Room for a little un??

giggal

:T Wow - thanks everyone for the lovely welcomes!! I feel at home already (and it is indeed a very small world - nice to know I've got DFW neighbours!:D )

Just a bit of background: I'm a 26 year old girl, have a full-time job in university admin (quite enjoy it and get lots of hols!) and I am in a whole lotta debt. The worst thing about my situation is that I have nothing to show for it – I don’t own my own home, and at this rate I’m never going to be able to!!! There are lots of reasons for my horrific debt – but ultimately it’s down to my excessive spending, and bad money management . I’ve also had to take lots of time off work due to illness (depression and back problems) and as a result I no longer receive sick pay. I was off for 2 months over the summer, and the loss of income hit me very hard – although the way things were going it was inevitable that I’d find myself in a very serious financial situation.

I am in the process of setting up a DMP with CCCS, thanks to the advice on this site, and my first payment is due on 1 January. It will leave me with about £150 to live on each month, which I think is achievable – there’s only me to feed, clothe etc so I’m determined to stretch the money as far as possible and maybe even have some left over at the end of each month…..

So far, as well as the DMP, I’ve started doing daily cashbacks (thanks Eager Learner!!). I was already aware of Pigsback but not of clicks, so I’m doing those. I have been selling things on ebay for some time, but now as much as possible is going on there! Books are going on Amazon (sold one last week). I’m switching electricity suppliers as Scottish Power are charging an awful lot (see below), and again thanks to this site I will get £15 cashback for doing that. I’ve cut up my credit cards (I can’t use them anyway as they’re all over the limit after accumulating months of charges ) and I’m monitoring every penny I spend. I’m badly in need of a haircut so next week I’m going to the local college which will cost a grand total of £6.

My bad habits are buying lunch at work which I know has got to change (made a sandwich this morning – hurray!), buying Heat magazine and taking taxis unnecessarily. I’ve stopped the taxi thing, as I haven’t been able to afford it recently. Heat may have to be my one little luxury!

I’m going to use this thread as my ‘diary’ so that I can get a handle on my situation and hopefully keep myself motivated! Any advice, support, kicks up the **** that people want to give would be a fantastic bonus. (Apologies to all those who are sick of diaries, but I really feel this will help me).

I’d really like to clear my debt by the time I turn 30, which is in 3 years’ time (my birthday is on Monday). I don’t know if it’s possible but I’m setting myself that target to spur me on. My hope is that 2008 will be the year that I change my ways and turn things around. The support I get here will be invaluable!

Ok, here we go - the moment of truth
Here's my SOA:

Monthly Income:

Wages (net): £957.65

Total: £957.65

Monthly Outgoings:

Rent: £275 * I share my flat with one other person so all bills etc are my half share
Council tax: £88.50
Electric: £37.75 dd
Water: £21.47 dd
TV Licence: £13.55 dd
Unison membership: £9.70 dd
Mobile phone: £35* just coming to end of 18 month contract, will be downgrading a lot!

Loan/Credit cards/store cards (Deep breath):

Egg Personal Loan: Monthly payment of £135.55 (£8,131.35 owed not including interest, 9.51% pa, last payment 1 Sept 2014)

Abbey MBNA cc: Balance £5,001.26, 26.5% APR
Amazon Halifax cc: Balance £4,702.88, 12.94% APR
Barclaycard cc: Balance £1,659.67, 24.9% APR
Capital One cc: Balance £3,447.45, 5.8% APR for life of balance
Solution Finance cc: Balance £2,765.97, 14% APR
Lloyds TSB cc: Balance £1,981.96, 14% APR
Natwest cc: Balance £1,064.92, 22.5% APR
Tesco cc: Balance £2,058.26, 16.6% APR

New Look store card: Balance £181.37, 28.9% APR
Oasis store card: Balance £400 approx, 29.9% APR

Natwest overdraft: £2000, £1500 at 29.6% (unarranged borrowing rate)
Alliance & Leicester overdraft: £350 at 0% interest

All thoughts welcome, and :T to anyone who's perserved through this lengthy post xx

Lucy1982_2

Just a thought regarding Heat, do they do a subscription and can you suggest it has a christmas present?

have you had a look at the snowball calculator?

misscomickat

Cut up your store cards.

You don't seem to have included travel costs in your outgoings.

Taxis are so expensive. I don't know which part of Birmingham you live in, but you can save a lot by getting the night bus.

giggal

They do do a subscription, that's a very good idea - my mom keeps asking me what I want for my birthday and now I can tell her!!! Thanks Lucy xx

Lucy1982_2

Thats ok, if you read it a lot it would make much more sense, you could then always budget an amount to pay for mext years subs or you have found a reaccuring Xmas present!

gallygirl

giggal wrote: »

I've posted on here a couple of times, and have become an avid reader of the forum, so I wanted to introduce myself to everyone:hello:

The thing that's really struck me about this place is the friendliness and support that you all give each other, and I'm hoping that I might be included in this?!?

NO - WE DON'T KNOW YOU - GO AWAY :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:JUST KIDDING, WELCOME [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Allison/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-17.jpg[/IMG]:j:j:j:j:j[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Allison/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-16.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Allison/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-15.jpg[/IMG]

I will post my SOA and a bit more info about myself and my situation (bet you can't wait! ) a bit later, but for now I just wanted to say HELLO! I look forward to getting to know you all xx

Just a few thoughts - spending diary!!!! Write down everything you spend then analyse it & see where you can cut costs.

How is your health? Could you cope with a part time job for a while? If not, how about mystery shopping, or working for AQA or similar?

Good luck!!!

giggal

Have looked at the snowball calculator, and it says my DFD is July 2017, and my DMP says my DFD is March 2017 :eek: :eek: so not much in it - but of course I'm planning to make it a lot sooner that that! My plan is to do the DMP, live as cheaply as I can, bring in extra income and throw all the spare money at my debts. In the New Year I'm going to look at getting a second job to bring in some extra cash, again all that would go straight to paying off the debt.

Lucy1982_2

I don't know much about DMP but i would talk to them before overpaying as you don't want to be seen to favour one creditor over another. Have you signed up to any survey sites? How about selling stuff on Ebay and Amazon?

giggal

misscomickat wrote: »

Cut up your store cards.

You don't seem to have included travel costs in your outgoings.

Taxis are so expensive. I don't know which part of Birmingham you live in, but you can save a lot by getting the night bus.

I cut them up whilst watching Dispatches on Monday night!
I have very few travel costs as I don't drive and I live within walking distance of work and shops. I also have lovely friends and family who give me lifts when necessary, and for longer distance travel I use National Express and get fun fares which are v cheap.

misscomickat

Definitely get a second job. I'm working 3 at the moment which is hard, but I just want to sort my finances out before going away.

Even doing a bar job two nights a week should pull in at least £60 ish.