Ready to face the music

Lemon_Tree

Hi
Finally i'm facing the music and comitting my debts to paper (so to speak) and infront of others. I usually keep it to myself.
I can't believe just what a mess i have got myself into especially considering my line of work.
I guess i am lucky as i am not behind on payments or anything, unfortunately it seems that at the moment i seem to get in more debt just to be able to live.
well here goes:
Car Loan £11,147.36 at 12.4% 52months left
Flexible Loan £9,844.98 at 9.5% paying the minimum only
Credit Card £935.29 at 10.8% paying the minimum only
Loan £24,541.16 at 7.9% 76 months left
Computer loan £550 6 months at 0% 5 months to clear or it goes onto a card with a cheaper interest rate.
Overdraft £1,600 cleared every month but i live to it's limit
Which makes a grand and very scary total of £48,618.79.
Oh my god, how did it get this bad?

Now i am going to try and find out how long this is going to take to repay, just to top off my day!

I have started with the little things - doing the grocery challenge and i am going to have a look at sorting out my electricity supply and trying the other things, but i would be grateful for your ideas and help.

thanks
Lem

MLbiggestfan

Have you tried the whatsthecost website? They have a really good snowballing technique for paying all your debts off highest interest first. It really helped me focus and now I have a debt free date. Am cutting back on all that I can to pay everything off more quickly.

I'm sure someone else on here will have some good advice for you and possibly a link to the website I have suggested. Good luck. :j

moozie_2

Hello Lemon Tree and welcome!

You've done the hardest thing which is facing up to your debts. You've come to the right place for advice and support. It would be a good idea if you posted a full statememt of affairs (SOA) of your income and all outgoings. Then lots of helpful and knowledgeable peeps will be able to offer you good advice.

Best of luck.

Lemon_Tree

thanks for your advice. I am going to do the statement of affairs over the weekend when i can concentrate on it. I tried the snowball calculator but it threw an error message, but i will have a go again. I dread to think how long it will take me to pay all of this off but at least i won't let i get any worse.
Lem

southernscouser

Hey LT, have a look at this thread for a guide for your SOA if needed!

Chortle_2

welcome to MSE lemon tree :beer:

Sounds like you're already on the right track, but if you post an SOA, the nerds on here will be able to shave loads off of your outgoings!

Out of interest, what do you do for a living? Only I notice that you said " I can't believe just what a mess i have got myself into especially considering my line of work". I am a (now, no sniggering everyone ) financial analyst and I found it really hard to admit to friends/family how bad my debt had got, as everyone always assumed that I was 'good with money' as its what I do for a living! Thing is though, the numbers I deal with at work are all generally 6+ figures, so a few hundred quid here and there in my personal finances didn't seem like anything at all compared to that! (thats my excuse anyway :rotfl:)

I had similar sized debts to you, but I've now cleared over 80% of that! I've got a way to go yet, but it is do-able - so matter how scary the number seems now, don't lose heart!!

oops_a_daisy

Hi Lemon Tree, welcome to DFW threads. As you have already been looking on here you may have already done this but do you have PPI on your loans & c/cards ? cutting this out can give a great saving. A full SOA would be better to look at though so that you know exactly where you are and people on here can give exact advice. Keep a spending diary and also do the budget planner at the top of the page. Look at every outgoing and try to reduce it. When you have done as much as possible to reduce your outgoings the next thing to possibly look at is to try to earn more - there are threads on here about that too. Good luck

Lemon_Tree

hi Chortle
I am an accountant. I feel that i spend so much time trying to keep the companies (this one and the last one) afloat that i couldn't tackly my stuff. Like you i got used to 6+ numbers and with the companies i work for living on a day to day basis i got used to it. I have made an occasionally forray into trying to sort out the debt but it never seems to work. but then again i haven't admitted it out loud!
I am determined that this time i will sort everything out.
One day i will be like you and be able to say i have cleared 80% of it. How long has it taken you?
Lem

Chortle_2

Lemon_Tree wrote:

hi Chortle
I am an accountant. I feel that i spend so much time trying to keep the companies (this one and the last one) afloat that i couldn't tackly my stuff. Like you i got used to 6+ numbers and with the companies i work for living on a day to day basis i got used to it. I have made an occasionally forray into trying to sort out the debt but it never seems to work. but then again i haven't admitted it out loud!
I am determined that this time i will sort everything out.
One day i will be like you and be able to say i have cleared 80% of it. How long has it taken you?
Lem

I had a feeling you'd be an accountant - I reckon we're often the worst - we know the theory, but often can't apply it to our own money having spent all day applying it to other peoples at work :rotfl: Really should know better!

It's taken me just under 2 years to clear 80%, and to be honest I probably could have done it slightly quicker, but it took me a while to ease myself fully into this moneysaving lark It's probably only in the last year that I have been throwing every spare penny at it. Stupidly, I waited until I'd taken a HUGE drop in income to do that as well :doh: (I had to stop working just over a year ago due to illness, and its unlikely I'll ever be able to work full time again) Luckily, by then I'd paid massive amounts of it back, even though I'd not been trying as hard as I could have. Now I aim to pay back between £550 and £1000 p/month, and am just doing everything I can to get rid totally before my income drops yet again next year. I just wish I'd found MSE sooner (I didn't really look for help/advice/support from any quarter, I just got on with it), the support on here is amazing, and if you need motivation from time to time, (like me!) then you're definitely in the right place!

If you're determined to become debt-free, you'll get there It's not an easy road, but if you're committed enough it is very rewarding seeing the balances go down!! (I actually prefer paying an extra £2.50 off my cards than buying a 'treat' these days! I hate spending money now :rotfl:)

amosworks

Hey Lemon Tree,

Welcome to the forum, I'm really interested in your SoA too. Just wondering that you said you clear your overdraft every month but live right the way up to it, yet your overdraft is £1.6k.

I think that you'll find that there are lots of ways to cut back (Old Style) and live quite frugally, and it seems like you'll probably have to go head on and really give this a shot so as to free up as much mahunny as possible to eliminate your debts.

Changing your leccy supplier is one thing, but I think you should really think long and hard about any parts of your lifestyle that you might have to change to clear your debt quicker. Do you often bake at home? How many uses can you think of for white vinegar?

I'm sure the clever people on here who are much better at these suggestions than I can help you out a lot, but I get the feeling you might be in for a bit more of a culture shock if you really want to zap your debt quickly :-\

We'll be with you all the way though

Lemon_Tree

Hi
I had suspected that this was going to mean that i make a lot of changes. Like many i guess i don't really think that i waste a lot of money, but i know in my heart of hearts that i do.

Regarding my overdraft, it gets paid off every month when my salary goes in but a couple of days later when all the direct debits go out it's back almost to the limit, and then by the end of the month i'm trying desparately to keep within the limit.

Yes i do bake but not as much as i used to so i have now made my menu plan for the week so that i can sort everything out over the weekend, and not resort to ready meal when i get home tired.

I am thinking of this as a challenge and am determined not to fail again. I certainly will have a better chance of getting it right this time with all the support i am getting from MSE.
Lem