My SOA - PLEASE HELP!!

onthewayup_2

Hi there! :santa2:
I'm pretty new to this website but already I am feeling the love!! :smileyhea

Right, i'm ready to face my debts head on! Can anyone help with which way to turn next?
Our joint debts are: £9400 :eek: _pale_

Loan £2200
Credit Card £6200
O/D £1000

Total monthly incoming - £2390

Total monthly outgoings - £2024

Mortgage 550
Council tax 105
Insurances (inc. public liability for work) 160
Gas and Elec 80
Water 20
Home Phone 40
Mobile 25
Petrol 100
Road Tax 10
Food 200
TV license 10
glasses/contact lenses 25
newspapers 14
Evenings/meals out/weekends away etc... 240
Debts (loan & credit card) 295
Vets (cats) 50
Stock for work 100

This means we should have £366 a month left over. First point of call - I need to find out where that's going - my boyfriend works away a lot so it's really hard to keep track of his spending (& am worried incase i turn into the nagging girlfriend!) That's why i've put amount in quite high for evenings/meals out/weekends away.

We would like to be debt free in 3 years, but much sooner if possible :j

I am initially thinking about getting a loan to reduce the monthly interest on my current loan & my bf's credit card (They are both about 18%). We have been declined low interest loans because our credit ratings are not too good (late payments on credit card) & although my partner is in full time employment, I am self employed, so again i am high risk.

We have been offered a consolidation loan with Ocean Finance with a seemingly low-ish interest rate although I am a bit dubious?? Just sounds a bit too good to be true? Does anyone know about Ocean finance or which loan companies are the best?

I have been doing the £10 a day challenge for November & will be carrying on through Dec!! Current balance from quidco & ebay: £296 :j . I've registered for mystery shopping & doing the occasional survey & pigsback etc...

Anyway, please send me any advice! Thanks for reading :hello:

beverleyhills

You have to change your spending habits, so look at other stratagies before a consolidation loan.

Is your boyfriend really with you on this one?

You both need to keep a spending diary to see where the money goes.

Does he use credit /debit cards when he is away? The statements will help you keep track of the spending.

Cash redrawal slips will also help.

You also need to look at how you spend yor leisure time and what it costs.

kacie

i think that you both need to keep a spending diary to find out where your money goes, also can the home phone be cut down, can you cut out the newspapers and read them online instead.

consultant31

It seems to me that the gas & electric is very high if there's only one person home a lot of the time. Try u-switch to see if you can get it cheaper, turn off the tv, computer etc instead of leaving them on standby, you'll be amazed at the savings.

Your leisure time spends are enormous if you really want to become debt-free - this really needs looking at.

Food costs are high - if you're alone a lot of the time, you should be able to cut this drastically, have a look on the old style board.

Do the cats need regular medication?

Consolidation is not usually the way to go, but I'll leave it to someone more knowledgeable to go into thet:)

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum :T

Good luck with your journey to becoming debt free.

Couple of things I can see from your SOA is your home phone seems quite high per month does this include broadband?

Other thing is contact lenses at £25 a month. There are several online discount places you can buy them much cheaper.

CLAPTON

it might be better to separate out your business expenses... presumably 100 for stock and public liability insurance is a business expense... how much are are you earning from the business?

tyllwyd

I agree with Clapton, it doesn't seem a good idea to mix up work and business expenses in your SOA. When you give a figure for your monthly income, have you already taken off a percentage for your tax? Are the insurance and stock your only business expenses - if not, have you allowed for these elsewhere?

RoxieW

:santa2: i wanna see your nov total in your sig cos its brilliant!