Confessions of a 26 year old in £19'000 worth of debt !!! Please help me !

OnwardAndUpward81

Please see my previous post (Confessions of a 26 year old in £38'000 worth of debt !!! Please help me !) first before reading this one-

Firstly, thank you to everyone all the advice given previously. They're a few words which have had a positive impact on my life.

I currently earn £1369 a month now. I live with my mother and sister (13yr old) and my mother still doesn't work. I've told her and my older sister about my debts who are more concerned with their own problems. I've told my partner who has been very supportive and challenges me when I've had/or I'm going into a relpase. His paying off debts too so we're helping each other and being supportive.

I had a major one easter weekend and went to NYC which cost £404 including flights, hotel, spending and return fares to airport. I know, I know, major relapse!

Since the last post
I've cleared my overdrafts
Reduced phone tariff
Written down everything I spend
Got rid of lottery syndicate
I only drive to work now
I'm still selling on Ebay(I'm doing Car boot for the first time this saturday to try and shift what I didn't sell)
I wrote letters to reclaim bank charges but there is currently a test case going through?

I'm not counting my student loan as debt at the moment and currently I don't have to make any payments to them. I'm concentrating on getting rid of my interest free capital one credit card (it ends May 2008, any ideas on other interest free credit card companies?) and then I will start with the personal loan. Oh yes and I renewed my car insurance in January and paid it all using my credit card.

Currently I still go the cinema, blockbusters,bars and clubs (to which I withdraw the cash and take only the cash with me, never more than £20) and shows (last minute deals on last minute.com). So these things are obvious things I could stop. I have a stressful job and completing an MSc (don't worry my Grandad and work are paying for it and I've bought one book since I started last September) so I need social activities. Any suggestions?

Is there anything else I can be doing?

Loans and Credit Cards

Personal Loan: £16801.44
Credit Card: £2250 0% APR til May 2008

Bank balances

Graduate account - I paid of my overdraft! There is an interest free £1000 o/d on it which I don't use and ends September 2009.
Current account - I paid of my overdraft! Currently in credit as I got paid yesterday.
Savings - ZILCH, NIL, NADA, NOTHING, ZERO

Mandatory out goings

Mobile (free all evenings and weekends unlimited and 100 texts) - £30 monthly
House Phone and TV - £65 monthly
Personal Loan monthly- £494.16 monthly
Credit card monthly- I currently pay as much as I can off, i.e I paid £250 off
Food shopping - £100 monthly
Petrol - £100 monthly
Work Union - £7.70

Gemmzie

What are the APRs on your credit cards? How long is your Graduate overdraft 0% for?

OnwardAndUpward81

O% on credit card.
Graduate Overdraft ends August 2009

Welshlassie

Your house phone and TV is quite high, can this come down??
Who is your mibile with - what about 2for1 Orange Wednesdays?
Could you register with the DVD's by post (eg LoveFilm) they have free trails and just jump around between them all (using Quidco and the likes of course to build up cashback).

tallyhoh

Hi,

I have had a look at your previous posts. You say you are the sole provider for your family of 4 but I can only see £100 food shopping & £65 landline.

Have I/you missed something out? it must cost more than £25 a week to feed a family of 4. Dont you have to contribute towards the mortgage/ rent & house bills?

You need add your total household contributions in so that you have a clearer figure of surplus money to put towards debts.

OnwardAndUpward81

Hiya

It's three of us in our household now and I pay £25 and mum will pay the other £25 towards the shopping. My mum's on benefits so all utility bills apart from tv/internet/landline are financed by that and although she doesn't work the house was mortgaged before she stopped working so her benefits also go towards a yearly endowment. For years, I've financed things such as if the boiler breaks, their holidays, if tv goes, a new bed is needed, washing machine, my sister needs something, etc. Nothing has happened recently were I've had to pay for anything major.

tallyhoh

Hi, I see what you mean now but it must be hard on your mom to have to pay all the utility bills & council tax etc out of her benefits & half the food. Doesnt she lose some of the benefit allowances as there is a non-dependant full time worker in the household?

I know you say you would be lost without the car but I totalled my car expenses up a few weeks ago & it costs me about £120 a month to run it, thats without car payments & I get fairly cheap insurance cus of my age. Can you not use local transport if its available. Try totting the total costs up, you may be surprised.

Gemmzie

I'd move £900 odd of the CC's to the overdraft to give you longer to pay it off.

Then you only have £1350 to concentrate on clearing or moving before the end of May.