new to the board

falady

Hi Clapton,

Thanks for the tips.

Just in reply to your points:

1 - When i said 'everyone' what i meant was everyone who is in debt - I should have made it clearer. I don't see spending more than I earn as 'a minor inconvenient fact' of modern life. I am on this board to try and get some help and advice from people who may have been in the same position as me, so that i can get back to solvency and have the budget and emergncy fund etc in place. I realise that my salary is enought to do this - i just need to learn to manage it better.

2 - I'll work out things on a monthly cost basis. I'll write down everything as it is now (as best i can - i am going to start recording my day to day spending) then I can see (hopefully with some help from the board) where i can make savings.

3 - the 600 covers costs while I was in Oz for a month with OH. Usually the bill may cover clothes, lunch out etc and is around 100-200 per month. I note your point about double counting.

I think for the sake of clarity and to avoid tempation i will pay off the current bill then cancel the card.


4 - i spend 58 per month on my metrocard to get the train to work. The cost of this is taken out of my salary each month before I get paid (I work for the council - one of the perks is a 15% discount off an annual metrocard and they let you pay it monthly straight out of your wages).

I also have a car - insurance is about 450 per year (not sure of exact amount due to recent change of car and update of policy until renewal in Jan). Petrol is no more than 40 per month. I don't use it a lot (college and supermarket plus visiting friends etc)

5 - thank you for your congratulations. We are not having a huge wedding and my parents are kindly funding it. Budget is 5000 which we will get as a wedding gift from mum and dad closer to the time. Have already paid for the wedding dress (1250 inc alterations etc) and bridesmaid dresses (£200 for both from bhs), £100 of the £300 room hire charge. Food will be approx £1000 total (haven't got final guest list as yet, but know rough numbers - 50 people during the day and 100 in the evening for bacon sandwiches), decorations - have bought tealights and holders and table confetti from ikea and tesco (grand total of £13!) and may get balloon decorations too - approx £150. Photography done my my uncle free (wedding gift). Flowers - 200?? Not sure but we're not having loads of table arrnagements etc, just the 3 boquets plus buttonholes etc.
Cake will be 80 from M&S plus poss cost of flowers to decorate it.
There will also be cost of hair, makeup, beauty treatments, etc - maybe 200??
We'll have to buy a suit for the best man and OH wants to have a suit made for himself. He will be able to wear it again.

Hopefully we will be able to cover some costs from our JA and pay off larger costs (eg food) when we get the present from mum and dad.

Ali

falady

Hi again everyone,

This is my attempt at recording my monthly expenditures:

All values below are per month:

Joint account:
This spending is shared 50:50 with OH

Mortgage = 818.27 (£113k borrowed at Dec 05 over 25 yrs, fixed rate 4.79% until Jan 2009, plus £21k borrowed july 07 over approx 23 years (both mortgage loans will finish at same time) at variable rate of approx 7.9%??

loan = 430 (£14k borrowed over 3 yrs (poss 3.5?) taken out in Sept / oct this yr at 6.9% (I think - will check)

water = 26.50
npower gas = 45
npower electricty = 35
BT landline = 18
broadband = paid for by OH work
home insurance barclays = 39.16
life and critical illness insurance = 54.39
council tax = 120
pet insurance = 25

food = 250 approx

The costs above are covered by my contribution of 930 to the JA each month, plus OH's contribution to JA.

JA current balance is -£378. mortgage has just been paid. £1830 will go into account tomorrow as mine and OH's monthly contributions. We also owe 1400 to the kitchen fitter which will come out of this account in the next few weeks. The authorised overdraft limit is 1400.

My personal expenditure is as follows. Values are approximate as i don't record exactly what I spend on individual items, but I have started recording spending today.

gym = 36 don't really go - will cancel this - spoke to the gym today and will go to gym to fill form in to cancel tomorrow night.
lovefilm - 9 (keep trying to cancel this but its awkward -will persevere)
mobile phone = 35 - at the beginning of a new contract.
clothes - 200
taxis - 60
drinks out - 40 normally (dec may be more?)
meals out - 50
lunch at work - 60
puzzle books and magazines - 10
presents - birthdays and xmas - 50
car tax and insurance = 50
petrol = 30
parking = 4
haircuts and colour = 33
eyebrow and eyelash tinting and shaping - 13
cards and stationary - 5
puzzle books - 7
magazines - 5

Plus, servicing of my debts:

amex - 25th nov dec payment = 649.34
amex - 2nd dec payment = 180
amex interest rate is 1.09% monthly. Card gets paid in full each month.

virgin card debt = 6626.17. 0% rate has just finished. Think it goes to 17.9% now, so will need to change to another 0% card.

my current account balance is 1906.19 today. Tomorrow 2500 (some ofmoeny from consolidation loan) will be paid to virgin (reducing virgin balance to 4126.17). Also 930 will go into JA. Authorised overdraft limit is 3000.00.

I would really appreciate any help with sorting out priorities and identifying areas for reducing spending (some are pretty obvious, i'll admit!).

Thanks (in advance) for your help,

Ali xxx

Tustastic

Hi falady, congratulations on joining the board.
Critical illness insurance - read the article about this on the main MSE site and decide whether to keep it or not. Many policies have so many exclusions, they're not worth it.
You've double-counted the puzzle books and magazines, but you could still cut back. How about treating yourself to a magazine subscription and saving money? Try quidco.com and you could earn cashback too. Start using the library too.
Car expenses - try quidco now to see whether you could get cashback on your next insurance in January.
Radical thought - do you really need the car at the moment? If it was a choice between that and haircuts/beauty therapy, hmmm?
Well done on planning to cancel the gym and Lovefilm. Walking back from the station is good exercise and will save on the taxi fares.
Try meal planning for your food - there are some very foody DFWs who eat like royalty on a small budget by not wasting anything.
Packed lunches will save you money too.
Wild card - could you get the single person discount on your council tax while your OH is in Australia? Unlikely but worth asking them.
Clothes - why not make money out of them? You must have tons - maybe eBay stuff you no longer want/need? Sorting your wardrobe will be easier to do while your OH is away.
Do keep that spending diary. It is a bother but it will save you a fortune.
HTH and happy debt-busting.
PS Congratulations on the wedding next year!

Sea78

Hi Welcome - I think there have been some great pointers made already, but I'll add my twopenneth worth too! I was in a similar situation before the kids came along - spent more than I earned every month although there was no real reason to and really wish I'd realised, like you have, at an earlier stage!

falady wrote: »

Hi again everyone,

This is my attempt at recording my monthly expenditures:

All values below are per month:

Joint account:
This spending is shared 50:50 with OH

Mortgage = 818.27 (£113k borrowed at Dec 05 over 25 yrs, fixed rate 4.79% until Jan 2009, plus £21k borrowed july 07 over approx 23 years (both mortgage loans will finish at same time) at variable rate of approx 7.9%??

loan = 430 (£14k borrowed over 3 yrs (poss 3.5?) taken out in Sept / oct this yr at 6.9% (I think - will check)

water = 26.50
npower gas = 45
npower electricty = 35
BT landline = 18
broadband = paid for by OH work
home insurance barclays = 39.16 WOW! This is a lot - would definitely be worth shopping round on this. My house is a similar bracket to yours I think (based on mortgage & loan amounts) and I pay £20 for decent coverage.
life and critical illness insurance = 54.39This too seems awfully high - worth rechecking and also checking just what they'd cover in case of illness.
council tax = 120
pet insurance = 25

food = 250 approx As someone who also likes cooking, I know you can cut this down and enjoy it too (promise!! ). Have a nose around the Old Stylde moenysaving board for more inspiration. Simply doing a weekly menu plan before shopping can help a LOT in cutting down the money. I spend (what I consider quite a bit) about the same on a family of 4 including nappies and milk and don't buy much value stuff at all really. Includes some organic stuff too.

The costs above are covered by my contribution of 930 to the JA each month, plus OH's contribution to JA.That's good - but if you can make the cut backs, you can then use any spare as an emergency savings fund in case things happen (which they always seem to!! ). Oh, and will go towards covering that 1400 - is your OD interest free? Worth looking in the Alliance and Leicester acc that matches your OD limit, is interest free and you can get quidco cash back on it too.

JA current balance is -£378. mortgage has just been paid. £1830 will go into account tomorrow as mine and OH's monthly contributions. We also owe 1400 to the kitchen fitter which will come out of this account in the next few weeks. The authorised overdraft limit is 1400.

My personal expenditure is as follows. Values are approximate as i don't record exactly what I spend on individual items, but I have started recording spending today.

gym = 36 don't really go - will cancel this - spoke to the gym today and will go to gym to fill form in to cancel tomorrow night.Well done!
lovefilm - 9 (keep trying to cancel this but its awkward -will persevere)They don't make it easy, eh? Try out the other rental companies through quidco for their free trial periods. by the time you've gone through them, you'll probably have a tempting offer from one of them giving you 3 months free or something
mobile phone = 35 - at the beginning of a new contract.
clothes - 200 Now, you've already said this is high. Have a big sort through of what you have - pair up items, work out what you want to really keep and what you don't. Sort it all - then if you do see things you want to buy you can remember if you actually have anything to go with it. Do you shop in Primark etc? I saw the fabby new TK Maxx in leeds the other day. Also sign up to pigsback etc for clicks to save towards high street vouchers so you can do 'free' shopping. Also if clothes are a problem, you could always ask for clothes vouchers for xmas pressies.
taxis - 60 OUCH.
drinks out - 40 normally (dec may be more?)
meals out - 50 Quite a bit, but if you cut back in other areas this need not stop - if it's something that you really enjoy, don't get rid, but perhaps take packed lunch into work and then you're saving that £60 anyway.
lunch at work - 60
puzzle books and magazines - 10
presents - birthdays and xmas - 50
car tax and insurance = 50
petrol = 30
parking = 4
haircuts and colour = 33
eyebrow and eyelash tinting and shaping - 13 hmmm...is this really necessary? Could you just go for the eyelash tinting, or even ask for vouchers for this for Christmas? As you are overspending each much I don't think this is really necessary at the mo.
cards and stationary - 5
puzzle books - 7
magazines - 5 Do you have tesco points or nectar points you could use for a mag subscription instead? All helps.

Plus, servicing of my debts:

amex - 25th nov dec payment = 649.34
amex - 2nd dec payment = 180
amex interest rate is 1.09% monthly. Card gets paid in full each month.

virgin card debt = 6626.17. 0% rate has just finished. Think it goes to 17.9% now, so will need to change to another 0% card.

my current account balance is 1906.19 today. Tomorrow 2500 (some ofmoeny from consolidation loan) will be paid to virgin (reducing virgin balance to 4126.17). Also 930 will go into JA. Authorised overdraft limit is 3000.00.

I would really appreciate any help with sorting out priorities and identifying areas for reducing spending (some are pretty obvious, i'll admit!).

Thanks (in advance) for your help,

Ali xxx

falady

Hi everyone,

Just a quick thank you for your extra suggestions (due in a meeting in a min) - there are some very good ideas there.

I did a lot of working out last night ands think I have come up with a plan. it still in the early stages and may need adjusting, but results in a DFD of 10/10/10 (nice ring to it!) except for student loan.

More details later......

Thanks again for all your help - everyone has been so kind.

Ali xx

falady

Hi everyone,

Well now its my lunchbreak i can tell you a bit more about my plans.......

Here goes (I'll try not to be too long winded and boring!).....

Alison’s monthly spending

Item - Original spend (approx) - Budget from now on, per month - Actual spend (19th Nov to 14th Dec)
Joint account inc bills and loan repayment - 930 - 930 - 930

Nights out - 50 - 50

Cinema - 10 - 10

Lovefilm subscription - 9 - 0 -

Gym membership - 36 - 0 -


Car tax and insurance - 140 plus 450 (Paid as one offs – contributed to credit cards) - 50 (save each month)

Petrol - 30 - 20

Haircut and colour - 33 (average) - 33

Eyebrows and eyelashes - 13 (average) - 13


Taxis - 45 - 10

Lunch at work - 60 - 0 - 1.50 so far

Meals out - 50 - 25

Presents (birthdays and xmas) - 50 (average) - 25

Cards and stationary - 5 - 5

Coffee / lunch in town - 20 - 20

Shoes - 50
Clothes - 150
Aim for 70 for both

Toiletries - 10 - 5

Mobile - 37 - 35

Prescriptions - 7 - 7

Puzzle books - 7 - 4.50

Magazines - 5 - 3



Total - 712
New total - 389.50


Total expenditure

Total income = £1147 / month (will go up in December)
JA contribution = £930 / month
Money left over for personal spending and to pay back debts = £517
Personal spending = £389.50
Money left to pay back debts = £127.50



Salary increases

In December 2007 pay packet (14th Dec paydate) I will get an honorarium increase in salary (ongoing from December) . This will be approx £60 – 70 / month.

There will also be a one off payment backdating my honorarium since May: This will be approx (7 months x £60 £420 to (7 months x £70 = £490).


In December 2007 paypacket (14th Dec paydate) I will also get a cost of living increase (ongoing from December) of approx £ …… / month.

There will also be a one-off payment of cost of living allowance backdated from April 2007. This one off payment will amount to approximately …… ( = 9 months x £ )

The one off payments will be used to pay OH the £350 I owe him, plus contribute to reducing my overdraft / paying off virgin card. The extra salary each month will also be used towards paying off debts.

Once I know exact increases (will know these in Dec) I can do a more up to date version of the debt repayments and will be able to repay more.

I have worked out that in January 08 I will have used one off payments to pay OH back, then paid my amex bill usisng my current account.

This will leave me with the following debts:

Virgin card = £4126
Overdraft on current account = £2554 (though may be less as i wasn't expecting the cost of living increase when I worked out the sums last night)
Amex = 0
Owe to OH = 0

= a total of £ 6680 debt.

Depending on exact pay increases, I will have £200 - £250 left over each month to pay debts off.

£6680 = 34 payments of £200 / month. DFD = October 2010
£6680 = 27 payments of £250 / month. DFD = March 2010.

falady

Aggrrrhhh - my table hasn't copied very well - should have remembered to preview it!

I am going to start a getting debt free diary on a separate thread and will put budgert and actual spend in my signature.

Any ideas welcome!

Ali x

HBFS

HI there and welcome to DFW! If you receive half the support and welcome I did, you'll be DF in no time!

riddlesticks

Hi there,

Welcome to the board.

falady wrote: »

Briefly, the headline details are:

my income = 1447
I'm due an honorarium backpayment of about £300 in the next few weeks. Why dont you pay a big amount of your Amex or your Virgin card? Dont just waste it.

my contribution to joint account (JA) = £930. Leaving £517

JA monthly costs: £1860

Mortgage = 818.27
loan = 430
water = 26.50
npower gas = 45 This is a lot. Do you have a big house? Shop around for cheaper. Try moneysupermarket or uswitch.
npower electricty = 35 Again same as above.
BT landline = 18 You could probably get this cheaper. Have you thought of shopping around for this?
broadband = paid for by OH work Thats brill - wish my OHs work paid for anything
home insurance barclays = 39.16 Again this is a lot. Shop around on compare, uswitch etc.
life and critical illness insurance = 54.39 Wow how much. I think you are being ripped off here!
council tax = 120
pet insurance = 25 but think they are charging us for a phantom cat so will query this Again shop around

food = varies from week to week but we do spend quite a lot. average £70-80 week, inc cat food for 3 cats and some toiletries. OH is working in australia until feb 08 so food spending should be less. This is something I know I can cut back on, but would still like 'nice' food as I am a foodie and enjoy cooking. You can still buy nice food. I shop at Aldi and the food is fab. It is so cheap but it has a fab range. People think shops like this are just cheap rubbish but they do a wide range of different foods and they are fantastic quality. Maybe you should try do the majority there and get anything you REALLY need from your usual places. Just to give you an idea of how other people cope I am a mother of two (one a baby) and I can feed me, OH and two kids proper scrummy healthy meals with all there fruit and vegs, meats etc needed to remain healthy for maxium £40/week including nappies.

If you spend £80/week on a 4 week month your total would be 1931.32 which is over the amount you and OH put in. How do you cover this?

My personal expenses from my account:

gym = 36 don't really go - will cancel this Its just money down the drain
mobile phone = 35 - This is a lot. You can get really good deals and Im sure you could get a good deal for a lot less.
amex payment = varies but paid off in full each month. Currently £660 but usually much less Geez this is a lot. Is this for Christmas?
virgin credit card payment - not sure what to set this at, currently 60/month on a debt of 6626.17 - need to increase this
clothes - can be quite a lot eg 200/month OMG I dont even spend this in a year
taxis - can be up to 20/week Are they necessary?
drinks out - no more than 40/month but will be more during dec due to xmas parties This and below are luxuries. You could reduce this and pay more off you debts. Or you could go out every other month instead until your debts are a bit better.
meals out - 50/month but may be less due to OH being away but more during dec due to xmas parties etc
lunch at work - average £3 2-3 times per week Its much cheaper to make your own.
puzzle books and magazines - £10/month This is a luxury. You could be using this money to pay off debts.
presents eg birthdays / xmas - not sure byut have tried to keep xmas spending down

Can't think of any others at the moment but will have a more detailed look when i get home.

Thanks,

Ali

You spend a lot of money at the mo on luxuries which I know is nice but you have to think are they necessary. You earn a really good wage and you could probably have some nice things but cut back on a lot, saving loads. I would also think of setting up a savings acc and putting aside at least £50/month. When things come up that you need money for its there and you are not tempted to put it on a credit card. HTHs.

AMxx

falady

Hi Riddlesticks,

Thanks for your comments.

Re honorarium one off payment and cost of living rise backpayment - these sums will be paid off my amex / virgin card and what i owe OH.

Re gas and electricity - we have a 4 bed terrace - an old victorian place which costs quite a lot to heat. Also, we pay by DD and when the costs were originally estimated by the energy company they estimated too low, so we are in 'arrears' which are taken into account in our monthly payment. I'm not sure I can switch until we are back to 0 with them. I will check where we are up to and investigate other providers.

Re BT costs - a good idea. We hardly use the landline (though we still need one for broadband to work) - i'll check what other providers / offeres there are. If anyone knows of any good deals suggestions would be much appreciated!

Home insurance - got this cost by shopping around a year ago (was previously £52 / month!) but will shop around again, as a few people have said this is high. I thought it was normal, but will see what i can save. The quote includes cover of possesions away from home (ipod, engagement ring, nice watch, mobile phone etc when out and about soon add up if I got mugged) which OH wanted to have, plus some accidental damage cover I think. I know these aren't necessary, but we would prefer to have them. May still be able to get it cheaper though, so will investigate.

Mobile phone - i'm at the beginning of a new contract so can't change this for a while I'm afraid

Amex - payment is not usually this high. It covers holiday spending and hotels etc when i visited OH in Oz recently. I'm going to pay off what's left on the card and get rid of it in the next few months.

Life and critical illness cover - again, one to do some investigating with. We have the cover in case anything happened to either of us, so the other one could still afford to have the house etc. Will be esp important when we have kids in a few years.

Food bills - definitely something to come down, and I've had some really useful ideas on this one, so thank you to everyone. We have a Netto where I live - is this as good as Aldi? Not sure if there's an Aldi but will have a look. Could be good for basics. I expect most places are cheaper than sainsbury's! thank you for the comparison amount - it has really made me see that I can spend a lot less on food.

Personal expenses - I have tried to set myself a realistic budget, knowing that I will not stick to it with no luxuries. I appreciate that this is not everyone's choice, but I'll start like this and see how I get on. Hopefully I will spend less in reality (knowing that there's a bit of slack there if i want it) and pay debts off quicker.

Ali xx