Desperate Diva who wants to be Debt free! Help!

TallulahTaboo_2

Hi all,

Firstly, thank you for choosing to read my post - Any advice you can give to help this diva will be greatly appreciated!

A bit about me... I am a major shopping addict and return addict. I can help buying things and them returning them, all for good reason of course. I bought some clothes last week and returned £150 worth because none of them fitted! Don't ask how I managed to source the £150 to buy it.
I live with my partner and we are due to marry next year - can't wait. And also have a diamond of a dog!

I got a massive shock last night when Tesco called to say my card had declined for our shopping and immediately checked our finances and got a bit of a shock.
My partner and I are in very good jobs and bring in an income of around £64K a year so I know we should be paying off our debt a little quicker than we are but don't know where to put the funds or even where to start.

Our outgoings are as follows :
Mortgage - £785.65
£59 - Sky
£50.82 - Life insurance (for both of us)
£93 - Gas (not had heating on for ages so hoping that this will reduce)
£31 - Electricity
£17.48 - Pet insurance (actually been a blessing!)
£25.99 - Car insurance
£127 - Council Tax
£18.65 - Home insurance
£98.90 - Loan
£216.43 - Car
Total - £1543.92

Additional extras
£15 - Groomers for Bella every 8 weeks
£30 - Food for Bella every 8 weeks (usually buy her kibble on offer and bulk buy)
£60 - Food shopping

Debt
£545 - Next
£3550 - credit card
**£500 - credit card

Wedding 2015
Currently up to around £12K

My main goal is to clear the credit cards and Next over the next couple of months as we want to start saving for the Wedding very soon. But I am unsure whee I can cut back on? I know we could stop Bella going to the groomers but she sleeps in our bed and feel that having her clean is essential!

I am going to Ebay and Depop a lot of things today and see if that can drive any additional income too.
Is there anything anyone can see that I can cut back on or do to bring in additional funds?

**I should say that the reason one of the credit cards it at £500 is because we had Bella in the vets at a cost of £340 and claiming back on the insurance - hoping the claim goes through!

Any advice would be much appreciated to help get us back on track... And most importantly before it becomes out of control!

Onwardsandupwards

Hi I love the name, will be subscribing as next is one of my weaknesses too! The only thing I can think is have you shopped around for life insurance ? Unless one of you has health issues this seems quite high to me? X

TallulahTaboo_2

Onwardsandupwards wrote: »

Hi I love the name, will be subscribing as next is one of my weaknesses too! The only thing I can think is have you shopped around for life insurance ? Unless one of you has health issues this seems quite high to me? X

Hi,

Thanks for your comment. We did and this was the best one we could find that suited our demands and needs!

I am just going through all my wardrobe as we speak and using the mantra 'if I haven't worn it in 6 months then it's going on ebay'. Hoping to get a list of things on this afternoon! X

moohound

I would bin off sky until the debts are paid, it doesn't mean you can't have it ever again, but continuing to pay for it means you are putting it above paying off your debts. Life insurance is high. Can you learn to groom the dog yourself?

The wedding? Have you saved £12k already? Or is that the projected cost?

Divingmad

Hi Tallulah,
Welcome to the DFW's
Have you done an SOA (statement of affairs), that way you can work out exactly what you need to budget for. Also, have a think of doing a spending diary so that you can see where all the 'little bits' that get spent go.

Here's a link for an SOA:
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php
You'll need as much info as you can to make sure it's as accurate as possible, including bank statements, credit card statements, etc. Post this once complete and the more enlightened will be able to help you (I am still new to this meself)
Then, you could look at snowballing, this is where you target paying off the ones with highest interest (whilst paying minimums on the rest, and then as they get paid off, you switch the payment to the next, then the next, etc....
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/snowball-calculator.php
Hope this is of use
DM

TallulahTaboo_2

Hi Moohound,

The £12K is the projected cost. We have paid all deposits though! I never thought about decreasing the sky package as that price includes the phone and internet and just assumed it was a good price! Thanks for the advice thigh. Will definitely call them and see if we can reduce it more.

Hi DM,

That's a great help, thanks. Will definitely have a look at it and see if this can shed any light on our finances. I am abit of a card tart and have made sure the biggest balance is on a 0% interest card.

Thank you both for the advice! X

TallulahTaboo_2

So, I have had a productive day and put 20+ things on ebay, Depop and gumtree - here's hoping for some wins on them!

I've also pre book my shop for next week and compared our usual tesco shop to asda and we are £11 better off including delivery! That's £44 a month extra.

Although did purchase a shoe rack today but was extremely essential.... And I used my tesco vouchers so not really out of pocket there! X

TallulahTaboo_2

So today has been a good day! Returned £54 to Topshop and £26 to ASOS which will go straight back on the credit card. Although, spent £3 on a couple of packs of ham for lunches.

Have had a few bids on some items on ebay and Depop which is looking good! Also managed some surveys on VO last night and up to £3.75. All small things but going in the right direction.

Also should have originally wrote that I am trying to loose half a stone through healthy eating and exercise... Managed an hour at the gym and homemade roasted tomato and vegetable pasta with salad.

Top marks for passing today I think!

TallulahTaboo_2

Had another productive day today... Had to collect a shoe rack I ordered from Tesco to which is the most ridiculous thing I have ever bought and will be returned. Managed to 'neatly' tidy our shoes and no do not require a shoe rack...saved myself £11.

Although, I did invest in a slow cooker and is something I have wanted for ages especially since we are now coming into the colder months. Asda had it on offer, £39.50 down to £20 and couldn't resist. On a happier note, I do have some nice creamy chicken and mushroom cooking in it just now which will work for our tea and lunch tomorrow.

Got a letter through from the gym advising that we can look at a joint membership instead of two singles - currently pay £50 each but this offer will allow us to pay £76 together which is a massive saving a month. Will try my hand at this and hope they let us.

Also going to start looking at my christmas collection... I bought so much at Christmas 2013 in the sales that I don't think I actually need to buy that much! So I have already got a list of who I need to buy for and the budgets for each person - 21 and that's only family! Arghhhhh!

Total spent - £11
Total saved - £9

DollyDreamer

Well done on your progress so far it nice to see you posting regularly !!

I want a slow cooker its on my wish list I am sure in the long run it will save me time and money so an all round winner I might see if ASDA near me has one at that price.
I keep thinking of Christmas too with these debts to bust I am going to have to batten down the hatches lol

moohound

TallulahTaboo wrote: »

Also going to start looking at my christmas collection... I bought so much at Christmas 2013 in the sales that I don't think I actually need to buy that much! So I have already got a list of who I need to buy for and the budgets for each person - 21 and that's only family! Arghhhhh!

Wow thats a lot of presents, in our family we gave up buying for adults and only buy for kids by mutual agreement, as the family has grown it just gets silly and no one could afford it. We do a £10 Secret Santa for the adults so everyone gets one gift.