My Graduate (Post-Student) Debt Diary!

System

MrJester wrote: »

Who said London had to be expensive eh? Lots of free things to do

Yep and he's a fab cook so I'm quids in!

System

HEY YOU!

How are you getting on? How is the debt looking, how is mad London working life? Catch me up!

MrJester

>12 Months

sauceoclock wrote: »

HEY YOU!

How are you getting on? How is the debt looking, how is mad London working life? Catch me up!

Hey you haha. Thanks for your reply on the other topic. Just been feeling pretty demolished, treading water, etc. A lot of those replies felt harsh, but I totally understand their point of view and respect it.

So yeah there's a fair few direct debit going out which I am going to cancel today:

Gym membership - £52 (there's cheaper available and without lock-ins)
Game rentals - £10.99 (I'm yet to decide whether I'm selling my console, if I do I'll stop this soon also, I play a lot of games so it saves me money usually by renting games rather than paying near £50 for each new one)
Netflix - £7 will be getting rid

By august time, the gym membership will end and I'll find pay as you go ones or similar, I will be ready to either renew or change phone contract - my current plan will be to not renew at all, just keep my phone and go on a sim only and save HALF going from £45 to £20-25. Also this home insurance I have for £20 odd will end, stupidly I forgot I could cancel at 6 month point and I forgot to do it a couple months ago but it will officially end on 18th august, from which point I won't bother with insurance at all unless my moneys OK again. I have never lost or broken anything in my life. Waste of money to me really.

Near that time too, this EON energy outstanding bill will have been paid off. That's one of the very few debts i've consistently been paying off and its nearly over with. Come september a fair few debits will be off my income. You know when you think debits is a good thing cause you can track everything, its not the case when expenditure surprises you.

What else.. oh yeah about the tech. I've listed my monitor for sale, end of this month may list my console (having it I can waste a lot of time and be less tempted to go out at the weekends etc like the previous two weekends), I have my pricey laptop and I plan to sell this too now to intake 1.6-1.8k, replace it with one half of that cost, thus giving a chunk to throw at a card.

I think i'm going to have to cut up my cards as someone suggested, I always have to dip into them every month so any good I do on them is quickly reversed. It may be better for me to just suck up my pride and if I am in need, ask to borrow money that's 0% to me. My mum always helps me when/if she can, and if I'm major desperate I can always get it from other relatives. Make sense?

Ohh and about living situation, I have a good situation with what I pay for rent and don't have to worry about bills. My cousin recently moved into my area and we are considering getting a place together in august-ish time. I would likely end up paying more as we'd both like to move into a more sociable area etc, but I will definitely have my limit. He earns more than me which would mean an ideal place to find would be a place with one big room and one smaller room and he would happily take the bigger one and pay more cost of the rent, then just share bills as normal.

Sorry for the offload of info, this was all running through my head today anyway and planned to do this today so thought I might as well do it here in my journal so worked out nicely. Love to hear your thoughts sauce.
Will have a read up on how you are getting on!

:money:

MrJester

>12 Months

Gym membership - CANCELLED. Will get confirmation of full end date next week most likely.
Netflix - CANCELLED. Will be effective as of tomorrow.
Game rentals - CANCELLED. Should be effective as of tomorrow. Can always restart this if I get sorted.

MrJester

>12 Months

Oh and currently my minimum payment to all cards requires £130 approx already, so makes it difficult to pick one to put more to as current minimums are already very high.

MrJester

>12 Months

Oh and I may see some substantial income at some point as I have been paying tax on my income as normal but was unemployed for maybe 3 months of the past tax year so I'm due some refunds on that. Still waiting to hear back.

I think it could be 700-800! Which could go a very long way re my debts..

MrJester

>12 Months

^Speaking of which. Found I had a letter today form HMRC, the person looking into my rebate is now just asking for details of my jobseekers allowance payments for previous tax year. So should be able to dig out or ring job centre to get the exact details of those, I think all I managed was one payment from them as I wasn't on the books for very long!

Hopefully some a good rebate coming my way for those debts!!

System

Excellent! Such a positive turn around! Well done on getting things cancelled, I can recommend Puregym and 'The Gym' if you have one nearby, no lock-ins, super cheap and if you have a friend who is a student still an NUS code writes off the sign up fee.

Really, really, well done! Excellent about your phone, £20 a month is much better than £45 a month, another £25 to chuck at the debt! Then chuck your rebate straight at the debt, don't be tempted to spend it! Just get those debts down, it'll feel fantastic once you do and your credit rating will improve!

Yes, definitely cut up your cards, when I did my last balance transfer to remain at 0.00% interest I cut the card up as soon as I received it, it got me out of my constant cycle of paying off debt then building it back up, I did borrow from my Mum as it's crazy gift-giving season in my family (8 birthdays/fathers day etc. etc.) but I've paid it off and aside from that I haven't actually needed more money in the month, it's just meant having to say no to more pricey things for a little while. August 25th I won't have a credit card debt any more... You'll get there too!

Downgrading your tech sounds like a good way to net some real cash and shift this debt. It sounds to me like you'll have one of your cards paid off by September time! I sort of disagree with you about selling your console. I would keep it, I've held on to my playstation because it's free entertainment and my boyfriend and I use it a lot.

Once your e-on bill is paid off can you set up a direct debit for the same amount to go off one of your credit cards, you won't miss the money if you've been used to not having it and it'll further push down your debt then too!

MrJester

>12 Months

Thanks sauce. Yes I'll probably see about 'thegym' which is nearby.

Yeah when the phone contract is up I'll be on a cheaper deal. Though I have thought, I could re-start a contract and with the phone upgrade just sell it and it would be another chunk to go off debt. This is a small thought, my plan is to get off rubbish contracts with phones mainly so I might just be roping myself into another two years of frustration locked in.

Yess going to ring jobcentre on my lunch, with any luck they'll be able to email proof over to me which would speed things up. Hopefully its a good chunk of moneys :money:

Exactly like you there just borrow off someone (as much as that annoys me having to do) instead of dipping back onto cards.

Yup right now I'm treading water and need some solid action, I can still have a good laptop to use and when my credit sorts I can look at getting pricier stuff, something to work toward. I dont feel like I deserve my current tech! Yeah I'll keep my console, love playing my games and means I can find entertainment when I don't want/cant spend cash!
Though I have a monitor (seconds as a screen for console) which I've currently listed for sale and I'll probably get a cheaper one temporarily and can always upgrade at later stage.

But here's a dilemma with these potential cash chunks coming in. So it looks like lets say the money from the laptop and a tax rebate, I'm looking at having around between £1500-2000.

My cards look something like this:
Bcard £2400, Halifax £1750, Capital £1000

So potentially there, is two cards one of which I could clear off completely, leaving my with less cards overall. Or I could smash the most money off the worst card (Bcard) but it wouldnt fully clear it.
I would put some cash into bringing all of them away from their limits at the least (maybe £200 off each), and then the remaining chunk thrown at one card.

Bcard have best options for those with low credit, very generous ones. But I already have a bcard and my credit is screwed so I cant get another. But If I threw all the money at the bcard then I could speed up paying that off asap (it is also the highest interest), then.. wait a while I could potentially balance transfer both the other cards onto a new Bcard. Leaving me with one card, at 0% - potentially, and after a while.

Or I just go ahead and get rid of one card immediately. The capital one, or halifax (if I get as much as I hope).

Thoughts??

System

Hmm. Tricky.

What are the interest rates on each of the cards? I'll do some maths (yay working in finance) and should be able to tell you which option will be most expensive and which option will be least expensive.

I'd be tempted to close the third card initially but it may not be the most cost effective plan of action!