Newlifeahead - Debt Diary

newlifeahead

I just can't take it anymore. I have tried hard to resist starting this debt free diary. I enjoy reading others on here and have had a lot of help reading all the suggestions given but now I seem stuck.
At long last I will make my last car payment on the 1st April. I am counting down the days. I am finding these last few days a real struggle. I am having one of those months where I have to pay for everything.
I have just had to insure my car. I have done this through quidco and will get £100 cash back which will be a great help. I still have to pay my gas and electricity bill which I received last month for £400:eek: . I almost had a heart attack. Every since I haven't put the heating on as much hoping that the bill will not be as high next month. I still have to call Npower to find out if I can come to some kind of arrangement to pay this over a few months. I am not looking forward to this at all.

I am hoping someone can help with my soa. The last time I did one was in 2006 which was my lightbulb moment. I had done this on another forum and didn't find this website until about 1 year later.
I would like to try and cut down somewhere but cannot see what I can do. I had stopped all the luxury things (only had sky)and try to watch what I spend but I have no idea what I can do to help with normal living cost over the next 2 months . Here goes

Monthly Incomings:

My salary - £994.34
Benefits - £572.28
Total - £1566.62

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage- £413
Council Tax - £89
Gas - £50 - based on last statement. Hope to reduce
Electric - £20.53
TV License - £11.99
mobile £19
Phone - £14.79
Food - £266
Car Insurance - £13.16 - just renewed
Petrol - £80
Water - £33.00
Car tax £15.00
Car mot £5
Car parking £8.40
Out of school club (son) £232

Total: £1,061.87

Debts Balance Min payment
Store card - £195.57 £9
Car loan - £203.74 £203.74 - one more payment to go
The following have frozen interest and I am paying through payplan £128.84 per a month.
Natwest o/d £1658.99
Barclays - £2257.22
Barclays card £ 2363.72
Egg card - £8442.53
Barclaycard - £8500.00
Mbna Loan - £ 1860.00
Total debts - £25481.77


I am currently upto my £500 overdraft and will need to call the bank today to try and increase it until payday on Monday so that my payment for my mobile goes through, otherwise they will charge me £25 which I cannot afford right now.

Sorry for the long post. I have just become more and more frustrated with these debts. If anyone has any suggestions it will be well received.

Thanks again.

ltm07

Hi & well done for posting. You have shifted a huge debt judging by your sig. Well done. We all get down now & again about our debts. Someone with better knowledge than me should be able to advise you. Any way you could cut the petrol amount down? On the plus side you will be soon freeing up £203 which will help you massively. Good luck.

newlifeahead

Thanks for your reply LTMO7.

I have managed to get rid of a lot of debt. At the start of my lightbulb momment I was like most people. I thought it was the end of the world. Debt collection agencies were threathing to take me to court and take charge over my house. I had many nights crying over the threats made. I didn't think I could get out of the mess I was in but I just took one day at a time.

I was one of those people thinking should I sell my house, or get another loan out. I was on a low income with huge debts. I am very glad for websites like this to help people in need.

I can't wait for my last car payment, but I have to pay my very expensive gas bill and I am sure the next one is due very soon.

I am going to look into buying bio diesel instead of normal diesel. The cost is much cheaper and hopefully will save me a bit. Thanks for your advise. I had forgotten about it.

:beer:

headinthesand_3

How did you pay off so much debt??

Did you sell your house?

ltm07

Maybe worth phoning your gas company to explain your situation. They should help you by letting you pay what you can afford. Stick around,as others will certainly post to give you more advice. All the Best.

Jelly_Babies

Hi there

You have definately done really really well already halving your debt and you should feel really proud of yourself :T

How many is there in your household? Have you tried the oldstyle board to reduce your shopping costs and meal planning. bet you could reduce that figure.

Re your after school care, have you looked into getting vouchers which are deducted from your wages at source so you pay less tax? Busy Bees do them, is worth looking into.

It would be a good idea once you have paid the last payment on your car loan to try and clear the store card as they charge stupid amount of interest and you will also feel a huge boost for clearing a debt. Then you can continue to concentrate on the other debts.

Good luck though and keep posting

newlifeahead

I didn't sell my house even though I did look into it. It would have cleared all my debts but then I would have not had anywhere to live with 2 small kids.

I was able to get 2 of my largest debts by sending a cca. 1st credit were the worst people I had ever dealt with. In the end I sent a letter of complaint to the owner of the company (can't remember his name right now) I listed all the faults with their debt collection process and detailed all the scare tactics eg telling me to get the money from friends or telling me I must sell my house. I had a reply within 48 hours saying they would no longer be chasing the debt. They removed the default straight away and said the matter was closed.;)

After my car payment I will try and clear my last storecard. I have also made my last payment on my other storecard next month I will make a payment of £50 each month until it has cleared. I wish I could pay it off all in one go but I will have to pay my gas/electric bill first.

There is just me and my 2 children 6yrs and 3yrs. I know my food bill is quite high. This does include nappies but my 3yr old is almost out of them now and I don't purchase them as much. I was shopping at Tesco atlot for the points.(will be able to service and mot my car next month.) I will try and shop elsewhere now if it is cheaper. I do need to budget more as I will go to the shop for 3 items and come out with a basket full:mad:

ltm07

Hi again! OH & I have found that shopping at Aldi is saving us £20-£30 a week & have found the food there to be fine. We also buy alot of frozen food & veg from Farmfoods. It is worth trying one of the Aldi,Lidl type Supermarkets in my opinion,as it will save you a small fortune in the long run.

newlifeahead

I am going to try and give Aldi and Lidl ago this month as money is very tight. I am hoping I can last more than a week doing this but it may help me to budget and plan better.

Thanks

I thought I was going to have problems this morning. I get paid on Monday and I knew that my direct debit was due to go out this morning. I had checked the balance yesterday and knew it would take me over my overdraft and it may get rejected meaning I would be charged £25 for a payment of £19.02 . It looks like the balance yesterday included the authorisation of the £19.02 and now I am not overdrawn:j . I am so glad now after the last few days of pure pain. I now hope nothing comes up between now and Monday as I have no money whatsoever. The next few days must be a no spend day for me to survive.......fingers crossed.

Verbatim

Hi nla,

Looks to me like you're doing really well. The trick with keeping the food bill down is menu planning. I work out a month's meals in advance and surprise myself by how little I need to buy. I just like buying food but when things are tight I know I don't need to if I plan around what's in the cupboard and freezer. Doesn't have to be monthly plans but if money comes in monthly it my be better to know that meals are sorted until the next payday. Obviously milk & fr & veg have to be bought during the month so allow for that. I know I'm a sad no-life but I get a kick out of planning inexpensive healthy meals, and planning the money so it goes a long way.

As you've nearly paid off the car and will have more money next month can you use this to negotiate with the gas supplier? Are you paying monthly on meter readings? If you are summer is round the corner so lower usage but would it be easier to pay a fixed sum monthly all year to even it out?

Good luck until Monday payday.

loopylu36

newlifeahead wrote: »

I didn't sell my house even though I did look into it. It would have cleared all my debts but then I would have not had anywhere to live with 2 small kids.

I was able to get 2 of my largest debts by sending a cca. 1st credit were the worst people I had ever dealt with. In the end I sent a letter of complaint to the owner of the company (can't remember his name right now) I listed all the faults with their debt collection process and detailed all the scare tactics eg telling me to get the money from friends or telling me I must sell my house. I had a reply within 48 hours saying they would no longer be chasing the debt. They removed the default straight away and said the matter was closed.;)

After my car payment I will try and clear my last storecard. I have also made my last payment on my other storecard next month I will make a payment of £50 each month until it has cleared. I wish I could pay it off all in one go but I will have to pay my gas/electric bill first.

There is just me and my 2 children 6yrs and 3yrs. I know my food bill is quite high. This does include nappies but my 3yr old is almost out of them now and I don't purchase them as much. I was shopping at Tesco atlot for the points.(will be able to service and mot my car next month.) I will try and shop elsewhere now if it is cheaper. I do need to budget more as I will go to the shop for 3 items and come out with a basket full:mad:

Hi,

I just wanted to say that you have done amazingly well and you are an inspiration. Just a couple of questions if I may?

What is a CCA? Did the companies write the debt of because it was somehow mis-sold in the first place or just because you complained about their bully boy tactics?

Also how did you manage to keep some debts out of your DMP? I wanted to do this but was told I wouldn't be able to? I wanted to do this as really it is credit cards that cripple me and I can pay my loans off much quicker without those payments (the cc can just have the bare minimum in my opinion until the loans are paid then I can start hammering them down)

Well done once again :A