Newbie poster,in debt and technical idiot

really-trying-honest

Hi everyone,
hope I'm not doing something bad by starting a new thread.
OK, have been aware of things financially getting bad but have just used the budget planner and what an eye opener. So have put together my SOA as follows:
INCOMING
Pay: £549
Other income(including child tax credit,working tax credit,child benefit,housing benefit and maintenance): £1107.46


OUTGOINGS
Rent: £750
TV licence: £12
Council tax: £98
Cable: £12
Water rates £29
Elec&gas £52
Telephone/internet £30
Life ins £9
Contents ins £14
Petrol £60
Car £28
Pet Ins £15
Food £200
Clothes,etc £30
hobbies,etc £45(a lot but son does beavers,swimming,music and rugby)
Provident loan £60
Account fee £12
Overdraft £approx45
Vanquis credit card £50
Rent arrears £50

Total debt: vanquis=£1000, Provident=£660, overdraft=£2800,rent arrears=£1800. GRAND TOTAL= £6260:eek:
I know many people have much worse,but I just dont know how to pay it off.
Have spoken to CCCS and they have suggested a "debt management plan" which could see me debt free in just over 2 years. What do people think are these good things?
Really really would appreciate any advice

HBFS

Hi there!

Welcome to DFW and if you get even half of the welcome and support I got when I got here recently, you'll be on the road to recovery in no time!

really-trying-honest

Thanks HBFS, it really does make a difference being able to come on this site, dont feel half as isolated now

kunekune

A couple of questions that you'll be asked anyway when the experts come on:

1. How many in the household? That's helpful when working out whether the food bill is bare bones or not.
2. Why cable? Is it the only way to get tv?
3. Do you need to pay an account fee to the bank, if that is what that is?

really-trying-honest

There is just my son and myself in the house. We can pick up normal tv without cable so I guess it is a luxury. The account fee for the bank is £12, the account with the overdraft is with natwest and I pay the fee for gold account as it means I pay less interest (at least thats what they tell me)on the overdraft. I have opened up a new account with alliance and leicester and this is going to be my fulltime account but cant get an overdraft with them.

HBFS

The food could be cut down a little, I feel. Perhaps by moving to certain own brand items? There is a site to compare your shopping with all the major supermarkets to see the cheapest, but the name escapes me atm.

mrsspendalot

Your food bill can be cut - possibly halved with careful planning. I spend £200 feeding a family of 5. Pop over to the oldstyle board for advice on how to reduce your food bill.

really-trying-honest

okay,£200 was my budgeted amount (ie.less than I was spending) so will now check out other boards and find ways to cut back more.:o

consultant31

I agree, you could save a lot on the food bill - possibly as much as half with careful planning. Make full use of buying when the supermaket first opens and there are always loads of bargains which have to be eaten (or frozen) that day.

Also, as you said yourself, the cable is a luxury you can't really afford.

£30 a month seems high to me for clothes (though I know kids grow in leaps and bounds). Try charity shops, things often only need a wash to look like new. Can some of the hobbies be cut out, over £500 a year is a lot of money! Lastly is your pet old/infirm? Could you stop the insurance for a while till you get straight?

Burlesque_Babe

Cancel the £12 account fee!!! You are just paying for stuff you will probably never use.

Your car insurance isn't horrendous but check out Money Supermarket to see if it saves you to swap.

dancingfairy

Hi and welcome. I make you expenses about 1601 a month so you should just about be balancing which is good news.
Cable 12 a month - is this really necessary or can this go?
food -as said you should be able to cut this down a bit - try going for cheaper things ie basics ranges or value stuff. Also try and cook from scratch as much as possible -even if it's really quick stuff like bolognese/curry/chilli/omlettes - there's loads of things you can cook from fresh which don't take that long- I always thought cooking from fresh took ages- but it doesn't have to- and it's cheaper.
Account charge - have a good look at that - perhaps post your usual overdrawn balance the account fee and the apr with paying the fee and the apr fee and I'm sure someone will have a good idea.
Could you apply for a credit card with 0% - not with the aim of getting more credit but to move your debt to 0% as I'm sure Vanquis and Provident must be charging you a fortune.
Car 28 - what is this for - is it savings to be put away each month towards repairs? Yes it is a good idea to put money away for these things but I feel it might be better to use this money to pay off your debts first.

Whatever spare money you get paying your rent arrears off each month should be a priority.

Also keep a spending diary and see if you can identify where you are spending money - I think you might have missed a few things off your SOA like an amount for haircuts/ christmas/ birthday presents.

I know this post is very long but hopefully it will give you a few more ideas and with a bit of hard work you can definitely turn this situation around and get out of debt. All the best.
Dancing fairy.