debt free in 1200 months!?

Seaxwyn

Hiya bountiful. Could you switch your current account to Alliance & Leicester? They give you an interest-free overdraft for one year, which would temporarily sole your overdraft problem and allow you to concentrate on paying off the credit card.

finallydebtfree!!

Well done in posting on here! Im sure there will be lots of help coming along


Do you buy a monthly bus pass? I only ask as I pay £40 a month for my bus pass and £80 seems quite high to me (but having said that I do live just on the boundary of the city pass)

itsnever2lateisit?

Looks like you have your keyboard set up as english (US) and not english (UK)

1200 months is a lifetime:eek: , if that was me It would be my offsprings problem:rotfl:

I think it is worth keeping a spending diary, and record every last ha'penny you spend

tyllwyd

So are you saying that you have about £80 over and above your essential outgoings for miscellaneous spending? That's not very generous but it doesn't seem as bad as you first said.

bountiful

Thanks people for your replies - it is really getting things moving in the right direction for me. :A

Seaxwyn - thanks for that suggestion - I will check Alliance & Leicester out. Thought that as I had a largish overdraft that another bank would not want to take me on?:o

Tyllwyd - Saving 2-pound coins might seem a waste of time, but psychologically it gives me encouragement - I have already got 4 pounds - and will be putting it all towards paying off my credit card.
I managed to tweak the budget planner by taking out everything that was not essential - like social stuff (theatre, lunch with a friend etc) I have also (unrealistically maybe) deleted the cost of xmas and birthdays - which I know are about 350 in total. I have taken out travel costs like train trips to visit family and friends. I have also reduced the amount I have available for food and household to just 150 a month (there are two of us - me and my 21yr old son). So, as you say, not very generous, but better than the first calculation!

itsnever2lateisit? - I'll check out the keyboard - thanks. Offspring is not expecting an inheritance :rotfl:that's for sure! Spending diary - yes I will start today! Cheers.

bountiful

finallydebtfree!! wrote: »

Well done in posting on here! Im sure there will be lots of help coming along


Do you buy a monthly bus pass? I only ask as I pay £40 a month for my bus pass and £80 seems quite high to me (but having said that I do live just on the boundary of the city pass)

The bus pass is for one calendar month unlimited travel throughout the county - and is the cheapest way for me to get to work etc. Daily return ticket to work is 5.50 and as I work shifts I often travel to work 6 days a week. This pass also enables me to get to college once a week, and to travel to visit friends, go to nice places for walks etc. It is always hard to part with the 80quid at the beginning of the month, but takes the stress out of finding money for transport to get to work. I am in the process of moving (rented flat) to remove the bus pass cost completely and reduce my travel costs significantly. Although the flats are more expensive nearer work!

Seaxwyn

Hi bountiful - definitely give Alliance & Leicester a go - they took me on with a £3750 overdraft! If your account has been in credit at any point in the last 3 months they will match your o/d limit - or at least that was the case a year ago when I switched.

Good luck with it. It's very hard to give up ALL your 'non-essential' spending in one go so maybe you should allow yourself £20/month or so to go out for the occasional pint.

chevalier

my comments are in blue

bountiful wrote: »

I have now done my soa - cut out all the non-essentials to balance the books
Income (comprising salary, son's board & lodging, housing benefit) 1321.72
Outgoings 1240.38
550 Rent
38 Overdraftis it worth asking them to reduce your overdraft say by £20 a month and then it would get paid back slowly without you really noticing?
55.83 Council Taxis you son paying his half of this or is this the single persons rate? Also you can ask to pay it over 12 months not 10 which would help a bit.
38 Waterhave you got a hippo in your cistern? you can get them from your water authority for free. Saves a litre a flush.
40 Gasthese are both a bit high, once all of the companies have put their prices up, have a look on www.uswitch.com to see if you can get these cheaper. If you do find another supplier is cheaper have a look on www.quidco.com, or www.topcashback.co.uk to see if you can go via them to get cash back when you switch.
40 Electricity
11 BT
10.50 TV
20 Mobile phone
28.15 LaunderetteI take it this means that you don't have a washing machine? If not then join your local freecycle group - www.freecycle.org and look on there. People often have washing machines to give away free, you would just have to collect it.
150 Food
80 Bus to work
109 Loan repayment
40 Credit Card
20 Savings
5 Haircut
5 DVD rentalAgain via quidco, topcashback and www.pigsbcack.com, you can get free trials for lovefilm etc, and get cashback too. Just have to remember to cancel before the end of the trial period.

I know this may be a touchy subject, but is you son paying you a realistic amount board? Ie half of the council tax, utilites at least? If he isn't and is in a position to do so, then you need to sit down with him and explain that you will need to get a better amount from him.

best of luck
chev

ps here is the link for the thread in the freebies section to tell you all about pigsback. In post 2 there is ususally the answers for the day, so it hardly takes any time to do the quizzes

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=678797

lindens

That money at the lauderette is very high - i take it you have no washing machine? Have you tried Freecycle wanted add, or see if anyone is giving a machine away. They usually appear on there quite often as people remodel their kitchens etc.

bountiful

I have made an appointment to talk to Alliance & Leicester about opening a current account - will let you know how that goes.