Please help me - Don't know where else to go?

Pixie983

Hi Dee123 - thanks for your post. Yes, I am already greatful for the help I have had so far - I was so upset in the week when I called the debt advice line and realised they only help people who can't repay - I really didn't know where to turn as even though I can make all my repayments I feel as though there is a big black cloud hanging over me that's never going to go away! And I don't want to have to give up all of the nice things I do as that will make me even more miserable. .

In answer to your question - I was ahead of myself on my salary - it doesn't go up until July (I thought it was June) so it is currently 28,000 but will be 29,000 as of next month. Also I have to pay £100 (tax/contribution) for my company car and as you can see from my SOA I also pay £125 per month into a sharesave scheme which comes straight out of my salary. And yes, with a company car I only get 11p per mile (which doesn't seem a lot considering the current fuel prices).

Dee123_2

Pixie983 wrote: »

I feel as though there is a big black cloud hanging over me that's never going to go away! And I don't want to have to give up all of the nice things I do as that will make me even more miserable. .

Careful now

Many of us think "Oh I'll just treat myself to x as I gave up y and I feel miserable". It's a circle you need to break. You might as well try and diet saying you'll eat twice as much chocolate because you had to give up sausages.

If you want the extras, find a way to generate some extra income (see the dedicated forum board or Matched Betting board for this). Then you can bank the money or have a tiny treat to keep yourself going.

Personally, I'd start with the packed lunches, the beauty treatments, the ciggies and most definatly the £1000 annual holiday money.

jenevieve

Pixie983 wrote: »

Ok - so here's my SOA - I hope I've done this right?

Monthly income (after Tax/NI) deductions - £1600

Monthly Outgoings:
Joint account.......................... 800
First Plus loan.........................250
Gym membership....................29 (cancelled - last payment this month)
C/card / O/draft payments.......230
Mobile Phone..........................40-60 is it possible to reduce this; seems quite high
Diesel......................................100+
Cigarettes................................120 could you cut down or even think about giving up -would be a massive saving
Lunch/snacks...........................40 could you take your own in?
Magazines...............................10 reduce down to 1 or 2 favourites?
Nights out................................50reduce down
Clothes....................................50+maybe knock this on the head for a while?
Beauty Treatments....................32are these essential - if not, stop them
Beaty Products.........................30+limit to essentials only
Takeaways...............................30reduce down
Eating out..................................30-50reduce down
DVD subscription......................4
Savings acct..............................20would make more sense to direct money to paying off debts first before saving
TOTAL....................................£1865.00

I am spending way more than I earn here......

Yearly Outgoings
Days Out..............................100
Holidays...............................1000
Christmas..............................300
Birthdays...............................250
Flights (to see family).............50-100 could all these be reduced?
TOTAL.................................£1700

DEBTS
First Plus loan (Secured).............20,000 (total repayable 36,000) includes PPI.
This was 2 years ago - I think current
settlement figure is around £18,000.
C/card (unsecured).....................9,700 (just consolidated on 0% until March 2009)
TOTAL.....................................£27,700

SAVINGS
Shares.................................600
Savings account...................300
TOTAL..............................£900

I am in a sharesave scheme at work where they take the money out of my monthly salary (before it is paid to me) this equates to £125 a month. I have 2 years left on one and 3 years on the other. This is a guarantee of at least total amount saved at the end of the scheme (more if the share price is up).

ASSETTS
House Value...............155-160000
Mortgage.....................146000

Sorry if I've done this all wrong!!

N.B - my salary is due to go up by around £100 next month - also after consolidating my c/cards onto the 0% I will be trying to pay 100-150 a month off this which will be less than I currently pay to various lenders.

Any help will be appreciated - thank you

Hi, I've put some suggestions in red, it looks like potentially you could make quite a few savings on various things. However, you haven't put anything in for utilities and council tax?
Good luck

Pixie983

Hi Jenevieve, thanks for your post/suggestions.

You are right - a lot of the things I can cut down on as they are not essential. The smoking is a massive outgoing however I know I can't give up by going cold turkey and I've tried the patches before - they sent me loopy! I hardly ever enjoy smoking anymore so I know I can be a non-smoker it's just getting there! I was thinking of trying the Allen Carr clinic as I have heard this is very successful and have some friends that have done this. It's £220 with a full money back guarantee but I also have £140 worth of clubcard deals vouchers towards this meaning it's going to cost me £80 if I do this. I know this is spending yet more money - I've got to find the £80 to go there but in the long run this will save me around £120 per month I spend on buying cigarettes if I can do it.

Also, with the flights I probably overestimated the amount - Ryanair fly to where my family live so I can usually get the flights dead cheap - e.g I booked one last week for a weekend in July and got it for £10 return incuding all taxes and charges. It's only when (rarely) I have to do a last minute booking that I would pay more than say £30 for a flight and I go once every 2-3 months.

tealady

Hi. Re the smoking, there is a great thread running for people wanting to quit. I would check that out first. Also try your local chemist to see if they run stopping smoking classes/groups. I wen't to Boots and had 8 weeks worth of nicotine replacement for a one of prescription cost. There are alternatives to patches, most people I know who have used patches (me included) can't use the 24 hour ones as it causes sleep problems.

OberonSH

Going to put a few suggestions in myself - sorry if I mirror anyone elses ideas!

Pixie983 wrote: »

Ok - so here's my SOA - I hope I've done this right?

Monthly income (after Tax/NI) deductions - £1600

Monthly Outgoings:
Joint account.......................... 800
First Plus loan.........................250
Gym membership....................29 (cancelled - last payment this month)
C/card / O/draft payments.......230
Mobile Phone..........................40-60 Have you thought about PAYG, or a better tariff?
Diesel......................................100+
Cigarettes................................120 Quit. You can't afford it, and your lungs will thank you for it
Lunch/snacks...........................40 Take Packups. It's chaeper, and usually better quality than what the canteen serves up!
Magazines...............................10 Check out the online versions of your favourite mages, if you can't bear to go without
Nights out................................50 try and cut down - have cheap nights at home, video & popcorn, or a night on the wii.
Clothes....................................50+ You can't afford this right now. If you must buy clothes, use Ebay (going through a cashback site, natch!) or local charity shops. A good apsule wardrobe won't need changing every month.
Beauty Treatments....................32 Get a book out the library, and learn to do manicures etc yourself. It's really easy to get a good result at home.
Beaty Products.........................30+ Very high, what sort of stuff is this?
Takeaways...............................30 Can't afford it - learn to make your favourites at home, cheaper plus you know what goes (and doesn't go) into it.
Eating out..................................30-50 Can't afford this either at the moment. Get a cookbook!
DVD subscription......................4
Savings acct..............................20 This could go towards your debt.
TOTAL....................................£1865.00

I am spending way more than I earn here......

Yearly Outgoings
Days Out..............................100 Isn't this covered in 'Nights out'
Holidays...............................1000 Can't afford I'm afraid.
Christmas..............................300 High, do you have a large family?
Birthdays...............................250 Again, very high - surely this can be cut down
Flights (to see family).............50-100 Dpending on where they are, check out the cheap flights articles on themain site to get more airmiles for your money
TOTAL.................................£1700

I reckon if you cut down this expensive bits, you'll be looking at saving £432 a month. That's a massive amount. You just have to realise you have to cut back on going out, eating out, and having someone do your nails. It's not all doom and gloom though love! You can teach yourself to give yourself beauty treatments, or if it's something you an't do, check out your local beauty college - they're always after [STRIKE]victims[/STRIKE] volunteers to try out on, and charge a really cheap price. My friend got her eyelashed dyed for holiday for £3.

There's no salvaging the going out though. Why not get your mates round for a few nights in, you'll be surprised how many of your mates are in the same boat, but didn;t want to say anything.

The yearly things like Xmas, birthdays etc is really high. Try joining cashback sites like Pigsback etc. The money you earn by clicking, registering etc can go towards these, and in fact I've this year already got over £80 stashed for Xmas, and £50 for brithdays all for free. Check out the Up Your Income and Referrals board for the links.

Get a cup of tea, and cheer up. It's very possible that you could end up loving your new moneysaving lifestyle so much that you go a bit strange about £2 coins, and making spreadsheets, just like most of us Put a line under your £28k, as it's only going to go down from now on. Make sure you keep us updated as to how you're getting on.

GeorgeUK

Hi Pixie - i'm going to suggest looking at the SOA calculator to make sure you have all the bills etc that should be there, but don't seem to be - council tax, gas electricity, water rates, phone, internet etc.
You can add all the extra stuff too, but if you don't include the basics then what you budget for may be of little use.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Pixie983

Sorry - I should have explained on my SOA that the £800 going into the Joint account covers the Mortgage payment, council tax, water, gas & electricity, tv licence, internet/phone, home insurance and food bills etc. I didn't separate this as the joint account isn't a problem - it's my own finances (what's left in my account after paying into the joint account) that's causing me the problems.;)

Just seeing my SOA on here has made me see how much I can cut back on and I'm already feeling more positive. First thing that's got to go is definitely the fags, which will save me a whopping £120 per month - watch this space.......!!!:p

arthurdick

hi pixie, just a thought on the smoking issue....a cheap way, but from people i know,who have tried it, a very effective way, to give up smoking...the easy way to give up smoking.... a book by alan carr....this is what someone has written about it.....There is absolutely nothing to give up. There is no genuine pleasure or crutch in smoking. It is just an illusion like banging your head against a wall to make it pleasant when you stop."
(Allen Carr, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking).
This statement will be difficult for you to accept to begin with, but we believe that Allen Carr has hit the nail on the head here. Stopping smoking has nothing to do with giving up, and everything to do with what you will gain.
An example may make this easier for you to understand. Consider the following; you're not going to be giving up on bad health, you are going to be actively choosing good health. Focus on what positive things you will gain from becoming a non smoker, not what you perceive will lose........very easy to say, but worth a try......ok, im just as bad, i smoke too much too and spend too much on it......but i kid myself that i enjoy it...

Pixie983

So today is my first day on the road to debt freedom! Thought I'd let you all know how I've done! I have been to the supermarket and bought food to make my own lunches this week so I'm not spending on buying pre-packed sandwiches etc. I also needed a new moisturizer (yes I needed it, I had run out!) but instead of buying my usual brand at £38 I went with a cheaper brand and used my boots advantage card points to pay for it . Yay!

I have also made a decision on the smoking - I'm going to go with the Allen Carr clinic as I feel it would be a waste not to use the £140 worth of vouchers I have towards it which means I'll have to pay £80 in total. I'm doing it at the beginning of the month therefore I'll easily cover that £80 as I won't be smoking and would normally be spending £120 a month on cigs - ha-I'll actually be saving £40!!

Also I've sent a letter to First Plus to see if I can reclaim the PPI that I believe I was mis-sold :mad:. Will have to wait to see what happens with this but anything will be a bonus!