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

jackson030207

I would suggest speaking to cccs.co.uk They really helped us when we got into serious debt. Take a look at their website, they took a huge weight off my shoulders! Good luck

Nishka

Hi all

I have been away for a few days having a think about things...

I suppose with the life cover I hadn't considered it necessary as our house is worth £250k and I figured that if something happened to any of us, paying the £22k debt off wouldn't have made that big a difference considering you can still buy a reasonable house in our area with £230k if you see what I mean.

However, having considered everything I realise I want to be debt free and so therefore once I have achieved that I will get life cover... In fact having said that I have cover on both the personal loan and Lifestyle Protect on the Virgin card - so doesn't this cover them if anything happens to me anyway?

The situation with my mum is this - my mum has chronic health conditions (as I do) - she has severe crohns disease and immune disorders.

(She is not diagnsoed with coeliac disease - it may be because of the crohns - but she cannot eat wheat and is severly ill if she does. She is not entitled to free prescription food so buys some gluten free bread and the GF flours. She does buy a lot of reduced items in the supermarkets.)

With her various probs and the fact she is on long term high dose steriods, she has been long term on incapacity benefit, and now on pension credit and pension as she is 61. When my Gran died - who looked after me most of my life and whom I nursed through terminal illness at home - she left the house in the name of me and my mum.

Therefore, my mum doesn't contribute to the bills or food as we are effectively buying her out... To be morbid, when my mum dies the house will come to us as I am an only child and there is no one else left. So therefore, we do not have a mortgage or rent but we consider paying for my mums share a subsitute for this - plus she is now generally better and looks after LO for me (takes to school and back) while I am at work.

So that's our set up... Hope that helps with some explanation!

So the food bill - well, basically my mum has a card to a separate bank account for the food and she deals with the shopping and cooking - she likes doing this and we are happy for her to do it. I transfer money from our main account into the food one - can be anywhere from £100 to £180 depending on what we need to buy... Included in this is toiletries, perhaps a few clothes from Tesco for little one if she needs it or they are on sale, and the odd bottle of whisky for my mum which she considers her only real treat. We also pay for petrol for the family car out of this - only mum can drive (we tried to learn but failed twice and can't afford lessons anymore) - and we also contribute to the running of the car as we all benefit from it.

I suppose I am explaining this because everyone seems to think that our food bills are very high but there are reasons for this..

Having said that, I have talked to mum about the money and explained that we really need to try and watch our pennies. I crossed a few things off the list that we didn't really need and she is going to try and use up things from the freezer this month.

This weekend has been a frugal one - we went to the dog show and spent a grand total of £1 there - 50p in a couple of lucky dips for daughter, and then husband spent £2.50 on a birthday card for his uncle.

We spent £15 on fish and chips for dinner with mother in law because it's something we can all eat otherwise we are cooking seperate meals for everyone.. And we brought some wine at £3.99 which was half price.

Compared to the £80 we spent last weekend that's much better...

Hubby got paid today so we are at zero again in the account, so I have put £150 over to the house account and £250 off the capital one card - so this is at £646 now.

I am going to pay £60 off the virgin one card in a min.

I get paid at the end of next week so will see how frugal I can be this week.

It's our 2nd wedding anniversary tomorrow so I need to get hubby a card... but not sure about anything else. Might try and come up with something cheap and imaginative.

Thanks for letting me have a rant and think about this out loud somewhere.. I really want to get my debt blasted!!!!!!!!:o

gizmo111

I suppose with the life cover I hadn't considered it necessary as our house is worth £250k and I figured that if something happened to any of us, paying the £22k debt off wouldn't have made that big a difference considering you can still buy a reasonable house in our area with £230k if you see what I mean.

Who would feed and clothe the children? Pay for uniforms, school trips, prom nights, uni etc. The house and debt is not the only consideration.

Nishka

gizmo111 wrote: »

Who would feed and clothe the children? Pay for uniforms, school trips, prom nights, uni etc. The house and debt is not the only consideration.

Isn't life cover just a money thing though? So the equity in the house would provide wouldn't it?

Also my dd is from my previous relationship - she has her dad, his girlf, his mum and dad, uncle and aunty, counsins, my husbands mum and dad and my mum and dad... There's lots of people there.

Nishka

I have just looked at the capital one card and realised that having paid of £250, I can now transfer the remaining balance to the virgin 0% card. SO i have just done that, meaning I will have one credit card balance at 0% interest to shift.

gizmo111

Nishka wrote: »

Isn't life cover just a money thing though? So the equity in the house would provide wouldn't it?

Also my dd is from my previous relationship - she has her dad, his girlf, his mum and dad, uncle and aunty, counsins, my husbands mum and dad and my mum and dad... There's lots of people there.

The equity can only provide if you sell the house - she still has to live somewhere. It's entirely up to you, but for the samll amount it costs I'd rather know that my childen have financial provision to do the things that I would do for them and not rely on extended relatives.

Nishka

gizmo111 wrote: »

The equity can only provide if you sell the house - she still has to live somewhere. It's entirely up to you, but for the samll amount it costs I'd rather know that my childen have financial provision to do the things that I would do for them and not rely on extended relatives.

Completely understand where you are coming from and would feel the same way if the debt ate up most of the equity - but it doesn't. The house is worth £230k and our debts are £22. So even after paying off the debt there is still enough for a house and even money left over - as houses in our area are reasonable cheap - we have a 4 bed detached house.

I intend to pay off the debts and then get life cover. But thank you for your input, it's appreciated and has given me more to consider. xx :A

Emmzi

if you both die do you really want daughter to have the upheaval of selling the house as qwell?

getting probate can take 6 to 12 months
selling a house can take a very long time
none of which is helped by grief

what will she live on for 12 to 18 months?

*get life cover!*

honestly, you aren't helping by not having it

firesidemaid

it really is the little things that add up......

£2.50 on a birthday card???? £6.00 on a lunch???

also, as others have said you really need to write down everything you pay for or contribute to. you say you don't have a car but contribute to this etc.

also, doesn't the batter from fish and chips have flour (gluten) in it or does your mum not eat the batter? you, your mum and your dd could all eat the same thing and leave your OH to eat his. o/wise your dd will learn from you all and start to have food phobias too.

when you have done an soa and budgetted for everything, also budget for pocket money each and keep to it.

good luck x

daily_2

There is no money for life cover, and as the OP had already explained, it is unnecessary.