Tooties SOA please help!!!!!

tooties

Been lurking around these here parts for a week or so knowing i should be doing something about my ever empty bank accounts especially as they seem to be empty after a few days of having just been paid. Anyway the lovely bank called me in to discuss my borrowing!!!!!!!
up shot is i had an overdraft for £2000 at 0% was not paying anything to this
one credit card with a balance of £1000 at 0% paying minimum by DD
another credit card with a balance of £2100 also at 0%paying minimum by DD
and a loan balance of £2314.56 monthly payment £385.76 at 8.6%.
the bank decided to consolidate my outgoings for me on my behalf this was nice of them wasnt it?????
So here is where i currently stand

Income

Salary Me £1250.00
Salary OH £980.00
Child Benefit £72.40
Board Money from son £60.00


Outgoings

TV License £11.37
Union Fees £15.04
Ing Savings account (for xmas) £50.00
N Power £58.00
Bank Loan (as mentioned above i refused to add this to the consolidation loan) £385.76 APR 8.6% outstanding £2314.56
BT averages £15.00-£20.00
Pension £25.36
AOL £17.48
Life insurance £6.45
Car payments £200.00 at 11.3%APR 44 payments to go
new loan £165.46 APR 10.9% 36 months to go
heating £40.00
mobiles £20.00
Eats drinks and smokes £800.00 (need to lower this i think)
petrol £320.00 (big thirsty car)
MOT ETC £30.00
birthdays etc £40.00
car insurance£39.00
Clothing for us all £15.00
irish lottery £8.00
cant think of anything else at the moment but im sure you guys will help

I have already cancelled sky tv and magazine subs so what else can i do.
thanks everyone
tooties

James&Shell

Hi Tootsie, welcome to the boards.

I think the first thing is to half the Eats drinks and smokes thread to £400 or even less and that will help you dramatically.

If you have a look on the oldstyle board there is loads of meal ideas on there and it will really help you.

Petrol can this be cut down at all by using public transport or downgrading the car?

Hope it all goes well for you.

tooties

thanks for your reply i know the eats drinks and smokes need to come down just going to visit the old style board now as for the petrol theres absolutely nothing i can do need to commute to work as there is no public transport and its 65 miles per day, cant down grade it as i still have nearly 4 years to pay on it....
thanks
tooties

James&Shell

tooties wrote: »

thanks for your reply i know the eats drinks and smokes need to come down just going to visit the old style board now as for the petrol theres absolutely nothing i can do need to commute to work as there is no public transport and its 65 miles per day, cant down grade it as i still have nearly 4 years to pay on it....
thanks
tooties

No problems:D

Have you looked in to tryin gto switch any of your utility bills to cheaper tafiffs or to a new supplier?

You could also try giing payplan or the cccs a call and you could get a debt management plan with them and they deal with all of your creditors direct and you just pay them a set amount that they agree with you each month.

KittyKate

Hiya and here are my thoughts/suggestions:

TV License £11.37
Union Fees £15.04 (what do these cover - are they the cheapest/vital?)
Ing Savings account (for xmas) £50.00 (is this neccesary right now? How much does christmas cost you - £50 a month is £600!!! I buy lovely presents for 10 for half that! see the freebies, vouchers and festive boards for tips!)
N Power £58.00 (is this a DD - does it need to be this high over summer?)
Bank Loan (as mentioned above i refused to add this to the consolidation loan) £385.76 APR 8.6% outstanding £2314.56
BT averages £15.00-£20.00
Pension £25.36 (can you pay in a little less till you get back on your feet?)
AOL £17.48 (is this the cheapest)
Life insurance £6.45 (seems pretty cheap anyway)
Car payments £200.00 at 11.3%APR 44 payments to go
new loan £165.46 APR 10.9% 36 months to go
heating £40.00 (what is this for - do you have gas and electric?)
mobiles £20.00 (is this the cheapest, can you go PAYG if you are not already)
Eats drinks and smokes £800.00 (need to lower this i think) (stop smoking - tough but true and healthy as well! - cut down on the drinking or drink at home, and join the OS board to halve your food shop! you could easily save £400 a month here!)
petrol £320.00 (big thirsty car) (understand you have a long work commute. Walk where you can, though, it's easy to rely on a car for a milk run!)
MOT ETC £30.00
birthdays etc £40.00 (£40 a month on birthdays plus £50 a month on xmas sounds very expensive. Drop this to £10, a card and a present don't need to cost the earth)
car insurance £39.00 (is this the cheapest?)
Clothing for us all £15.00 (seems fairly cheap but do you *need* everything you buy? can you not merge this with the MOT fund and call it 'household emergencies' then if you desperately need shoes etc you can dip in.)

I would advise that to help with Xmas/Birthday/Necessities you and your OH join Pigsback from the freebies board, you can save up for Boots (or many other great places, I find Boots to be the best as you get Advantage points) vouchers, most of us have had £100's and it hasn't cost us a penny (well maybe an hour a week!)

Also ebay what you can and stick that in a floating 'emergencies' pot (or depending on how much you make, clear a debt)

Another way of getting clothes/shoes for free is using no minimum spend vouchers with catalogues like Empire Stores, Littlewoods, La Redoute etc - I've had lots of clothes, shoes, handbags, presents all for free or for tiny spends.

As for the food - you must eat well! I enjoy nice food, all HM, wine (beer for OH), we don't smoke, we spend approx £250 a month on food shopping.

It might feel like you are making sacrifices but seriously it's addictive and I can easily see you freeing up £500 a month to throw at debt - imagine how fast your finances will repair if you tighten your belt a bit you'll be healthier too good luck!!

jo1972

Welcome :wave: and well done on getting everything down and starting to sort it out.

I'm at work so not had time to read your SOA properly but the one that obviously sticks out and I think everyone will mention is your eats, drinks and smokes! This is easily halved, at least halved. You don't need to loose all your treats either, it's just that things can be done a lot cheaper, i.e. cooking from scratch (if you don't have much time, why not do massive batches of stuff at the weekend and freeze which will help during the week), take lunches to work rather than buy from shops. My advice to you is start a spending diary, start it today. Write down everything, yes everything, that you spend, even a newspaper. You'll be able to see exactly where your money is going and where cut backs can be made.

Kittykate is right money saving IS addictive, now I never thought I'd say that! She is also right about the pigsback etc for xmas/birthday presents. You can cut your spending in half (how many people do you buy for?). Sign up with Quidco and get money back on purchases and save that for xmas, sign up with pigsback and earn vouchers to save to use at xmas or birthdays.

Maybe start doing some mystery shopping, online surveys etc which will slowly but surely give you a bit of money to save for presents.

Good luck!

Jo.x

hypno06

Hello! not going to add anything because everyone else is spot on!

But just wanted to say welcome to DFW! We are a friendly bunch (most of the time!!) and the support we all get from these boards is fab.

keep on posting and you will have those debts down in no time at all!!

now get ye over to the old style board......pronto.....:D

sammiboo

Welcome to MSE

Well done on making your first post :T Thats a start on getting debt free

I agree with everything that has been said

I thinka spending diary would be a good idea. Write Everything down what you spend and you will suprise yourself to see where your money does go.

I think food would be a good place to start. Are you a brand snob? I used to be

Some foods make no difference what brand they are especially things like tinned veg, fresh juices and things. Like when I make chilli. Brand tin of kidney beans - 65p none brand £19 - there is no difference apart from the price!

tooties

hello again thanks for the speedy replies ok here goes with what i have achieved so far thanks to your suggestions...
have switched my electricity supplier not sure of the savings yet but i have earned £15.00 in cashback,
Regarding union subs i need these for work as they also provide indemnity cover etc and its the cheapest i could find.
my ING xmas savings are for everything connected to xmas, we have 6 children and 4 grandchildren to buy for.
will definately pop into the freebies board to source things for birthdays and xmas etc.
pension plan has already been reduced.
broadband, im tied to a contract with aol for the time being.
£40.00 for heating is for kerosene tank in the garden.
Mobile phones are PAYG,
been on the old style board and have looked at reducing our eats, drinks and smokes outgoings.
the Birthdays savings is also for any unexpected bills that come up or as i have been doing so - called bargains.
car insurance is the cheapest we could find will shop around again at renewal time.
while i am at the freebies board i will check out pigsback.
have also started a spending diary
have signed up to quidco.
we are definately not brand snobs regarding groceries but we do have loads of takeaways and meals out. obviously this has to stop.
i also went out earlier and waxed my friends daughter netting me a £10.00 note to go to the debt fund.
i will make other changes as all you lovely people see fit.
thanks for all your help so far
tooties

James&Shell

Glad to hear that you are well on your way there.

Keep up the good work.

James

jo1972

tooties wrote: »

car insurance is the cheapest we could find will shop around again at renewal time.

Don't forget to go through quidco when you do this you can earn £60 and £75 cash back respectively for AA and RAC insurance, plus there are many more to choose from!

In fact I now use Quidco as my main search engine, I've had cashback from practically everything I've bought online recently, Littlewoods, Woolies etc..