Newbie - Dfw Virgin - Soa's

Bekibuns

Hi there, I'm Bekibuns the DFW Virgin. It has taken me a couple of attempts so far to work out what I am doing as I am also a Forum Virgin too! So if I am not doing the posting/threading thing right I could do with some advice on that too. The stickys are really helpful but with all this budgetting etc. I'm on information overload - better sit down and have a beer! Anyway, here goes with my SOA to date:

I do not work but have an income which consists of Child Benefit/Maintenance from my eldest two childrens' Dad and "Housekeeping money" from my Husband. My husband supports me and the three children that we have together God love 'im. Unfortunately, I am a Serial Debter :eek: and have always (up until now) had a "I will bury my head in the sand" attitude to money and believed that "tomorrow never comes", which of course it always does and the hangover of debt is awful. I have fortunately grown up a lot (it has taken almost 37 years) and I am for the first time ever, ready to take full responsibility for myself, particularly money which is my sticking point.

My monthly income is: £1869.00
My monthly expenditure is: £2118.46
I have got to grips with the fact that I have to budget and have recently changed bank accounts, am trying the "Piggybank" method of managing the different areas of expenditure I have and from September onwards am going to plan and put a little aside each month where possible to plan for big costs like the school holidays/Christmas/School Trips etc.
I have been struggling with an old car loan (do not even have the car any more) which started at £10,000 4 years ago and I am still paying it off and somehow have managed to now have the same loan which I still have
£12, 539.45 left to pay!!!!! VERY BAD SITUATION INDEED.......
When I opened new bank a/c 6 mths ago (A & L because they were offering 0% on agreed overdrafts) took the loan to them because the rate of 11.9% they were offering was better than my Egg Loan at something mad like 17.5% - Daylight Robbery. This situation is still bad, albeit better than before and of course, being a Serial Debter (SD), I often go over my agreed o/d facility (which is £800) and incurr more crippling interest payments and bounced cheques with charges all over the place :embarasse, very depressing.... I pay the A & L Loan off at £227.99 per month and it still has 55 months to go!!!!

My current a/c with A & L (with overdraft) which this month will go up to £800, which I AM GOING TO PAY OFF and NOT go into again, will take lots of steely determination but it's my first step and I am so sick of this awful spiral that I have to do it and start somewhere.

I also had an Egg Credit Card, which thanks to MSE.com have got a balance transfer @ 0% for 13 mnths with Virgin of £2,300 outstanding which I am trying to pay off at £100 per month. Stupidly, did the transfer and have already put £400 on the Credit Card (this is not on 0% interest free) but had to do it in order to put food on the table and buy nappies for my 2 yr old as I had no other money. VERY BAD. :mad:
With this one, I already know what I have to do - Not use Credit Card/either Hide it/Cut it up or give to my husband to keep out of my temptation, I plan to pay this off this month too and after paying off my o/d and this month's debts/payments, plan to just somehow manage on the money that I actually have in my now very sweaty and anxious palm!

So, my totat debt as at today is £15, 926.36 - it scares the s**t out of me and at times I feel helpless and quite depressed about it. I am a very positive person though and I have so much else in my life, so HERE GOES, hold on to your hats you dirty banks and lenders, this lady will not be for turning!!.................................................................... Comments/Help appreciated - Bekibuns (BB) xx

redfaced

Hey Beki, welcome to mse! i'm fairly new too but loads of knowledgable folk will be along to help you soon. You've done the right thing in acknowledging your debt...it's onwards and downwards with the debt from here!
red

penguin83

Hi and welcome to the forum. You will find loads of helpful advice on here.

I know what you mean about buying nappies when me and OH were starting out we had days literally counting pennies to buy nappies. Not a good sign still it took another 4 years for my lightbulb moment!

Good Luck with your journey. x

madmoney_2

Hi beki wecome hun, why not pop up a detailed soa see ss sticky for first time posters at the top of the board n we will see where we can go from there xxxx

Adrasteia01

Hi Beki,

Welcome to MSE. The first thing that jumps out at me is that you must have paid loads in bank charges for going over your overdraft amount etc. It's likely that you would be able to claim back some of your fees and charges. Have a look around the MSE site for info on doing that. You could get back a fair chunk of money.

At the end of the day, shopping for things you don't need only creates the need to work more to pay it off, or causes worry when paying the bills. I used to buy a lot but have found it better to buy less, and then I don't have to worry about money as much.

As for nappies, I remember reading somewhere on the forum (about 6 months back) that some of the shop's own brand nappies (it might be tesco's) are made by Pampers.. a lot of the shop's own brand ones are made by the major companies and either use cheaper materials or are labelled differently. Boots also offer points back and sometimes has specials on baby stuff - it might be worth looking into. The other option is cloth nappies.

You could also try quidco (www.quidco.co.uk) and pigsback (www.pigsback.com) for a means of earning points, which you can redeem as vouchers for places like boots. I'm in Ireland and they don't do boots vouchers over here anymore, but I still get book vouchers and mobile phone credit instead, which is very useful and saves money.

My suggestion is to sell what you don't need on ebay, buy less and simplify. I know it's not for everyone but I actually prefer things that way, and I feel better for not wasting money.

When it comes to buying clothes, I prefer not to go for sale stuff because it's cheaper but opt for good clothes that will last longer and fit well. It works out better overall I think, although if you can get the same stuff in a sale, then that's better still.

If you post your SOA we'll pick it to bits and give you advice.

All the best,

Tamara

FrugalJo

Hi Beki
Just want to say welcome, and love your first post. I've done the shopping on the CC, and remembering it was for nappies and day to day stuff. I'm probably still paying them off actually and youngest is 10 !
Anyway as the others say once your SOA is up the wizards will help you save a bundle.

msmicawber

Hi Bekibuns and welcome.

Although you've posted your income, expenditure and debt, you haven't itemised your monthly expenditure. I'd recommend that you do that both to allow us to make suggestions to help and to clarify your spending habits to yourself. You've already realised that your spending habits are what has got you to this position, so if you can see clearly where you're spending unnecessarily and develop a proper budget then that should help you keep your resolve.

trying-very-trying

Hi, beki, I think you started two threads yesterday, and I posted on the other one. I agree with msmicawber, if you post a full breakdown of your budget, I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice. try this link to ss sticky http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280