It's always way more than you think eh.

EvilKumquat

Well I finally did my SOA. I'm not penny accurate right now as I'm juggling lots of balls to try and get the costs down.

Income
My Salary - £2629.24 + Annual 4% Bonus

Outgoings
Rent £1020
Council Tax £78
Electricity £28
Gas £30
TV Licence £11
Travel £105
Phone £12
Internet £22
Food £175
Gym £65 (I do go, if I go out instead I'll spend more )
Other £100
Going Out £100
Credit Expert £6.99 (keeping an eye for a few months, will cancel soon)
Total £1752.99


The Pit of Despair
Citibank £1980 (Limit £2000) APR 24.9%
Egg £700 (Limit £2500) APR 15.9%
IF Credit Card £1580 (Limit £1680) APR 12.9%
IF Loan £1533, Paying £195.84 a month. Finished in October
Virgin £4920 (Limit £5000) 34.9%
Overdraft £1290 (Limit £2000) 12.9%
Ex-GF £1720 (Currently paying £100 a month, she cheated and left me holding all the bills and flat so cba with more )

Total £13723

Current plan of attack is to pay off the £700 on Egg, (Was just to take advantage of the three months interest free purchases as I bought all my clothes and stuff for the year That will be paid with my bonus this month)

Then Transfer £2250 from Virgin Card to Egg
Get my £100 from First Direct
Get £200 from selling stuff all onto my virgin, if I can get that down to £2000 That'll give me an extra £80 a month to snowball

Now the step after Virgin, I'm tempted to just simplify, it's not the most cost effective way but it'll do wonders for my sanity. If I go for my old overdraft (just changed because First Direct said they'd give me £100 lol)

After my loan I get £683 remaining. Estimated Interest per month is about £230 (loan is thankfully all repayment now) I think I'm going to put £150 a month aside for a few months to make sure my budget is fairly accurate and build up a bit of a buffer.

That puts capital repayments at about £490 a month, so April 2010... *cry*

Wish me luck. I've been !!!!ing round trying to sort this for almost 4 years now. Need to get it nailed.

Oh yeah, rent, it's London and I can't share again. It's actually quite reasonable (I drilled the landlord down from £1300 a month ) and having moved 11 times in 7 years I'm not moving again.

MissEyre

EvilKumquat wrote: »

Well I finally did my SOA. I'm not penny accurate right now as I'm juggling lots of balls to try and get the costs down.

Income
My Salary - £2629.24 + Annual 4% Bonus

Outgoings
Rent £1020
Council Tax £78 Is this paid over 10 months or 12? Over 12 would free up a little bit extra each month
Electricity £28
Gas £30
TV Licence £11
Travel £105
Phone £12
Internet £22 This can come down
Food £175 This can be reduced
Gym £65 (I do go, if I go out instead I'll spend more ) Is there a cheaper gym locally?
Other £100 You really need to know where this going
Going Out £100 Can you cut back a little bit?
Credit Expert £6.99 (keeping an eye for a few months, will cancel soon) I would cancel this now

Contents insurance? Haircuts? Birthdays? Holidays?

Total £1752.99



The Pit of Despair
Citibank £1980 (Limit £2000) APR 24.9%
Egg £700 (Limit £2500) APR 15.9%
IF Credit Card £1580 (Limit £1680) APR 12.9%
IF Loan £1533, Paying £195.84 a month. Finished in October
Virgin £4920 (Limit £5000) 34.9%
Overdraft £1290 (Limit £2000) 12.9%
Ex-GF £1720 (Currently paying £100 a month, she cheated and left me holding all the bills and flat so cba with more )

Total £13723

If you look at the snowball calculator, it will tell you the cheapest way of paying everything off, but that basiclly means starting with the most expensive APRs and working down to the lowest..

Sounds like you're determined to get rid of the debts-all the best!

EvilKumquat

I do know where the 'other' is going. It's the haircuts and stuff you mention, I'll be more specific after I have all my receipts next month

Don't do birthdays, don't go on Holiday, my clothes are all bought for at least the next 6 months. Then I get my next bonus and buy some more.

Internet can't practically come down because its unlimited and enables me to not have to pay for the movies and stuff so it saves me money really. There's also a couple of features I need from it, that cost extra, enabling me to work from home.

Council Tax is paid in 10, they don't support paying in 12 (Cheapest Borough in the country though, only £800 for Band E *ironic whoop*) the two months are just going on servicing debt so it equals out I think.

Fair point on credit expert, I've just been keeping an eye out to work out why the banks are stiffing me so badly, after all the debt is bad, but proportionate to income and I haven't had a late payment in 3 years. I spoke to a friend and it turns out that because I was reducing my limit to reduce temptation it made me look like I was maxed out. Genius.

The gym is a sticking point but I need the pool (Training to rejoin the TA, free gym membership and £250 a month extra income)

Did think of something though, I can get an interest free season ticket loan. Would save me £11 a month. I'll sort that tomorrow.

Thanks for the response,

Molanole

Looks to me like you've plenty of scope in your budget to get those debts down. So, really set your mind to keeping tabs on everything, and I mean everything, you spend to see where it's all going. From the starbucks on the way to the tube, to the evening standard you buy on the way home from the shrapnel in your pocket (you might not do this of course but you know what I mean ) you need to know. London is horribly expensive and a killer for those little bits and bobs that you forget buying. (We got out to save money in the end. But now the commute is nasty nasty nasty)

Also, am I tired or did I read that the APR on your Virgin card is 34.9% :eek: That really would be my first target. Although I understand that paying of couple of smaller balances first does help to get you motivated (I know, that's what I did!! ).

Good luck. You've come to the right place!

EvilKumquat

Yeah the APR just went from 15.9 to 34.9 a couple of days ago. That was a bit of a shock. Especially as I did my credit score straight after and it was 902. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest MBNA have done it to loads of people in the last week. Which means they're probably trying to drive customers away and batten down the hatches.

I can get it down to £2k this month by juggling and paying off £800 so I'll do that, then I'll get it down asap, if I concentrate I can nail that by June, at which point First Direct have said I'll be fine for a 4.9% for 5 years BT Card (f'ing awesome deal)

Going to be interesting doing my spending diary next month. I know I'm in control as my debts haven't gotten any worse in a year but I need to see where I can trim the fat as £230 a month on interest is just rubbish, I want to actually enjoy the money I earn from the job I hate

Molanole

EvilKumquat wrote: »

I want to actually enjoy the money I earn from the job I hate

I hear you EK. Tell me about it!:rolleyes: It's that which inspires me more than anything else. I keep thinking, "if I didn't have these debts I'd have XX amount to play with each month. Think of all the gigs I could go to with that"

It galls me that my minimums are about £900 per month. When I coupled that with the rent I was paying out (£950 when I was in London) it made me feel siiiiicccccckkkkk as the proverbial parrot! :wall:

Good luck with it all

Mola

Surfbabe

Its the interest that does it - that was my lightbulb moment when I realised we were paying £300+ in interest per month so had paid over £8k in the last few years which we could have done so many things with - like a new kitchen !!! mine is the origianl kitchen that was put in when the house was built in 1977!!!.. Anyway good luck on you journey - you sound really focused.!

EvilKumquat

Well I officially did rubbish in my first month. I ended up needing a break away (after not having a holiday for over a year) and spent way too much money on clothes after realising everything looked crap after losing 12kg in the last 8 months.

Ho hum.

On the upside I went on Holiday, Spent £400 on clothes and still reduced my debt by £300. Plus I got a 15% pay raise, a promotion and my bonus has more than doubled to 10% per year.

Monthly income is going to be £2924 from now. So this should be a piece of cake if I pay attention.

Bambywamby

You're right it is always more than you think it will be, but I have found it comes down faster than you thought it would also.
Little comfort now, but you will get there

Good luck x x

payingfornowt

EvilKumquat wrote: »

Well I finally did my SOA. I'm not penny accurate right now as I'm juggling lots of balls to try and get the costs down.

Income
My Salary - £2629.24 + Annual 4% Bonus

Outgoings
Rent £1020
Council Tax £78
Electricity £28
Gas £30
TV Licence £11
Travel £105
Phone £12
Internet £22
Food £175 - What are you feeding! If its for 1 £75 should be more than enough.
Gym £65 (I do go, if I go out instead I'll spend more ) - This seems expensive, is there any cheaper ones?
Other £100 - A lot for misc expenses?
Going Out £100 - I keep £100 a side for "Entrertainment", I have been told it is too much.
Credit Expert £6.99 (keeping an eye for a few months, will cancel soon) - Not sure of the details but I think this is a bit of a con, I read somewhere you can get your credit report for £1 via post under data protection act????
Total £1752.99


The Pit of Despair
Citibank £1980 (Limit £2000) APR 24.9%
Egg £700 (Limit £2500) APR 15.9%
IF Credit Card £1580 (Limit £1680) APR 12.9%
IF Loan £1533, Paying £195.84 a month. Finished in October
Virgin £4920 (Limit £5000) 34.9%
Overdraft £1290 (Limit £2000) 12.9%
Ex-GF £1720 (Currently paying £100 a month, she cheated and left me holding all the bills and flat so cba with more )

Total £13723

Current plan of attack is to pay off the £700 on Egg, (Was just to take advantage of the three months interest free purchases as I bought all my clothes and stuff for the year That will be paid with my bonus this month)

Then Transfer £2250 from Virgin Card to Egg
Get my £100 from First Direct
Get £200 from selling stuff all onto my virgin, if I can get that down to £2000 That'll give me an extra £80 a month to snowball

Now the step after Virgin, I'm tempted to just simplify, it's not the most cost effective way but it'll do wonders for my sanity. If I go for my old overdraft (just changed because First Direct said they'd give me £100 lol)

After my loan I get £683 remaining. Estimated Interest per month is about £230 (loan is thankfully all repayment now) I think I'm going to put £150 a month aside for a few months to make sure my budget is fairly accurate and build up a bit of a buffer.

That puts capital repayments at about £490 a month, so April 2010... *cry*

Wish me luck. I've been !!!!ing round trying to sort this for almost 4 years now. Need to get it nailed.

Oh yeah, rent, it's London and I can't share again. It's actually quite reasonable (I drilled the landlord down from £1300 a month ) and having moved 11 times in 7 years I'm not moving again.

Good luck, hope I dont sound like an !!!!, just trying to be critical as I think thats the point of this forum almost...... I'm no expert and quite new to this.

All the best mate...