will i ever be debt free?

Trinity_2

ive been lurking for quite a while now and never really though about posting, but i want to face up to things.

Im in debt and i sooo much want to get out of it..

details as follows:

I take home about £1600 per month

Rent ( i pay half of) £400pm
Council tax £119pm
pet insurance £13pm
TV rental £27pm (its going back in 2 weeks time)
Mobile phone £0 (work pays it)
gas, electric, water bills

then debt:
Egg credit card (£3990 owng) Paying off at £150pm
Moorcroft Agency debt (cos Egg cancelled a DD) £115pm
TSb Credit card I usually pay £100pm (this is over the minimum payment)
Motorbike £135 pm (ends in October)
Car insurance £30pm


then there's things like petrol, tobacco (cheper than ciggies), food etc

I dont spend any on myself.
Just seems like im getting nowhere....


help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

deemy2004

You could perhaps be £400 per month better off if you move back in with your parents ?

Trinity_2

deemy2004 wrote:

You could perhaps be £400 per month better off if you move back in with your parents ?

emm, im 34, and live in the south of england, my parens live in scotland and there's no way id move back

rcosgrove

Hello,

I'm not expert, but there are places I'd look to make savings:

Motorbike £135 pm (ends in October)
Car insurance £30pm

If you have a motorbike and a car, I'd sell one and using the cash to pay off some of your debts. Also, I'd put the money I'd be saving on insurance, tax and petrol etc. towards paying off the debts.

I'd even look at selling both and starting to use public transport.

tobacco (cheper than ciggies)

I'd give up smoking and out that money towards my debts. Sounds daft, but even roll-ups add up.

I'd also look at getting a consolidation loan, to pay off the credit card bills in one go. This may be cheaper in the long run.

But first, I'd make a personal budget, and keep track of what I was spending money on over a month. Then any spare cash I had, I'd split among my creditors.

- Richard

angela110660

I think that rather than trying to pay such large sums per debt bill that you should look at the one with the highest interest rate and throw most of the money at that and pay the minimum on the others. Once the first is cleared which would give you such satisfaction, you could then throw the money at the second highest rate and so on until you pay them all off.
Why do you have car insurance when you have a motorbike?
Agree with previous post that you should try and write down for a month or even a week, what you are spending daily to see what you could be wasting.
If you eat out lots or buy convenience foods all the time you could be wasting a fortune. Try to cut down and cook for yourself a couple of times a week.
Have to say that you moan you have no money to spend on yourself but who has the ciggies? Rides the motorbike? Lives in the house? You are not paying all this money out for someone else are you?! You have to be content with your current situation as it is of your making and by clearing your debts then you can look forward to more residual money for the future for whatever you want to use it on.

ms_london

Trinity wrote:

I take home about £1600 per month

Rent ( i pay half of) £400pm
Council tax £119pm
pet insurance £13pm
TV rental £27pm (its going back in 2 weeks time)
Mobile phone £0 (work pays it)
gas, electric, water bills

then debt:
Egg credit card (£3990 owng) Paying off at £150pm
Moorcroft Agency debt (cos Egg cancelled a DD) £115pm
TSb Credit card I usually pay £100pm (this is over the minimum payment)
Motorbike £135 pm (ends in October)
Car insurance £30pm


then there's things like petrol, tobacco (cheper than ciggies), food etc
QUOTE]

Your incomings are £1600 per month (a good salary!!) - and including your outgoings as above, you would be left with £511 a month. Obviously we have no figures for the petrol, tobacco, food, etc (as you mention above), but the point is that you are not spending ABOVE your means which is a good start :0)

You need to budget for your gas, electric & water bills. Could you sign up to the pay monthly plan (they all do it), this is what we have in our flat - it means that we are hit with no unexpected quarterley bills, everything is just paid monthly. These need to be included in your budget.

How about car tax, insurance, MOT? Are you putting money aside for each of these? Could you keep your motorbike OR your car and sell the other?? Which would work out most cost effective? Could you cut down on the amount of trips you do & therefore save petrol costs? Shop around for the cheapest petrol?

TV rental - it looks as though it would be cheaper to actually buy one rather than renting it at £27 per month, thats loads of money!!!

Moorcroft Agency Debt - what is the balance? Have they frozen interest/charges? How long do you have left with your repayments? The same with your TSB credit card. What is your balance? APR? (I suspect around 15%)

If its just the two of you (Im presuming, sorry if im wrong), you could easily spend £30-£40 per week on food. Take lunch to work, cut back on the takeaways. If you split this cost, thats say £20 a week for food in your budget. What else do you need to budget for? I give myself £50.00 per week, thats for foor & any socialising, basically just "me money" - any money left over than the £50.00 per week goes towards my debt. Could you include your tobacco in your "me money", that way you might decide you want to cut back so that you can spend the money on going out, having that takeaway - so long as its budgeted for, its not necessarily a bad thing, yes you could give up, but thats easier said than done - we all have our vices, so long as you can afford it thats all that matters.

Try and draw up a complete budget, EVERYTHING that needs to be paid needs to be budgeted for. Start putting £10 a month away for when the car tax runs out, same for the MOT - draw this into your monthly budget, open ING accounts, label them "MOT", "Car Tax" or whatever you like, then transfer the money across. Once you know what you have to pay out each month, the surplus needs to be snowballed & thrown at your debts. It can be done. And although im not sure on your total debt, i suspect it might not be as much as some people's (i.e mine), and therefore easier to manage.

If you have any questions, please just ask, i'd be happy to help.

Take care & well done for posting on here - youve done the right thing.

Ms_Londonxx

Trinity_2

Sorry, i dont think i was clear in my original post.

TSB Credit card balance is £1900. Minimum payment is something like £50, but i try to pay £100 each month.

Moorcroft debt Agency, I cant remember without looking it up, but if i can pay a lump sum of £950, they'd wipe the debt out.


As for having a motorbike and a car... I cant sell the bike til the finance is paid off (October), It is currently off the road, a friend is fixing it for me (free of charge) but i still need tax, MOT, insurance and 2 new tyres (£80-90 each), so thats why its still sat in a garage, and i need the car to get to work. I hardly do any journeys in the car, just to work/home and maybe the supermarket.

Yes, i sat down and worked stuff out and should be left with about £400 at end of month. I live with a partner and find that i seem to be paying for more stuff than i should be.. eg: its not equal...

I am going to the bank on Saturday to change some Direct Debits i have (for house stuff) to put them into an account that he has to pay half of.

Also have decided when i get paid tomorrow, i will take £50 in cash to put in my "petrol" envelope, and thats my money for petrol, also £50 a month for food (if partner pays £50 too, we should survive - although he tends to buy crap.. frozen meals etc, which is why i do the shopping, but end up paying for it),
and im gonna put £100 in an envelope, and thats "me" money for the month.

Yes, maybe i should stop smoking, but instead of paying £5 a day on ciggies, i now spend £5 per week on tobacco, its not ideal, but its better than proper ciggies.

Also, i cant get a consolidation loan, cant get any loan, so its gonna have to stay the way it is.. i just want to pay it all off

ms_london

Trinity wrote:

Sorry, i dont think i was clear in my original post.

TSB Credit card balance is £1900. Minimum payment is something like £50, but i try to pay £100 each month.

Moorcroft debt Agency, I cant remember without looking it up, but if i can pay a lump sum of £950, they'd wipe the debt out.


As for having a motorbike and a car... I cant sell the bike til the finance is paid off (October), It is currently off the road, a friend is fixing it for me (free of charge) but i still need tax, MOT, insurance and 2 new tyres (£80-90 each), so thats why its still sat in a garage, and i need the car to get to work. I hardly do any journeys in the car, just to work/home and maybe the supermarket.

Yes, i sat down and worked stuff out and should be left with about £400 at end of month. I live with a partner and find that i seem to be paying for more stuff than i should be.. eg: its not equal...

I am going to the bank on Saturday to change some Direct Debits i have (for house stuff) to put them into an account that he has to pay half of.

Also have decided when i get paid tomorrow, i will take £50 in cash to put in my "petrol" envelope, and thats my money for petrol, also £50 a month for food (if partner pays £50 too, we should survive - although he tends to buy crap.. frozen meals etc, which is why i do the shopping, but end up paying for it),
and im gonna put £100 in an envelope, and thats "me" money for the month.

Yes, maybe i should stop smoking, but instead of paying £5 a day on ciggies, i now spend £5 per week on tobacco, its not ideal, but its better than proper ciggies.

Also, i cant get a consolidation loan, cant get any loan, so its gonna have to stay the way it is.. i just want to pay it all off

Wow, speedy reply :0)

So if you have £400 left each month, minus £50 for food, £50 for petrol and £100 for you - that leaves £200. Are you going to snowball this? I would suggest paying this £200, as well as your usual minimum payment to the creditor that is charging you highest interest, otherwise it might be worth throwing this at the Moorcroft Debt, therefore making your repayments £315 a month, it will take you 3 months to pay off, then come Oct you can use the £315 a month plus the money you already pay TSB (£100) a month, so there you have £415 a month to throw towards your TSB card - this would take you 4 and a half months, then you will just be left with the egg loan, but you will have £415 & your usual repayment of £150 (= £565) to throw at this, taking you roughly 7 months. So in 14 months you could effectively be DEBT FREE - and 14 months is not long.

You probably need to sit down & have a chat with your other half, why are things not split evenly? Could you move to a cheaper place with less rent?

Not getting a consolidation loan might be a good thing. I so desparetely wanted one when I was in debt, but noone would give me one. To be honest, looking back, if i hadve been given one i wouldnt have the self control, budgeting skills & money management skills that I have now - I probably wouldve continued to spend, and perhaps now I would be further in debt rather than almost being debt free.

It does take a little determination & sacrifices, but it can be done, and it is worth it in the end. Think of all the money youll have to spend, and 14 months is not far off, just think, next September you will be debt free and it will fly by, promise!!!

Ms_London

Trinity_2

thanks for the speedy reply!!

Im gonna sit down tonight and make a spreadsheet and work it all out. My partner not paying his share, well, thats a bone of contention at the mo. (he has no hold on his money.. and he wont listen about how it should be saved etc) I like your idea of chucking my money at the highest debt etc, but at the same time i have to be careful as mjy relationship is not good at the mo and i need to keep a reserve in case i move out.

ms_london

Trinity wrote:

thanks for the speedy reply!!

Im gonna sit down tonight and make a spreadsheet and work it all out. My partner not paying his share, well, thats a bone of contention at the mo. (he has no hold on his money.. and he wont listen about how it should be saved etc) I like your idea of chucking my money at the highest debt etc, but at the same time i have to be careful as mjy relationship is not good at the mo and i need to keep a reserve in case i move out.

Well at least save the excess money into a separate account, and then if you do move out/need the money, you will have access to it - almost as an emergency fund. Sorry to hear that things arent going well with your partner.

Ms_London

rcosgrove

As for having a motorbike and a car... I cant sell the bike til the finance is paid off (October), It is currently off the road, a friend is fixing it for me (free of charge) but i still need tax, MOT, insurance and 2 new tyres (£80-90 each), so thats why its still sat in a garage, and i need the car to get to work. I hardly do any journeys in the car, just to work/home and maybe the supermarket.

If you use your car so rarely, are you sure you really need it?

Could you get to work and the supermarket using public transport?

That would mean you could sell the car, get your bike fixed up and use the leftover cash to pay off some of your debts.

RC