help on where to start

lynzpower

Hi there
Right how is your creit rating? I suggest moving the highest APRS onto a 0% or a low LOB card to save paying interest.

Time to make extra income I think although there are small savings to be made above. Its time to flog anything you can. Ebay, amazon, car boot sales, the lot

GO FOR IT!!

lynzpower

And NO, dont whatever you do secure this debt on your house, or remortgage. It doesnt change overspending behaviour adn will cost you a hell of a lot more in the long run.

Kevicho

With regards your debts can you put them in

total owed / Interest Rate / Minimum monthly payment

order, then we can look at snowballing them to clear them quicker

Cheers

Kev

Kevicho

Ive had a look at your SOA and split it up into the following areas if for anything just for visualisation purposes:

Essentials/Things that need to be paid every month

Mortgage/Rent £563.29
Council Tax £101.00
TV License £11.07
childminder £200.00

Total: 875.29

The only way we can cut this down is by downsizing the house and moving to somewhere where the council tax is cheaper, although if this costs more petrol then its pointless
Also if you have relatives who can replace childminders on occasion that will save money

Next section is essentials but me may be able to cut down, find cheaper suppliers or browse the boards for how to maximize budgets

Gas £55.00
Electric £50.00
water not had a bill yet on water meter
Food £200.00
Petrol £160.00 2 cars 20 each week in each
mobile phone £60.00 for 2
home phone £30.00
internet £17.99
spending £200.00

Total 772.99
The obvious one there is spending, what are you spending money on? You can definately find cheaper suppliers for all of the above, or also cutr back on usage to save a couple here and there (the pounds do add up)

The next area is money on luxeries or items you may consider cancelling, as every penny counts (especially when you multiply it 12 times a year for x years)

Life Insurance £18.27
kids swimming lessons £18.00
cat insurance £14.39
total 50.66 (£600 a year)

These are entirely up to you, maybe you could replace the swimming with family walks and the occasional swim, for the excercise purposes

Then we come to your repayments

egg loan £213.00
a&l loan £230.15
b&q card £50.00
xmas savings £40.00
citi £120.00
littlewoods catologue £40.00
kays catologue £62.00
hsbc overdraft £50.00
smile visa £50.00
mbna £70.00
mbna £70.00
accucard £50.00
egg £80.00
egg £80.00
bank subscription £7.50
barclaycard £52.00
Total 1224.65

Ill leave that alone until you give me the min monthly payments as we will probably have to change some amounts and do some switching around of balances

Annie_Fanny

Also try ringing CCs and ask them about lowering your apr...overwise you will leave...tell them anything...worth a try...i did it and they lowered my cc from 18% to 7% for 6 months.

PONDSAVER_2

Thanks for that every one

Kevicho I will look at the min payment and aprs later tonight - just about to leave work now.

Everyone on here and reading through posts are a real inspiration I hope I can sort out our debts sooner rather than later.

PONDSAVER_2

We are actualy thinking of selling and going somehwere cheaper and closer to school so would save on petrol - but I still am locked in fixed rate onmy mortgage for another year.

What are those cash for your houses like do that offer yousubstantially less on your house.

lynzpower

What do you mean, like National Homebuyers type cos?

YEP, they offer about 35%- 45% of market value based on what Ive seen on here.

halloweenqueen_2

Even if you have a fixed rate mortgage, is it not portable, so that you could transfer the mortgage to another house?
You sound upbeat and determined and this really helps, good luck to you, another couple of years and you'll be putting money in to pay off your mortgage early!!
Could your other half have a piggy like aliasjo's mortgage pig, then whatever he doesn't spend out of the £25 could go in to it?
Don't sell your house for peanuts, there could be a lot of difference in your situation in 12 months. Good luck!

OberonSH

Hey, just wanted to welcome you to the board, everyone is really friendly and will have some good ideas.

I haven't really got anything to add to the above insomuch as cutting here, getting cheaper there. I would certainly keep a little spending diary f what that £200 'spending' goes in - you will probably be surprised. It also helps with a realistic budget - no point setting a target of £30 a week groceries if it regularly comes to £80.

If hubby is still smoking and playing pool, then tot up what he spends on cigarettes and pool, and then show it to him. Works especially well if it equals or beats on of your debts. Strange, show a smoker a pic of their lungs, they shrug and light up. Tell them they could have had a foreign holiday and they start looking for the ashtray

Ebay and Amazon are your friends. I'm not able to reduce my outgoings much as they're already bare bones, but finding loads of stuff to pop onto ebay and amazon and make the extra cash to help pay stuff off. Well, I am in the middle of a divorce, and lo and behold a lot of the stuff is his......

Ahem, anyways, if you have that much debt surely there will be a few things around the house that those cards helped with, so reclaim it back and get the stuff sold. Less clutter, less to dust and a tidy sum in the bank. Magic. Carboots and local ads for anything bulky that won't fit in the postbox.

All in all, you've done the right thing listing everything, cos now you just have to get your pen out and get ready to start crossing things off! Remember to get the support of hubby & kids, as there's othing worse than being the only one in the house with a lightbulb!

Good luck!