In some serious need of advice..

sourcrates

anna_m wrote: »

My comments are in red above. I totally agree with someone else saying food should be approx £60 per month for you. I fed 2 adults and a dog for a bit less than £150 and a lot will say that's expensive

Good luck

Seriously ?

£60 a month ???

I'm single, and £60 won't last me a week, let alone a month.

How can you eat on £15 a week ? It's ridiculas !!
I don't subscribe to the theory of starving yourself so you can pay a debt.
£60 a week at least is what I'd budget for food, unless you want to eat cheap muck that clogs your arteries.

Some of you guys go way too far with the moneysaving thing, it's fine to a point, but the OP's debts are way above what saving a few quid at tescos can resolve.

Darksparkle

sourcrates wrote: »

Seriously ?

£60 a month ???

I'm single, and £60 won't last me a week, let alone a month.

How can you eat on £15 a week ? It's ridiculas !!

Would love to know this too! I plan for around £400 per month for 2 adults (includes cleaning products and some toiletries) and was told earlier it was too high.

That covers breakfast, lunch and dinners so no need to buy at work.

ViolaLass

sourcrates wrote: »

Seriously ?

£60 a month ???

I'm single, and £60 won't last me a week, let alone a month.

How can you eat on £15 a week ? It's ridiculas !!
I don't subscribe to the theory of starving yourself so you can pay a debt.
£60 a week at least is what I'd budget for food, unless you want to eat cheap muck that clogs your arteries.

Some of you guys go way too far with the moneysaving thing, it's fine to a point, but the OP's debts are way above what saving a few quid at tescos can resolve.

We spend £175 a month for two adults and a child and eat perfectly well (no cheap muck here). £240 is tons for one person.

Sanctioned_Parts_List

sourcrates wrote: »

Some of you guys go way too far with the moneysaving thing, it's fine to a point, but the OP's debts are way above what saving a few quid at tescos can resolve.

^This

There is no combination of savings that OP can possibly make that will allow them to tackle the debt without help, while living in their present accommodation.

OP's debts take 68% of net income. Even slashed to the bone, OP's living costs need 61% of net income. OP either needs a 30% pay rise, or a DMP, or to move in with parents and live rent free for a couple of years.

Money saving is a vital skill, but in this particular case the maths simply don't stack up. Sorry to be blunt twice in one thread, but that's the truth of it.

adz0rz

Thanks for all your comments guys I've read everyone and appreciate the advice!

Steps I'm going to take;

1) I've filled in the Debt Remedy form on Step Change and they've suggest a DMP which i agree is the best step.

2) sort out my current accounts. I currently have 3 with Barclays. My current account that I get paid into which is where the £2,000 overdraft is.
I also have a account with no debt card that that my other housemates pay into and the house bills come out of.
The third account is a savings account with 0 balance

My main question is from advice on here I need to bank where my debt isn't so was going to try switch to first direct (using the £150 for switching to put towards debt)

Will I need to use the shared bills account to switch as I'm assuming they won't let me switch the one with an overdraft.

3) Food.. I've read both options on this and agree I would extremely struggle to eat on £60 a month. But would be extremely interested to find out how people do. I think I can do £150 possibly I'm going to look into this further

4) I'm also looking to move jobs. I used to earn considerably more so looking at going back to my old.

5) might have forgotten something so going to re-read.
Thanks again trying to stay positive!

adz0rz

Oh I'm also going to redo my SOA after reducing things and cutting back on entertainment and others

anna_1977

Darksparkle wrote: »

Would love to know this too! I plan for around £400 per month for 2 adults (includes cleaning products and some toiletries) and was told earlier it was too high.

That covers breakfast, lunch and dinners so no need to buy at work.

I do my food shop at Ocado and don't scrimp at all. A bag of 8 (minimum) chicken breast is about £9 and that does 4 meals for 2 of us.... Pack of mince (Quorn as DD2 veggie) is only £2 and lasts 2 meals for us. I don't buy any ready meals or food that clogs our arteries.

We don't buy any crisps, biscuits etc, fruit for snacks or yogurts (that's out of choice as both DD2 and myself don't like sweet foods).

Breakfast we both have cereal or toast.

In fairness I do get lunch at work (free) but daughter makes herself pasta or couscous salad.

Darksparkle

anna_m wrote: »

I do my food shop at Ocado and don't scrimp at all. A bag of 8 (minimum) chicken breast is about £9 and that does 4 meals for 2 of us.... Pack of mince (Quorn as DD2 veggie) is only £2 and lasts 2 meals for us. I don't buy any ready meals or food that clogs our arteries.

We don't buy any crisps, biscuits etc, fruit for snacks or yogurts (that's out of choice as both DD2 and myself don't like sweet foods).

Breakfast we both have cereal or toast.

In fairness I do get lunch at work (free) but daughter makes herself pasta or couscous salad.

I'm not a fan of shopping online. I don't have the patience. Might try it once and see though.

Breakfast is usually cereal or toast for us too.

Lunch is homemade soup, pasta, salad, wraps etc.

Where I think most of it goes is on fruit, yoghurts, fish and gluten free.

Edit - Sadly they don't deliver to my post code.

anna_1977

Darksparkle wrote: »

I'm not a fan of shopping online. I don't have the patience. Might try it once and see though.

Breakfast is usually cereal or toast for us too.

Lunch is homemade soup, pasta, salad, wraps etc.

Where I think most of it goes is on fruit, yoghurts, fish and gluten free.

Edit - Sadly they don't deliver to my post code.

I find it helps me monitor my spending - I don't get all the reduced items but lets face it, they're never on my shopping list.

user1168934

Good work OP, keep it up and stick to the plan.

adz0rz wrote: »

My main question is from advice on here I need to bank where my debt isn't so was going to try switch to first direct (using the £150 for switching to put towards debt)

From what I have read on the forum several times First Direct are very picky about giving current accounts so do assess you chances carefully. Worst case scenario this will leave a search on your credit history which might reduce your chances of getting another account in the short term.

adz0rz wrote: »

3) Food.. I've read both options on this and agree I would extremely struggle to eat on £60 a month. But would be extremely interested to find out how people do. I think I can do £150 possibly I'm going to look into this further

I am the moron who mentioned this £60 for food which has raised a few eyebrows
I feel responsible and I think I should clarify a few things. This figure is based on what I used to spend on food (per month) when I came to the UK and this was about 9 years ago. I was an international student and was lucky enough to get scholarship from a reputable UK university + one other scholarship but things were very very (.. and I really mean very) tight. In the UK I had no friends, no family, no job and basically no one to look towards if things went south. Being new in the UK I had no chance of getting any loans or even a credit card, did not have wealthy parents either. I was sharing a 4 bed house in one of the cheapest areas in London with 7 other people in similar situation. All food was home cooked and no eating out allowed. In all honesty, so far as the food is concerned, it was comfortable. We were not starving and we were not eating cheap muck that clogs your arteries. The food included basic meals ... chicken, vegetables, eggs, bread, milk etc but no desserts or biscuits or crips or soft drinks .... I hope you get the picture. If anyone wanted all these non-inclisive things then they were free to buy their own (which I didn't for some time as I couldn't afford). I don't drink or smoke so that was never an issue for me.

I understand that it was not ideal and may not be for everyone but I always use it as a basis because I strongly feel that living like that was better than putting myself under debt trying to maintain a lifestyle I could not afford.



P.S: Now when I read this I feel like I have painted a bleak picture, things were tight but not so bad. We did have occassional day outs etc, lots of free places to see in london. I made some good friends around that time too. Things worked out for the best - all in all no regrets.