DMP vs Snowballing...

bsclp118

OK I have just set up a £50/month saving scheme which goes straight out of my salary into a credit union savings account. Reduce any temptation for me to spend it.

Positive action! :-)

Dobbibill

bsclp118 wrote: »

Hi,

Yeah, I am going to start putting £50/month away, I've opened up a savings account. Also the good thing about speaking to stepchange is that I have opened up a basic account so I should be able to just transfer my grocery and day to day money into that and be able to keep better track of my spending - it's difficult to repay an overdraft when it still says its your money. Actually now I realise I have a £700 overdraft that I have missed off that list to pay back too . So thats £15/month charges plus £10/month to pay back.

Do your bills go out of the account you have the OD on?

If you add up all the bills + bank charges + amount you are going to pay off = amount you need to pay into this acc [eg if your bills are 100 a month + 15 + 10 =125 and do not touch it] use your basic account, this will take care of itself.

So no, £184 is not a true reflection of what I have left, there are meals at work, unexpected events and the odd drink down the pub with friends to factor in too

Whenever a SOA is done, it's quite uncommon to get it spot on the first time. It sometimes takes several tweaks to get it right but then it will just become routine/habit.

All the best

Pixie5740

Instead of meals at work start taking a packed lunch. You could save a small fortune there.

£300 for groceries? Do you buy groceries just for you or is that both of you?

You're paying far too much for your mobile phone. How much longer are you in co tract for?

You've put £100 for entertainment but then said you also spend money in the pub and seeing friends. Are those costs over and above the £100 in your SOA?

£50 a month for presents and another £50 for clothes is quite a lot when you're trying to kick your debt into touch. Maybe you could cut back a bit here too.

KID77

Hi!
Good luck and I hope you can do this by getting some 0% balance transfer offers over the next few years :-)
KID x

bsclp118

I buy most of the groceries for both of us, but as you say I need to reign that in!

As for meals at work I am certainly going to try cut back and take pack lunches, however there are times when my job calls for meals out so I thought I should budget for that.

My mobile phone contrart runs until November 2016, but I could look at downgrading my data allowance.

I need to be presentable for my job so £50 for shoes/clothes is probably a little on the high side, but I'll see how it goes.

As for the entertainment spending your right I should really try keep it to £100. It's just difficult. Difficult but if I want to get out of debt, do-able. That's what I've got to keep telling myself!

The £50/month for birthdays was me trying to put some money aside for Xmas. Plus there's always people's birthday, leaving do's and graduations at work that I'm expected to atleast put a few £ in. But yeah, this will reduce after Xmas!!

Thanks for the input guys, lots of places I can cut back on. Not going to be easy but now I've faced upto my problems atleast I can see a way out.

I just want to add that £10k of the debt was on medical expenses. That said a lot of it tracks back to my student days so I can't claim it's not my fault in anyway, I've just been in the "live for today" mindset for far too long. Only now I've met a partner I see a long term future with that I've faced up to reality!

bsclp118

Thanks KID77. I'm certainly feeling more positive than I did last Monday, thanks in no small part to this forum & everyone's advice!

KID77 wrote: »

Hi!
Good luck and I hope you can do this by getting some 0% balance transfer offers over the next few years :-)
KID x