16 Months until I turn 40! Forever Home Required

TwirlingQueen

Hellooooo.....long term stalker of many diaries on here. 

Decided to start logging my journey on here, for advice, tips and to keep myself accountable for where the moneys goes...I'm a terrible saver and spend unnecessarily a lot

Long story short...or ill at least try! I have had unsecured debt for a long time, entered DMP with Stepchange in 2018 (before I discovered MSE) left them last year and have been trying to get settlements....some successful some not. PRA Group will NOT play ball! Ill list the debts shortly. 

Sold my house last September so I do have a large sum but this is my deposit for a new house, luckily I'm at my parents until I find somewhere....as the rates etc are so high I'm holding off for a while and trying to get these debts finished whilst I have no big bills. I'm trying to pay them from my wage rather than use my savings as I know I wont be save back it if that makes sense! 

I'm a single mum to a beautiful but savage 3 year old, I work full time and earn a good salary so I'm hoping too get this all paid before I look for a new mortgage and if not then definitely before I turn 40 next October! 

My credit report is shot....defaults etc but some are due to drop off early next year. I do worry about getting new mortgage & the rates but hoping by the time comes ill have no debt and the most of the defaults gone.

I've started a new plan this month so got myself a budget planner and a cash stuffing wallet, trying to get all spending saving info written down so I can see where the money is going. Started by having £100 cash budget every week to stop using bank card.

Hopefully logging my progress and spends on here for the big wide world to see will help with my wild spending! 

Debts at the start of 01.06.2023 - Payday 25th Month so will update these balances on pay day! 

Cabot - 1000.00
Credit Resource Solutions - 997.84
Pra Group 1 - 740.00
Pra Group 2 - 3210.00
Pra Group 3 - 2880.00
Holiday - 1186.00

Total - 10013.84

Any tips, advice or even a telling off when required is greatly appreciated! 

MatyMoo

Have you done an SOA so you can see what you can afford to pay off m9nthly which would give you a debt free date to aim for!

TwirlingQueen

My first comment...thank you! 

Not yet, I am working on it in my budget planner...I love pen and paper but your right I should do an online one to post here! Is it lemon fool or something, that is the best one to use for here, think that's what I've seen people use?

MatyMoo

Yes, here is the link https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

you can format for MSE too

TwirlingQueen

I will do a better detailed one after this month as I have been tracking things more closely, I need to breakdown into the smaller pots such as entertainment as I just put the cash budget figure in there that I have been using this month but after the first month update I will use the clothing, hair etc rather than a lump sum. Hope that makes sense! 

TwirlingQueen

My goals for the first month are 

1- get the budget up to date so I know what is going in & out for defo 
2 - Stop smoking....awful I know 
3 - cancel subscriptions - so many unnecessary ones  
4- Pay at least £200 off the debts 
5- Vinted 
6 - Take lunches to work 

My pay day is 25th so I'm halfway through the first month

MatyMoo

Without a detailed breakdown this shows you could be debt free in 9-10 months which is great news! But do you have £900 left at the end of the month? If not, a spending diary will help find out where it is going 😉

TwirlingQueen

Absolutely not.....this are the figures I'm trying to work to from this month....I've been doing the spending diary so once pay day comes I'll do a better detailed one. 2 weeks in and I've stuck to the lunches at work, relapsed twice on the smoking. But I was smoking 20 a day before so that was about £95 a week previously so just got to put my mind to it! 

peb

Good luck getting an accurate soa together.

On first glance the entertainment seems high when you have another category for hobbies and I'd be concerned as to if food is realistic - costs are so high at the moment though I don't know how much three year olds eat!

Sadly yes, on the main board you'll see PRA group will not negotiate on settlements.  Lots of people have tried.

TwirlingQueen

Hi thanks for your comment....for the first month i have taken £100 a week cash out which is what i put in the entertainment for this month but I will separate the pots at the end of the month as I have ben keeping a spending diary.

The food shop is high as I have to have a specific diet at the moment due to surgery, also I'm at my parents so I shop for us all, they tend do one week and i do the next.

Pra wont entertain even 10% even when I'm only paying £5 a month! all the debts have the interest frozen so I'm tackling Cabot first so hopefully that will be gone soon, looking forward to a proper update on all figures at the end of the month  

enthusiasticsaver

Stopping smoking is an obvious easy win although having thankfully never smoked I am not sure if it is easy.  Vaping is probably cheaper although not necessarily healthier.  I think entertainment is quite high especially if you have hobby money on top.  As you have plenty of disposable income not so much an issue now although you would get rid of the debt quicker but if you do get a mortgage and have bills on top reducing outgoings will be a priority if you do not want to end up  in debt again. 

I agree that keeping your deposit untouched is a good idea given you freely admit you are not  good with money and your debts are not incurring interest.  When did the defaults occur?  Ideally they would drop off before you apply for a mortgage. You need to get in the habit of saving separately for car maintenance and annual bills like insurance.  

What is the holiday debt?  Is that something you have booked but not yet saved for?