Ready To Own Up To Our Debt

MRS-MT_2

Hi Everyone,

We had our Lightbulb moment last night at 9.00pm, spent the rest of the night panicking, got to sleep at 2am, and although I feel better for knowing how much we owe, I still feel really panicky.
Are you ready ? Here goes !!!
We owe £49,499.37 ! :eek: I'VE SAID IT, NO GOING BACK NOW.

We are really cross with ourselves, as we had a semi-lightbulb moment Oct '05, but clearly it wasn't a 100watt lightbulb, just a 30watt !! and now we find ourselves more in debt.

I have been reading this site for over a year, and you guys are sooo inspiring, so I'd like to join you if I may, and make this the 1st day of our new money-saving, debt clearing regime. I would also appreciate any advice, help. I have spent the last 2 weeks tweeking things, and waiting for exact figures of what we owe, and am now ready to do my SOA (thanks southernscouser for the template)

Monthly Incomings

Partner salary - £1,800-£2,300 (depends on commission)
My salary - £600-£1,200 (depends on commission)
DLA - £166 (child has disability)
Child Benefit - £113

TOTAL MONTHLY INCOMINGS Min - £2,673
Max - £3,773


Monthly Outgoings

Mortgage - £718.57 (mortgage £110 k, house worth £185k)
House & Contents / Building Ins - £33.93
Electricity - £60.00
Gas - £35.00
Phone/sky/broadband - £65.00 (£35 re-imbursed from partner expenses)
Partner Life Ins - £23.42
My Life Ins £17.61
Healthcare income protection - £28.15
Critical Illness (joint) - £30.31
Child savings account - £25.00
Other child savings account - £20.00
Water rates - £24.70
Pet Insurance - £12.28
Council Tax - £117.00
Car insurance - £18.84
Caravan Insurance - £17.99
Tv Licence - £11.38
TV Rental - £15.61
Charity - £9.00 (cancer, my mum had it)
Mobile - £15.00
Petrol - £50.00
Food - £300-400, not sure, need to check this, as we always shop as we
need, never do a weekly or monthly shop
Child guitar lessons - £30.00

Outgoings so far (without paying debt) £1746.79

DEBT CARDS & LOANS

Loan 1 - £23,311.54 (6.9%) - Pay £286.83 a month (8 yrs left)
Loan 2 - £ 8,910.38 (6.9%) - Pay £224.41 a month (3 yrs left)
Debt card 1 - £3,671.46 (16.9%) - Pay £55 a month
Debt card 2 - £5,100.00 (17.9%) - Pay £120 a month
Debt card 3 - £5,806.00 (6.95% bal for life) - Pay £120 a month
Debt card 4 - £2,700.00 (19.9% was 3.9%, but missed 1 payment, and they
changed the rate, nothing we can do) Pay £70 mth

SO TOTAL MONTHLY OUTGOINGS IS £2,623.03

The only thing I forgot about was every 10 weeks we pay £79 for kids swimming lessons, and things like haircuts. We have not allowed for anything like school trips, etc.

PLAN OF ACTION

Lots of things going on Ebay in next few days, approx £300-400 worth.
Ordered my 6 years worth of bank statements for reclaiming bank charges.
Hubby in the process of swapping the cards around onto better rates.
Am going to start weekly shopping on Tesco intenet, that way, I'm not tempted by other things on the shelves !
Bought a slow cooker last week, making lots of economy meals in that !
Still racking our brains on what else we can do.

Well guys, that's us. I can't quite believe how stupid we have been. I know where most of it has gone. Completely renovated house, Central heating, building works, driveway. plus luxuries in life that we should of said NO to. And can't say no to the kids.
We are a very happy family, and very generous to our friends and family, but from now on we have to think about ourselves. Luckily, me & hubby have sat down together and both willing to do everything it takes and more.

One more thing, please be gentle with us, It's early days, and still hasn't quite sunk in, still so angry with ourselves. WE WILL DO THIS TOGETHER. Would especially appreciate hearing from those in similiar situation.

Thanks for listening, sorry if I've gone on too much

MRS-MT


Will try to work out how to do signature later

bride2be2006

Hi there and welcome to the site, everyone here is very helpful and I am sure will be able to offer you lots of advice! I am fairly new to this myself but noticed your child savings are quite high, can these be reduced at all? and also your TV rental, what sort of TV is this for, have you one you own you could use instead? Your food shopping bill is very high too (so is mine! - champagne tastes and beer pockets for me) you will probably do well online shopping to cut that down as you say and try looking on the old style thread for cheap meal ideas.

Good luck

OberonSH

MRS-MT wrote:

Hi Everyone,

We had our Lightbulb moment last night at 9.00pm, spent the rest of the night panicking, got to sleep at 2am, and although I feel better for knowing how much we owe, I still feel really panicky.
Are you ready ? Here goes !!!
We owe £49,499.37 ! :eek: I'VE SAID IT, NO GOING BACK NOW.

We are really cross with ourselves, as we had a semi-lightbulb moment Oct '05, but clearly it wasn't a 100watt lightbulb, just a 30watt !! and now we find ourselves more in debt.

I have been reading this site for over a year, and you guys are sooo inspiring, so I'd like to join you if I may, and make this the 1st day of our new money-saving, debt clearing regime. I would also appreciate any advice, help. I have spent the last 2 weeks tweeking things, and waiting for exact figures of what we owe, and am now ready to do my SOA (thanks southernscouser for the template)

Monthly Incomings

Partner salary - £1,800-£2,300 (depends on commission)
My salary - £600-£1,200 (depends on commission)
DLA - £166 (child has disability)
Child Benefit - £113

TOTAL MONTHLY INCOMINGS Min - £2,673
Max - £3,773


Monthly Outgoings

Mortgage - £718.57 (mortgage £110 k, house worth £185k)
House & Contents / Building Ins - £33.93 Have you checked for cheaper cover? Remember to go through pigsback!
Electricity - £60.00
Gas - £35.00
Phone/sky/broadband - £65.00 (£35 re-imbursed from partner expenses) Chop Sky, you don;t need it, and shop around for the other 2. NTL are offering all 3 fro £30 at the mo
Partner Life Ins - £23.42I'm not a big fan of insurance, but some people like the assurance. Check your small print and see if you can get it cheaper. I checked my last lot, and found that being self employed I'd not be able to claim on my loan insurance for practically anything
My Life Ins £17.61
Healthcare income protection - £28.15 Isn't this covered by the first lot of insurances?
Critical Illness (joint) - £30.31 As above
Child savings account - £25.00 Personally I'd stop this, and invest in a debt free family future. You can always start again when you're a bit more fluch.
Other child savings account - £20.00
Water rates - £24.70
Pet Insurance - £12.28 Again, either get rid, put money into a savings account, and if pet doesn't need it, pay ff debt, or shop around
Council Tax - £117.00
Car insurance - £18.84
Caravan Insurance - £17.99 As above with insurance!
Tv Licence - £11.38
TV Rental - £15.61
Charity - £9.00 (cancer, my mum had it)
Mobile - £15.00
Petrol - £50.00
Food - £300-400, not sure, need to check this, as we always shop as we
need, never do a weekly or monthly shop Check out moneysaving oldstyle, there's really room for improvement. I spend £120 a month for 2 adults and a child.
Child guitar lessons - £30.00
Outgoings so far (without paying debt) £1746.79

DEBT CARDS & LOANS

Loan 1 - £23,311.54 (6.9%) - Pay £286.83 a month (8 yrs left)
Loan 2 - £ 8,910.38 (6.9%) - Pay £224.41 a month (3 yrs left)
Debt card 1 - £3,671.46 (16.9%) - Pay £55 a month
Debt card 2 - £5,100.00 (17.9%) - Pay £120 a month
Debt card 3 - £5,806.00 (6.95% bal for life) - Pay £120 a month
Debt card 4 - £2,700.00 (19.9% was 3.9%, but missed 1 payment, and they
changed the rate, nothing we can do) Pay £70 mth

SO TOTAL MONTHLY OUTGOINGS IS £2,623.03

The only thing I forgot about was every 10 weeks we pay £79 for kids swimming lessons, and things like haircuts. We have not allowed for anything like school trips, etc.

PLAN OF ACTION

Lots of things going on Ebay in next few days, approx £300-400 worth.
Ordered my 6 years worth of bank statements for reclaiming bank charges.
Hubby in the process of swapping the cards around onto better rates.
Am going to start weekly shopping on Tesco intenet, that way, I'm not tempted by other things on the shelves !
Bought a slow cooker last week, making lots of economy meals in that !
Still racking our brains on what else we can do.

Well guys, that's us. I can't quite believe how stupid we have been. I know where most of it has gone. Completely renovated house, Central heating, building works, driveway. plus luxuries in life that we should of said NO to. And can't say no to the kids.
We are a very happy family, and very generous to our friends and family, but from now on we have to think about ourselves. Luckily, me & hubby have sat down together and both willing to do everything it takes and more.

One more thing, please be gentle with us, It's early days, and still hasn't quite sunk in, still so angry with ourselves. WE WILL DO THIS TOGETHER. Would especially appreciate hearing from those in similiar situation.

Thanks for listening, sorry if I've gone on too much

MRS-MT


Will try to work out how to do signature later

Welcome to the forum, I've made a few comments, but there's really loads of scope for cutting down. Don't forget, that's the last time you see that figure again, it's only going to go down!

Don't forget ot start a spending diary - make a note of EVWERYTHING you spend. It really helps to get an accurate picture of where your money goes.

Can you get a 0% card to balance transfer some of th higher rates onto? That would help a bit.

Apart from that, I really hope you stick around and show us all how much you can pay off. You're doing great so far, you rock!

tyllwyd

One thing that leaps out from your SOA - you haven't allowed anything for car tax, MOT & servicing. And your caravan - should you be allowing for things like new tyres?

Is the caravan paying its way? You are paying out £200 per year for insurance alone. Would selling it be an option?

clarab_3

You sound very together! congratulations!

Im sure your food bill could come down a bit, and have you checked your meter readings for the gas and electricity, as they seem a bit high? Utility companies are a sod for just raising your DD when you arent even using the power...

You know what we're all going to say about sky...

Aim to make any of your overpayments on your higher interest rate cards first - if you do one at a time (snowballing) it gives you a real sense of achievement as they come down and get cut up, and frees up even more cash to pay the next - quite addictive! check out how this can work for you at the snowballing site.

MRS-MT_2

You guys are so quick, thanks so much already, and nice replies too.

Well, to quickly answer those so far, regarding all Utilities / Insurances etc. we have already chopped and changed, and are now with the cheapest quotes on everything.
Life Insurance - I feel is so important, we have heard some terrible stories in the past, so don't want to tempt fate. We are both insured for £250,000 each, so we would know that the kids are financially stable.
Healthcare income protection is if my husband couldn't work, its pays us what he would earn.
Critical illness is if either of us had a major illness, we would get a decent payout.
Pet has already had 2 operations, so we have had our money back 3 fold, again don't want to tempt fate.
Completely forgot about Car MOT, Tax etx. Yikes, thanks for the reminder.
Our caravan is our godsend, we get lovely cheap holidays away in it, as we don't go abroad.

Thanks guys, keep them coming ! And wow, you are so right, that is the last time we see that amount, its down down down form here on, and you guys are my witnesses

thanks

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi welcome aboard,

I would base your budget on your combined basic salaries learn to live within them and then throw any commissions / bonus's at your debts.

Particuarly as in the world of sales commissions can fluctuate.

What would be the take home of your combined basic salaries ?

Best,

MRS-MT_2

Hi Bestthingsinlifearefree

Our combined take home basic salary is £2,673, but we are both in sales, so sales are good at the moment, and quite often it could be £3,000 - £3,773
However, we do get the basic month too, and its always typical that we both get a basic month together !
Thanks

Bestthingsinlifearefree

chop sky or down grade to the minimum packages. There is plenty of sport, films and crap to watch on the other channels.

You want to clear your debt, it will take sacrifices.

Why not scrap your life insurance, critical illness etc until your debts are cleared and reinstate them after. Some would say they are luxeries.

You are paying 900 pounds a year for these insurances. Are they worth it ? Will they pay out ? could you shop around ? Do you need them all ?

Some would say in a world of social security if the worst happens you can fall back on the state or adapt.Just my personal opinion others would disagree.

Keep up the good work :beer:

Best,

Bestthingsinlifearefree

MRS-MT wrote:

Hi Bestthingsinlifearefree

Our combined take home basic salary is £2,673, but we are both in sales, so sales are good at the moment, and quite often it could be £3,000 - £3,773
However, we do get the basic month too, and its always typical that we both get a basic month together !
Thanks

I think you should aim to get all your living costs (including minimum debt repayments) to under £2673.

Any commissions use to throw at your debts.

Once you have cleared your debts use the commissions to building up a savings emergency fund.

If you get used to living within your basic salary a bad sales month does not hurt you.

Best,

Storm

Hi and welcome :hello:

I've worked out that the swimming lessons equalled out over the months come to £32.92, so outgoings are at £2655.95. The good news is that you're within your minimum monthly income, but I would recommend starting a spending diary so you can keep track more.

Also, if you check out https://www.entitledto.co.uk to see if you're claiming everything you can - you may be able to get tax credits & if someone's getting DLA maybe you can claim carers allowance too?

Also, check out the snowball calculator at https://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball - it will work out for you how much to pay where each month based on the interest rates & the total you can afford to pay to save you the most interest - plus give you a debt-free date!

Good luck, you're on your way well truly!