Any advice would be helpful

Money_Fritter

Hi Folks,

I have been a follower of this site for awhile now. However, it was only recently that I decided that I was in serious trouble and only by acting now could I stop my debts spiraling out of control.

My current debt is £18,429.51 :mad:

This consists of a Virgin CC = £6,414.05, a barclaycard = £409.46, a HSBC overdraft = £2500 and a car = £9106.00.

My monthly income is £1831
My current budget per month is as follows:-

1) Mortgage £760
2) Council tax £75
3) Gas £40
4) Electric £35
5) Mobile phone £40
6) Car £150
7) TV licence £12
8) Mortgage protection £15
9) Home phone £15
10) Water Bill £30
11) Builing and contents insurance £30
12) Virgin CC £200
13) Barclaycard £8
14) Food £130
15) Petrol £180
16) Badminton £30

Total = £1750

All of the above figures are not the exact figures, I round up slightly for each one so I have a slight float at the end of each month.

The main problem for me was my visa card, I always put things on it and find it hard to resist impulse buys. I have just recently got the Virgin credit card as MSE rated it the best 0% balance transfer (18 months). I have not spent on this card and do not plan to do so.

I use to have a lottery subscription on-line, which was ~£10 per month. However, I have cancelled that now. I also use to have a really expensive mortgage protection cover with the HSBC, which was £48 per month. I cancelled this and via MSE found my current one which is only £15 per month. I also cancelled my milk delivery (~10 per month) as I was wasting lots.

I have also changed my BT phone bill to paperless to save money and pay by direct debit to save money. I have also changed my electric and gas supplier from British Gas to N-power. However, that is still in the process of going through, so my bills have not come down yet. From switching I got £45 cash-back which I will use towards paying off my Barclaycard. I also got new car insurance recently and got £75 cash-back, which I will also use towards paying off my Barclaycard.

However, I am now abit stuck with respect to other savings. Any help would be much appreciated. I cannot believe I let my finances get this bad. I use to be good with money, but have now let it slip and get totally out of hand. I feel rubbish and embarrassed by it all. To make matters worse I am trying to decorate my house at the moment but I cannot afford to buy things, so it is taking twice as long.

Anyway sorry for the long story. Once again any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

hypno06

Hi there and welcome to the boards!

You have obviously made some really good changes, but I know what you mean about being a bit "stuck".

The way that you could get things focussed could be:

• use a spending diary - write down absolutely everything you spend each day. You will soon find you are thinking twice about spending on "un-necessaries" because you have to "confess" to your spending diary!
• use the snowball calculator on www.whatsthecost.com and put all your numbers in there - it will give you an initial debt free date (DFD) and you can then play around with it to see how you can bring that date forward - I find it a real motivator!
• join in a challenge - if you can't cut back any more, then make more money!! Join in the "make £10 a day" challenge - £10 a day = £300 a month or £3600 a year.......very useful extra money that you can either use for treats, or to get the debt gone even quicker!

And keep posting - it is the best way of keeping on track!

Saab

Hi, I can't help a lot, but I've just posted on another thread about buildings/contents insurance.

Who are you with? Can you move, or are you stuck until you're renewal date?

I'm with Direct Line. I went onto their website and they are doing a special offer for new takers. Even though I am with them, I filled in an online quote and it came back much cheaper than what I am paying, so I rang them and they have given me the new premium.:)

I'm now paying £19 per month, and this should go down further when I renew in august.:)

bank_of_slate

Hi Fritter, have you transferred what you can onto the new 0% card?
...Linda xx

Money_Fritter

Thanks for the comments guys. I will have to try some of the challenges and try and save more money that way. As for the 0% card, I have transferred as much as I can in the allotted time allowed. Also with respect to the building and contents insurance I just got it about a month ago, I am not sure if I am tied in. I pay monthly, I did look on MSE and it was cheaper by £100 pounds than my previous one. However, I cannot remember if I tried direct line. If I remember correctly that is one of the big companies that is not included on the search engines on MSE.

Poosmate

Hi money Fritter,

The main thing that jumps out at me is your grocery bill. Are you living alone? If so you should be able to reduce that figure by at least £30 possibly even £50! Yay!

Also, your badmington, could you maybe cut down on that? Take up a cheaper form of exercise like running (ew - I don't run I'm a lady! lol).

Maybe to kickstart your new MSE Debtbusting life you could generate some extra income by selling some items on Ebay? Maybe some of those impulse buys?

Hope you get sorted and on track very soon.

Keep posting, you know you're in good hands here.

Poo

Money_Fritter

Thanks Hypno6,

I have used the Snowball Calculator and it has given me a initial debt free date of ~June 2013. That seems like a lifetime away. I am going to try really hard and aim for June 2011, or sooner.

Thanks everybody for your help

Money_Fritter

Thanks for the advice poosmate.

I most probably could cut my food bill down further, if I cut out buying beer and wine, but I do like the odd glass of wine from time to time.

As for badminton, I cannot really reduce that as I play for a club and play for a team in a local league.

I will try and cut down the food bill though (well drink!!!)

:-)

mum2one

Just a thought, but could you get your council tax over 12 months rather than the 10, or if yoy do 10 mths the spare mths put that straight up for debts?

Its not much money but what about doing surveys etc. x