SAO....here we go, the grim facts!

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Have a nice lie down, take the dog with you and explain to it it's really lucky because from now on it's going to share your human food, saving you £25 a month. This is an OS tip and what dogs ate before Chum was invented, and they didn't die in their thousands for lack of it. Fill it up with dog meal and everything should be ok.

Ordinary_Joe

Hi speakerrabbit.

Looking at some of your investments you seem quite savvy as you're prepared for some of life's emergencies. What I've probably got to add is nothing really new. If I've read it right you have £10k in savings and £11k inheritance - £2k that is based on conditions.

I'm assuming that the savings have been built up over a while as that's a lot of cash. Unfortuantely the interest rates on your loans & cards will be outstripping the savings interest. If you can throw the savings and the cut backs from the gym, the sky and the mobiles at your smallest loan that will make a big dent in your monthly outgoings and free up more payment money.

If Tesco will take it can you then add those monthly payments to your current Tesco payments and remove that debt quicker. If not, then put as much as you can afford into a stable investment that will allow it to accrue interest. The minute there's enough capital to pay of that debt - get rid of it.

Don't put yourself in purgatory during this period and ensure you and your partner feel open about talking about money. If you put yourself through the mill with this it could cause arguments and that should be avoided because it won't change anything. If you look closely at many of these threads people fall off the wagon and revert to the behaviour that got them into this mess. If that occurs in a bad atmosphere the behaviour goes "underground" and it builds up again without the other half knowing.

Like I say you seem quite savvy, so ensure if you do put your money in a interest bearing investment, ensure it's constantly performing. Most people get into financial trouble because they almost get into it by sleepwalking - I did. The way to avoid that is to become financially literate. Once you develop that literacy (and believe me if I can start to get it anyone can) you start to look for opportunities to gain create other income streams.

Sorry I'm going on now aren't I. That's why I started blogging so I could stop boring people to tears with this stuff.

Good luck

I've been there myself and am trying to work my way out of

Iona_Penny

I read that you are going to try and cut your food budget for the month; well yes you should be able to do this (definitely read OSthread and cook from basics esp. if you are not currently working) but my suggestion would be to try and do this gradually over a few months ( not my idea I've read it somewhere here!!) so for the first month give yourself say £375 (but you must stick to and be within this budget ) then the following month £350 and so on for say 6 months until you realise you are managing on less each month.

speakerabbit

Again great advice there. One thing I will definately be doing is becomming financially literate. Although I've not known too much about investments etc I am very cautious with money and now I have full control of the budget (mutually agreed) things will be changing and getting sorted.

I've already been researching my outgoings and seeing where adjustments can be made, especially utilities, insurance etc and I reckon just by doing that couple of hours research I will be saving over 1.5K a year and thats just to start. So the gym has to go...hey ho, rather be fat than broke!

A good friend of mine is having his arm and part of his chest removed next month due to cancer and tonight we are going to a charity do for a friends sister who has 5 years to live. Both are in their early thirties. So whenever I feel that I have the biggest problems in the world, I just remember that and think, are my problems really that bad?......I don't think so!

Amanda xx

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Good point Amanada. It is important to keep our problems, difficult though they maybe in perspective.

Yep count the pennies but count your blessing's to.

kar

Firstly you need to pay off your CC's (5300 of inheritance gone leaving 4700 available cash) Which you already knew. This will save you 200 per month in your SOA as you wont have to pay these any more.

You could then call up your loan providers and find out if they will accept an overpayment or not to reduce the term of your loan(s). I don't know the exact type of loan you have. If not you could consider taking out another loan, 0% card or life of balance card for 12500 so you could get rid of the smaller loan. If you decided on the CC route you then have the option of paying off quicker with your extra cash. (check early repayment penalties on the loans too as this may be an issue)

I personally don't think you are going to have to wait 7 years for your debt free date. But that is a decision you can make. If you are happy paying those repayments for 7 years and don't want the hassle of changing everything around etc then maybe that's the best for you. You could save the rest of the inheritance - but be aware that you are paying more interest on your loans (6.4%) than you will get for any savings account.

All the best with things

Kar