Lightbulb Moment - Please Help x

beanielou

It all depends on how much you really want to reduce the debt.
There are savings to be made but you have to want to make them.
£50 a month for presents is high.
Can you increase your income even in the short term?
Could you ebay & have a car boot & try to hammer down the smaller debts?

3Dogs

Hi Kathryn - one thing I would say is to ring Sky and tell them that you are having financial difficulties and need to cancel your subscription - they will more than likely offer you 6 months at half price - every bit helps

Well done for posting and good luck on your journey

kathrynrobson1011

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I hope he is giving you space rather than hiding from facts!

I think it's more hiding from the facts!!!! He is very happy for me to handle this. Not sure if this is all my fault anyway, I lost the job and have took a big pay cut. He always says I don't spend anything but that's cos I do all the shopping for me and kids.

Unfortunately the catalogue ran away with me. Worked for the company and had great staff discount plus APR was only 9.9 as staff. Unfortunately once they made me redundant the APR shot up to 39.7. I need to pay this off fast and then close account. I have read some horror stories on here about this company.

Kat

Snowy_Owl

Once you've looked at the big stuff (comparison sites for cheaper bills etc), try looking over at the Oldstyle moneysaving board and that would help with menu planning etc. Good tips there!

Snowy

Sagz_2

How about selling some of your excess clothes on Ebay?

rupe34

Hi Kathryn - just wanted to say well done:T:Tfor posting your SOA and asking for some help. I genuinely believe it takes real guts to do that! x

kathrynrobson1011

beanielou wrote: »

It all depends on how much you really want to reduce the debt.
There are savings to be made but you have to want to make them.
£50 a month for presents is high.
Can you increase your income even in the short term?
Could you ebay & have a car boot & try to hammer down the smaller debts?

Thanks beanielou

Really really really really want to do this. Am seriously thinking of unplugging Xbox to gte hubby to sit down with me. If he won't then I think I will keep hold of the bank cards and give him an allowance. Does that sound really mean????

I have loads for a car boot and DD stopped dancing last year at the age of 9. I have approx brand new prices 4k worth of ballroom dresses (prob sell on ebay in the region of £800 but every penny/pound helps). Also, loads of other barely worn dance wear.

Presents is very high, unfortunately we have got caught up in the kids must have for Xmas. It's like a competition between the mothers at the school gates. Me and hubby go without presents, entertainment, etc to 'provide' for the kids - I say provide but really mean spoil. DD is now 10, has an ipod shuffle, ipod touch, has had 5 mobile phones, laptop, flat screen etc. Have had a talk with her last night and she understands about money being tight, felt awful but she had to know the facts when she asked why she couldn't have a £30 per week allowance like 'all her friends'.

The spending diary has started today. So far hubby has spent £20 on petrol, so I suppose that was necessary.

Thank you all for your comments. Please keep them coming. Kat x

kathrynrobson1011

Think I'll take a flexi day this week and spend the day photographing things for Ebay. I have 7 cocktail dresses in my wardrobe that I just had to have (on credit card of course) for our cruise in 2008. They are sitting collecting dust as 1) they are too OTT to wear on normal nights out 2) Stress has caused me to lose 4 stone in weight since last October (although have been trying to cut down too).

I'm now frantically searching my brain for all the things I can sell. Kat x

kathrynrobson1011

rupe34 wrote: »

Hi Kathryn - just wanted to say well done:T:Tfor posting your SOA and asking for some help. I genuinely believe it takes real guts to do that! x

Thank you Rupe34. I felt sick at the thought of posting it, although it wasn't as depressing as I thought. Just need to get to grips with the spending diary now, and hopefully I can pull myself out of this hole.

Am looking at reducing catalogue and dorothy perkins card first. Car Loan finishes June 2011, but loan runs until Oct 2015 (not sure what I was thinking when I took that out - although I remember hubby being a big part of it). If I can get rid of the credit cards too, then I want to repay this back ASAP.

Kat x

beanielou

ALl Im going to say is my DS is 17 & doesent get £30 a week.
You could make a big dent in the highest APR debts if you could sell some of the dance stuff.E bay or gumtree? That would be the catalogue starting to come down.
Think about a payment a day(PAD)to your target debt which in your case will be the catalogue.You could also think about joining the next 100 day challange.
Hope this helps.(HTH)