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savingholmes

I'm afraid I agree with firesidemaid - I would making cutting your phone and mobile bills a priority that and getting rid of satellite. Our phone bill is approx £28-45 per month including pay as you go mobiles...

We just use freeview. You will miss some of the channels initially but after a while you stop noticing. I found it was cheaper to buy some of the series I liked on e-bay and get them as Xmas / birthday presents than to subscribe to satellite or cable.

I agree you definitely need professional advice with that level of debt. I don't envy you at all. You also need to look at your debts and concentrate on paying the highest interest rate cards first. If you get professional help you may be able to get your interest frozen and put a more affordable payment plan in place. I can't understand why they lent you so much in the first place?

amyandjon

Either i wear rose tintedglasses or i am seeing things different, we get 200 help from nan, we havent included our ebay makings which this month has been 500 quid, my mobile bill will be going from 80 to 35 n 6 months once i clear the outstanding bill i made abroad, im also waiting for a cheque from a company who will be paying an 100 quid following premium texts i did not subscribe to.... in september we may have another extra 200 quid when oh gets step up job at work which is 99.9 % sure.... also i await confirmation on a 4 hr job cleaning a week 40 quid sothat would be an extra 160 p 4 wk month, we dont buy gifts or buy clothes havent for months ! but we put it in because the SOA said we had to we so again 30 quid i can go to the cinema once a month so thats only 6 quid im up for work now so i wont be home untill 8pm tonight :-) im a focused person and once i get going i get going them debts are coming down... thank you Amy and Jon

Merlot

amyandjon wrote: »

Either i wear rose tintedglasses or i am seeing things different, we get 200 help from nan, we havent included our ebay makings which this month has been 500 quid, my mobile bill will be going from 80 to 35 n 6 months once i clear the outstanding bill i made abroad, im also waiting for a cheque from a company who will be paying an 100 quid following premium texts i did not subscribe to.... in september we may have another extra 200 quid when oh gets step up job at work which is 99.9 % sure.... also i await confirmation on a 4 hr job cleaning a week 40 quid sothat would be an extra 160 p 4 wk month, we dont buy gifts or buy clothes havent for months ! but we put it in because the SOA said we had to we so again 30 quid i can go to the cinema once a month so thats only 6 quid im up for work now so i wont be home untill 8pm tonight :-) im a focused person and once i get going i get going them debts are coming down... thank you Amy and Jon

I am pleased to see you are positive. However, you cannot guarantee £500 per month from EBay, and as for the cleaning job, you really should inform the Inland Revenue as you have to pay tax on a second income if you are over your personal allowance.

I do see things differently from you, you have a huge amount of debt, negative equity (which you will find it difficult to get another fixed deal, some of the extra income from the cleaning and your nan will be swallowed up by the increase in mortgage payments), interest is accurring on the debts, you need professional help, I am saying this to help you both, you don't have to take a DMP with one of the debt charities but please call them, its free and they can offer you a wealth of knowledge.

Merlot.x.

supersavershal

Amyandjohn did you manage to find the snowball calculator? You can find it on www.whatsthecost.co.uk it is really good at helping you decide which debts to pay off first by making extra payments whilst you service your other debts.It will also give you a debt free date, which you can get to sooner by overpaying where you can.
I also have light at the end of the tunnel in 2 years when a big loan is finished and OH stops paying csa, I also have a secured loan of a similar amount to yours, ive not reached negative equity in the house yet, but the fall of house prices is worrying.You and I are so similar my friend.

amyandjon

Hello super sal you must become my pm debt buster buddy.. i have good news my oh keeps a business himself tax run thats earning him an extra 300 a month i too have two debts clearing in 2 years also by the begining of next year il have my bank claims back... ive also had an idea my oh and i are saving 5 grand for wedding.. instead of gifts or a huge hoineymoon we are thinking of opening a pay in account named pay for my wedding so when we send invites out il put a little note in with a pay in slip so people can pay in as much or as little as they please so we will then beable to pay a debt off with it i thought it sounded better than pay my debt off what do yopu think ?? regards Amy x

amyandjon

hello is there anybody there?S

firesidemaid

you are probably going to not like me when i say this .......but...... should you be saving for/having a wedding when you are so much in debt?

getting married is not a necessity - occasionally it could be, but if so you would just get married for whatever it legally costs.

use the money to pay off the highest interest debts first. the 20-odd and 30-odd percent high balances - overpay on these as the rest are all at a similar % and level of debt.

the thing is, you didn't get into this position overnight, and it is going to take a wee while to put you back on an even keel.

see where your debts are in a month or two once you have stopped/reduced all your spending.

supersavershal

amyandjohn I love this idea (pay for my wedding) its unique, and well done on things so far.
I have other bits of income that help me along like bank shifts, ebaying, car booting and quidco.
Saving for the wedding gives you something to concentrate on, if you are paying your debts it shouldnt hurt.
I cant wait for 2 years to pass when we will have roughly £600 more each month free, I just keep going until then.Im in work at the moment on dreaded nights but il pm u when I get home in the morning.Its nice to have an ally in this, dont worry about the negative equity unless your planning on moving.

amyandjon

Hello all im feeling very positive me and OH have sat down and done a massive working out and if we stick vigilant to our plan we will be debt free of all credit cards and loans by dec 2012 so thats 3 years of gruelling work.... also we have worked out by dec 2012 we will have an excess of 10000, but because we have an home loan that you can only pay off in full or a limit of 1000 extra a year we may need to either get a loan or carry on saving for another year ....... since we will be staying in the house an extra 3years we have decided to ask for vouchers and supermarket vouchers that we can use for shopping and working through the house with vouchers given from the wedding.... once we have paid off the home owner loan and have no debt bar the mortgage we will be looking to move so im feeling quite positive ...... my mums going to look after any savings we make re to cover the homeowner so we cant tempt each other to spending it all ..... yay im only ina hole for another 3 years with credit cards and debts then 4 years for homeowner loan woo hooo also as upset as i am we have cancelled our holiday which would have been in 2 weeks because we cant justify the spending that we would have done ...... hmmm

amyandjon

bump bump bump ;p