How did I reach my credit card limit and brief SOA

gallygirl

Oops, we all started hitting you at the same time, sorry, it wasn't a coordinated attack!

Glad you've not taken offence at us!

You really need to get hubby to sit down & read this and answer what if questions -
what if you get pregnant straight away, how will you pay for childcare
what if 1 of you is made redundant
what if he doesn't see the light!!!!!! etc etc.

Good luck.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

well done LTBL,

Look forward to the updates. Posting here is a good positive first step.

Keep up the good work !

3LITTLEPIGS_2

Hi!
I can completely sympathise with your situation and i have to say i agree you and your husband should have the golf as everyone needs something! Plus if you have a baby believe me it will probably go as you won't have time for golf!
You can never plan for a baby,i have had 2 in 18 months and neither were planned,you just get on with it and i wouldn;t change it for the world!!
Check with Abbey to see if they offer a maternity break on your mortgage, mine did(Northern Rock) and paid nothing for 6mths (obviously int is still added to term)
Also you will be able to claim child tax credit,which will be at least £45 per mth.
Good luck!

bobbie78

Have a look on fish4homes.co.uk for an idea about if there is a market to rent out the room. Also spareroom.co.uk and easyroommate.com are sites you could check to see what rooms in your area might rent out for.

nearlyrich

You probably already know this but it comes as a surprise to some people how much childcare costs, if you are earning below a certain figure CTC is available for nursery fees but if you earn more the fees take a big chunk out of your wages even if you go back part-time. As someone else said you would be better off getting your debts down and your spending under control before getting pregnant.

sarah0404

Hi, I'm really sorry to hear about your money problems. You are in the right place to sort them out though!

One thing you can do is look through your statements for the last couple of months and find out what you are spending your money on. I did this when I had my lightbulb moment. In my head I believed we were spending 70.00 on food a week, but looking through the statements I found an extra 20.00 here and there spent in Asda, 20.00 in Pizza Hut, chinese takeaway etc. Adding it all up I'd spent 450.00 on food in one month rather than the 280 I thought I was spending! I also looked at how many cash withdrawals had been made during the month, which one of us was taking the cash out and what we were using it for. Same with cheques.

Once you have worked out what you are spending on you need to make a budget and stick to it. I have found this really hard! But if I spend a fiver more than I should where will the extra money come from? You just can't spend money you don't have. (even though the banks, and most of society try to make you believe you can)

You mentioned both your accounts were overdrawn. I had the same problem. My account was at it's limit. I don't know if this is the best thing to do or not, but I was accepted for a 0% credit card, so I balance transferred to my bank account. It was costing me a fortune every month in interest and charges on the account. Then, THE MOST IMPORTANT BIT! I reduced my overdraft limit to 150.00 so I wouldn't get into the same situation again. And the 150 overdraft was free too! I also cut up all my credit cards. If I didn't have them, I couldn't spend on them.

Other people mentioned that you should give up your golf membership, sky tv etc. I know it sounds really really terrible, but I think you need to do it. You just can't afford it. My main overspending was buying small items every so often. Like a book from amazon one week, a couple of magazines the next, a few bits and bobs from ebay. All small purchases, but throughout the month they all added up. My partner was also massively overspending. Computing was his hobby and he was constantly buying and selling bits of his computer and upgrading it etc. We both had to give these things up. For the first couple of weeks it was horrible. I had no nice ebay or amazon parcels coming through the post to look forward to. My partner sold the computer to pay a bit off the credit card bill and didn't know what to do with himself without a computer.

That was about 9 months ago. We've managed just fine. We've also downgraded our broadband, something he'd never have agreed to before! Someone gave him a games console, and he plays on that instead. And I still get exciting things to look forward to through the post. I started writing to prisoners and people serving in the armed forces so I get a few letters a week. It doesn't just make me happy- like buying a book did, I get to brighten up someone elses day too.

I've also sold my car. Living without a car is really rubbish, but I don't know how I could have afforded a car before. Obviously I couldn't! Thats part of the reason I got into debt in the first place.

I suppose I'm trying to say you need to make serious cut backs to get out of debt. You really don't want to be going on maternity leave and taking a wage cut while you owe so much money. If you want to have a baby asap I'd seriously consider selling your house. I know it sounds really extreme. But you could pay off most of your debts straight away. You could rent a house - and as long as the rent wasn't more than your current mortgage you'd have 1000.00 + each month to do what you liked with! That's even with keeping the golf and lottery etc. In 12 months you could have a 12,000 deposit for a new house.

Sorry, this is just a random bunch of thoughts, but I hope some of it is of use to you. Sorry about the typing too. Half the keys seem to be jammed, and somehow its reverted back to that annoying way where it won't type a pound sign. Good luck!

bank_of_slate

Hi love,
Welcome to the dfw board!

Does your OH fill the van up with petrol, if so, make sure he fills up at for instance Morrisons who award points that add up to £5 food shopping vouchers, It's amazing how often you get a voucher when you're filling up a large tank!

Have you checked your company policy regarding maternity leave and pay, you should really look ahead and budget with the vastly reduced wage, what if you need to return to work part time after your mat leave, will you have to pay childcare? If you can't afford it on the reduced budget, can you wait a year or 2 and pay off as much as possible first?
...Linda xx

tryhard_2

hi and welcome; if you look on the old style board of this site you will be able to reduce your food expenses
good luck

Bestthingsinlifearefree

lovetobeloaded wrote:

Hi ali007

Will keep you posted of progress.

THANK YOU.

Just thought I would bump this up.

How are you getting on LTBL ?

Best,