Shopaholic in Rehab needs a hand

Badshopper

Hi All,

I am a money saving Forum Newbie. I am married to a very patient man with two boys (under two), and hav been working on our debt for the last 8 months or so. I have made massive improvements but have slowed now and feel I need help and advice so decided to bite the bullet and see if any of you guys and gals can help.

We started with nearly £20K:mad:

The SOA is as follows;

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,457.19
Partners salary - £1,437.94
Benefits - £151

Total - £3046.53

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £889.95
B & C Insurance - £20.89
Mortgage Life Ins - £55.00
Redundancy Ins - £11.60
Council Tax - £115.00
Gas - £46.00
Electric - £60.00
Water - £33.98
TV License - £11.61
Sky & Broadband - £47.00
Phone - £11.00
Childcare - 438.55
Food - £300
Pet Insurance - £7.80
Car Insurance - £34.00
Petrol - £300.00
My Mob - £25.00
Hubbys Mob - £30.00
Kids Savings - £20.00
Hubbys Parking - £50.00
Hubby's Cigs - £75.00

Total: £2,572.38

DEBTS

Car Loan - £175.13 (finishes June 2008)

Co-p CC – Balance £5511.69 (limit £10,900) APR 15.9%

Capital 1 CC – Balance £3,900 (limit £4,000) APR 0% until Aug 08 then 15.9%

Hubby has been very patient as this is not the first debt we have had but we do not want to repeat past mistakes as we put it onto our mortgage!! My idea not my best I have to say.
Our biggest problem is me...I am a shopoholic and I am in rehab (two small bumps on the road where I fell of my wagon but improving slowly!)!!

Have been very good the last few months and become a bit of an ebay guru...I am selling everything that is not nailed down and thus we have reduced our debt signigicantly but now I am stumped. I have redone most of the insurance policies and not sure what to do next.......exceptionally hard as it is christmas and I have had my favourite pasttime removed Boo Hoo.....Any ideas on the best way to get this debt down as quicker than what I am doing now....running out of things to sell and hubby is stressed.

All help is welcome....anyone else on the shopping wagon?

chilli_dog

Hey Badshopper,

Welcome to the forum, you will get some good advice here.
Some one cleverer than me will be along to help.

Martin

southern_chick

Hi

i haven't got any advice just wanted to say well on done on the amount you have paid off so far, you have done really well to pay off over half of it in such a short space of time

you will get some fantastic help on here

SC XX

do_it_today!

Hi Badshopper! :hello:
sounds like you are doing really well! you're half way there!! the only things I can think of for you are downgrading your sky package and maybe hubby cutting down on the ciggies.

Scarlett.1974

Badshopper wrote: »

Hi All,

I am a money saving Forum Newbie. I am married to a very patient man with two boys (under two), and hav been working on our debt for the last 8 months or so. I have made massive improvements but have slowed now and feel I need help and advice so decided to bite the bullet and see if any of you guys and gals can help.

We started with nearly £20K:mad:

The SOA is as follows;

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1,457.19
Partners salary - £1,437.94
Benefits - £151

Total - £3046.53

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £889.95 - could you maybe go interest only for a short time?
B & C Insurance - £20.89
Mortgage Life Ins - £55.00 - have you changed this recently? Seems VERY expensive?
Redundancy Ins - £11.60
Council Tax - £115.00
Gas - £46.00 - have you checked on uswitch that this is the cheapest you can get? It seems very high. Check quidco for cashback if you do change
Electric - £60.00 - as above
Water - £33.98
TV License - £11.61
Sky & Broadband - £47.00 - could this be reduced?
Phone - £11.00
Childcare - 438.55
Food - £300 - how many is this for? Possible savings to be made here
Pet Insurance - £7.80 - have you changed this recently?
Car Insurance - £34.00
Petrol - £300.00 - ouch!!! No way this could be reduced? This is loads :eek:
My Mob - £25.00
Hubbys Mob - £30.00
Kids Savings - £20.00 - a nice idea, but you'd be better throwing that at your debt for now, you can always start it up again when the debt is cleared.
Hubbys Parking - £50.00
Hubby's Cigs - £75.00

Total: £2,572.38

DEBTS

Car Loan - £175.13 (finishes June 2008)

Co-p CC – Balance £5511.69 (limit £10,900) APR 15.9%

Capital 1 CC – Balance £3,900 (limit £4,000) APR 0% until Aug 08 then 15.9%

Hubby has been very patient as this is not the first debt we have had but we do not want to repeat past mistakes as we put it onto our mortgage!! My idea not my best I have to say.
Our biggest problem is me...I am a shopoholic and I am in rehab (two small bumps on the road where I fell of my wagon but improving slowly!)!!

Have been very good the last few months and become a bit of an ebay guru...I am selling everything that is not nailed down and thus we have reduced our debt signigicantly but now I am stumped. I have redone most of the insurance policies and not sure what to do next.......exceptionally hard as it is christmas and I have had my favourite pasttime removed Boo Hoo.....Any ideas on the best way to get this debt down as quicker than what I am doing now....running out of things to sell and hubby is stressed.

All help is welcome....anyone else on the shopping wagon?

Hi there and welcome to MSE

My comments above are in red, I hope they help.

You've done a fantastic job of reducing your debt as much as you have already, you should be proud of yourself :T

I feel your pain re the shopping (reformed shopaholic here too ) and it IS hard, there's no denying that - I came home from town today in a bit of a sulk because I couldn't buy anything (I didn't actually NEED anything, but that's not the point with us shopping addicts is it? :rotfl: )

RoxieW

Hi hon!!! Welcome, and very very well done. I'm also a bit of a shopaholic. What hubby and I do is each have a monthly 'pocket money' amount. At the minute its £50 each as we're trying to be good and save up. We can spend this on whatever we want but when its gone, its gone. This really helped me as I could actually see the money going whereas spending out of the joint account on cards it was easy to turn a blind eye to the 'odd' pair of shoes/lipgloss/mag/handbag/candle/bath bomb/hat/book/bracelet etc etc!!!!

Now I have my little 'pot' and if i want to buy a pair of shoes I can. But just one a month instead of 3!

Also, why dont you join in the £10 a day challenge for Dec. I did Nov and made £303 in a month. It sounds impossible but I'm proof that its not and there are lots of tips/advice on that thread.

Good luck!

RoxieW

Also, I've got two little boys too and I'm trying to stick to a food budget of £200 this month. I think its do able. I was even batch cooking tomato sauce the other day to use with pasta and in soups/casseroles etc.

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Good luck on your journey to becoming debt free :T

Jacks_xxx

:wave: Hiya sweetie and welcome to the DFW gang! :wave:

Well done on how much you've achieved so far! :j

Hopefully you'll be as lucky as me and with the weight of DFW behind you you'll do even from now on!

Now, down to business!

Is gettting a 0% or low interest rate life of balance card an option for you guys. It's amzing how fast you can pay debts off when they're not lumping interest on them every month!

Check out the snowball calculator to help you work out how much faster you'll pay it off if you either pay more a month or refinance to a lower interest deal. (preferably both!)

http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx

Second: Check out sky's latest deals. You can get 3 mixes of TV, phone and internet from about £18.

Your gas and leccy seem a little on the high side - have a look at Uswitch to see if you can get abetter deal (and do it through Quidco so you get some cash back too!

http://www.uswitch.com/Energy/Index.aspx?sessionid=zaB7N5aOIFRtKc2GGTefvH7WupS2zOaO&ref=

http://www.quidco.com/mobiles-utilities/energy-suppliers/

Have you got any PPI or bank charges you could claim back?

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/

Then, the only other thing that stood out for me is your petrol and parking bill- £350 a month! :eek:

I thought we had it bad paying out £200 a month on Petrol plus the occasional parking ticket - outside our own house. :mad:
That is a big drain on your finances honey - is tehre anyway to cut it down?

My hubby drives 700 miles a week to his job and he hasn't had any luck finding anything more local yet - any chance of that for your hubby?

That's all I've got for now honey, but somebody clever will be along to suggest more stuff in a bit.

Love Jacks xxx