Too old to be this stupid and with debts

AnnMiddleton

JayRitchie wrote: »

On the pension - what is the maximum percentage your employer will match?

Where does the season ticket for £900 cover? All transport in greater Manchester? If so there are loads of great places to go. Alderley Edge for a start for scenery and footballer spotting.

Hi Jay, my employer will match up to 3% max - and looking at it more thoroughly, I pay in 5%, not 3% (can't believe I am so slack ref my finances).

Unfortunately the train ticket only covers me from my little town into Manchester, it is not 'zoned', I was so shocked when I moved up how expensive public transport is compared to London, also the council tax is way more expensive too (nearly twice as much as what I was paying in London).

The housing costs are way lower though!

Thanks so much for all of your help :A

theoretica

Is the season ticket the other travel at £75? If not, it will need a line on your budget for the future.


I think no one has acknowledged that you already have more in your ISA than you owe, and your debts are all interest free - great work! If once they are clear you carry on saving at the rate you were paying off debts you should have a very decent deposit by the end of next year.

kangoora

kazwookie wrote: »

Is that right £75 per month on hair cuts?

£900 per year?

I suggest £75 every 9 weeks at least.

Good luck

Not relevant to the OP (or any woman I guess)

I've spent a grand total of £50 for my haircuts over the last 25 years. That's 2 electric hair clippers, the original one broke about 8 years ago (if you want to pick you could add a few pence electric cost each time).

Simply let my hair grow until it starts to curl then a basic 1/2" buzzcut, rinse and repeat every few months.

Strangely enough my wife won't let me near her hair with the clippers though :rotfl:

JayRitchie

Last few times I took buses in Manchester I was amazed at the cost plus how slow they were. Still - £900 a year covers all your costs to work and shopping/ cultural trips to the city at the weekend so not so bad.

I think so long as you are maxing out the employer contributions there is no mad rush to increase pension contributions at the moment while you clear debts and save a deposit.

MrsPorridge

Visited Manchester a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how cheap the travel was! But then I do live in Cornwall where public transport (if you can find it) is absolutely horrendously expensive

ampersand

Hello AnnM -
There are quite a few suggestions re: your hair expenditure.
I note your comment re: thinness/colour/confidence with current salon.

May I strongly suggest you sound out your local college?

I am ancient, have long hair, coloured back to bog standard brown, with a one slim red streak. It's done every 4-5 weeks by trainees, under close tutor supervision, or in the graduate salon.

Cost £20.
#
Ensure you meal plan, don't skip meals, eat sensibly and take lunch/Thermos with you to work.

Do you ensure you eat an apple/something citrus/a banana each day?
#
You are in a fortunate position compared with many.
Well done and best wishes.

zippygeorgeandben

Hi Ann,
I wish you the BEST of luck! You are open to any suggestions! Keep going!
Ben

getmore4less

How much is duplicated on the SOA and already paid on the CC.
Holiday and season ticket?
Anything else.

Reality is all you need to do is set some priorities.

The CC debt can be gone by end of year at £1k pm plus a bit.

What you could do is just pay the mins and save the money, paying off the CC just before the 0% runs out.

End of year after 15%-20% deposit sorted

More you cut back the sooner you have the deposit.


Edit:

Forgot to factor in the current £6k in the HTB ISA.

This should be a breeze.

getmore4less

It's the net number at the bottom of the SOA that is important.

With 0% you are already effectively debt free with nearly £1k towards your deposit.

With £200pm ISA, £1k cc payment and potentially the season ticket for some months and maybe the holiday that's the deposit growing £1200-£1400pm for a few months then at least £1200 after that.

AnnMiddleton

Good morning everybody,

I can't thank everybody enough for all of the help and advice, I have woken up feeling much more optimistic about things and not so overwhelmed.

I get paid tomorrow so plan of action is:

Pay off the Halifax debt entirely, put a big chunk towards Tesco and pay the min of the Post Office card, next month I will able to pay off the Tesco card and then focus on the Post Office big debt.

Give myself £200 cash to live off during the month - groceries, hair, entertainment - if I meal plan, use the food in the cupboards and take lunch to work (my big money drains) then I should be able to scrape by.

Continue paying £150 into savings - will be £300 tomorrow if I do that.

Also put £100 towards my holiday over Xmas for spending money. No hols next year.

Put any leftover money towards the debt with a view to clearing it off by end of 2019.

Please can I also ask - ref my credit rating, I have only recently started having credit (in 2016), when I lived in London I just had a debit card and lived with my salary only. I started off with an Aqua card to build up my score - although I had never been in debt, no CCj's etc, my credit rating was in the toilet and I started out with a £250 monthly limit with a 49% APR if you can believe it - I used that for about 2 years and it was really helpful, they increased the limit but I only used it for groceries which I paid back in full every month. Like an idiot I closed the card once I had the others as I felt I didn't need it, but it affected my credit rating as I now don't have the Aqua details/history on my credit file ... if I pay off my current credit cards, shall I keep the accounts open? Should I keep using them but only put about £30 per month on each and then pay them off in full? I am so 'green' when it comes to this kind of stuff and don't want to do the wrong thing, especially when I want to apply for a mortgage late next year.

Thanks again for all of your help guys, I really appreciate your time and advice - Ann xx