It's finally hit me.....

make_life_easier · 6 March 2006 at 10:33PM

now that you have accepted and admitted to hubby, you will find your own way of reducing your debt along with all the good advice from mse :A

shazzer22 · 7 March 2006 at 12:15AM

i've been hurridly reading through this as its really exciting! its so great that everyone is so involved, its really inspiring!

rubix_76 · 7 March 2006 at 5:30PM

I thought I was quite carefull with money, but reading just this one post I have relaised there are many more ways to cut back that I hadn't thought of.

This has really been both an insprirational and encouraging post well done LMB and thanks to everyone for so many ideas. :T

I do have just one tip to add. I got caught up with a few credit cards, it was tricky to keep track of payments. So I set up a standing order, the reason for this is it doesn't change, so if you are paying £20 min payment, and the balance goes down the min payment also goes down but you are paying more than that so it gets paid off quicker.

Seems obvious, but I have a barclaycard and they let you set up a direct debit for the min payment, so you will never miss a payment. As useful as this is if you are on a tight budget, it keeps you paying interest for much longer.

Ok, I think I have added my £2.98.4p's worth

Rubix

little_miss_broke_2 · 7 March 2006 at 5:50PM

I have received a copy of Martin's book too today, from wigginsmum, who had a spare copy and very kindly sent it to me :A Am very much looking forward to reading that this evening when i get the kids into bed so i can read it in peace!!

I've also applied for a 0% interest post office card this afternoon. The plan is to transfer as much as i can from the virgin & lloyds CC's onto that (if i get it of course) and hopefully that would help get the balance on those cards down a bit quicker. I nearly didn't bother to be honest, didn't know if it was worth it, then i thought "hang on, i could save a couple of £100 in interest, which would be another couple of £100 off the debt" - it all helps surely.

{don't anyone worry, IF i do get the PO card i'll be chopping it into little bits the minute it comes through the door!}

wigginsmum · 7 March 2006 at 5:56PM

Glad it arrived safely

It's an excellent book, and you can supplement it with the articles elsewhere on this site to get maximum suggestions. Thanks to MSE I've radically changed my financial arrangements on lots of things and have paid £3,100 off the debt since November.

little_miss_broke_2 · 7 March 2006 at 6:03PM

wigginsmum wrote:

Glad it arrived safely It's an excellent book, and you can supplement it with the articles elsewhere on this site to get maximum suggestions. Thanks to MSE I've radically changed my financial arrangements on lots of things and have paid £3,100 off the debt since November.

Can't wait to get stuck into it tonight

Did you see my post for you? It's right down at the bottom of the page

Many thanks again xxx

gravitytolls · 7 March 2006 at 6:08PM

wigginsmum wrote:

Welcome aboard - speaking from bitter experience, it's very easy to get a consolidation loan then run up the cards and overdraft again so you're in a worse situation than before.

Why not post a statement of affairs listing all your income and outgoings? There are lots of people here who will advise on how you could make savings and put the money towards getting your debts down more quickly.

This is soooo true.

We consolidated a about 4 years ago. We got a mortgage, and colsolidated again. 2 years later, we consolidated again.

Now, the options are do we consolidate osme more, increase the mortgage, or something else?

The fact is, because we hadn't defaulted, we just consolidated before things were out of our control, because we took advantage of lower interest rates. Therefore our credit rating was pretty darned good.

So our credit limits increased, and lenders were throwing deals at us. We tried card tarting, but ended up owing more on more cards.

Then, in September 05, John's mum went into hosp. She died in November, but he lost about a mth from work over that period. We were hard up, and flowers etc. all went on the card, and some living expenses.

This is when I realised that it wouldn't take very much for us to be introuble.

Which is why, we, and I recommend you, visit the CCCS. They will deal with our creditors, and arrange a DMP.
The great thing is, we won't be hassled, and it'll beggar our credit rating, hurrah! So no one will lend us any more, even if we try.

And I highly recommend anyone in a similar situation to do the same.

MushyPeas · 7 March 2006 at 10:57PM

Hiya. Just to warn you, you may be refused a PO credit card. Apparently loads of people were when they first started it (including PO staff) and my mum who NEVER gets refused!! Good luck.