Dragon's debt diary

The_Dragon

Ok - I don't have a huge amount of debt, but then again I don't have a huge amount of money either!

Basically I am on Disability Living Allowance (for mobility) and Incapacity Benefit (and hoo boy does that bring in a huge amount of money .... NOT!), I have a CC which is supposed to be purely for Internet shopping - with cash transferred directly across ... but ..... well I am sure you can guess where this is going!

So I want to clear this off and then start using the card the way it is supposed to be used! At the moment I pay £50.00 per fortnight off this - but still keep putting stuff on as well :mad:

postingalwaysposting

hi dragon have your completed a soa before? i cant find one from you? take care, i shall be watching this thread with interest

The_Dragon

No not yet PAP - it took me until today to stop just replying to others posts and think about what I need to do!

We are (hopefully) moving into our own place soon (our landlady is selling the flat we are currently renting), and so I want to be able to budget AND provide something towards the running of the house (even if this is only the beer money for a Friday night!)

postingalwaysposting

The_Dragon wrote: »

No not yet PAP - it took me until today to stop just replying to others posts and think about what I need to do!

We are (hopefully) moving into our own place soon (our landlady is selling the flat we are currently renting), and so I want to be able to budget AND provide something towards the running of the house (even if this is only the beer money for a Friday night!)

aww dragon, bless you must think of yoru situation now though, although helping and encouraging people is part and parcel of debt busting you must deal with your situation too

wow a huge change in finanaces coming up then for you. Maybe your should do a soa/budget for now and then in a few months time you can put the new one up for when you finally buy your own place?

The_Dragon

Income

£ 269.80 per fortnight (or £7,014.8pa)

Outgoings (monthly)

Pension - £45.00
Orange - £30.00 (approx)
Credit Expert - £5.95
American Life - £8.95
CC - £100.00

Total - £1,089.90 (£13,078.80 pa)

Um - somehow this seems wrong as I always seem to have some money available!

The_Dragon

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

aww dragon, bless you must think of yoru situation now though, although helping and encouraging people is part and parcel of debt busting you must deal with your situation too

wow a huge change in finanaces coming up then for you. Maybe your should do a soa/budget for now and then in a few months time you can put the new one up for when you finally buy your own place?

Um - we have put an offer in on a place and it has been accepted, if everything goes according to plan we will be moving in a months time :eek:

postingalwaysposting

The_Dragon wrote: »

Income

£ 269.80 per fortnight (or £7,014.8pa) £539.60 per month

Outgoings (monthly) Can this be broken into fortnightly? even if you open another current account and filter all your bills money (whats below) in there each time you get payed?

Pension - £45.00 ~ £22.50
Orange - £30.00 (approx) ~ £15.00
Credit Expert - £5.95 ~ £2.98 ~ whats this? is this to look at your credit report whenever? do you really need this? if you go to https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/default.asp its free, although it takes about 7 days to set up...
American Life - £8.95 ~ £4.48 ~ whats this? is it a type of illness cover? is it needed? can you get it cheaper?
CC - £100.00 ~ £50.00

Total - £1,089.90 (£13,078.80 pa)
fortnighty ~ £269.80 - £94.96 fortnightly bills = £174.84 spare
monthly ~ £539.60 - £189.90 monthly bills = £349.70 spare

Um - somehow this seems wrong as I always seem to have some money available!

If you always have money avalible then something is wrong within that. Also have you got a spending diary? if not keep one from today, i even have a thread running where you can pledge your weekly budget on a sunday for sunday~friday and then you either pass or you are sat on the naughty step the following sunday. Each day i have a thread to ask what you have spent each day too.

What is happening with your main bills ie water/gas/elec/food/council tax/xmas/birthdays/hair cuts/mags? Also once you complete on this house will your soa change at all?

sorry if i have torn it appart and asked to many questions ~ hope i havent scared/offended

The_Dragon

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

If you always have money avalible then something is wrong within that. Also have you got a spending diary? if not keep one from today, i even have a thread running where you can pledge your weekly budget on a sunday for sunday~friday and then you either pass or you are sat on the naughty step the following sunday. Each day i have a thread to ask what you have spent each day too.

What is happening with your main bills ie water/gas/elec/food/council tax/xmas/birthdays/hair cuts/mags? Also once you complete on this house will your soa change at all?

sorry if i have torn it appart and asked to many questions ~ hope i havent scared/offended

Credit Expert - £5.95 ~ £2.98 ~ whats this? is this to look at your credit report whenever? do you really need this? if you go to https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/default.asp its free, although it takes about 7 days to set up...

Yep - this is a Credit Report site - now that I know my credit rating is pretty darn good (after my late Sis managed to trash it by paying a load of her mortgage arrears on my CC taking it to the limit!), oh and the fact we have been accepted for a mortgage then I can cancel this (can we say procrastination! :rotfl:)

American Life - £8.95 ~ £4.48 ~ whats this? is it a type of illness cover? is it needed? can you get it cheaper?

This is a critical illness cover policy - it is a 10 year policy and I have been paying into it for 6 years now. If I cash it in I will get none of the cash back. If I haven't claimed by the end of the 10 years I get it all back! So in a way this is a savings scheme

Can you PM me the daily thread! Oh and yes I do need to set up a spending diary (memo to self - find a note pad! I normally have a couple floating around!)

Re the general household bills - OH pays those as he has a decent income (£37k pa) - my money is for me really but I want to start helping out more now we are going to have more expenses.

postingalwaysposting

The_Dragon wrote: »

Credit Expert - £5.95 ~ £2.98 ~ whats this? is this to look at your credit report whenever? do you really need this? if you go to https://www.annualcreditreport.co.uk/default.asp its free, although it takes about 7 days to set up...

Yep - this is a Credit Report site - now that I know my credit rating is pretty darn good (after my late Sis managed to trash it by paying a load of her mortgage arrears on my CC taking it to the limit!), oh and the fact we have been accepted for a mortgage then I can cancel this (can we say procrastination! :rotfl:)

Dragon i know its easy to put these things off but at £71.40 per year thats a bit more of your debts payed off

American Life - £8.95 ~ £4.48 ~ whats this? is it a type of illness cover? is it needed? can you get it cheaper?

This is a critical illness cover policy - it is a 10 year policy and I have been paying into it for 6 years now. If I cash it in I will get none of the cash back. If I haven't claimed by the end of the 10 years I get it all back! So in a way this is a savings scheme

ahh i see so its a good thing in a way (a little long winded never the less) anyways i would say stick at this then

Can you PM me the daily thread! Oh and yes I do need to set up a spending diary (memo to self - find a note pad! I normally have a couple floating around!)

here is the weekly challange for this week http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=531457 i then start a new one each day with the day/date in it (sometimes if i am working early someone else shall start it) in which you post daily. But please get a notebook/diary its such an eye opener to see where all your cash goes.

Re the general household bills - OH pays those as he has a decent income (£37k pa) - my money is for me really but I want to start helping out more now we are going to have more expenses.

If you would like to start helping we need to battle these debts down then and we need to find ways of your to acomplish this so....

have you thought of ebaying/carbooting/surveys/quidco/mystery shopping (obviously your disablity allowing). These can all give you extra income to try and get these debts payed off quicker.

The_Dragon

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

have you thought of ebaying/carbooting/surveys/quidco/mystery shopping (obviously your disablity allowing). These can all give you extra income to try and get these debts payed off quicker.

Hmm - I have signed up for Pigsback, unfortunately if I work (even Mystery Shopping) 6 months after I start (even if it is only the once) I will lose the Incapacity Benefit section of my money! I know I don't get a lot but frankly I want to hold on to it all thank you!

firesidemaid

are you claiming on the critical illness policy as you cannot work? what exactly does it cover you for?

it might be worth looking more closely at the finer details of this policy.

if most of your income is for yourself, could you pay most of your income off the credit cards as soon as you get it. give yourself a small weekly allowance so that you don't feel hard done by.

also, until the card is paid off, think about everything you might buy using martin's mantra - ?can you afford it? (at the moment, no) do you really need it? can you get it cheaper anywhere else? if all that fails - use quidco at least!

good luck x