My DFW Diary!!! Surprisingly upbeat newbie!

iwanttobreakfree

Well guys I have finally crunched the numbers - and its not good

Income: (estimated from website) £1121 per month
Outgoings:
Rent & Bills: £250
Car Insurance: £65
Travel Costs: £100 (includes a train pass and 1 tank of fuel ish which may even still be not enough)
Gym: £19
Magazine Subs: £15 quarter (i subscribe to 2)
Mobiles: (yes plural!) 1 with O2 at £20 per month - dont use this phone at all. One at £35 a month with Orange
Spending: £86.60 per month is what i calculated which includes money for any time we run out of milk, bread etc should equate to roughly £20 per week (worked out on 4.33 basis)

My OH has kindly offered to try buy all the food but he isn't exactly minted either

Debts:
HSBC Managed Loan: £185 per month
HSBC Personal Loan: £105.12 per month
AA Car Loan: £193.79 per month

(my rates are on my first post)

I total this to: £1074.51
leaving me with £46.49 to pay my 4 cards with - I cant even make the minimums :eek: oh buggar

I'm thinking cancel mags? If I'm honest I dont always have the time to read them except perhaps 1.

Lucy1982_2

You are also going to have to do something about the mobile you don't use. because that would be another £20 towards your card payments.

And I hate to be the bring of bad news, but what about car maintenance and car tax? these really should be saved for each month.

iwanttobreakfree

my car tax is coming up next month and luckily its only £50 for the year (i know it could easily run into hundreds for some). maintenance wise I dont know what to do - i just cant budget for it at the mo. I cant get rid of that other phone I am tied into a contract with them so unfortunately its stuck!

Lucy1982_2

When does your contract end? the only other thing I can think of is to give them a call and ask to be put on their cheapest tarrif. I did this with Orange, when I got my new T-mobile contract and I think I paid £7.50 for a couple of months.

It's still not good, but it would free up some cash.

iwanttobreakfree

£20 is the cheapest tariff unfortunately for 02 (at least thats what they told me). Time to get selling on ebay!

Lucy1982_2

yep, sounds like it. Or Amazon and Carbooting.

Everything will work out in the end, just cancel it once the contract ends. When is your car insurance due? I manage to drop my from £63 to £32 a month by shopping around.

iwanttobreakfree

It's just been renewed this month but I have had 1 accident (no car involved I hit a bollard reversing ). I was getting some really ridiculous quotes with equally ridiculous excess - im with diamond

Lucy1982_2

Shop around next year then. Other than that I can't really see anywhere to make cuts. Is there any chance that you can get a second job in the evenings or something?

iwanttobreakfree

hey lucy - i did shop around and just done another search and I would only save £2 on my monthly payment so for now it doesn't seem worth switching. I played my insurance co off against other quotes and negotiated a discount to be "loyal" to them. Fools lol! Have a second job covering aerobics classes - got 6 classes to cover this month at £15 for 45 mins each - but got tax to take off and cost of my PL insurance too. though i could say that its money I put into the business and after tax use it to pay cards couldn't i?

Lucy1982_2

You could, every penny helps is the way I look at it. I'm fortunate that I can cover my payments and try to over pay on as much as I can.

But there are little ways of making money or shopping around to find things cheaper