My SOA

winkle1

I've been on these boards for ages and I've never posted my SOA, but as I am coming up to paying off the last bit of my debt, I would love for some ideas/tips/help.

So here goes:

Income: £1,667.06

Outgoings (monthly):

Rent: £360 (this includes council tax as well: live with my OH in his sisters flat, so she doesnt charge a lot)
Travel: £64.20 (Train fare)
Student Loan: £127.24
Food/Housekeeping: £150 a month (this includes anything we might need for the house, gas and elec bill - they are on meters and usually use around £15 each a month) - and all food, inc lunches taken in from home etc)
Mobile: usually around £40, I have a really low line rental because I renewed with them (around £5 a month), and i've recently stopped using it as much and got a text bundle instead.
AOL: 7.50
Savings: £600 (this is explained why later)

TOTAL: £1348.94

Debts:

£500 overdraft with HSBC (not sure on the % but usually get charged around £6 a month)
£500 overdraft with first direct (not sure on this as well but usually get charged around £1 on this).

£2604 on Morgan Stanley, currently on 0% which is running out. tried to get another 0% deal but MINT rejected me and I didnt want to try too many cards so I transferred the following:

£1900 on to Egg 3.9% for 6 months
£704 on to HSBC 5.9% for 6 months

TOTAL: £3604

The credit card debt is a mix of a graduate loan which I BT'd and another credit card which I [EMAIL="BT@d"]BT'd[/EMAIL] back in March. Since then I have been putting £600 aside in a savings account and an ISA (this is the amount I was putting towards the loan PLUS £250 which I was used to saving because I was saving to pay off that loan, although I admit this has been a struggle and I have to watch every penny to do this) so I currently have £2367.91 saved.

So this leaves me with arond £318 a month (around £75 a week), which in London, isnt really that much.

So what do you guys think?

I have considered using my savings to pay off the debt, but as I have more debt than savings, I'm reluctant to do it. I would then feel like I am still in debt and I've spent all my savings!!

Also, my OH and I are thinking of buying our own place around June next year so I want to have SOMETHING to contribute.

In the past few months I have cancelled the gym, cancelled my contact lenses, stopped going for the odd drink after work, stopped having BIG friday nights; just really cut down on my spending.

I would love to be debt free by the time we start looking to buy next June. I am prepared to use some of my savings, if necessary, just good me a good enough reason!

Thanks for listening and looking forward to your replies.

oliveoyl

hiya winkle

it sounds like you're already clued up on most things, but if you want us to pick holes, i'm sure we can

you should at least use your savings to pay off your hsbc overdraft because it works out around 14.5% apr, and if you can stand it, do the same with your hsbc credit card too, unless all of your savings are in an isa paying more than the 5.9% ...it's costing you more in interest than you're making on your savings because of the tax.

all spare savings should be in an isa before you put money into a savings account because it's tax free.

gas & electricity meters are more expensive than having an account... but if it's not your house you probably can't do anything about that.
your mobile bill seems high at £40 a month... what does it include... have you haggled?

the train fares take up a lot of your monthly money as well... can that be reduced at all... pre-booked tickets or oyster pre-pay?

hth