Time for honesty and balance the books!

dazla

Dozzydebt wrote: »

Hi Dazla
Thank you for reply and you are right I could start taking lunch to work - I have it at work as we have a canteen and know we will close if people don't use it - need to toughen up and think of myself rather than other.
Again with my hair a friend comes to the house and has done for about 20 years - will give this some thought.
Thanks again
DD

Hi

If your serious about getting out of debt you do need to make these tough decisions. Even though you are worried about the canteen closing at the end of the day that's not your problem. I take my own lunch to work and but any kit kats etc at Home Bargains where I get a pack of 6 for a £1.00. My work site shop charges 70p for one ! Also, I buy as much as I can on ebay and also use charity shops where I have picked up some amazing stuff for next to nothing. I'm sure your friend would understand if you needed to cut back on the hairdressing cost...this seems as easy win as you could save a fair bit here

Dozzydebt

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

The problem is as you have guessed that you are living a lifestyle you cannot afford and consequently debt has bridged the gap between your incomings and outgoings. Without the timeshare costs you have mentioned there is at least £800 per month in non essential spending with scope to reduce even further by economising on your food bills which are far too high for just two people and if your daughters are still living at home they should be contributing to that. Also your gas and electric look very high unless you are in a very large old house in which case you should look at grants for loft insulation, cavity wall insulation etc etc. You also have no savings which is a major problem if you have a boiler break down, house repair not covered by insurance or a large car repair bill. Your monthly debt repayments are also extremely large as a proportion of your income with £1060.47 going monthly on unsecured debts (is that minimum payments on credit cards?) and a further £926 on your mortgage so it is unsurprising that you are not making ends meet.


Positive things first is that you have realised you cannot carry on spending like this and your monthly income is quite good so if you dedicated yourself to getting your finances in order in quite the same manner as you have to enjoying yourself on the never never then you can get on top of this. My suggestion is that you both sit down with that soa and cross everything off you do not need ( need not want) and resolve to dedicate your next few years to sorting out your finances and setting a great example to your two daughters as well. Living within your means and having no debt worries is worth a few holidays in my book and I love holidays too. We normally sit down at the beginning of the year and thing what major items of expenditure are there and budget for these and holidays and make a decision as to which will go if we cannot afford both. Look at affordability before you buy anything or go anywhere.


Just one thing I noted is that you only spend £25 on petrol per month but including car payments you spend £337.27 per month on running a car. Is the car really essential if you do not use it that much?

Hi Enthusiastic Saver


Wow - congratulations on your savings - I hope one day to have savings to


Thanks for all your feedback and I will definitely take this all on board - bit overwhelmed at the moment, filled in budget and never expected such a lot of feedback, but am so grateful that people have taken the time to look at it and made me see where I am going wrong.
Thanks again
DD

Dozzydebt

dazla wrote: »

Hi

If your serious about getting out of debt you do need to make these tough decisions. Even though you are worried about the canteen closing at the end of the day that's not your problem. I take my own lunch to work and but any kit kats etc at Home Bargains where I get a pack of 6 for a £1.00. My work site shop charges 70p for one ! Also, I buy as much as I can on ebay and also use charity shops where I have picked up some amazing stuff for next to nothing. I'm sure your friend would understand if you needed to cut back on the hairdressing cost...this seems as easy win as you could save a fair bit here

Hi Dazla
Many thanks for taking time to feedback - you are right and I needed an outside point of view to realise this - I need to get this sorted and with a few changes I am determined.


Thanks again
DD

tallyhoh

If you are only spending £25 a month on petrol why have you even got a car? Taxis would be cheaper