Newbie - is there room for one more?!

Bunnyinthelights

Morning Sunshine,
Wow, some brilliant suggestions here-what an amazing bunch the DFW's are.
Another thought-my DH was looking into buying a car for taxi-ing (?) as one of his mates 'rents' his out when he's not driving. Would this be something you could do? When OH isn't actaully drving could he rent the car out?

Just a suggestion, keep up the good work,
Bunny

Seaxwyn

Hi Sunshine

Welcome to DFW. You've had some good advice here and I hope the situation is beginning to look a bit less terrifying.

On the snowball question - enter the higher interest rate. Any repayments you make will come off the balance at the lower rate, so as time goes by more and more of the debt will be on the higher rate anyway.

You have got some some high interest rates there. If you haven't already, you must stop using the Vanquis and Barclays cards right now if at all possible.

What is the Credit Union? could you transfer any of the higher interest debts to them at 3%?

It's good to see that quite a few of the balances are relatively small. Could you ebay/carboot/Amazon anything to get rid of a debt or two?

I agree with you - get rid of sky and setanta for now - you simply can't afford them. You can look forward to getting them back when your debt problem is dealt with.

Good luck and keep posting

lunar

Hi sunshine, i wanted to say well done for posting your SOA, i ws terrified when i first looked at mine. you will get loads of help on this site. like everyone else has said you will become obsessed with this site and get loads of useful tips on money saving.

sunshine38_2

Morning All

Thank you for the continued support and lovely welcoming messages - much appreciated.

I'm re-typing my replies as I managed to lose my original one from earlier this morning - not a great start to the day eh?!

Seaxwyn - thanks for support. Have stopped using CCs. Credit union is a savings/loans service for local residents within a number of local residential areas. You are encouraged to save first and then based on the amount that you have saved you can apply for loan facilities. Basically you can apply for a loan up to twice the amount that you have saved. My loan will finish on 14 November and my monthly payments are made up as £20 into savings account/£35 against loan repayment. By the time my loan finishes in November I will have £200 in my savings account and would be able to apply for a £400 loan (again with low interest). I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to reapply and use the £400 towards paying off one of the other debts that has a higher interest rate?

Bunny - thanks for the suggestion! At this rate OH will need to be taking his sleeping bag out with him :rotfl: !

Chloe - thanks for your support - dont feel as scared as I did yesterday though - so that's a good thing isnt it. I decided last night to put one of the kiddie's spare money boxes (that has no money in!) on the window sill to remind me of our daily need to attack the debts. As of this morning I now have 33p :T in the pot - I found some spare change in an old coat pocket. Dont laugh everyone - it's a start!! I'm going to add the car boot money to it at the weekend (being slightly optimistic that anything will sell of course!) and hopefully that will get us on the way to clearing another debt.

Oh, look, again I almost forgot about the overdraft (wishful thinking eh?!). I forgot to include it on my SOA. The main question I have is whether I would be better moving banks and getting a new current account. I have a nasty feeling my overdraft is due for review in November. As there is less money now going into my account I doubt whether they would renew it at the current facility (which is quite scary in itself!). I doubt that the bank would let me convert it to a loan. So, I'm stuck for ideas on how best to handle it. My worst nightmare would be to find that they withdraw the facility completely and end up with absolutely no money at all. Any tips/suggestions anyone. As always, would be greatly appreciated.

Lunar - thanks for your support - it's all very much welcomed.

Hope you all manage to have little moments of sunshine in your day - you have all brought some to mine! :A Thank you x

Seaxwyn

Hi Sunshine

The Credit Union sounds a great opportunity - I would definitely take a £400 loan with them - you could pay off the Barclays CC in full and close it, or take a big lump off the Vanquis one.

It's really satisfying getting debts onto low/no interest as then the totals start to reduce so much faster.

Re the overdraft - if you could open a new current account, then the old overdraft becomes just another debt to be paid off, rather than something you live inside all the time.

Or, you may be able to take the overdraft to a new bank. One option is Alliance & Leicester, who offer an interest-free overdraft for one year, matching your current OD limit, if you have been in credit at some point in recent months.

You need to think about what will help you manage most.

Good luck with the carboot sale and with sorting everything.

lunar

the credit union sounds good, im just trying to get my cards over to 0% cards bu its such a long process waiting for everything to transfer! im just impatient i guess.

I havnt aded my od to my soa(£870) and i reach it every month. i guess i just go tused to living in it. when i get all my other balances to 0% i will look at getting rid of it. i dont have any experiance with the review as my bank dont seem to review it!

Verbatim

Hi Sunshine,

I've just caught your thread and wanted to add my welcome too. You've done really well so far and seem very determined and organized . I'm sure you'll feel a lot better once you feel you've got a strategy and can pay all the essentials.

No one (?) I think has mentioned menu planning by checking what you've got in the freezer and store cupboard and only buying what is essential to make the week or month's meals. The old style board can give you ideas on how to make nutritious meals with a carrot, an egg and a piece of string!, or rather whatever you happen to be able to find in the cupboard.

Good luck with everything and especially the car boot.

Savvy_sewing

Hi Sunshine,
I have been reading the advice etc for a few years now, but only joined this week, while I was off work sick.
Budgeting the Food menu is the way that I manage to save, and pay for holidays etc.
I always plan a 10 day menu so that if I dont fancy something I have other foods in stock to use.
I fell off the wagon a bit over the last few months, and brought myself back with a bump when I seemed to always order the same stuff of Tesco.
I did a quick stock take of my food cupboards yesterday, and with out even trying hard I realised that I have enough food to cover 26 main meals, with out even concocting something with the last 2 eggs and a courgette!.
I am off to the hospital with my Daughter to bring our little grandchild into the world this afternoon, so my budget will be stretched even more, but by the time I write in here again, I will be a budgeting Granny too!
My Daughter (One of 3) lives with me and my 14 year old son. oh and the dog. We live in a small 2 bedroomed council flat.
All becuase my business went bankrupt earlier this year. So I am not sure what debts I have anymore,? But I am counting every penny and follow even my cash spending on a money package on the laptop.( borrowed from my Dad).
Good luck with your challenge. I hope that you dont end up at the bottom of the heap as I did.
But the only way is through it and up now.

sunshine38_2

Hi All :hello:


Mooloo - I hope all has gone well with the arrival of your grandchild and that your daughter is ok too - is this your first grandchild? Thanks for those ideas. Will get myself over to the OS board and see where I can improve things in that department. Sorry to hear about your business -it must feel pretty soul destroying after having put so much time, energy and money into a business and then find yourself in that situation. Do you use a particular excel package or something to track your spending - I could do with something useful like that but wouldnt know where to start in setting one up - excel is not my thing (although I'm not really sure what my "thing" is :rotfl: )! Glad you have joined the "club" and hope that you are managing to get yourself sorted out too. Let me know about your new arrival - please!

Verbatim - your post made me laugh - I'm intrigued to know what you can do with a carrot, egg and a piece of string . I shall be visiting OS and looking for ideas/help on a menu that would keep us all happy at mealtimes - it's such hard work in our house.

Update on DFD ... drum roll please ... sadly the amount remains the same - but the DFD comes forward because after having spoken to OH it turns out that the MBNA and HSBC are 0% interest too - so that, ladies and gentlemen brings our date forward to March 2010. That IS achievable, isnt it?!

I wrote to council today with offer to pay council tax (including arrears) over the next six months - fingers crossed they will accept the offer.

I also applied for a new bank account online - because I couldnt face the possible humiliation of being told in a branch that I couldnt have one (because of poor credit rating) and the decision page said ... "we will inform you of our decision within the next 5 days" ... I guess that's going to be a "no" then ?

Sunshine x

Squirrel29

Hi Sunshine, I am fairly new on here too and the friendliness and support got me through the rough few days of realisation at the extent of my debt. March 2010 is not too bad at all!! It is true that you do become obsessive though, have a good look at Quidco as I have made £24 in just 3 weeks of buying stuff I would need anyway. Keep coming on here every day and it will motivate you. xx