£18,000 in debt and can't seem to get out of it...

gizmo111

Virgin - minimum payment £56 - trying to pay at least £100
Capital one - no idea what min payment is, we pay over at £30

Why are you paying the extra to Virgin when you say above it is 0% - all your surplus should be going to the cap 1 card.
You haven't got huge unmanageble debts you just need to sort out your budget and plan properly. Food amount is huge as is £6 a day on lunches. What does the special diet consist of?

jackieblack

Martin has a great budget planner here http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning

Well done for admitting you have a problem and being prepared to tackle it - it won't be much fun for a while, but so worth it once you are debt free!
Good luck!

GeorgeUK

Something else that may help (epsecially if you post on the main DFW board) is to post up a full statement of affairs so you can see all the income, expenditure and debts.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I agree that a spending diary woudl be helpful, for both you and hubby.

Nishka

gizmo111 wrote: »

Why are you paying the extra to Virgin when you say above it is 0% - all your surplus should be going to the cap 1 card.
You haven't got huge unmanageble debts you just need to sort out your budget and plan properly. Food amount is huge as is £6 a day on lunches. What does the special diet consist of?

Good point about the Virgin card - I hadn't really thought of it like that. I am truly awful with figures... (sorry). So you think it would be worth paying off the virgin card at the minimum rate and putting all our money into the capital one card and overdraft?

Our diets are a nightmare... my mum has crohns disease and a severe wheat allergy ... my husband won't eat anything other than tomato soup, cheese and tomato pizza and that's literally IT (no fruit, no veg, no meat - he's food phobic, has serious pyschological issues with food)... I have probs with eating any meat that looks like meat - so I am physically ill (being serious here) if I eat anything that has a tiny bit of gristle or skin in it - so for that reason I will only eat pure chicken breast or other than that I am vegetarian (not for ethical reasons I point out before I get into an ethical debate!)

So we're all food phobic so and sos... We all need therapy I guess...

I suppose the thing is, I know I have a spending issue... I do buy rubbish when I know I shouldn't and at the end of the month I can't even really think what I've spent it on.. Which is why I hope that writing my thoughts down in here and analysing eveything I spend (and you lot nagging me ) should help me out.

The Sky and the broadband and the food does use up some of our money but at the same time if this is the only area we are spending, then we should still be able to cut back in other areas and sort it out, shouldn't we? I guess that's why I haven't tackled it.

We don't budget for birthdays or anything like that because we literally spend it as we need to. Should we be saving for these? (I feel really stupid asking these questions- you all seem so organised).

It's daughters birthday next month and I have talked her out of wanting a Wii (whereas before I prob would have got her one and put it on the cc ) and she wants a scooter - so thats about £20 plus a few other smaller bits £10 - so £30 all in all. And then she's having friends round so they will want food etc... £20. She did want a bouncy castle but that's not going to happen.

We had a holiday in Centre Parcs in March - which with hindsight we shouldn't have had - and we put this on the Virgin card which was a stupid thing to do.

I get frustrated because on the salaries we are on we should be able to do all these things anyway - and not get into debt. I feel really angry and ashamed of myself.. I have no willpower.

I am going to keep this diary over the next week and write down everything I spend.

I am going to try and take lunch in every day - apart from Friday which is going to be a "treat" day (sorry but I have to have SOMETHING to look forward to ) and I think the money I save from this will help to pay off the overdraft. Does this sound like a good plan?

Sorry to be such an idiot, I truly know I am being daft. I feel like I have had a lightbulb moment and I want to get out of this.

Thanks to everyone who has replied.

Nishka

Wanted to add I will do a SOA's when I get a min but to be honest, we don't budget for anything - it's literally as I wrote it earlier on.

We don't have pensions or life insurance because we live in a house that's worth about £250k with no mortgage so I suppose I am thinking when we get older or if we die the equity is still there to sell or downsize.

I do want to get out of debt tho - and Ideally I would like to start to have a pension and life insurance.

Emmzi

Nishka wrote: »

The Sky and the broadband and the food does use up some of our money but at the same time if this is the only area we are spending, then we should still be able to cut back in other areas and sort it out, shouldn't we? I guess that's why I haven't tackled it.

"I'm not an alcoholic apart from vodka and gin."

Tomato soup and pizza can be done on a budget, you know. as can your mum's diet. As can meat free (says the vegetarian who did a personal food budget of £10 a week to get debt free)

Can she help out with some home cooking? Think you need to get over to the old style boards.

Emmzi

Nishka wrote: »

I do want to get out of debt tho - and Ideally I would like to start to have a pension and life insurance.

If you both die, where will the kid live if they have to sell the house to live? Same for your mum.

get some life cover sorted!!!

GeorgeUK

If you don't budget for things, write down roughly what you spent last month and for annual costs (how much you spend on presents last year) just divide by 12.

It would be better to get a rough picture of all your finances so that we know what areas can be improved upon and hopefully if you then budget for the future, there won't be any nasty surprises lurking around the corner.

Smashing

Is your mother not entitled to certain wheat-free products on prescription? Does she contribute towards bills at all? Where do you shop and how much stuff are you throwing away?

Can H not dye his hair at home and get a cheaper haircut less often?

Lunch only on Fridays - surely it is possible to spend less than £6?

monkeyspanner

So you have a joint income of somewhere in excess of £37500, no car, no mortgage and you don't go out. You cannot identify where a major part of your income is going and you have debts of £22000. Your spending is extravagant by many peoples terms but should be manageable on your salaries.

Simple, grow up, establish where the money is going and you can probably clear the debt in a couple of years. Have a think about what you would do if one of you is made redundant you should still be able to manage but you won't if you don't control your spending.