£7K debt in less than a year :'(

dreamywings1

After reading these boards for afew days now I finally plucked up the courage to work out how much debt I was actually in............ hummm shock horror!!!!! What a wake up call that was!:(

Firstly let me tell you alittle about myself....
Up until August 2008 I thought I was happily married to a squaddie, was living in Germany, 3 kids, had a good job and hubbys wages were good, but then my bubble burst and I found myself single, homeless and jobless. I had to leave the married quarter and couldnt keep my job as it was a dependents post and had to find a place to live in UK. Anyway managed to find a place to rent for me and the kids but had to put down bond money 2 months rent plus a month in advance (private not agency as I dont have any credit ratings as lived in germany for too long). Not a drama I had just about enough savings to cover the cost (now savings are NIL).

Moved into new home in December and thats when my problems started....
Couldnt get income support as maintenance money took me 27p over the limit but managed to get child tax credit, got housing and council tax benefit which ment I didnt have those to pay. I needed things for the new house so hit the catalogues, got a capital one credit card, new build house so needed to get a phone line installed and internet and sky etc. but thought I could manage to pay everything that was untill hubby decided that he was reducing maintenance money by half! Only option was to get a job (which I have done) and now im up the creek so to speak!!!

Earnings from work £658.00
Child benefit £185.60
child tax £559.32
working tax £352.52
housing benefit £158.00
Maintenance now NIL as he has since left the army, shacked up with another woman with 2 kids and I am now waiting for CSA to sort it out!

Total monthly income £1913.44

Outgoings
£650 rent
£134 council tax
£ 41 water
£ 50 gas
£ 50 electric
£ 75 BT (phone and internet plus paying off phone line installation)
£ 56 car insurance
£ 11 contents insurance
£ 12 tv license
£ 15 car tax
£ 70 diesel
£ 20 mobile phones
£ 46 sky (just downgraded package but doesnt come into effect till next month)
£ 60 kids spends (they do jobs round the house)
£ 50 credit card
£ 50 over draft
£ 50 cat 1
£ 50 cat 2
£ 20 DWP repayment of overpayment from 13 years ago!
£400 food/groceries/cigarettes

TOTAL OUTGOINGS BEFORE TRYING TO PAY OFF RENT ARREARS
£1910

DEBTS
RENT ARREARS £1625
GAS £ 322.76
CAT 1 £ 156.60
CAT 2 £1136.76
CAT 3 £ 324.24
DWP £2924.08
CREDIT CARD £ 200.00
OVER DRAFT £ 226.28
FAMILY £ 600.00
TOTAL DEBT £7515.72

I just dont know what to do, I would love to be debt free in 30 months but just havent got a clue how to do it :huh:

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I havent yet wrote to the companies hassling me for money that is my next priority.

Thanks for just reading I feel more positive about things now just by writing it all down.

Fingers crossed hopefully I will get this whole mess sorted out eventually

crapwithcash82

Hi There, I didn't want to read and run so thought I would say hello and welcome. :wave:

You've made the first big step by adding up all your debts and seeing it written down is sometimes quite scarey! I'm sure someone will be along soon who will be able to help you prioritise your debts and advise a good course of action.

All I would say is stay well away from fee paying debt managment companies as they are loads of hassle!!

You've come to a good place for friendly advice and ideas on how to get by until the evil debts are gone.

I'll check back and see how you're getting on, good luck!

Raquela

Hiya, and welcome to the DFW club! Sorry to hear about all your crappy luck, but at least you've got a house and job sorted at the moment.

You might want to post this into the main DFW board, as this has come in the diaries section, which means the main 'advice givers' may not see it. I with my fairly limited knowledge have the following advice re your SOA -

1) Your gas and electric seem really high - £100 a month all together? Is this paying some arrears? keep an eye on your usage, and also, have you checked on Uswitch etc to make sure you are getting the best deal?

2) Your car insurance seems pretty high too; make sure you do a price comparison via something like confused.com or comparethemarket.com to make sure you are getting the best deal.

3) Can you cancel the SKY altogether?

4) £400 on groceries is an awful lot, you should be able to half this with a bit of effort and meal planning - take a look on the Old Style boards for some inspiration. I know you've had a stressful time of it, but smoking is costing you money you haven't got, apparent from anything else - give quitting a go if/when you can face it, and cut down as much as you can - gradually if necessary, perhaps one less a day etc.

There are also lots of tips on here to make some extra cash, selling on Ebay, Amazon etc, and there is always the CCCS to advice you in negotiating with your creditors as well.

Good luck!

Cashwitch

:TWell done Dreamywings - you're not alone, and have definitely come to the right place here at MSE! There are loads of people here to support you and offering great advice, I've found some fab ideas and tips through the site and returning here has really kept me motivated since I first posted a month or so ago! We were in a similar position as far as the amount of debt goes but the worst moment was realising we had come to the 'end of the line' and had absolutely no more cash to hand, which resulted in yet another loan (£700+). We'd hit rock bottom after years of living on the edge financially - enough was enough, and we decided to really crack down. It's a slog but really rewarding to gain control again.
There are threads on every type of money-related issue so you can get specific advice in each area. Good luck!;)