Help! Just had my lightbulb moment!!

xredwebx

Hi All,

Haven't really posted much on here before, but sat down last night and had my LBM. Bit depressed but a bit positive too!

As you can see from the sig, got debt and its all bad debt!! Been with a debt consolidation company for 6 months, got defaults gallore and figured the new year is the perfect opportunity to sort things out once and for all!

Figured with the amount of money me and OH pay the debt company and everything else we can save we have about £500 a month to pop on the debts, so hopefully (if CC interest doesn't go through the roof!) we'll be in the clear by July 2009.

Me and the OH are desparate to get out of debt as we were suppose to be getting married this year but have decided to get in the clear first, so that means no wedding and no honeymoon until we are, so I need all the help I can get!!

Just really wanted to get advice from people on saving all those extra pennies during the month, any good websites to click for cash and anything you fab DFW's have up your sleeves!

Thank you in advance guys

Take Care

xredx

poorandindenial

Hi Red

Could you post up an SOA and then people will be able to have a look and help you identify areas that you can cut down on.

Have a look at Immoral Angel's (brilliantly helpful) sticky at the top of the forum, it contains a link to the guidance for an SOA in one of the first two posts


Once you have done that the wonderful people on here will be able to help you better

theunknownstuntman

Hiya Red, welcome to the boards, and well done on your LBM.

Scary I know (look at my siggy for my debt!) you're in good company on here, please post an SoA so the clever folk on here can help you out!

sharon59

well done for taking the plunge-it will be the best thing you ever did.take care x

xredwebx

poorandindenial wrote: »

Hi Red

Could you post up an SOA and then people will be able to have a look and help you identify areas that you can cut down on.

Hi! Thanks for replying!

Well I'm ashamed to say our incomes are £1100 a month and then £250 a week from OH.

Outgoings weekly:
60 (petrol)
125 (paid into account to pay off debts)
40 (food shop) = £225 / 250

Outgoing Monthly:
550 (rent)
100 (council tax)
50 (tv, phone, internet)
35 (mobile)
160 (train fare)
30 (water)
50 (electric)
50 (gas)
60 (car insurance) = £1085 / 1100

Hope this is what you meant ( bit rubbish but i'm sure you've all been there! hehe

poorandindenial

Sorry Red, I didn't mean to make my first post so sterile, you really have done a great thing just by posting on here, I have found so much support on this forum that for the first time ever I really belive I will pay of my debts, you have done the right thing by posting here - well done, good luck and I look forward to hearing how you get on

theunknownstuntman

Don't be ashamed of anything Red, you're amongst friends here.

headoutthesand

xredwebx wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for replying!

Well I'm ashamed to say our incomes are £1100 a month and then £250 a week from OH.

Outgoings weekly:
60 (petrol) Why £240 p/m petrol AND £160 train fair?
125 (paid into account to pay off debts)
40 (food shop) = £225 / 250

Outgoing Monthly:
550 (rent)
100 (council tax)
50 (tv, phone, internet)Get Free view
35 (mobile) go PAYG
160 (train fare)
30 (water)
50 (electric) Martin says don't switch these to a different company till they have all announced their rates rise but*see below*
50 (gas)
60 (car insurance) = £1085 / 1100

Hope this is what you meant ( bit rubbish but i'm sure you've all been there! hehe

Save on electricity by:
switching all sockets off at night. Even if it's the kettle, toaster, broadband connection, washingmachine, lamp that is switched of at neck - SWITCH THEM ALL OFF

If you have a shower use it more than a bath. It uses less water and less energy.

Turn the thermostate on your boiler down to 50. If you're not using water for a bath then you only nee enough to wash dishes. I only have my hot water on for 2 hours from 5.30am till 7.30am and it does us all day.

Turn your heating thermostate down a few degrees. The average is supposed to be at 17.

Don't use an electric fire - the cost a fortune.

Turn your heaters down the 1 in rooms that you don't use.

Use a clothes horse rather than a tumble dryer.

Other idea for money raising are dotted all over but along the lines of ebay, amazon etc

Good luck

poorandindenial

xredwebx wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for replying!

Well done for posting this up, it is horrible to see it all in one place.

Well I'm ashamed to say our incomes are £1100 a month and then [strike]£250 a week[/strike] £1083 month from OH. (absolutely nothing to be ashamed of)

Outgoings weekly:
60 (petrol) (this is a lot of petrol per week - is it really necessary or could it be reduced or could you get rid of the car) £260 per month
125 (paid into account to pay off debts) £540 per month
40 (food shop) = £225 / 250 (how many people does this feed, it might be possible to reduce it)

Outgoing Monthly:
550 (rent)
100 (council tax)
50 (tv, phone, internet) (is the TV basic package or have you got any frilly extras? have you shopped around recently? some posters on here have had the three together for £30)
35 (mobile) (can you drop a tariff or go PAYG - you may be able to save quite a bit by doing this or going to another phone company)
160 (train fare) (on top of all the petrol?? that is quite a bit on getting around)
30 (water)
50 (electric) (this seems high, you could save by switching supplier or are you paying any arrears - also the good old fashioned heating off/down, energy saving bulbs, lights off and nothing on standby when not in use will help to reduce this a bit)
50 (gas) (same as leccy)
60 (car insurance) = £1085 / 1100 (how long do you have to run on this, it seems quite high (although I am not a car owner so am not the best person to give advice)

Hope this is what you meant ( bit rubbish but i'm sure you've all been there! hehe

Great stuff, thank you

You might want to put some provision for toiletries, clothes, holiays, birthday presents etc in there, things that crop up from time to time.

I have also converted someof the weekly figures to monthly so everything is over the same time period

I can't remember whether your sig included APR for debts but it is worth looking them out and posting them too (it will also help you if you want to do a snowball calculator which will help you work out when you might become debt free (oh holy grail) and who you should pay what and when. It is also worth saying how much you pay and to who each month.

I seem to have blathered on quite a bit so I will get off and am sure that people that are loads more experienced than me will be along to help you out soon - good luck

aytch

xredwebx wrote: »

Hi All,

Haven't really posted much on here before, but sat down last night and had my LBM. Bit depressed but a bit positive too!

As you can see from the sig, got debt and its all bad debt!! Been with a debt consolidation company for 6 months, got defaults gallore and figured the new year is the perfect opportunity to sort things out once and for all!

Figured with the amount of money me and OH pay the debt company and everything else we can save we have about £500 a month to pop on the debts, so hopefully (if CC interest doesn't go through the roof!) we'll be in the clear by July 2009.

Me and the OH are desparate to get out of debt as we were suppose to be getting married this year but have decided to get in the clear first, so that means no wedding and no honeymoon until we are, so I need all the help I can get!!

Just really wanted to get advice from people on saving all those extra pennies during the month, any good websites to click for cash and anything you fab DFW's have up your sleeves!

Thank you in advance guys

Take Care

xredx

I just wanted to say hi - I had a lightbulb moment on Monday - more going out than coming in!
Good on you for posting, I did Martins budget planner (found link in his weekly email) - that set me on the road to thinking hard about how my household uses money.

Good luck and keep posting, reading, some of the threads are so amazing!

dancingfairy

Outgoings weekly:
60 (petrol) what about other car costs insurance/mot etc?
125 (paid into account to pay off debts)
40 (food shop) = £225 / 250 you could probably cut this down with a bit of careful planning and cooking from scratch as much as poss. Try meal planning it stops you buying too much you don't need and head over to Old Style for some cheap recipes etc.

Outgoing Monthly:
550 (rent)
100 (council tax) is this monthly for 10 or 12 months - you can always pay over 12 months instead of 10 - makes budgetting easier
50 (tv, phone, internet) I reckon you could get these cheaper can you split the costs up or have you got some kind of combined deal?
35 (mobile) - is this 1 or 2 mobiles?
160 (train fare) is this necessary along with car? can you buy a season ticket / car share?
30 (water)
50 (electric) - seems quite high- can you switch? and save energy whereever poss - turn everything off standby etc/ turn lights off when not needed etc.
50 (gas) -can you switch and save money?
Might be worth waiting until Martin says switch with these as all companies to likely to announce price rises soon (gas and electric).
60 (car insurance) = £1085 / 1100 - is this the cheapest?

contents insurance?
haircuts?
birthday/christmas fund?

It might be worth keeping a spending diary to find out where you money really goes - pretty much everyone spends money on CD's /Magazines/coffee/clothes/cigarettes/bottled water/vending machines at work/ lunch at work etc and don't realsie how it all adds up.

Good Luck