Hello from new person!

gentlewomanprefersbonds

So I've had my lightbulb moment and have joined MSE for a bit of moral support. Looking at the advice for new bods I think I have to bite the bullet and post the following *grits teeth*

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £1374
Benefits - £0.00

Total - £1,374

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £290
Gas - £20
Electric - £40
Sky £42.00
Phone - £40.00
Food - £235
Petrol - £80
Life Insurance £21.50
Payments in loans: £579

Total: £1347.50

HSBC Loan – Balance £945 5 months to go
Barclay card £1,716 0% APR until June 2008
MBNA card £1,602 0% APR until Jan 2009
Overdraft - £200 (limit £700) APR 20%

On paper (screen that might not seem too bad but my husband has taken early retirement and we are going through IVF which has bashed all our savings so it has to work first time through! And the roof on our house needs to be fixed at a cost of £5k. I have not included my husband's income as he has taken early retirement, I have also borrowed thousands of him over the years to supplement my income having been freelance for years or 'between jobs'. We have separate bank accounts anyway.

My biggest problem is that the treatment has taken it's toll on me both financially and emotionally. I am awful at curing my misery with a shopping spree and this is where my debts have built up.

I have made the sensible decision of getting my debts on to 0% cards and cut down the shopping bill by growing own veg and supplementing with organic box since I am trying very hard to keep healthy due to IVF. I am also thinking of changing Sky to Virgin to consolidate our services. In an ideal world I'd like to clear the debts so that I can start to save up in case I need to go through all the cost of treatment again.

Anyway, this is me and I just wanted to say hello and look forward to meeting a few more people. Off to read the running club thread as I'd like to be thinner and debt free too!

savingforarainyday

Hi, GWPB

Well done for posting SOA

Just looking down list, have you checked that your gas and electric are the cheapest supplier you can get. Do you need the Sky package, can it be reduced with one of their pick and mix things, again if you change to Virgin media, check you are only subscribing to what you watch, and also take advantage of their £10/month mobile deal.if thats who you decide to go with. If you have a look on the "old style" board you may be able to make some savings on food without making your diet/health suffer. I notice you didn't include car expenses, insurance tax servicing etc.

It is hard if you are used to having a little shopping trip to perk you up, but maybe there is a hobby, something else you enjoy that you can escape into rather than this.

I am assuming that the £579 is the loans listed singularly below this.

You have done really well to make this start and I am sure there will be some bods along with plenty of ideas to help you.:D

andan

Hi and welcome to the board, not great at giving advice i'm afraid, but just wanted to say hello. you sound like you have some good ideas and do check out savingforarainyday suggestions.

Worth looking at is the up your income board as you may be able to find ways on there of upping your income and perhaps join challenges on the board to keep you motivated and keen on shifting the debt especially in the dark and dreary days.

PS. I hope everything goes well with the IVF, can't be an easy thing.

ms_london

Hello, welcome to MSE!

Have you shopped around for your utlities? Are these monthly bills? Is your phone deal the cheapest you can get?

Could you get rid of sky or downgrade?

You could probably reduce the cost of food by perhaps half?

You have listed petrol, but nothing for tax, insurance, MOT & servicing.

With your debts - could you transfer the balance of your Barclaycard onto MBNA? Out of the money you pay towards your debts, how is this split? How much goes to each creditor?

I think you need to look at your budget a bit more, do one, that includes the above for the car, as well as holidays, birthday, christmas, dental & medical - and anything else you can think off. Oh, tv licence?

Is there a penalty fee on your loan if you repay this earlier? I would suggest trying to clear this first so it is gone - then tackle the overdraft & get it cancelled. (The only way I could make sure I was repaying my overdraft and didnt keep spending the money I had set aside, was to ask my bank to reduce my OD by $X each month - whatever it was I could afford - do you really need an OD of that amount anyway?). Then once these two are gone, you need to try and clear as much of the credit cards before they expire and you have to pay interest - unless of course you can put them onto another 0% credit card when the 0% deal runs out in January.

If you cant transfer the Barclaycard onto the MBNA - it might be worth calling Barclaycard to see if they can freeze interest & stop charges, or at least reduce your monthly repayment - no harm in asking.

With the roof - when do you NEED it doing? can it be put on hold for the time being?

Your husband will be entitled to a pension? Surely he will help out at least with the cost of your mortgage/insurances/food etc?!? It sounds like you dont need to carry the burden of this on your shoulders, especially if you have the stresses and strains of IVF also? This is an added worry that you probably dont need, and wont improve your chances of getting pregnant if you have this to carry around with you surely? When you do get pregnant, how will the bills be covered then?

I can appreciate that you go on a spending spree when you are feeling low - been there done that! But as we all know it is a vicious circle isnt it?

Hope the running club thread provided some great info - I love running!! There is also a 'c25k' (couch to 5K) programme out there, you may want to google it.

I am sure the others will be along soon with some helpful info xx