Debt, Debt and MORE Debt!!

EssexHebridean · 25 July 2017 at 4:36PM

Shopping: I do two adults on under £150 a month. we eat very well - free range/outdoor reared meat and meat mostly comes from farmers markets so not the cheapest. I do however use Aldi & Lidl fruit and veg deals to plan meals around and cook almost entirely from scratch. That figure also includes all cleaning materials and some toiletries.

tempus_fugit · 25 July 2017 at 5:37PM

Lucylocks wrote: »

I assume from above you have a child - do you receive child benefit? If so this could go to your 'Christmas fund' freeing up some monthly spend toward debt. £25 per week is a heck of a lot on dog food! Can you bulk buy at somewhere like countrywide to save on this.

I appreciate how hard it is to give up on indulgences like sky, phone contracts etc however.... if your bank are calling in your overdraft it suggests you are in some difficulty and you really do need to pay bits down as a matter of urgency else potentially things could get a lot worse.

Sorry if I sound like the voice of doom - we've all of us been in difficulties hence being on this forum - I've had to seriously reevaluate my personal priorities which has been a difficult lesson.

^^ This!!

With over £50,000 of debt and some of these becoming very urgent, there is simply no justification for the luxuries being retained. These have to go, for a time at least, until the most urgent debts are paid off. The £400 a month, which you now say is for doing up the house, if this is not for urgent work then I see no reason as to why this cannot go towards the debt repayments. The food budget can definitely be got down as well, so that would be around £500-600 for a start.

I can understand not wanting to stop the luxuries, I would feel the same but I would also be wanting to get the debt down as fast as possible, and with your income it could be gotten down much faster than your plan. Whatever you choose, good luck with it.

TheRoders · 25 July 2017 at 6:56PM

Ok...... We are heading out to Lidl this weekend to see how much we can save. I've reduced this to £75 a week.

I have reduced our savings to £300 a month which now brings my debt repayments to £1600 a month for a 4 week month and £1375 for a 5 week month.

This will pay off the overdraft with the next pay hopefully.

TheRoders · 25 July 2017 at 6:58PM

The reason I don't have any savings at the moment is because I paid off a £1200 debt in this months pay...

Lucylocks · 25 July 2017 at 8:09PM

You've obviously worked out which debts are more pressing to your given current circumstances. Unfortunately there is no magic bullet to solve your situation which, and I apologise if this offends, seems to be what you're looking for

You're paying nearly £400 on what I presume is PCP with Mitsubishi. Do you break option for this?

I totally freaked when I realised I was £25k in debt which followed major building renovations to my house. This is what I believe is referred to as my 'lightbulb' moment. As a household we bring in less than you although in excess of 60k. On paper this is a lot but in reality whilst servicing current mortgage and debt it just does not allow me to lead what I have always thought a £60k lifestyle to be. I now know know where every single penny I earn goes. I so wish I'd taken these steps years ago but better late than never. Fingers crossed this time next year I'll be pretty much free and clear except mortgage. This is by being totally honest and very frugal!

TheRoders · 25 July 2017 at 8:16PM

Not at all........ I'm not looking for any magic bullet. I'm looking for the best way to clear my debts.

Debtslayer · 25 July 2017 at 10:02PM

TheRoders wrote: »

Not at all........ I'm not looking for any magic bullet. I'm looking for the best way to clear my debts.

The best way to clear your debts is to make serious cutbacks and throw every penny you have at clearing the debts. There's not much room for luxuries when you have this level of debt.
Yes I have been in debt and believe me nothing feels as good as being able to sleep at night when you've cleared them, so worth the short term pain of cutting back.
If you're really serious then there's no room for statements such as you're not willing to cut back on the £100 per month budget for birthdays and Christmas. There's no reason to be spending £1200 per year on these, could easily be halved.
We can all help you and give advice however you have to be prepared to put in the work to achieve being debt free.
Repairs to house, are they essentail or just cosmetic? If not essential then paying off debt is more necessary and the repairs can wait.

Debtslayer · 25 July 2017 at 10:04PM

TheRoders wrote: »

Yes. One child.

My child benefit goes into his savings account for his future.

My dog is on a raw diet which works out about £3-£4 a day. I've tried lot's of other diets but they make him very ill!

I have just moved over to SIM only on my phone account and am waiting for hubby's contract to end before doing the same with his.

They are only asking for the one OD as it was my business account which has now closed.

I am going to start looking at Aldi/Lidl for my shopping. Currently use Asda and hopefully get it down to £75 a week giving me £1500 a month to service the debts.

Any more and I think we will be depriving ourselves too much and struggle. This way it will be manageable.

Is it just one dog? My dogs also on raw food diet but it only costs £2 per day and he's a large dog.

Ref shopping, make a list for when you go, you certainly won't need to deprive yourselves if you shop at Aldi and/or Lidl.

Debtslayer · 25 July 2017 at 10:14PM

TheRoders wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.....

I will do an SOA but I already have it all in my spreadsheet to the penny. Our wages after tax are not 6K unfortunately. They come in at £2850 (45K) for me and £1800 (30K) for hubby. Hubby's pay fluctuates as he gets a monthly bonus so from anywhere from £1800 - £2100 a month. £1400 is the max I can put towards them which leaves me £300 a month disposable income which is for family entertainment, clothes etc and I put £400 a month to savings as we are trying to do our house up.

What is the Insrance £50 per month?
House insurance, check for best deals on comparison sites when due and also check cashback sites. Same with other insurances
Council tax is that paid over 10 months? If it is check to see I feel you can pay over 12 instead.
Will be easier to advise if you can do a proper soa (link provided by poster earlier).
Your spreadsheet doesn't detail any of current payments towards debts so not clear to us debt busters.

TheRoders · 26 July 2017 at 7:59AM

I think £1600 a month to the debts which is double the monthly payments and gets me cleared in 2 years is good enough. I don't believe I need to cut back any further on what I have done now. I don't have sleepless nights in all honesty.

Yes, 1 dog. I have tried other cheaper raw diets but his stomach is so bad it doesnt agree with him. This raw diet seems to be the one that works. I can't change him. I've tried.

I do online shopping with Asda to make sure I only buy what I need. I learnt that lesson a few years ago!

Seriously, all my outgoings are the cheapest I can get them. I've just changed the house insurance this month saving £10 a month. All my other insurances are the cheapest I can get as I ALWAYS shop around!

Council tax is over 10 months as I'd rather have 2 months "free".

My spreadsheet does cover everything. The monthly repayments to my debts were outlined in my first post. £800 a month and they are detailed on the 2nd spreadsheet I put up with my debts.

Debt, Debt and MORE Debt!!

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