Time to get ones head out of the SAND

smithers1981

Hi all

On April 14th last year i became a father for the first time, pretty unconventional relationship as im 28 and my partners 43 with two sons aged 22 and 18,

Before i met my partner i was still living at home no real life to speak of but i was financially sound with around 8k in the bank, although i was still living at home.......

Then i met my beloved....... things changed, my partner was going through a tricky divorce, i was i think looking back depressed.... so we both went on a 3 year spending binge, takeways, every night in the pub, holidays, weekends away, clothes, gambling on ggs, fags, expensive phone bills, even traded in my mini cooper for an audi tt, to sum it up i commited over the 3 years FINANCIAL SUICIDE

My current situation, im £18,000 in debt and now i am a father its time to get my head out the sand, grab the bull by the horns and start sorting myself out,

i owe £6400 loan
£6900 credit card
£4500 crediti card
minimum payments add up to 480 per month

changes to lifestyle

packed up fags 6 months ago went to gp prescribed 'champix' tablets which really helped although i was determined.... any debtfree wannabees that smoke.... seriously pack em in see your quack thats what hes there for and see the huge savings you make.... also better for you too

Hardly go pub now, rather have a drink at home, like to have a few cans, missis likes a bottle of wine in the evening but buying from supermarket saves a fortune against going pub

clothes ditched designer brands no more 'diesel' firetrap 'ted baker'
i now shop in officers club, primark matalan even tesco, the savings here are significant, im even psyching up to go charity shop

Holidays abroad are knocked on head although partners mother has caravan in wales so will be going there for our sumer holidays this year

Personally i would eat tesco value everything but my partner is a bit of a snob when it comes to own brands but i do buy them where possible

my TT has been replaced with a mondeo, although i find that thirsty and will look to buy something smaller

weekends away are rare although i treated other half to night in leicester premier inn for 29 quid which all things considered aint bad

Not sure where else i can cut costs
My income is 1600 4weekly

outgoings are bills £600
food £160
debts £480
petrol £100

this leaves me 260 every 4 weeks or 65 a week crrently im putting every spare penny to paying off credit cards i have 30 months left on loan so am leaving that to pay off itself, i am trying to reduce credit cards on own currently 12k

Would any1 advice me to seek help from cccs or payplan?

my partner is currently with payplan but what do you guys recommend i need to get sorted for my daughters sake

thanks

Marc debtfree wannabee........ willbee:rotfl:

Tixy

Hi and welcome

You seem to have made some good changes so far. Have you looked through all the bills and made sure you are on the best deals/tariffs or with the cheapest suppliers etc?

With regards to seeking professional help, as you are able to meet your minimum repayments (I assume the £480 is the minimums) and pay that extra £260 (or most of it) on top of that then I don't think they would be able to advise a lot.

Do you and your partner have combined finances or still keep the fairly seperate?

Congrats on being a new dad and on giving up smoking.

Good luck with reducing your debts.

smithers1981

still keep finances seperate, the other half didnt mind spending on my credit cards, even paid some bailiffs off on it for her, always with promise shell help pay them off but so far nothing so gonna get out of mess on my own am very determined actually finding it an exciting challenge!!

its a relief to start doing something about it, paid 200 extra off credit cards last month intend to do the same this month

Tixy

Do your cards have different APRs? if so are you targeting the most expensive first? If you haven't already you might want to have a look at the snowball calculator on http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx to have a play around and work out how long it will take to pay them off and what is the best order to make repayments in to pay the least amount in interest.

leanne82duke

have you had a look on the snowball calculator?
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/snowcalc.html

it will show you how to pay your debts off in the quickest/cheapest way.

its a good that you are looking at things now before they get out of hand,
you seem to have a fair bit left at the end of the month to throw at your debts x

it might also be worth doing a proper statement of affairs so you can make sure you have covered everything that is going out.
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html