Where on earth do i start!!! breakdown of finances included,please help.

LearningToSave.

eh?? i only just know what a credit card tart is!!!! what is a dvd tart??

LearningToSave.

ooohhhhhh just used a snowball calculater and got my debt free date for the moment of march 2010!! scary hey........but it hasnt half given me incentive to see how i can whittle it down.........fab things those snowball calculaters,especially for me as im the sort of person that will get a buzz from having the debt free date and whittling it down

debtbuster2K5

LearningToSave. wrote:

eh?? i only just know what a credit card tart is!!!! what is a dvd tart??

I think the poster may be referring to your film watching habits

And maybe suggesting that you take advantage of the free trial offers with online dvd rental firms, such as screen select etc.

Regards

debtbuster2K5

LearningToSave. wrote:

ooohhhhhh just used a snowball calculater and got my debt free date for the moment of march 2010!! scary hey........but it hasnt half given me incentive to see how i can whittle it down.........fab things those snowball calculaters,especially for me as im the sort of person that will get a buzz from having the debt free date and whittling it down

Hi,

Glad the snowball calculator has given you the incentive to push on.

Keep smiling

Maddie

Hi LearningToSave

I think that you will be entitled to Barclaycards special offer for existing customers of 6.9% on balance transfers for the life of the balance.

What is the credit limit on your barclaycard? You could temporarily transfer the balance on your barclaycard to a different card, then transfer it back along with debt from other cards, then you will only be paying 6.9% until its paid off. Just make sure that you dont use the barclaycard again as purchases will be at the standard rate (and you wont be able to pay back the high interest debt until the whole debt is cleared).

I don't think that I've explained that very well, luckily Martin has written an article on it!

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1086990624,93482,

Good luck & keep posting!

Maddie

LearningToSave.

thanks for that.....will look into it..........certainly wont be spending on it again!!! intend to cut the darned things up and live with a motto of if we cant afford it we cant have it.

LearningToSave.

just a quick update.....
hubby rang egg and the ppi has been stopped,so payments now drop to £189 instead of £232 didnt have to retake out loan or anything-they were telling the truth when they said we could cancel at anytime.
rang virgin and balance transfered from the egg card so that is all 0% until november....when i plan on transfering it back to egg as that is anniversary month so 0% for 5 months on anything transferred then.....then unless can get another 0% deal it will all go to barclaycard for 6.9% for life of balance.
also transferred the small amount but high interest barclaycard to my overdraft which is 0%
this has already cut my debt free date from march 2010 to may 2009!!! i really think these snowball calculators could be the making of me :beer:
will be looking into everything else too but that is what i have done at the moment :-)

mountainofdebt

Can I make a suggestion?

Provided your egg card doesn't have a balance on it, and I'm assuming here that the Argos Card is the one with the highest APR - why not transfer money from the egg card to your bank account so that you can pay off your Argos card (am of course assuming that you can't transfer directly from your egg card to your argos card) and then when you get a nil balance statement from barclaycard you can trasnfer to your barclaycard from your egg card.

As I can see it you will be reducing the interest rate from 20%+ to about 14.9% straight away and then from 14.9% to 6.9% when you get your barclaycard statement.

One tip though would be to give barclaycard a ring and ask them what the trasnfer rate is - when I spoke to the call centre I was told it would be 5.9% and not the 6.9% advertised on the website.

newfunk

LearningToSave. wrote:

the tv......hmmmmmm i can see everybody is going to comment on this!!
well i wont get rid of the internet or the phone-have registered with 18866 though,as for the tv we watch at least 3 films a week and my husband watches all the rugby,football and there are other things too that i cant remember!! previously we would have gone to the cinema(about £11 a time for two) when able and when not able bought dvd's(anywhere from 9.99 to 14.99) and husband would have gone to the pub every week to watch events on sky sports about £20 min spent per visit.........so to me £25 a month for these seems a good save anyway.
i honestly will keep it in mind but as i said i dont go out at all and when hubby goes out i watch the movies myself,i also dont drink or smoke so count that tv package as my only extravagance. jeez makes my like sound crap doesnt it!!!!
please dont judge me too harshly for this.

I agree with you regarding the TV and internet, I'd find it hard to get rid of any of them.I dont drink alcohol or smoke so its the only thing i would have, and It is cheap entertainment!! Ok you could read more, but when you have been looking after kids all day, the last thing you want is to read, but just drop in front of the TV and escape for a while!! I should know I have 3 daughters

LearningToSave.

know what you mean with a two and a half year old and an 8 week old here!!!
i do actually read a lot but i am a very fast reader and an average sized paperback takes me betwewen and hour and a half and two hours to read so i get through books very quickly too...........luckily i am well stocked for books as regularly get loads at car boot sales for 10-30p and bought loads when a charity shop had all books 10p each
now tackling the smaller things to save money such as making sure electric switched off...only using fast economy wash on machine unless clothes really dirty,menu planning and the storecupboard challenges from old style........cant believe how amazing these boards all really are....thankyou everybody for your help :T :beer: :T