£7k in 7months?

Sanctioned_Parts_List

Hi Briarrose and welcome.

Based on your stated surplus and current repayment rate, I've crunched some numbers and...

* If you keep the cards as they are, and snowball the debts, it will take 13 months to pay them off
* If you move either debt to a 0% card, it will take 11 months
* If you move both debts to a 0% card, it will take 10 months.
* To get it paid off in 7 months, you will need to have £1120 per month available for debt repayments. Curiously, at this repayment rate, it makes no difference whether you're on a 0% deal or not.

So not a nice, or a kind post, but to meet your target you will need to earn an additional £412 per month, as there's not a huge amount to cut from your budget.

It sounds scary, but is surprisingly achievable -
Your spare room - airbnb
While some people have made more than this by matched betting. I fail to see how it's sustainable, but YMMV (also note, the entry cost is higher than advertised)
If you have any IT-type skills, look at microjob sites (freelancer et al)
This site, while American, has some ideas that also work in the UK, and might spark an idea.

* oops, cross-posted

poppasmurf_bewdley

cms-help wrote: »

Your council tax seems very high compared to your rent.

I agreed with this. Have you contacted the Valuation Office for a revaluation? This is the first thing anyone should do when moving home. I got mine down one step saving me more than £300 a year.

Why is your Tv Licence at £24 twice what it should be. Mine works out at approx £12 a month?

EssexHebridean

You've got that SOA well trimmed already -nice one!

There is just a few things I've picked up on:

- You say you're setting aside £30 a month for car maintenance, £10 per month presents, etc - but there are no cash assets showing? Where are you saving this money?
- Do you actually have the surplus at the end of the month that you should have? If so, again, where is this going?
- If yo don't have that surplus, then spending diary, now, is the way forwards, see where it's going.
- Apologies if already mentioned but you show £24 per month against TV license? Any reason why it's that high? It should be £12.12 assuming you've had it for more than 6 months?

You don't need to see your bank about the credit card - in fact whatever product they may offer you might not even be your best bet! Take a look at Martin's guides over on the main site, plug your details into the eligibility calculator, and see what comes up. If there is something there you have a great chance of getting, that may save you a trip to the bank! (And as someone else said, the ONLY advantage to them to sitting down talking to you about that is that they are hoping to steer you towards a loan) If you DO balance transfer onto a new 0% card, then cut up both the old ones AND the new one to avoid being tempted to spend on them. If they're not physically out with you in your purse it cuts at least some of the temptation. As far as the old ones are concerned, once the transfers are sorted, close the accounts.

Finally - congratulations on your impending arrival and well done for wanting to get things sorted before then! :T

EssexHebridean

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I agreed with this. Have you contacted the Valuation Office for a revaluation? This is the first thing anyone should do when moving home. I got mine down one step saving me more than £300 a year.

Why is your Tv Licence at £24 twice what it should be. Mine works out at approx £12 a month?

The OP needs to read Martin's guide on this in order to make the decision as to whether it's a worthwhile exercise. As Martin points out, they can review in either direction...sometimes, sleeping dogs are best left snoring...

LabRatty

Hi Briarrose,
Well, there's nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind .
In trying to plan realistically, it depends what sort of deal you will get on maternity leave, eg if you're on full pay for the first six months your income won't drop as quickly as if you're self employed and having to stop work some time before D-day.
Also, while babies do cost money, the amount they cost is on a sliding scale from pretty much zero (source stuff from FB local selling pages, 3bay, car boot sales, hand-me-downs from friends, small ads etc) to megabucks in designer outlets. The first baby in our family for some time has been run at a profit for the first 18 months, with the outlay on clothing and equipment costing less than the child benefit received. Most stuff has been recycled once outgrown thus reducing costs further - a spotless pram was £50, used for a year and sold on for £35.
For someone with your eye for frugality I would see an opportunity ahead!

All the best,
LR

cmc_entertainment

If your Credit cards are from Capital one or issued by them on anothers behalf you could consolidated both cards into 1. I havent done the figures though but you would only pay 1 interest payment pm?

chevalier

Even if you don't go for a revaluation of the property, you ARE entitled to a single persons discount, and you can ask to spread payments over 12 months instead of 10. Absolutely don't be proud about taking hand me downs, my two kids basically didn't have new clothes for their first 3 years pretty much cos I got two black bin liners worth of clothes one each from two mums. And it was really good kit too! babies where the first few sizes for such a little time, that second hand they have loads of wear left. And quite often charity shops sell them for pennies as well. Will the babies father be contributing to any of the up front costs?

Also don't forget if you get your maternity card sorted out you get free prescriptons, dental checks and eye tests whilst pregnant. So if you have been putting off any of those now is the time to go! Also don't forget to sign up to all of the baby clubs like at Boots etc to get lots of samples.
good luck
chev