Pinky's Debt Free Journey

PinkyPops

OK this is a scary post to write. I've been lurking on here for quite some time dabbling at paying a bit of debt down but then sticking my head in the sand and for a few months and making things worse. This is the point where it HAS to stop, I'm dangerously close to not being able to pay my minimum payments and I've just made late payment on one of my credit cards of over 2 weeks which they tell me they will be reporting to the credit reference agencies :eek:
My budget is pretty much down to it's barest of bones but hopefully there's some more room to be found.

So the debts are as follows:
CC1 30.348% apr £681.54
CC2 29.483% apr £687.96
CC3 29.9% apr £1,066.53
Bank Overdraft 19.9% £1650.00 pretty much maxed out at the end of every month
CC4 split over 2 rates 0% £3,175.16 & 6.9% £5,805.92 CC4 Total £8,981.08
Total Debt £13,067.11
A frightening total. Now I'm not sure of minimum payments on them all as I've moved a couple around.

Now I'm off to put my budget into the soa.
Wish me luck

PinkyPops

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household.........
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 986.35
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 986.35

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 350
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 84 (10x monthly payments)
Electricity............................. 25 (estimate as on a prepayment meter)
Gas..................................... 35 (estimate as on a prepayment meter)
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 30 (includes arrears expecting bill at end of June)
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 32.31 (Contract ends July 2018)
TV Licence.............................. 0 (I don't watch TV)
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 5 (Patreon subscription for exclusive youtube content, instead of watching TV)
Internet Services....................... 12 (Sadly this will end next month and increase to £20)
Groceries etc. ......................... 80
Clothing................................ 0
Petrol/diesel........................... 100 (Mainly commuting)
Road tax................................ 13.12
Car Insurance........................... 41.24
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0 (I need to put something away for this)
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Misc.................................... 50 (this is cash for catch all to last me the month so for gifts, car park, drink at the pub, dentist, prescriptions etc)
Total monthly expenses.................. 857.67[/b]


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 200
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 200

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
CC1............................681.54....32.8......30.34
CC2............................687.96....24.87.....29.48
CC3............................1066.53...50........19.9 I've done a balance transfer from this one so unsure of the new minimum payment
CC4 @ 6.9% LOB.................5805.92...50........6.9 Again I've just done a balance transfer so unsure of the new minimum payment
CC4 @ 0% Dec 17................3175.16...7.99......0
Bank Overdraft.................1650......0.........19.9

[Deleted User]

Hi Pinky,

Welcome to the boards.

Happy new diary x

ada-or-ardor

Welcome to the boards - I'm sure you'll find some great help! :-)

If your SOA is realistic, I imagine it's those eye-watering interest rates that are killing you. I know you've done some BTs - are these onto 0%? Someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon, you don't want to apply for loads of BTs at once, but I would say priority is to get debts on as low interest as possible, so you're chipping away at more of the capital.

I think you also need to look at ways of earning more money. Doing surveys for an extra £20 a month would make a big difference to you, as you are on quite a limited income. Also, use cashback sites when you do but anything online. The basics like buying yellow stickered food might bring down your grocery budget too.

You have a significant amount of debt relative to your salary, yet seem to have enough income to meet your regular outgoings, based on your SOA. So I think it will be crucial for you to understand where this money has gone? The fact it's split over various cards suggests it wasn't one big situation you just had to borrow for, but that your spending is perhaps out of control.... This will be a really important step for you, based on what I have gleaned from your posts.

Good luck with your journey - and start by paying off more from the higher-interest debts first!

JoJoC

I just wanted to stop by and wish you luck! You're doing the right thing by taking control before it's too late, so all the best in sorting things out!

doingitanyway

Well done for facing up to this.

PinkyPops

Thank you everyone for the encouragement.

I'm just about sticking to my budget, which I'm very pleased with. The debts have come from various different things. Some has just been hanging around for years, then stupidly after a relationship breakdown, it went on the a rental deposit and starting from scratch with furnishing and belongings. Then just sticking my head in the sand and spending a little too much every month, throw in some car repairs and here we are.
I don't feel like I've been extravagant there were no holidays, designer clothes, expensive cars or fancy furniture but I'm here now and I have to deal with my own apathy.

I'm trying really hard to stick to my budget right now and not get further into debt, whilst establishing exactly where I am with everything. There is very little wiggle room in my budget and I'm very aware there's nothing for car repairs, Christmas, birthdays or clothing. Over the last few days I've been trying to figure a bit of a plan out which so far looks like starting with a mini emergency fund of £200. Hopefully this will make help me to feel less like I'm on the brink of disaster all the time as far as the car is concerned. I would like to build this up over time to a larger amount but I think I need to get at least one card paid off first. As for Christmas and birthdays, I need to plan ahead for these especially Christmas, make a list and then if I see something on a fabulous offer hopefully pick it up with my misc budget. As for clothes there is nothing I need very soon except shoes. I have worn to the point of falling apart my two work pairs of shoes and I need to replace these but again it down to planning.

So I'm seeing a fair bit of ebaying in my future, surveys and just getting my income up whilst double checking every expense I have to make sure I'm getting the best deal.

On Wednesday I took a jumper back for a full refund onto my credit card so that's £12.99 off already. I have a couple of bits I need to take back to Asda, I don't have a receipt so I'm hoping they will give me credit note.
Today and tomorrow I want to make a list of all the gifts I've to buy over the year along with Christmas, look at what I have tucked away in my present box already. I need to find out the points balances on all my loyalty cards and look at cashing these out on things I need, like the nectar ones on food so I can free up some of my food budget cash to pay off the debts. I will be ebaying this weekend too.

I do feel like all these little things are me taking control of my scary situation and hopefully they'll all add up to a debt free future one day.

Pinkypops

Lucylocks

Is there any chance you could take a second job - evening or weekends? Could make huge difference to your budget

bubblycrazy

Best of luck pinky, we have similar SOA's although entirely different circumstances. It's a challenge getting the money to stretch but if you have a good realistic budget then it is doable.

Do you keep a spending diary? I've found writing down everything I spend in a notebook really makes me stop and think before buying something.
Those interest rates make for scary reading, I hope you can get them lowered.
Make sure you shop around for a new broadband deal in a couple of weeks, and keep posting on here, the knowledge available is invaluable.

PinkyPops

Thanks Lucy, a second job would make a huge difference right now but besides work I also have exams to study for, which in the long term will help me to earn more at work. This is something I do need to consider though and see if I can find something even if it's only a couple of hours a week it could make a big difference.

PinkyPops

Thanks Bubbly, I think my budget if reasonably realistic I suppose time will tell. This month I've been using an free app on my phone called Goodbudget and I've used this for my variable costs such as food, petrol, gas, electric and my misc fund which seems to be working well so far, it's really great seeing how much of each budget is left, I'm impressed and hoping I'm not on some sort of free trial. I just need to figure out how to record my cash purchases so just more playing about with the app.

The interest rates are scary but it can hopefully only get better. Broadband shopping is on the list to shop for now and the £20 pm it will go up to includes line rental, so fingers crossed there's some good offers out there very soon.