Debt-Free Wannabe ASAP

Tempus01

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I think even with cooking for your bf you can bring your grocery shopping down. I spend between £150-180 for 2 adults and a 4 yo. You could bring it down to say £100 and then then accounts for your shortfall and gives you an extra £59.92 to play with a month I went from paying £100 pw on groceries to cutting it down gradually until I got to a point I was happy with. I often buy reduced meat and freeze, and actually reduced anything and freeze

At the time when your ex stops paying you the £150 you will have finished Littlewoods and almost be able to ditch the gym so that will be an extra £40/£80 to play with. Up until Nov I would just use the £150 to put towards overpaying the loan probably, but it depends when the 0% deals end and what the apr will be when they do.

I would also say from your comment re your bf that maybe your soa isn't accurate. How much are you spending on days/evening out, a bottle of wine when he come round etc? I think you should be honest about your situation with him actually. He earns very decent money so prob wants the spoils that comes with it. If he understands you're not in the position to meet him anyway, let alone half, then the decent thing will be for him to meet those costs and for you to do more frugal/thoughtful things. When I earned a lot more money than my oh I paid for holidays, nights/days out. I wanted to do those things and I wanted to do them with him. Now the tables have turned and I earn very little and a lot less than him and he pays for the lions share. Being fair doesn't always mean splitting the bills!

Good luck. I found it's a mindset more than anything else and when I decided to do it, it became easy to commit to not spending on frivolities and enjoyed seeing the numbers coming down

I think at the minute we aren't very organised so we both rent apartments and take it in tunrs staying at each others houses, so we need to ge better at planning what we are doing.


My BF would more than happily pay for everything but I don't think that should be the case. I evry much like to pay my own way which is why I am in the situation I'm in. If he was to tak eme away on holiday I would feel pressure and would want to pay for something. So at the minute I have said we aren't going out and when we do stay in he tends to bring the wine etc.


Yes I have already seen a change in things now that I have change my attitude Thank you!

fatbelly

If you're paying your council tax over 10 months you have already paid half for this year. Ask if you can spread the remaining 50% over the remaining 7 months. Should reduce it to around £70. Then next year go for 12 payments from the start.

Are you part of Martin's energy club for your electricity?

Are you registered with topcashback AND Quidco?

Is your tv repayment HP? That's an expensive way to buy a tv. You know you can hand it back at the half-way point?

Try switching bank account to get a sweetener and monthly cashback

I thought initially you might be best going for a DMP over about 3 years. Then with your surplus set to increase I thought maybe you didn't need one. Now it really hinges on whether you can live according to your soa. If you can, you can still be debt-free in around 3 years but without defaults on your file.

Tempus01

Hi Fatbelly,


Good idea with the ocuncil tax, I ahve already set next years up as 12 monthly payments. But come to think of it I will be moving out of my apartment by March. SOmehwere much much cheaper and maybe even a flat share! That would increase by surplus considerably.


I actually got a good deal ont he TV, 0% interest over a year.


Will switching bank accounts effect my credit file?


I've just registered today with Quidco.


I hope to be debt free in Three years or maybe two if I really push myself but not sure how relasitic that is.


Going to do another SOA to see where I'm up to.

Tempus01

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to write to lenders asking them to freeze interest?

Tempus01

Update 25.08.17


Hi Guys!


Well it's been a good week. Feeling better everyday. I've spent today sorting out all my bills etc. I have now spread my council tax over 12 months so that has brought the payment down by half as I had overpaid this month.


I've also reduced my phonebill and put a cap on my bill so that I don't go over.


I've set up a direct debit for my water so that's come down a little bit too


On the downside I've worked out that this month is the last payment from my ex which isnt greta but looking at my new SOA i hould be fine.


I am going to keep paying the minimum on my Natwest card as this has the lowest rate and then I'll over pay on the other two cards.


I encur fees if I overpay on my loan though so will keep that at the suggested payment.


The following payments will cease soon:
Gym - January + £40.50
Littewoods - Oct + £41.82
TV - March + £25.61
Phone - March + £20 (this is beacuse I paid off my handset which was £160 which I took from savings so I'm going to pay £20 back each month into my savings)


I've signed up to Quidco so hoping I can make some cashback on that.


All in all feeling pretty satisfied with the baby steps I've taken so far


Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet
Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 1
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 0
Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1907
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 1907
Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 800
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 58
Electricity............................. 43.24
Gas..................................... 0
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 31.03
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 30
TV Licence.............................. 12.12
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 22
Internet Services....................... 23.99
Groceries etc. ......................... 130
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 0
Road tax................................ 0
Car Insurance........................... 0
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 0
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 20
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 30
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 30
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 30
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
(Unnamed monthly expense)............... 0
Gym..................................... 40.5
Total monthly expenses.................. 1340.88

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

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts
Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Littlewoods....................81.84.....40.92.....0
Tesco Credit Card..............2003.17...59........26.7
Barclaycard....................1631.36...49........24.6
Natwest Credit Card............1422.34...23.8......15
Natwest personal loan..........8392.32...231.8.....23
TV V12 Finance.................197.27....25.61.....0



Total monthly income: £ 1907
Expenses (incl. HP & secured debts): £1340.88
Available for debt repayments: £ 566.12
Unsecured debt repayments: £ 430.13Surplus (shortfall if negative) £ 135.99

Wookey

Tempus01 wrote: »

Looking for a second job, cash in hand preferably but not easy to find.

Part time bar work or waitressing is always an option and has the added bonus of tips. Also you are out and not spending.

Isn't anything i can add that hasn't already been covered, i would however keep an eye out for a cheaper place to rent in the area with a view to moving to it at some point, at £800pm that's half your salary, somewhere at £600pm leaving £200 available is a huge chunk of cash you can throw at your debts. Just that alone and a part time bar job bringing in £200pm would clear your debt well inside 4 years without cutting out any other thing that you currently spend on.

enthusiasticsaver

The killer is the Nat West loan at 23%. The consolidation loan was your biggest mistake. No matter how many times I hear someone say it is easier to have one payment I can almost guarantee they will be regretting it in 6 months time. Still you are where you are and although your soa is tight there is no shortfall.

Are the credit cards actually at 0% or have you just not filled that bit out? If there is interest being charged and you cannot get any 0% deals ( I think if the best rate you could get on the loan was 23% then the chance of 0% cards at the moment is low) then you could try ringing them saying you are in financial difficulties. The Littlewoods debt finishes in 2 months so you will have an extra £40 to throw at the credit cards or the loan.

Other economies have been pointed out. If you are cooking for your BF too then he has to contribute. The gym membership has to go until you are in a better position. Find free ways of exercising. The rent is expensive too but it may not be cost efficient to move at the moment. Paying almost half your income on rent is unsustainable long term. Do you have a spare room so you can take in a lodger?

enthusiasticsaver

The soa looks better and you seem to have a plan. I would pay any extra income you have to the Barclaycard initially as the balance is lower and there is very little difference interest wise between that and Tesco credit card. Once you have cleared it snowball the payment to the Tesco credit card. Unfortunately you cannot do much with the loan if there are penalties for overpaying. I despair of these banks offering high interest loans to consolidate debt. It just makes things worse.

Tempus01

Hi Enthusiastic Saver


I know it was a mistake but I was just in such a rut. The way I was spending I would never have put down £230 a month on top of the other payments. So at least the loan makes me do that. And do you know what, it's a good lesson for me!! A costly one but a lesson none the less.


I think if i overpayed ont he loan I would have to pay 55 days of interest.


The bank advised that if I made my payments for long enough they may be able to look at the loan again and offer me a better option.

enthusiasticsaver

I would definitely ask them to look again at the loan in a year then to see if you can get the interest rate lower and use that year to focus on paying down the credit cards and living within your budget. With the lower council tax and the savings you have already made you should be in a good position going forward to overpay the Barclaycard initially (albeit by a small amount). I think you need something in an emergency fund though even if only £25 per month.