new, nervous and needing advice please!

marriedworriedmum

Thats a brilliant idea thanks Linda x

hettiecarro

Hi

Nothing to add - just my support.

tallyhoh

The shares are a def no-no. Even if they increase in value (not likely at the moment) you will get no where near the interest off them than you are currently paying in interest to your credit cards.

Stop them ASAP & pay the £60 towards your highest interest card.

goggle

It's great that you've been brave enough to post here.
You know what you need to do - and that's to work out which debts you need to pay off first - use the snowball effect. (I understand the position with the shares & am not going to mention them!)

You have obviously bought lots of things in the past to have run up the credit card bills - can you start to make a little extra money by selling anything? Your little one will not suffer by not getting new clothes, though Mum may struggle not to buy her the cute stuff!! Can you think of any ways of earning alittle extra? You can't work more hours due to childcare, but there may be things you CAN do to help bring a little more in just for the short term - babysitting, housesitting/dog walking etc when people are on holiday (£5 a day to feed the cats when someone goes on holiday wouldn't be a lot, but it would be a little more)

{hugs} you're doing fine, you & hubby need to work together for the next few months to get over this current hurdle & then you'll have money to enjoy AND a sense of it's value - you won't be wanting to get back into debt!
It helps some people to have a target date in mind - to relaise that they need to really cut back for xx months but then they get a treat - would that work for you? Maybe something like taking your daughter to disneyland paris for her 5th birthday (can get some cheap deals!), or go away for a wedding anniversary or something?

Verbatim

goggle wrote: »

It's great that you've been brave enough to post here.
You know what you need to do - and that's to work out which debts you need to pay off first - use the snowball effect. (I understand the position with the shares & am not going to mention them!)

You have obviously bought lots of things in the past to have run up the credit card bills - can you start to make a little extra money by selling anything? Your little one will not suffer by not getting new clothes, though Mum may struggle not to buy her the cute stuff!! Can you think of any ways of earning alittle extra? You can't work more hours due to childcare, but there may be things you CAN do to help bring a little more in just for the short term - babysitting, housesitting/dog walking etc when people are on holiday (£5 a day to feed the cats when someone goes on holiday wouldn't be a lot, but it would be a little more)

{hugs} you're doing fine, you & hubby need to work together for the next few months to get over this current hurdle & then you'll have money to enjoy AND a sense of it's value - you won't be wanting to get back into debt!
It helps some people to have a target date in mind - to relaise that they need to really cut back for xx months but then they get a treat - would that work for you? Maybe something like taking your daughter to disneyland paris for her 5th birthday (can get some cheap deals!), or go away for a wedding anniversary or something?

Excellent ideas there!

Sounds as if you're already on a roll. Well done on cutting up your cards. be aware that these accounts are still open. With the credit cards once you have paid off the balance on one it is often possible to get a balance transfer deal where you transfer the balance from another card. If the deal is 0% and you transfer a balance that is high you save a lot of interest and pay off the capital much sooner.

In terms of paying off the debts pay the minimum on all the cards except the one with the highest interest rate. This card is the target and as much as possible goes to this debt until it's gone and then the next highest rate gets the treatment and so on. This is the quickest way to get rid of the debt.

Stick with your decision not to add any more to your cc debt. The way the interest is applied means you can pay many times over the cost of the goods you bought and adding new debt to old would mean paying even more for longer.

Have a look at the articles on credit cards by clicking the links at the top of the page, (blue tab, second on the left, cards loans).

marriedworriedmum

Hi There,
well after talking to the water company im getting a chq for £130 back!and they have reduced my monthy dd by £15 pm I KNEW i was paying too much so really happy with that. Hubby got a cheaper deal on his car ins from sept so its amzing what we're doing together now we've both been open about it.
Yes i wont lie we have bought lots in the past, mainly things for the baby and the new house...and a wedding..it goes on and on.... but so glad we finally had our 'lightbulb moment'! everyone has been really helpful, nice to talk to people who understand!
As for the shares we cannot at all do anything about them, we are tied in and thats that im afraid. Im hoping and keeping positive that they will increase, if not well there we are.
We're doing a list tonight to see what is the priority highest apr etc....so it all starts now i guess!x

dancingfairy

Sounds like you've made a brilliant start.
Just wanted to point the prescription thing out to you again - that any good?
Link here to prepayment certificates:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2422.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=161

or maybe get your doctor to give you 2 months supply at a time if it is a long term condition? o.k I now you aren't going to save mega amounts doing this but it all helps.
df

LeeSouthEast

Hi.

I read your post last night but didn't have time to comment as I was due back to work. I just wanted to wish you all the best in your journey. It's not an easy one, but it can be fun, and very rewarding. All these lovely MSE people will help where they can.

tyllwyd

tallyhoh wrote: »

The shares are a def no-no. Even if they increase in value (not likely at the moment) you will get no where near the interest off them than you are currently paying in interest to your credit cards.

We've done share options through work before, and they are potentially very good - the share price at which you will buy is set at a discount, and if you decide not to buy at the end, you still get back the money saved with interest, so there is very little risk involved, and if the share price goes the right way, potentially a good profit (we doubled our investment, tax free on one sharesave). You can't drop out & come back in. It's probably worth digging out the original paperwork to check how the share prices compare, what the bonuses are, and when it ends, so you can get a realistic picture of where you are with it.

Moneytroubles_2

Hi,

You sound like you are doing great, good news on the water and also the cheque, use that to pay something else off :-)