Can anyone offer me a strategy?

Karmacat

WhyWasISoStupid wrote: »

Many thanks to everyone who has replied so far, wasn't expecting much of a take-up on this one. Here goes with the SOA:

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £2,000 (between £1900 and £2600 dependent upon bonus)

Total (take home)- £2,000

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £250 - thats good
Council Tax - £50
Gas - £12
Electric - £13.50 - gas and elec are good too
Food - £200 - otoh, this is horrific :rotfl: you could actually cut this in half. I'm on my own, often eat organic food, and I spend about £110.
Private Petrol - £50 - what about the costs of the car - or is it a work vehicle? Any way you can cut this amount down?
Gym - £32 for a while, this has to go - certainly in summer, you don't actually *need* it, nice tho it might be.
Clothing - £50 this can be cut down long term, or done away with altogether short term.
Cigarettes - £100 :eek: okay, thats a lotta dosh, you have to do something about that. And it kind of negates the gym money, doesn't it:rotfl:

There's no insurances on here - don't you have any at all?

Total: £757.50

Egg CC – Balance £5,812 (limit £6,000) APR 15.9%
Barclaycard - Balance £5,200 (limit £5,250) APR 14.9%
MBNA CC – Balance £5,400 (limit £5,500) APR 15.9%
Halifax CC - Balance £3,400 (limit £4,500) APR 15.9%
If your rating is good, you should be able to balance transfer some of this onto 0% cards, so you can really whack down the amounts.

Egg Loan – Balance £7938, monthly payment £224 APR 6.9% Length of term 72 months, 37 months to go
Northern Rock Loan - Balance £5689, monthly payment £162 £APR 10.9% Length of term 36 months, 35 months to go
Overdraft - £0 (limit £2,000) APR varies%

Total: £746.00

And I spank the remainder on "liquid relief" from reality ie. getting completely wasted, which works for about 3-4 hours a week. Unfortunately this mindset got me into this mess, and I'm determined to find a way out before it's too late. I enjoy my job, and just want to be able to enjoy the other parts of my life.

Can I also add that I have no intention on 'defaulting' on any of my payments, I have always made repayments a priority and will honour whatever I have borrowed. I'm just lost at where to start here, and can't ignore it any longer.

Okay, you know the liquid relief is a problem in its own right - there are other things you can enjoy - plenty of people on here maintain that moneysaving can be pretty enjoyable in its own right!

Let us know how it goes.

bargainbetty

Hello hon,

I would start by calling all the credit card companies, and asking them if they would reduce the interest rates on your outstanding balances. Some do, some don't, but even a couple would help on the 'throw-away' money that interest is.... then use the links on this site to look for lower rate cards. Transfer your balances and keep paying the amounts you can afford - the balances will come down quickly.

Hope that's a help
x

WhyWasISoStupid

p00pieb0tt0m wrote: »

I too got into debt 'living life' and had my lightbulb moment when I was 25. I owed 20k and earned 18k a year. Now, 4 years later, I owe 2.5k and will be debt free before Christmas. It is very possible.

The real reason I'm posting is that I was just starting a relationship when I had my LBM, and I have found that having my partner has helped to focus my mind on reducing my debt. He didn't judge my badly, especially when he saw the effort I was putting in to getting debt-free.

He quit smoking a couple of years ago, perhaps you could think about this. You currently burn more than a grand a year!!

Thanks for that post PB - your former scenario sounds very similar. How did you approach that conversation with your partner? I met a girl a few weeks ago that I really like, but I feel like I'm living a lie with her. She sees someone with a nice job, nice BMW (company car), similar to herself. The fact that it's all an illusion on my part makes me physically sick, and the thought of her confiding in her friends - "He's just told me he that he's £34K in debt.. what should I do?".

I've even thought about telling people upfront ie. when I first meet them, for example: "Hi, my name's xxxxx. Would you like a drink? By the way, the car's not mine and I'm £34K in debt..." Tempting...

bargainbetty

Just one other thing - check to see if you are paying Payment Protection Insurance on your cards... it can add pounds a month, and most are pretty useless. You can ask for it to be removed, and save a bit more there.

Surama

Heya.

I'd have a look at your food (lots of readymeals? Lots of restaurant meals?), the cigarettes and the gym. But mostly the alcohol.

My suggestion would be to either cancel the gym or try to use it as a distracting technique from the cigarettes/alcohol. Drinking yourself into oblivion is a tempoary fix and believe me I've been there and done it - could you try going swimming, or spending an hour pounding out your frustrations on the treadmill/rowing machine, instead of heading down the pub?

I'm suggesting that rather than just chucking the gym in altogether and going jogging or to the local swimming pool instead because I believe that sometimes having somewhere to GO is really important. So instead of turning left out of the office to the pub you could turn right into the gym (just an example).

Exercise is great for physical and emotional health.

Good luck.

I'm not going to preach on the cigarettes but I would say that tackling the alcohol or the fags would be a good idea - for your body and your finances.

WhyWasISoStupid

bargainbetty wrote: »

Just one other thing - check to see if you are paying Payment Protection Insurance on your cards... it can add pounds a month, and most are pretty useless. You can ask for it to be removed, and save a bit more there.

Thanks Betty, I've always been 'careful' (doesn't really seem an appropriate word here) to not have any payment protection added into cards/loans.

Ignatius_A

Hi,

Don't beat youself up so much

I have more debt than that, and a family to support. I've been just as stupid - if not stupider (is that a real word?)

Anyway - check out the snowball calculator. Give http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=uk

Give it a list of all your debts as above. it'll tell you the ideal debt to pay off first - chuck all the extra you can at that one and minimal payments on the rest.

It'll also give you your debt free date, and let you post alternatives (like moving amounts to interest free or low interest balance transfers credit cards.)

also check out the problem debts article on the main site

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/debt-help-plan

it's well written and has some good ideas on moving stuff arount to pay as little in interest for your debt as possible.

Hope this helps - and well done on taking the first steps.:T

Ignatius_A

PS

You haven't catered for:

Phone
Broadband
Mobile?
TV licence

WhyWasISoStupid

Ignatius_A wrote: »

PS

You haven't catered for:

Phone
Broadband
Mobile?
TV licence

My company pay for the first three (as I work from home occasionally), and I pay for my TV licence yearly (lump sum).

I've thought about applying for a new 0% card to transfer balances on to, but

1. That's what got me into this mess (all my cards started off that way)
2. I'm worried that I've pushed my luck, and might get refused if I apply for any more credit.
3. The thought of my bank having to process another monthly direct debit makes me cringe - I currently pay two of my cards each month by walking into the branch and handing over cash to avoid this which is a real pain in the !!!!

bargainbetty

WhyWasISoStupid wrote: »

Thanks Betty, I've always been 'careful' (doesn't really seem an appropriate word here) to not have any payment protection added into cards/loans.

No problem hon, I've been 'careful' too.... just look at my signature!!

All in this together - PM if you need a chat