I am very in debt and very confused, all help welcome

MrsTinks

Looking at your SOA I suspect a lot of the debt comes from nice clothes and going out - am I right?

Phone: unless calls to Aussie land are free then get your mum using msn or skype... (MSN is free and you can use web cam too - my mum lives in Denmark and we rarely call - msn is our main means of communication and when she thinks she hasn't seen my bump recently we whack on the webcams so she can see how huge my belly is getting And it's free!

Food - yes organic is lovely... BUT... you can't afford it right now. I'm sorry but it's kind a tough cookies here - you need to reduce your food spend and I bet if you drop the organic food you'd be able to cut it without effort to half and possibly less without even changing what you eat...

Clothes - I am almost willing to bet you have a cupboard full of clothes you barely wear if you spend this much... EBAY EBAY EBAY And going forward you probably don't need much for a little while anyway but in future buy it in sales, on Ebay or charity shops - and you can only spend money you have made on top of your salary Maybe from ebaying?

Entertainment... uhmm... HOW much??? There are 2 of us and we're certainly not shrinking violets and we don't come close to spending that much a month... You need to take a good hard look at this.

TismE_3

Just wanted to say HI and Welcome :j .

Cant offer much advice as i'm new myself and still in awe of all the great advice others have to offer.

Do you have any local farmers markets, farm shops, or the like in you area? Would proberly help reduce your overall spend if you really have to buy organic and free range, You could even source out any local allotments and see if they have and sale days.

also i dont know a lot about internet phone calls, but am pretty sure there is a phone you can buy that plugs in to you pc and calls are the free someone else can proberly help you out with that one.

best advice is keep posting and keep reading, the DFW'S on this site are a really inspiration!
Tisme x

lukekelly_2

Skype is absolutely brilliant for Australian relatives, my partner's family is scattered around the world and they use it for everything. It's easy to use, if my partner's grandparents can use it so can your mum! If you could save £30 a month on your phone that's a massive £360 each year. Good luck. :-)

TismE_3

Seems myself mrs tine and fay and luke all posted at the same time.......Great minds!

kat17000

Thanks Pollycat, I decided to come clean to my family last night (I had decided to leave it but I burst into tears and had to explain myself!) My Father took it better then i thought and my mum sent me a massive email which was pretty much one long lecture but in the kindest way!
My Dad and his partner are going to go through all my bills/finances on saturday and help me figure things out. I am not getting bailed out my any means and I am looking into debt management programs as an IVA seems very serious.
I wish I had taken my head out of the sand sooner!

Is debt management longer then an IVA?

kat17000

I did not realise I had a second page worth of comments and advice, you guys are amazing.

Yes I have spent toooo much on clothes/entertainment(which included my horse, he's dead now and cost me a £1000 just to have him put down). I really need to knuckle down and stop getting effected by what other people think.
What really upsets me is I used to be so good with money, until I was 21 I had £8000 of savings in the bank and no debt, now I have no savings and £11,000 on credit cards...I am not sure where it all went so very wrong

kat17000

Just had some bad news, I am going to be made redundant in two weeks and I wont get a payout as I have not been with the company for long, on top of that I was turned down for two jobs today and have been applying for months and not got anywhere, competition is very high. Not to sure that I want to think about what I will do for money after this months paycheck!

Storm

Big hugs on the redundancy news Kat - make sure you get yourself down to the jobcentre so jobseekers allowance can kick in as soon as you're redundant & ask about any other benefits you'll be entitled to (council tax, housing etc) - I'm no expert at what you'll get, but it may be more than you think.

Look around the local area for organisations that help people find work - it may be that your CV needs tweaking, or perhaps some advice on filling in application forms & interview technique. If you happen to be in Hampshire, PM me as where I work does this.

Storm x

lilian1977

That's terrible news Kat, I'm so sorry. But you can't say you don't want to think about what you will do for money - now is definitely the time that you need to get sorted out, you need to start Ebaying all the things you don't need in order to give yourself a cushion while you look for another job. Also, start looking into what benefits you will be entitled to NOW so that there is less of a delay in actually receiving them. Good luck xx

Cluedo_2

Hi

I completely understand what you are going thru, did the same thing myself. I actually declared myself bankrupt in the end and lost my house....but you've admitted the problemn at the right time and there is plenty of help out there....hope you get things sorted and remember you are ot on your own..
good luck