Can anyone offer me a strategy?

savvykaz

Hi WWISS,

Welcome to mse

I just LOVE the snowball calculator for motivation and I have just been on it with your info:

Scenario 1) If you carry on just sending £800 pcm to service your debts, it will take 4yrs 8mths to repay them all and in that time you will pay £11,000 in interest :eek: :eek:

Scenario 2) If you increase your debt repayments to £1,200 pcm (which should be easy if you cut back on some of the suggested areas), you will repay the debts in 2yrs 9mths and only pay £5,600 in interest :j :j

See the HUGE difference just a little determination can reap?

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but keep in touch with us all

WhyWasISoStupid

Kaz,

I've been trying to work through the snowball thing for the past hour (trying to find out what my minimum repayment %s were etc.

However, I have to say - I love the way that you've presented the 2nd scenario - is that correct?

I've also though about setting smaller goals in this mission. My ultimate aim is to be debt free, but my initial target is get my debts down to an amount where I'm not embarrassed to admit it. To be honest, I really want to clear my cards. Perhaps it's psychological, but with the loans I can see the shore. It's the cards that keep me awake.

savvykaz

Hi again WWISS,

Yep, the figures are correct - don't they just inspire you to make a few easy cut-backs without punishing yourself and living like a hermit?

If £1,200 is a bit much at the mo', then try increasing repayments to £1,000 pcm. This should be quite easy for you and the situation would be that your debts would be repaid in 3yrs 6mths and the interest would be £7,600 - still better than the £11,000 :eek:

Edited to also say - why don't you try and get a couple of 0% cards to balance transfer onto, or a couple of low 'Life of Balance' transfer cards? This too would lower the amount of interest you'd pay.

savvykaz

I really must log off now, but one more thought for you to muse -

If you could get a 0% card for Barclaycard and Halifax and transfer the £8,600 to it and a 4.9% LOB card for MBNA and Egg and transfer the £11,200 to that, repay £1,000 a month to these 2 cards and the two loans, you would clear the debts in 3 yrs and pay only £3,000 in interest!

Happy musing,

Love Kaz

WhyWasISoStupid

I just want to say thanks to everyone who has posted on my thread this evening, I've had some great advice of the past couple of hours, especially the snowball thing which has helped me to see a realistic, achievable "end", and the suggestions for toning down my living costs.

welshgirl78

I don't have any real advice but just want to say well done for posting and realising your real debts. It's very very hard to go from the fun, outgoing life with your friends to thinking about the DFW but certainly for me has to be a gradual progression....

I started posting a little last year and am kind of getting there now, but am still not a true DFW by any criteria as am half living my old life too...

if that makes any sense...

However the main thing I wanted to say was don't let it ruin your relationships and dont aviod them because of it, also don't announce all your debt on Date One!! Most people have a little bit of debt, certainly most of my friends it is normal. I only really found out my BF debt (and my own!) after a year or so and that is certainly not the most imortant thing in the world!!

Good luck with it all, and stop beating yourself up!!!

hypno06

Hi there, and welcome to these boards!

The snowball calculator will give you some real motivation to plug away at paying things off, and really does show you that you are on your way to debt freedom!

Once you have got truly immersed in your snowball, you will be very aware that you are making progress and that the debt is coming down. So when you meet someone, you have the knowledge yourself that you are tackling things head on, and if the sticky situation of money talk comes along, you can be ready with "and I am x months away from being debt free" - proof that you are dealing with things adequately. Anyone who walks away from you then, is not worth holding onto IMHO.

chevalier

Are you worried about stopping spending because of what others might think? If so then you need to have some ready excuses, like (if you rent) you are saving for a deposit, or something. That way you look like you are being financially savvy.
Ref the food I spend £250 a month and feed 2 adults, 2 children and 2 cats for that. You can cut an enormous amount off your food bill by
a) living off what is in your cupboards/freezer for as long as possible
b) meal plan for a week, and then use this to do your shopping list
c) only buy what is on the list.

I do this and it saves me a fortune. I do all the shopping for our house because if my OH comes with me/does it, he doesn't stick to the list and my £50 - £60 shopping bill, becomes £80 or £90! Sigh!

If you are worried about not going out, then how about inviting mate round for a dvd, beer night at yours, or something similar. Eg a poker night (but playing for match sticks not real money!) or other thing that you all enjoy.

I would keep the gym, because you use it so much. But there is no point in going if you then undo all your good work by drinking/smoking. I would guess that if you really cut back on the drinking you may find that the extra clear headedness makes the debts easier to handle.

Finally can you ebay everything you don't need to give your cash flow a short term boost?

well done for posting and good luck
chev

poodlehorse

Welcome and you have come to the right place. People on here are fantastic and non-judgemental. I think you have hit the nail on the head with trying to break down your debts into smaller goals. Babysteps is the way to do it or as you say you never see the shore. I believe in making paying off debt as much "fun" as possible, I played little games with myself trying to set challenges each month so see how much money could be left at the end of it and I would always transfer that into paying off debt so I started each month with just my salary. Each time I went shopping I tried to spend a bit less or indeed make the shopping last just that one day longer each time.

It is probably all a bit much right now but maybe writing down a list of things to tackle and then just focussing on one of them this week, maybe add in another next week. So you might want to look into 0% cards this week and get some of that interest earning debt transferred so you can get those paid of PDQ.

I think two of the hardest things probably are the ones that will give so many rewards though and that is the fags and the booze. At least you can't smoke IN pubs but I bet that socialising is a big part of smoking so maybe you could hit two birds with one stone and cut both back (it would be great if you could knock fags on the head altogether but we are looking at babysteps so cutting back is better than nothing). Do you smoke in the car? Can you only take a certain number with you and once they are gone that is it? Or would you be willing to go to the doc for patches/gum one of those fake cigarette thingies? Do you drink in the house or only when you go out? What other things could you do that don't involve the pub? Gym is something you alreayd enjoy but you might want to add in swimming or joining a club doing soemthing that isn't too expensive. OR come on here on a Saturday night, there is usually a virtual party going on. What about taking Mr BadExample's lead and learn to cook Old Style? Do a search for his cooking threads they are HILARIOUS. I do think your shopping budget is high for one but you can't just cut it without knowing how to still feed yourself cheaply. Go over to the Old Style board and have a scout around and start a thread if you need help. Get yourself down to the local library and have a look for recipe books. Then you can cook for those lovely ladies Women are so impressed by a man that can cook.

What does lunch consist of? I am assuming you are in the car all day so grab a sandwich from a shop/petrol station. Start making your own. You can make a load of sarnies and freeze them for the week if time is short (just don't put salad in :rotfl: ). You can fill up on loads of rice and potatoes and cheap veggies. Most people overdo the meat and that is what costs. Have a look at your receipts from shopping (start a spending diary) and see where it is going. Is it ready meals, crisps, other snacks, bought sauces etc? Do you throw away a lot of food? Most people are guilty of this at first. So what you need is to work out a menu plan for the week, doesn't have to be fancy but if you know what you are having then you can only buy for that. Set a budget and stick to it. I agree you can probably come down by nearly a half but to start with try knocking off £25 and then maybe next month another £10-20 etc. It isn't going to happen overnight and if you work long hours it might sound like a lot of hard work but it doesn't take that much longer really and it can save you loads. Keep a track of your progress if this helps. I had every month's budget on Excel and I could look easily between months and see where I had improved even if it didn't feel like I was making a whole heap of progress. Also is there anything you can sell on Ebay? Every little helps as they say.

Finally good luck and you can do this.

RAS

Hi

Read up on Martins article on Cards and Loan and see if you might be eligible for a 0% or even better a low life balance card.

If you need convincing, imagine moving one of 15.9% cards across to a card on say 3.9% and put that scenario into the snowball (see Ignatius' message).

Do yourself a deal - keep the gym if you sort the tobacco problem. And it sounds like your problem is not so much booze as a person who needs to be active and has not yet found the activities to keep that body entertained?

Do you have a bike? Is there anywhere you can walk, run or climb? Do you like team sport (although I know that sometimes booze is an issue here)? or would you prefer to get stuck into something like BTCV?

And as for that girl. She will not be the least surprised to find it is all an illusion, after all, what do you think her finances look like?