Where do I start???

Shineyhappy

Are you on the best tarriff if you keep your current phone? Pre LBM I got a new mobile so extended my contract without thinking, but I hardly use my phone so it seems stupid paying £42 a month for the privellege! I am almost able to change to a lower price plan and the extra £22 will be great!

Scarlett.1974

Jemmie wrote: »

My salary - £1,376
Partners salary - £1,450

Total - £2,826

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £777.48
Council Tax - £98
Gas - £35 - check uswitch to check if you're on the best tariff and if you do find you should swap, go to www.quidco.com for some lovely free cashback!
Electric - £39 - as above.
TV License - £8.63
Household insurance - £48.01 - ouch, this is a lot. Look on confused.com and again, go through quidco. I recently changed ours (buildings & contents) and went from £36 a month to £17 and £40 cashback from quidco
Water - £24.52
Phone - £36
Food - £250 - this can definitely be reduced I spend £260 on 2 adults, 2 kids and 1 cat (was £500+ before I came here :eek: )
Car Insurance - £19.41
Petrol - £90
Life Insurance - £37.58 - again, can you see if you can get cheaper? Another example from me - recently changed our mortgage life cover, went from £60 a month to £16
Gym membership - £35 - bin it
Mobile phone bills - £55 - these too can be reduced. How long is left on your contracts? The closer you are to the end the more power you have
Abbey Loan - £298.84 (2 years left approx £10,000 6.9%)

Total: £1,852.48

Me - Abbey CC – Balance £2,164.46 (limit £5,200) APR 15.9%
Partner - Abbey CC - Balance £4,515.53 (limit £5,000) APR 15.9%

Me - Overdraft - £1,000 (limit £1,000) APR 0.1%
Partner - Overdraft - £700 (limit £1000)APR 0.1%

:eek: HELP - Where to start?!?!?

Well done on getting your SOA together so quickly :T

My comments are above in red, I hope they help a little

You are in a good position where you have LOTS of ways you can cut down loads and be able to throw more at your debts. As has already been suggested look at the snowball calculator to see what it advises.

Best of luck. Keep posting, the support you will receive will be invaluable I promise.

Scarlett xx

Larumbelle

Scarlett has given lots of excellent advice, all the things I was thinking.

I definitely also agree with shiney, you and your OH need to do a debt diary, becuase you have a fair chunk of money left after your outgoings. Firgure out what you're spending it all on, decide whether you really need it, then chuck the money you've saved at your debts to get them paid quicker.

Also your 0% card, have you have heard back yet? If you get it, transfer your card debt over. Then see if there is any early payment penalty on the loan. If there isn't, focus on paying that off faster.

Jemmie

.....and so motivating - why didn't i think to come on here sooner? Thank you sooo sooo much. I didn't realise we had so much left over before now. It just seemed like we were struggling and in actual fact we are not that badly off. Like you have all suggested we just need to cut down. I have downloaded the budget plan and will show my husband when he gets home and work out a plan each month. Woo hoo I'm so excited!

Thank you

Jada

Hiya, you list your overdrafts as having an APR of 0.1%; I think that's your in credit interest, not the overdraft rate (if I'm wrong, well done you as that's really low!!).

Double check it again, maybe it's between 15 and 20%. Once you know how high it is, it's a good incentive to make you clear it

:staradmin Jada :staradmin

lunar

Glad you are finding the site helpful, i cant say enough how this site has saved me. even though i have such high debts i feel really positive about saving money and paying them off.

Just remember to keep on checking the site, i find other peoples stories really motivating, keeps me on the right path.

Little_Pickle

Hi Jemmie,

How you and your new hubby doing???

Manage to flog anything on eBay?
Check Quidco for gas / Leccy provider deals?

lots of love,
LP
xox

findingmyownway

welcome

in your situation i also think the spending diary has to be a priority! According to the above SOA you have £1000 left over!! Now clearly its not left over otherwise you wouldn't have spent on cards. You need to find out what its been spent on (check you previous bank statments, rank everything as clothes, makeup, going out etc and total them). Then by keeping a diary it makes you think about if you REALLY need what you are about to buy.

Good luck, you are in a great position to get out of debt very quickly

Homework

And if you feel that you cannot manage without spending a £2 on a coffee or £5 on lunch click on The Demotivator above in the Steps bit. Big eye opener

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum you have definately found the right place.

A spending diary is a must as PP has said as its scary what you spend your money on without even knowing it.

Good luck