Wannabe Debt free ASAP

catkin759

So I’m 23 in debt and hating it

4 x credit card (£800, £500, £500, £2000)
2 x overdrafts (£2000, £800)

I pay back about £50-100 p/m on each card but still dip into my overdraft every month

How do I stop this and work towards being debt free

My only expenses are the gym £35 p/m and i own my car and put £20 petrol every 2 weeks and pay £50 on my bus card once a month

I earn 22,800 before tax so like £1400 take home pay

UncannyScot

Hi and welcome

First steps would be to do yourself a Statement of Affairs (SOA), you'll find one on-line (forgot the link but there's a good one in stoozing.com).
Filling out a SOA should show you exactly where everything is going and from there you can work out where you need to make savings. You can post it on here if you like and folks will help advise on it.
For a lot of folks doing an honest SOA can be the real eye opener on things.

You can do this, we're all here to help.

DCFC79

catkin759 wrote: »

So I’m 23 in debt and hating it

4 x credit card (£800, £500, £500, £2000)
2 x overdrafts (£2000, £800)

I pay back about £50-100 p/m on each card but still dip into my overdraft every month

How do I stop this and work towards being debt free

My only expenses are the gym £35 p/m and i own my car and put £20 petrol every 2 weeks and pay £50 on my bus card once a month

I earn 22,800 before tax so like £1400 take home pay

You've stated a thread on debt free diaries, did you mean too ?

Anyway, an soa is first thing.

Cut back on your spending which the soa is useful for.

Your soa will tell you how much money you should have left over once spending is done eg bills.

If you work at it you should be able to get the smaller 2 cards paid off.

catkin759

Summary
Monthly Budget Summary
Amount(£)
Total monthly income
1,500
Monthly expenses (incl. HP & secured loans)
284
Available for debt repayments
1,216
UNsecured debt repayments
220
Amount left after debt repayments
996

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Amount(£)
Total Assets (things you own)
2,500
Total Secured & HP Debt
-0
Total Unsecured Debt
-6,600
Net Assets
-4,100
Household Information
Number of adults in household
3
Number of children in household
0
Number of cars owned
1
Income, Expense, Debt & Asset Details
Income
Amount(£)
Monthly income after tax
1500
Partners monthly income
0
Benefits
0
Other income
0
Total monthly income
1500

Expenses
Amount(£)
Mortgage
0
Secured/HP loan payments
0
Rent
100
Management charge (leasehold property)
0
Council tax
0
Electricity
0
Gas
0
Oil
0
Water Rates
0
Telephone (land line)
0
Mobile phone
60
TV Licence
0
Satellite/Cable TV
0
Internet services
0
Groceries etc.
0
Clothing
0
Petrol/diesel
20
Road tax
14
Car Insurance
30
Car maintenance (including MOT)
0
Car Parking
0
Other travel
60
Childcare/nursery
0
Other child related expenses
0
Medical (prescriptions, dentists, opticians 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
Total monthly expenses
284

Secured & HP Debt Description
Debt(£)
Monthly(£)
APR(%)
Mortgage
0
(0)
0
Secured & HP Debt totals
0
-
-

Unsecured Debt Description
Debt(£)
Monthly(£)
APR(%)
capital one
800
60
19
capital one
500
60
19
new day
500
50
17
halifax overdraft
800
0
0
santander overdraft
2000
0
0
paypal
2000
50
19
Unsecured Debt totals
6600
220
-

Asset Description
Value (£)
Cash
0
House Value (Gross)
0
Shares and bonds
0
Car(s)
2500
Other assets (e.g. endowments, jewellery etc)
0
Total Assets
2500
Comments on the results
You have sufficient monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments with £996 left over. You can use this to pay off your debts more quickly or to build/top-up an emergency fund. Whatever your results show, it always pays to seek advice or comments from others. Why not post your SOA details on our Debt Management discussion board or on your preferred discussion forum elsewhere. Thankyou for using the SOA Calculator

Starmummy

If you are struggling to pay your debts with such a surplus each month I don't think you have filled out the SOA honestly. You shouldn't be posting the bare bones of your finances but tracing back through the last 3-6 months of spending to see why you are running up debts.

Look at what you are actually spending on eating out, clothes, socialising, hobbies.
Be honest. You are going to have to make some changes in your spending habits to get rid of the debts and get some savings behind you.

Good luck

gingerscot

Hi,

You need to be honest with your SOA and fill in everything that you spend on a monthly basis for it to work and for you to get a full picture of your spending situation.

In the end it won't be saying....

"You have sufficient monthly income to meet your expenses and your minimum monthly debt repayments with £996 left over."

Because clearly that's not the case! You have nothing in Council Tax, bills, internet, groceries, entertainment, clothes etc... I presuming you live at home considering you've just got a rent of £100?

Where is the £996 going? That's the question you want to answer. If you're stuck, go and look through last months bank statements and map across everything to the correct box as best you can then we can probably help you more.

Cheers,