Another DFW comes out from under the stone she was hiding under

GemmaB78

Howdy all,

I've been lurking on here for a while, and thought it time I introduced myself, and set out my SOE, to see if it looks as bad on paper as it does in my head. So, deep breath, here goes.............

Monthly salary: £1,867 (nb: after pension)

Monthly SO into joint account: £750. This covers all the household bills and essential groceries. Alcohol, chocolate (wait - aren't these essentials!) are paid by us individually

Monthly Loan: £387

Credit Card: £100

Mobile Phone: £28

Car Insurance: £45

Diesel: £100 (approx. - depends on mileage!)

Horse keep costs: £150

By my calculations, this leaves a balance of around £300pcm.

Current Debt:
These are all approx. as I don't have statements with me at work

Natwest Loan: £22,000.
CC: £3,800
OD1: £220. Arrangement with bank to pay this off by 30/1/2008
OD2: £200
Dad: £1,900

My plan over the next few months is to pay off both the ODs, my Dad and part of the CC with my bonus, which is due to be paid in March. We don't know what it will be yet, but latest results to Q3 show a better position than this time last year so it should be enough to clear some of the debts.

Does this look really awful? The problem I have is that there isn't a lot of disposable income each month, and if stuff goes wrong in the house or with my car (which, given it's age, is highly likely!) my OH inevitably has to bail me out.

Our mortgage is £127k, and we have about £60k equity in the place. My OH is off work at the moment with stress & depression (so I'm off to say 'hello' on the depression thread shortly!) which is fine as he is covered by a really good sickness plan. He's talking quite seriously about going back to uni part-time next year. If that happens, we will be selling our house, using part of the equity to pay off my debts (which he knows all about and is very supportive), then buy somewhere smaller which will free up A LOT of income for me and allow him to do his course.

So really, I guess things aren't too bad when I set them out like that. I'd just like a few ideas about where I can save some money, if at all.

hypno06

hi there! Welcome to DFW

I am not particularly good on the whole SOA thing, so will leave it to the experts, but just want to point you in the direction of the snowball calculator on www.whatsthecost.com it is a fab tool and will give you a provisional debt free date to work to!

Good luck, and keep posting!

oops_a_daisy

Hi Gemma,

well done on posting up your SOA. One of the main areas that can be cut down on is the household expenses and as this is your most expensive direct debit per month, can you break down that £750?
Try to keep a spending diary. Just a cheapo jotter in your handbag to note down everything that you spend or you could just keep all receipts and total them up at the end of the day. It is sometimes frightening to see how much money can be frittered away in the day on bit and bobs.

all the best and good luck xoopsx

Jacks_xxx

:hello: Hiya sweetie and welcome to DFW! :hello:

I just wanted to suggest taking your household finances as a whole rather than having separate financial arrangements.

The reason I suggest this is because then you could post a full SOA with all the household bills on it and we could help you to get better deals on everything and the money you save could help to pay off the debts really quickly.

The Moneysaving Old Style Board is fab for changing how you do your food shopping. I haven't come across anybody yet who has no scope to save on the shopping! (and again any savings could be siphoned off to reduce the debts.)

Getting your head around the snowballer will help you pay off the debts in the fastest cheapest way:

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Doing it in the order of the interest rates from highest to lowest is vital.

and...keeping a spending diary is handy too. Do you know what the "spare" £300 is spent on every month? Maybe if you knew where it went you could choose to throw some of it at debt instead?

Check out:

http://www.spendingdiary.com/

And do let us know how you get on sweetie,

Love Jacks xxx

GemmaB78

Thanks for the replies.

Household bills:

OH puts the same amount in so there's a total of £1,500.

Mortgage: £780. New in Feb, fixed for 2 years
Council Tax: £130
TV Licence: £11
Gas: £20
Electricity: £40
Water (both in and out): £20
Sky TV: £30
H&C Insurance: £20
Life Insurance: £30
Groceries: this probably comes to £200-£250 a month

This does leave a bit left over each month but we've just bought it and it needs a bit of work doing, so the additional goes towards that.

Good idea re: a spending journal.

Jacks_xxx

GemmaB78 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Hi again hon :hello:

Household bills:

OH puts the same amount in so there's a total of £1,500. A bit cheeky I know, but could OH pay more and you less for a while on the condition that you throw the extra at the debt?

Mortgage: £780. New in Feb, fixed for 2 years
Council Tax: £130 If this is over 10 months can you throw the £130 at the debt in the months that you don't pay it?
TV Licence: £11
Gas: £20 I don't know if you've been to Uswitch but it be worth checking to see if there's might be a cheaper tariff?
Electricity: £40 Ditto
Water (both in and out): £20
Sky TV: £30 You can get Sky+ and everything but the movies and sports for about £21 I think. Worth a phonecall? The little savings add up.
H&C Insurance: £20
Life Insurance: £30
Groceries: this probably comes to £200-£250 a month If this is for two people then it is definitely reduceable - if you want to do that. There are two adults, two gannet teenagers, and a moody cat in our house. We were spending £600+ a month but thanks to Money Saving Old Style and The Grocery Challenge we've come in under £350 for the last 2 months. I'm going to see if I can get under the £300 mark after Christmas, as to be honest we haven't felt at all deprived so far.

This does leave a bit left over each month but we've just bought it and it needs a bit of work doing, so the additional goes towards that. I guess you'll have to decide whether to continue doing that or throw the money at the debts instead.

Good idea re: a spending journal.

:cool:

I guess it's all about choices hon.

What helped us was to sit down and talk about what our priorities are, and then having a look to see if our behaviour and the way we spent our money reflected what we thought was important.

From where I'm standing , if you want to cut your outgoings and OH wants to go to college then reducing your debt is a logical first step, but even though i have a rampant Bossy Gene I'm only making suggestions, and offering opinions. It's up to you two to decide how you're going to achieve your goals.

Let us know how you get on honey.

Love Jacks xxx

Karmacat

Hi Gemma

Welcome to posting on mse! I don't have any other suggestions than what Jacks has written (she's good!). Definitely, the groceries can be cut down, and then you have to choose what you spend the discretionary money on: DIY improvements or debtbusting. Its a problem thats always there, isn't it, though if you're thinking of selling to finance further training etc, then you probably need to target the DIY to what will improve the saleability.

Keep posting!