Sick of being poor

Nara

Hi,

I think its a bit mean people saying £30k is enough to live off etc. Ofc alot of people earn alot less then this but people tend to live to their means ie: you don't rent/buy a cheaper house then you can afford just to have more spare money or just incase something happens.

I'm stuck in that situation, my partner earnt more then £30k a year and i was a stay at home mum and we still had no spare money after paying mortgage/council tax/loan/credit cards etcetc. The problem is we have had our debts since the time we both worked full time and earnt even more, now my partner has been made redundant and we are in big trouble

I would say deffo go for some advice, thats what i am planning to do now, i wish i had done that from the start tbh.

Good luck

Jackop

troubled_ali wrote: »

I agree with this! Try living on £12,750 a year and your partner on £14,000, then being made redundant and having NOTHING. My partner has a massive loan and is in debt and he can't even afford his half of the rent and bills. I can't even afford to eat let alone pay my bills. I rent privately so can't speak to the Council and get help. I am going to get evicted from my flat and then I won't be able to rent again. Try living on my money then you'll understand, and there's people who are worse off than me as well!!

Well that post certainly has solved his problem. Lets stop with the abuse and try and help, i havent been here long either and its not a good advert for the forum to see people jump on somebodies back when they are here for help.

Im sorry i cant provide any pearls of wisdom, i only had £500 of debt through various avenues at its worst point. Which i then used the 'Snowball' technique to get rid of them.

Good luck though, tackling the problem is the best way to become debt free! :T

thor

I suspect deep down the op knows what needs to be done.

1. Getting rid of debts = problem as it means means getting the money to do so somehow. The only thing he might be able to do is to switch it to lower interest rate.

2. Downsize to a smaller rent property(preferably one that is closer to his place of work and thereby saving on commuting costs as well.

3. Cut down on expenses. Even after your repayments and rent you say you only have £750 per month. Well some people only have little more than that and have to pay all those bills as well. I'm sure more could be done.

With the big public sector cutbacks going on you may even have to brace yourself for a period of unemployment in which case if you think you are having a tough time now......

naki

Oh my word, why is everyone being so negative? It isn't important why the OP has his debts- what's important is that he's recognised he is having problems, and has plucked up the courage to ask for ideas to help him take control. The posts of 'you should be more grateful having 30k a year, I manage and don't have that much' mean NOTHING. As someone else pointed out it's about disposable income, not take home wage. Shame on you people who are being mean and indicating he should shut up and stop moaning because YOU live on less annual income! If you want to play that game then you live in a country where you are privledged enough to have clean running water which people die every day without- any complaints about money being tight pale in comparision to such hardships.

OP, as you have probably already realised, your debts are your problem. You need to make sure that you try your hardest not to get into any further debt and set yourself a budget to work with. Write a food budget and keep receipts, making sure you stick to it. Look around and make sure you're on the best gas/elec/phone rates- you can find websites that will compare it all for you too. Try not to waste food and utilise what you do have (e.g keep leftovers to use in a stew the next day), if you can grow some veg in your own garden. As for making money, as someone else said you can use cashback sites or write reviews on dooyoo to earn a little. You won't earn huge amounts, but over time it will add up. Get crafty at Christmas, or stick to cheaper gifts picked up throughout the year in sales. Have a clear out of the attic and have a boot fair or sell things on eBay.

Overall, remember that if you take these steps you will start to see the difference. But stop whatever is getting you into debt if you can, because you can only really move forward when you've stopped the problem. Good luck, OP.