i.e don't upgrade your car unless it is on it's last legs) you will have an extra £300 to throw at your debts (or if you have cleared your debts already by then :T you will have an extra £300 to start building your savings).

Keep posting.

angelavdavis

Hi Tartan and welcome to DFW!!!!

Tartan wrote: »

Monthly Outgoings
Mortgage £549.71
Shopping £300.00 Is this just for two of you? You should be able to reduce to £200 at least - my OH and I eat on £175 a month including wine and beer. How much food do you bin? Do you eat only convenience food? It might be worth seeing if you have a Lidl or Aldi nearby as many people find them cheaper for the basics than the bigger supermarkets. Possible Saving £100
Diesel £100.00 This seems very very high
Car Loan £302.76 (Northern Rock 6.2%, 24 Months left)
Council Tax £127.40
Gym Membership £84.00 This could go if you are serious about clearing the debt. Possible saving £84
BT - Phone & Broadband £35.00
Car Insurance £35.52
Electricity £53.00This seems very high - shop around and see if you can get a better deal. Possible Saving £10
Sky Subs £37.00 Do you really need Sky? Can you not reduce the package for a while short term? Possible Saving £16
Life Insurance £31.93 This seems very high - you should shop around for a better deal. Possible Saving £10
Gas £24.50
Pet Insurance £16.27 This seems very high too - shop around
Mobiles £35.00
House Insurance £15.14
TV License £10.99
Lottery Subs £9.00 This is money down the drain. Possible Saving £9
Do you pay water rates?
Property Management £15.00
Xmas Savings £40.00
Total Out £1822.22
Possible savings = £229 on outgoings

Monthly Incomings
My Wage £1,636.49
Partners Wage £815.80
Total In £2,452.29

Even without the highlighted cutting back, you have over £630 over every month to pay off your debts. With the cutbacks, you have £859 per month.

SMART CC – Balance £4,037 APR 0% until start of Aug 2007 What is the minimum payment for this and what will the interest be after August?
Overdraft - £1526 (limit £900) APR 5.9%

As you can see from above I currently have a debt of around £5,500 (I don't include the car loan in that debt). Well you should as you are still paying interest on this.

Myself and my partner have been struggling to get on top of the debt with spending probably rising each month (I have only shown Direct Debit and Standing Order outgoings there is our own spending on top - entertainment, drinks) We can cut down on entertainment and drinks but don't want to give it up completely - need to have some fun :beer:

No problem having a good time, but £600 per month! OK, so at the moment you are managing - just, but if you leave it without cutting back for a while, you will be too deep in debt and the cutting back will be far more severe. You know you need to do something about it.

Limit yourself to £50 per week for socialising and this will leave £430 (or £659 with savings) to put against your debts. Check out the snowball calculator to work out how you should pay these off and when you debt free date is likely to be.

Tartan wrote: »

1 problem I have is that due to the fact I work away a lot with work I build up expenses on a work AMEX card. These expenses are paid back to me but I don't actually have to pay the AMEX card until a later date so I then tend to spend that money as my own (which it isn't)

Don't do it! Stop now - this is stupid when you know its wrong - open up a plain bank account and put the money in there so you don't spend it!

Tartan wrote: »

The CC 0% is due to run out soon and I am not sure whether to swap to another CC or take out a loan for the combined amount of the CC and OD as it is more manageable with 1 payment each month. This would also let me resolve the expenses issue as I plan to set up a system of moving the money out of my account when it arrives to stop me using it.

Tartan wrote: »

I don't think I have explained myself very well but any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Don't consolidate - no offence, but you have already shown that you have a weakness for spending money that isn't yours by your comment about your expenses! You are likely to build up your credit cards/overdraft again once you think you can afford the loan payments and will become worse off - ask plenty of people on here about consolidation and they will say don't do it!!! I regretted ever doing this and have had to pay stuff off the hard way because I needed to learn the lesson.

Yes I think you should see if you can find another card to tart - either a low life of balance or if you are really serious about getting rid of the debt and can dedicate £630 a month toward your debts then you can chance a 12 month 0% deal. I would include the car loan too - wouldn't you like to be paid and have that extra £1000 in your pockets every month - then you can live like champagne charlies!:D

david_hellier

Hi and Welcome,

As you suggest it's your spending that's the problem and it's not being monitored.

According to my figures you have £260.77 per week to spend on food and any thing else, including lottery, going out and clothes. I suggest you write this amount in a little note book (a spending diary, ebay) on a Monday and keep a note of what you spend/withdraw by subtraction. If you have any over, carry it forward to the next Monday. You need to ignore any money you spend on the AMEX as long as it is fully matched by the reimbursments. Ignore also your bank balance; go by the book. I've included a £50 per month figure to payoff the od, so the balance will fall.

You should set up a standing order (not a DD) to payoff the £201 per month fixed amount on the CC. Stop using the card for any more purchases.

The others will advise on cutting back (that gym is a rip off) so follow their tips.

It's time to tighten the belt I'm afraid!

Good luck, the figures:

incomeweeklymonthlyself 1636.49partner 815.80 total0.002452.29divide by 4.33 £ 565.92 £ 565.92 total weekly incomespendweeklymonthlyrent/mortgage 549.71council tax 127.40elec 53.00gas 24.50water 0.00secured loans 0.00TV licence 10.99fines 0.00gym 84.00bt 35.00car ins 35.52sky 37.00life 31.93pet 16.27mobiles 35.00house ins 15.14property man 15.00smart 201.85od payoff 50.00 total0.001322.31divide by 4.33 £ 305.15 £ 305.15 total weekly spendStart= income - spend = £ 260.77 per week

Karmacat

Hello Tartan
Welcome to mse! Well, there are some really obvious ways to cut back to pay debts off quicker:
- £9 lottery
- £22 taking Sky down to the basic package
- £84 gym membership eek!!!
- £xxx some of the entertainment and drinks that you say you haven't listed.

Like Martin says, there are painless ways to cut - and shineyhappy says that might be electricity, car insurance and life insurance (other suggestions too, but those are the painless ones). The others hurt a bit - losing a sky channel, for instance - but, last year, when my debts went up and my income went waaay down, losing the Sci-Fi Channel became a necessity for me. I don't miss it (but I'd certainly miss Sky One, I'm not losing that!).

As far as loan vs another credit card is concerned, if you bank online making two payments rather than one is perfectly manageable - and if it saves you, say, 8% a year, whyever would you not do that???? If you tend to spend what you've got, no matter what you should save to pay for debts later in the month, then pay the card when you get the money, straight away, no matter what the due date is on the card.

Hope this helps.

black-saturn

Ok heres my four penneth:
Monthly Outgoings
Mortgage £549.71
Shopping £300.00 Blimey, how many is this for? Look on the Old Style board to get ideas about cutting your food bills. I would be looking to get this down to about £100 a month if not less.
Diesel £100.00 Could you cut this down? Could you walk or cycle more?
Car Loan £302.76 (Northern Rock 6.2%, 24 Months left) Do you really need a car? Could you sell the car to pay some of the loan off?
Council Tax £127.40
Gym Membership £84.00 Cancel this and go for a jog or brisk walk instead. This is a hell of a lot to pay just to exercise.
BT - Phone & Broadband £35.00
Car Insurance £35.52 Do you really need a car?
Electricity £53.00 This is very high. Don't leave things on standby. Switch to energy saving light bulbs. Sit by candlight in the evenings. Don't have the TV on all the time as background entertainment.
Sky Subs £37.00 Could you have Freeview or FreeSat instead?
Life Insurance £31.93
Gas £24.50 This is a lot too. Put on a jumper instead of the heating.
Pet Insurance £16.27
Mobiles £35.00 Do you need more than one mobile or a mobile at all?
House Insurance £15.14
TV License £10.99
Lottery Subs £9.00 This is a dream. Concentrate on real life.
Property Management £15.00 Whats this?
Xmas Savings £40.00 Cut this down to £10 a month and make people make do with lesser presents.

southernscouser

Tartan wrote: »

The CC 0% is due to run out soon and I am not sure whether to swap to another CC or take out a loan for the combined amount of the CC and OD as it is more manageable with 1 payment each month.

You need to change your mindset from the above.

Arguably 1 payment is easier to manage. Yet it is often more expensive. All you have to do is organise yourself and you can make the debt more 'cost effective'!

You have fair amount of surplus income at the moment so by consolidating all you are likely to do is reduce your monthly payments meaning that you 'waste' more money each month, your debt takes longer to clear, and it ends up costing you more in the long run.

Consolidation rarely works because people don't have their spending under control which inevitably means getting further into debt. I'm walking proof of that!

Take a look at this nifty little calculator. See how long it would take you to pay off your debts by varying the amount you pay each month. Then compare it to a loan. Then perhaps if you got a low life of balance credit card.

You also need to address your non-essential spending. This can include socialising etc but more so it's the £5 spent here and there and the extra you buy when you only go to Tesco for a pint of milk. Start a spending diary. Every day write down exactly what you spend to the penny and on what. At the end of the month you get a great insight in to where you are wasting money.