My road to being a millionaire - I wish

millionaire_in_training

Have been playing at money saving for a while but got back from hols last night and am determined that I am going to do it properly from now on. I dont want to curtail my life to the stage where my kids and I are totally miserable but I dont want my debt to increase and I want to make a huge hole in it. I will not get my knickers in a twist re my car or secured loan as both were essentials to my life. Car will be paid off and I will deal with the secured loan after credit cards etc.

Ok here goes for SOA:
My salary - £1,292.00
Benefits - £ 311.83
Child benefit- £ 135.00
Maintenance- £ 134.33

Total - £1873.16

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £237.13
Council Tax - £89
Gas - £20
Electric - £27.50
TV License - £11.41
Virgin- £55.00 ( house phone, 2 mobiles, broadband and tv)
Food - £250.00
Car Insurance - £35.00
Petrol - £90
Mort Insurance- £30.99
Gas services- £25.70
Comp insurance-£3.99
Charity – £2.00
Savings- £15.00

Total: £892.72


credit cards-

Name- %- Balance o/s- Balance Allowed- Monthly pymnt
M&S 3.9 lob 1796.66 2000.00 54.00
New Look 25.9 44.18 150.00 5.00
Halifax 4.9 lob 8804.89 9200.00 175.00
Sony 24.9 23.16 3800.00 5.00
Barclaycard 6.9 lob 1477.46 3300.00 33.00
Argos 25.9 61.08 1080.00 5.00
Total

12207.43
Monthly Payment total- £277.00




Loans:
Secured - £21000.00 – 6.4% - £153.41
Mum - £400.00 - 0% - £40 / month
Credit union- £910.00 - 3% approx - £ 50/ month
Car - £ 8500.00 - 6.5% - £156.91

Overdraft 1 - £79.09- will clear on Tuesday
Overdraft 2 - £1000.00- will keep going at the moment.

Total outgoings = £1570.04
Excess = £303.12.

I always manage my payments but I also always manage to increase my debt each month. Time to stop!!
Was a bit freaked at the actual amount I owe but was pleased to see I had some excess left :rotfl: .
This will take into account extras such as birthdays,Christmas, outings etc and I will also try and put some extra each month into my debts.


Ok then any advice is welcomed. Thanks in advance.

millionaire_in_training

Just had another thought. Was going to pay off the 2 smaller cards but have just remembered I need to tax car and get service doen at the end of this month..........OUCH !!

skysky69

Just looking at your SOA just a little thing that I would comment on at first - I believe that charity begins at home and once you had your debts cleared you could go back to paying them - basically if you were to cancel the charity payments for now, stop paying into the savings temporarily and the computer insurance, this would nearly be £20.00 at least. If you put this £20.00 into the snowball calculator, you might be surprised at what a difference it would make.

Obviously the Sony and the Argos are the two that you need to prioritise due to the extortionately high interest rates. I posted earlier about car tax this month too - luckily they will not take credit cards to pay for car tax so I wasn't able to increase my debt after all. Will have to not use car until payday on Monday.

Have you decluttered onto ebay yet? Kids get through clothes so quickly that they hardly get worn and I have sold quite a few kids clothes on ebay. Toys that they are not that fussed about playing with anymore.

Do you shop MSE way - could you trim down the £250.00 to perhaps £200.00? Saving another £50.00?

millionaire_in_training

have sold loads on e-bay which allowed me a bit of leeway. Wont have anything else for a while I dont think. Just need to knuckle right down and see where I can save. I will book car in for service next week maybe and then get car tax off next months money if I am short. it's amazing now that I have decided to do this I am really excited about it and my head is buzzing with ideas on how to save cash. I try and shop MSE way. I do a huge monthly shop and then top up weekly. Will need to really try and curb my spending in this direction though as it is way too easy to spend £100 per week without even trying. Have allowed myself £250 this month as cupboards and freezer were run down prior to going on hols. Will try and cut it down gradually each month and eventually get it to £150-£200/ month. Going to check all my insurance policies and see what I can get reduced. TY

skysky69

Do you have an Aldi, Netto or Lidl near you? I get all my fresh veg and fruit from these supermarkets as it is really fresh and dirt cheap. Their lean mince is also really cheap and certain foods that they sell are so much nicer. Their weetabix is no different from weetabix's weetabix! Cheese is cheese - I find that I can easily halve the shop by getting more and more stuff from these. Or stock up from a Makro type shop by buying washing powder or stuff from here.

millionaire_in_training

TY. I forgot that LIDL's fruit and veg were frsh and cheap. I will start looking to go there for my top up shops.I always do monthly online to save me carrying it. I use a free delivery voucher though

millionaire_in_training

I am feeling quite chuffed with myself. GoT my quote in from RAC today and was for £90. Online it was £72. I called them and still paying £90 but getting 3 months free .

Cleared my overdraft with Clydesdale bank and closed the account. First debt cleared WOOHOO!!:beer:

millionaire_in_training

OMG I have cut up my credit cards!!!!!! have only kept one for unseen emergencies . Am going to hide it from myself.

Baked bread again today and made rolls tonight which were totally yummy. Problem is we ate them all whilst they were still hot as the smell was driving us nuts. OOps dont think this is very moneysaving and OMG the calories. Oh well am on a money diet , will start the calorie diet soon..........ish :-)

x_raphael_xx

millionaire_in_training wrote: »

OMG I have cut up my credit cards!!!!!! have only kept one for unseen emergencies . Am going to hide it from myself.

Heres a good tip.

Get a tupperware box,
Fill it with water,
Place credit card it,
Put in freezer.

If you wanted to use it you will need to wait 12 hours for it to defrost first!!!

Kaz2904

Tie a piece of cotton round it so that it ends up in the middle of the block of ice too!

The next thing to do is to go to www.whatsthecost/snowball.aspx and enter all of your details.
I have done your snowball but I can't seem to get it across. If I can work out how to do it then I will pm it to you as an attachment.
My advice to you is that you really need to clear New Look, Argos and Sony PDQ. You owe £128.42 on these and I think you should be able to get them clear by the end of September.
I think you should just clear the Sony one now and then as soon as you have been paid again, pay off the other two.

You need to set a budget. This is imperative because you don't know where your money is going and you are still borrowing monthly. You must also keep a spending diary to find out what you are spending your money on.
How old are your (2?) kids? You might have to get them on board for the summer holidays.

Mort Insurance- £30.99- What is this for and is it worth it?
Gas services- £25.70- Same again
Comp insurance-£3.99 Same again
Charity – £2.00- Charity begins at home. You are borrowing this money at 25.9% from your credit card.
Savings- £15.00 I'll bet you aren't getting 25.9% for these.

If you stop the savings and the charity then you would have paid off your Sony card by next month.

Good luck with your quest!

millionaire_in_training

Thanks for tips guys. I am going to give the credit card to my mum to keep for me. She is harder to defrost than any freezer :rotfl: .
I am just about to go and pay off sony this minute and I intend to clear Argos and New Look when next bill comes in. Have to tax my car and get warranty service done this month :eek: .
I did the snowball and the difference between paying by balance first or interest is only £46. I have decided to do balances first ( they are pretty much the high ones anyway).
The PC insurance I am going to cancel. The mortgage insurance I am going to drag out and actually read to see what it is for. If I need it then I will see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere. The savings I know is a luxury but it is a wee luxury for me and I just cant give it up as it pays for a reunion twice a year with fab longterm friends.
The charity contribution I will also cancel :-(
I can always start it again when I am better off.
The service money to Scottish gas is for heating,plumbing and electrics as I have no-one who can help me with these and I have used all of them.
xx