i want to be debt free!

mel19632

Long time lurker, but this is the first time I have written down for anyone other than my boyfriend what our finances look like.Heres the story, I am 21 and live with my boyfriend. We bought our flat 2 years ago, although we could not afford it, as we were living with my dad who told us we had to move out.We couldnt afford to rent as it is so high around our area, so decided to buy instead - this is where most of our debt comes from.Ok, so here is my SoA, if anyone has any ideas about how to lower our bills etc I would be very grateful!Income:Me £1,130 (but in October due to go up to £1,500)Bf £1,000 (commission earnings, so technically anything from £850 - £1,400 +) These are both NET of tax etc and my work loan (see below).Rental income £90Total income £2,220ExpensesMortgage: £700Council tax £120Electricity (no gas) £40Water £13Car insurance £30Pet insurance £11Life insurance £17 (both)Virgin £52.50Mobile phone £50 (2 of them)Petrol £100 (but most of this reimbursed as Bf uses car for work)Food £200Travel (for me to work on train) £110Flat maintenence £92.50Total expenses £1,536Current debts:Work loan (0% - 44 repayments left) £4,688 - repay at £105 per month but comes directly out my salaryMBNA CC (7.9%) - bal 6,652Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,085Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,117Total debt of £21,541Total repayment to MBNA + Tesco x 2 = £575(I pay minimum on Tesco X2 and balance to MBNA) - when my wage goes up this will go up to £775Any ideas to reduce our outgoings or to refinance our debts would be grateful!I have only just transferred the 0% balances in the last few weeks and at the same time got rid of our car loan which was on HP - but really high %.Thanks!

mel19632

i'm really sorry, no one is going to want to read that mess above, but it wont keep my spacing in!anyone know how to keep the format i typed it in?

bookemdano

Hi, if you type your soa again press enter after each section eg:
water £20
electric £30
petrol £25

hope this helps:D

Jacks_xxx

mel19632 wrote: »

Long time lurker, but this is the first time I have written down for anyone other than my boyfriend what our finances look like.Heres the story, I am 21 and live with my boyfriend. We bought our flat 2 years ago, although we could not afford it, as we were living with my dad who told us we had to move out.We couldnt afford to rent as it is so high around our area, so decided to buy instead - this is where most of our debt comes from.Ok, so here is my SoA, if anyone has any ideas about how to lower our bills etc I would be very grateful!

Income:Me £1,130 (but in October due to go up to £1,500)Bf £1,000 (commission earnings, so technically anything from £850 - £1,400 +) These are both NET of tax etc.Rental income £90Total income £2,220

Expenses
Mortgage: £700
Council tax £120
Electricity (no gas) £40
Water £13
Car insurance £30
Pet insurance £11
Life insurance £17 (both)
Virgin £52.50
Mobile phone £50 (2 of them)
Petrol £100 (but most of this reimbursed as Bf uses car for work)
Food £200
Travel (for me to work on train) £110
Flat maintenence £92.50
Total expenses £1,536

Current debts:
Work loan (0% - 44 repayments left) £4,688 - repay at £105 per month but comes directly out my salary
MBNA CC (7.9%) - bal 6,652
Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,085
Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,117
Total debt of £21,541Total repayment to MBNA + Tesco x 2 = £375(I pay minimum on Tesco X2 and balance to MBNA) - when my wage goes up this will go up to £775

Any ideas to reduce our outgoings or to refinance our debts would be grateful!I have only just transferred the 0% balances in the last few weeks and at the same time got rid of our car loan which was on HP - but really high %.Thanks!

Ok. well you're on the way sweetheart - most of the debt is 0% so that's useful. If it was me I'd cut back on Virgin and the mobiles for a start - just until things get more under control.

Plus check out the moneysaving old style board. there's a Grocery Challenge thread and a Eating for one month on £60 thread that you can get ideas from on how to cut back the food bill. (No matter how strict you think you're being, it can always be cut back! )

It's also a good idea to get your head around the idea of snowballing your debts at www.whatsthecost.co.uk. I made your potential debt repayment to Tesco and MBNA a bit over £550 rather than £375 so it might not hurt to find out where that other £175 is going (Of course it could be my maths...:o )

That's all I've got for now sweetiepie, but someone more knowledgeable will be along in a mo - if they haven't been already whilst I've been reading and replying!

LOve Jacks xxx

Kate1983

mel19632 wrote: »

Income:Me £1,130 (but in October due to go up to £1,500)
Bf £1,000 (commission earnings, so technically anything from £850 - £1,400 +)
Rental income £90
Total income £2,220

Expenses
Mortgage: £700
Council tax £120
Electricity (no gas) £40 Can you switch to a cheaper supplier?
Water £13
Car insurance £30 Can you get it cheaper?
Pet insurance £11 As above
Life insurance £17 (both) As above
Virgin £52.50 What is this for? Is it for the TV? It is alot of money - can you downgrade to a cheaper package or cancel and get freeview?
Mobile phone £50 (2 of them) Can you cut back on this?
Petrol £100 (but most of this reimbursed as Bf uses car for work) You need to work out how much you actually spend as reimbursed expense is not actually an expense.
Food £200 You can cut back on this for 2 of you. See the Old Style board for help with meal planning etc.
Travel (for me to work on train) £110
Flat maintenence £92.50 What is this for? Can you do any of the work yourself?
Total expenses £1,536

Current debts:
Work loan (0% - 44 repayments left) £4,688 - repay at £105 per month but comes directly out my salary
MBNA CC (7.9%) - bal 6,652
Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,085
Tesco card (0% until next August) - bal £5,117

Total debt of £21,541

Total repayment to MBNA + Tesco x 2 = £375(I pay minimum on Tesco X2 and balance to MBNA) - when my wage goes up this will go up to £775

So total expenditure including debt repayment £1911 meaning £309 left over. Do you find that you do not know where your money is going to? In that case keeping a spending diary will help you find out.
You also need to budget for things like presents, holidays, car tax and MOT etc.

You should work at paying MBNA first, just make minimum repayments on the other cards until it's cleared.

Hope this helps,
Kate
x

mel19632

Ok thanks for the quick response everyone!!bookemdano, i did it as kate1983 has in her response, so not sure why the computer choose to get rid of all the spacing!! never mind appears to be ok now.right answers to the rest of you:electricity has just been switched - and in july we had a rebate of £240 :)car insurance is the cheapest i could find - 4 yrs no claims, and due for renewal in january, so hopefully will go down again then!Pet insurance is actually £30 per month for 5 cats, we have a 20 yr old living with us, one living with my mum and we pay for 3 others living with my mum and sister together so we all get a discount, so it is only £5.50 per cat per month.Life insurance has just been changed - we did have critical illness and our premiums were £45 a month between us, but we have been advised that as we are both so young, we might as well drop to life cover only for now.Virgin covers TV, internet and home phoneMobiles are £15 for me, and £35 for bf, and his contract is up for renewal in november so will swap for one at £20 pm and £30 refer a friend cash back!Petrol is probably only £30 per month in that case, as normally get £80 reimbursed from workFood - yes i should check out some tips!! we are both vegetarian, so no excuses!!Flat maintenance is a set charge by our maintanence company - i dont know what they do for such an extortionate fee, but that is what they charge.Also, correction to my payment to CC total - it should have read £575, I had typed it incorrectly as that was what i was paying before I got rid of the car loan to MBNA (and therefore increased payments by £200 - which was going off the car).Just realised I forgot to include TV licence of £11.50 also - oppsWe never have any money left at the end of the month - and honestly, i dont know where it goes! so spending diary for me....although, in my defense bf income varies so much month to month it is hard to keep on top of things some months and other months we have loads left - i try to keep the money left over rolled over to the next month so that if we have a low month, we can afford to live.With the repayments, I am trying to repay MBNA first 0 we pay minimum off Tescos x 2 then throw everything else at MBNA as the worst interest.Once again thanks for the response, i feel better already!I just feel like such an idiot for being in so much debt at a young age

mel19632

argh the spacing monster is at it again! my responses are going to be impossible to read!

mel19632

my family is aware that money is tight, and doesnt expect much in way of presents - bottles of wine for parents and my sisters and i only buy presents for one sister, so that its fair for all of us. with my friends, i just give cards, and see them for drinks (obviously buying them one!) I hate being so tight, but money is very tight at the moment, until we have paid off our debts.although i forgot to say, since my movements of debts etc, i estimate my DFD to be February 2009!!

lunar

hi

well done for reducing your dfd, everyone here has such good ideas for saving money i have found it really helpful. just wanted to wish you good luck

mel19632

thanks lunar, thats very kind

i must get a signature - i have a spreadsheet which i LOVE updating to see how much our debt has gone down by each month.

we have had a pretty tough month financially - we have had to replace boiler + lots of other plumbing issues in our rented house total £3000, clear drains, replace man hole and something else (i didnt really understand( total £285 and buy and fit new shower total £98 - and none of it is for the house we live in!!

does anyone else have the house from hell?!

on a positive note, i ahve begun to buy lots of xmas present (MSE style of course!) using lots of brilliant codes from the MSE board - if you havent already looked on there its brilliant!

We have about £400 left over this month, which would have gone on credit cards (paying off i mean), but noe has to pay the plumber and the drainage man, argh!!!!!!!

xxxx

trying-very-trying

Why do you have to pay for repairs in a rented house?? Have I missed something??