Huge Overspend

Feral_Moon

pmlindyloo wrote: »

A couple of suggestions.

You have car expenses but no car assets so how much is your car worth? Could you manage without it? You are spending almost two hundred pounds a month on the car.

You are paying the bedroom tax so have a spare bedroom. Could you take in a lodger?

Are you claiming all the benefits that you are entitled to?

Depending on the value of your car you could be eligible for a Debt Relief Order.

Sorry, the car values should have been on there but had a problem doing the SOA on the iPad so transferred the figures over to my son's laptop. They must have been accidentally missed off. The vehicle costs are over two vehicles - a car and a campervan - so not as high as it originally looks. Total value between the two would be approx £10,000 but I'm afraid neither can be sold at this present time.

The spare room belongs to my son which he uses when home on leave so I wouldn't be able to get a lodger but neither would I want one as I need my personal space due to health conditions.

To answer some other questions, the monthly amounts I put down for things such as hair, clothes, presents, holiday (it's not for an actual holiday as such) are just rough annual estimates averaged to give a monthly figure for the SOA and not actual expenses I pay out every month.

Yes, I need the landline for broadband. I don't actually have a phone attached to it. The gas/electric has recently been switched and they are insisting I pay this amount monthly to be reviewed in a year's time but my usual usage averages at £43 a month combined.

Again, the grocery budget is estimated. I don't shop regularly so one week I may spend £10 and the next £50. However, it does include alcohol which is currently a little on the high side and is an area I could definitely make some cutbacks.

As I said before, the dog food is non-negotiable as I raw feed and considering what I save in vets fees every year it more than pays for itself. And such a large breed, it wouldn't be very much cheaper to feed kibble anyway. It's not always as high as that depending on being able to get cheap rabbit, venison and pheasant in shooting season.

As I said before, the window cleaner cost is negligible and I can't clean them myself so he will be staying. The Nat Trust will also be staying as it's also negligible yet saves me an absolute fortune over the year in parking/camping fees.

Which comes to the fuel/holiday fund - my campervan is my lifeline - and allows me to be able to get out of the house with the dog yet rest up/sleep when necessary. My son also uses it when home in exchange for covering all maintenance costs. Most of the time my only cost is fuel but there are occasions where I may need to park up on a site which can cost anything from £5-£15 a night but I try to keep it to a minimum.

To answer the question of further 0% BT - this could certainly be a possibility in the future as I'm juggling the debt around 4 or 5 cards anyway but the one empty one I have with a large credit limit is currently only offering 6.9% so I'm keeping it to one side, hoping for a better offer. I can't/won't apply for any additional cards.

Feral_Moon

Hiddenidenity wrote: »

Speak to stepchange, Stop paying the credit card in full you can't afford too and the shortfall is no where near as bad if you take the £600 off. Speak to one of the free debt advice services.

I completely agree that I can no longer afford to pay the card off in full every month but this is because I'm massively overspending on it - EVERY MONTH - to the tune of £600 and sometimes more. Just looking at this year's statements alone, my monthly credit card bill has ranged from £987 (must have been a good month!) up to £1648 just two months ago, which ended being BT to the Lloyds card as I couldn't afford to pay it off.

It's not the stuff listed in the SOA that needs cutting back - those are just basic living costs - it's this extra £600-£1000 a month overspend which needs tackling first. I think I have an addiction to internet shopping

FatVonD

Can you sell any of the stuff you have bought? Okay, you won't get all your money back but it might make a dent in it.

Why are you spending so much online, is it boredom? could you get a voluntary job to occupy the mind?

Could you sell the car but keep the camper van and just use that all the time? Let your son sign up to a car sharing scheme when he's home.

enthusiasticsaver

First off stop using credit cards for monthly spending and cut them up. This will also cure your internet shopping addiction as you will not be able to spend on them. Remove all the websites from your favourites that you spend on. You cannot afford to pay the cards off so going forward you will need to live within your means. If you go onto a dmp or go bankrupt you will not be able to get one anyway. For the time being you will need to move to minimum or token payments on the credit cards as those payments above are not minimums are they? If they are then contact stepchange and consider whether DMP or bankruptcy is the way to go. There is a fee for bankruptcy though.

Hiddenidenity

Cut the credit card up and stop spending on it now. Starting today.

You need to create a realistic budget, one you actually do spend the things in it and accurate amounts, along with one that works without a shortfall especially one at £800.

You need to get to the route of the problem. Stop spending online, seek help. Remove yourself from mailing listings for all the temptations, unfollow all those tempting items online.

Find something free to occupy yourself. Reading, a hobby, anything that isn't at so expensive.

Look around and sell some of the 'stuff' that's made you 20k in debt.

It might have only took 10 months or whatever to get negative 20k but it will take a whole load longer to get even. If you don't make those changes now you'll be back here in 6 months 30k in debt.

I dont want to sound harsh but thats how it is. You need to separate your wants from your needs.

I want a lot of things, but I can't afford them, nor do I need them.

Speaking to one of the debt charities is still probably a good idea. Good luck x

ontheup1972

Mmm, I hate to state the obvious but you really can't afford to run either a car or a campervan - let alone both - when your income is currently at the level it is.

I can't see how you can realistically expect to keep hold of either whilst you're running at such a monthly loss.

Obviously as others have said, if you are on your own £300 a month on groceries is excessive, look to cut that back as well as a few of the other luxuries and unnecessary expenses.

kelpie35

All the suggestions you have been given, you have poo pood.

If you are not willing to make these sacrifices then why post here?

Feral_Moon

FatVonD wrote: »

Can you sell any of the stuff you have bought? Okay, you won't get all your money back but it might make a dent in it.

Why are you spending so much online, is it boredom? could you get a voluntary job to occupy the mind?

Could you sell the car but keep the camper van and just use that all the time? Let your son sign up to a car sharing scheme when he's home.

Yes, I probably have got lots of stuff I could sell. In fact I know I have. It was actually suggested to me that I sell stuff to fund any future trips away or leisure activities to reduce costs further. I think this is a very good idea if I can manage it.

The car isn't worth a great deal to be honest, not enough to significantly reduce debts, and would need money spending on it to sell. It's the campervan he uses when home for some down time so I need the car then. It only costs £150 a year FC insurance and I SORN it if I know it won't be needed for a while.

quintwins

I'm sorry but your just not being realistic about your situation. Your still wanting to live the lifestyle you want rather than the one you can afford. sadly there is no quick fix to make these debts go away without some sort of sacrifice, even to go bankrupt you will need to cut back to pay the fee.

Feral_Moon

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

First off stop using credit cards for monthly spending and cut them up. This will also cure your internet shopping addiction as you will not be able to spend on them. Remove all the websites from your favourites that you spend on. You cannot afford to pay the cards off so going forward you will need to live within your means. If you go onto a dmp or go bankrupt you will not be able to get one anyway. For the time being you will need to move to minimum or token payments on the credit cards as those payments above are not minimums are they? If they are then contact stepchange and consider whether DMP or bankruptcy is the way to go. There is a fee for bankruptcy though.

I know you are completely right about stopping using the credit card for everyday spending. The difficulty is that I rely on internet shopping for everything so wouldn't be able to stop entirely. My original fear was overspending on a debit card would leave me with deeper problems if there wasn't enough left to cover DDs etc. But, thinking about it I could transfer a fixed amount (within budget) to another current account and use only that. Not sure why I hadn't thought of it before!

No, the other credit card payments aren't minimum payments but are calculated to clear the balances by the time 0% deals end on them. I have this huge thing about not wanting to pay interest on anything but I guess I'm going to have to at some stage if I want to avoid a debt management plan or even bankruptcy and just take longer to pay off the debts.