I need help. Massive debts.

rachel23

GemBaxter
I've just done a quick search on Autotrader for the car values - is there a better way:
One is 2008 (58) Volvo with 30k miles
Other is 2005 (05) Audi with 58k miles
Both are on HP. Is it possible for me to sell them, repay the loan and get any surplus back to buy sth cheaper?

Re teaching
I do have a 1st from a very good (Russell Group) university but as far as I am aware that does not entitle me to any funding other than the bog standard. I agree that it is difficult to get a place on a PGCE course but I have all the academic requirements and more (I have 3 languages) and I have lots of classroom experience. I am hopeful I would get a place if I applied... I am not saying it will be easy to get a job once I am qualified but I cannot be worse off than I am now in a NMW part-time job when I only know my shifts 1 week in advance - its a nightmare! I have a friend who only does supply as her husband works away a lot and I so I know exactly what supply pays. I'm not giving up much here come on!

I did think about trying to get some translation work but a few uni friends of mine (who do this) said it would be very hard with out an MA in Translation or some kind of PG study at least.

I am applying for jobs all the time in the meantime! If I could work fixed hours I could have a bit in childcare as I have to pay for time I do not use at the moment becuase my rota changes. DH also works shifts so bar work is difficult unless they can be very flexible. It will help once we are living with my Mother but she is on-call several nights a week so she cannot babysit on those nights.

I am also concious that if I do a lot of extra work we will not qualify for the childcare tax credits next year which would mean I would have to give up work.

So saving is the better option really.

Will start by paying off some of the Amex card as suggested.

How much is a good amout to leave in our current account?

Pitlanepiglet

I think you need to step back from all of this and give it some sensible thought. You are carrying lots of debt, yet you are talking about incurring further debt to go back to uni for a year. It makes very little sense to me.

In your position I'd be knuckling down to a year or two of working as many hours as possible and spending as little as possible to make as much of a dent in the debt as possible - certainly not increasing the debt. Your SOA doesn't reflect the life you've been living, are you able to cut your spending down below the level you've shown? I think you'll struggle to make these changes, especially if you don't intend to tell your husband. It really worries me that if you go to Uni you'll end up another year down the road with even more debt. It's very hard to run a household frugally whilst working your socks off at Uni and looking after your family.

I think you do need to consider the job that you have currently, it's almost costing you money to go to work, you'd be better giving up and doing Avon or something similar if you can't find anything local to your Mums

eyeopener2

Ok, so we have the start of a plan which is saving on the budget.

If you want a good guide on how to do all this check out Frual Queens blog. Now that is how to live on a shoestring!

You need to make big savings

No new clothes, second hand only. Charity shops, ebay etc.
Dramatically cut your food budget, and we are talking possibly half it? Old Style Money saving board on here has a link to a website where you feed a family of 4 for £100 a month. Worth a try
Entertainment budget goes completely. Your stuck in watching cr&p telly like me!
Look at all utilities. Even a couple of quid a month makes a difference.
keep shaving bits here and there.
Anything you can sell? Ebay? anything at all, you'd be surprised what people buy.

Go for it but you have to be totally realistic with yourself and your OH. You have huge debts and it will be painful to even stabilise your cashflow. Once you get used to living frugally though, you can make inroads into the debt.

You HAVE to have your family onboard. OH and your mother, otherwise this won't work.

Oh and keep say £500 for emergencies? Something like that.

E2

ps. Your debt is £35k plus £20k of student loans so £55k altogether. You need to remember that before embarking on anymore student loans.

rachel23

I am finding it really hard to think I might not get back to uni. I hate my job and I am bored. That's partly why we are in this mess. Boredom = shopping.

I am selling / have sold loads and bumped up our current account.

I am also going to try and do some tutoring in the evenings if I can find it. Will make little ads for notice boards tonight I can just change the evening to one my husband is at home so no childcare.

I have really cut down on things from what I was spending (£300/week supermarket easilly) but you are right it will be hard. I have told everyone who has asked that the children would like clothes / PJs for Christmas in generous sizes so they should be ok for a while. I have loads of clothes - am selling some of the branded ones and my husband is always at work (has uniform) so he doesn't need any. Just school uniform when outgrown but that can be supermarket/second hand.

I will work on the grocery budget. I have 2 in nappies and 1 needing formula though so got to factor that in! Am bulk buying nappies though to get the best possible price and have now switched to follow on formula which is sometimes on special offer (baby is 6 months).

mostlycheerful

I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling pressured.

Perhaps the first thing to do is take a deep breath and remind yourself that this is "only money" and a lot of people have managed to pay off your amount of debt and some of them a lot more. So don't worry, this is doable. And you've made a good first step coming onto this site.

So perhaps also at this point remember to count your blessings, your hubby, your kids, your mum and your relative youth and health and energy. So that's all good and one way or another you can deal with this.

Read some of the success stories here on this board and that should give you some hope that you too can get on top of this.

Ok, first options are :

1 earn more and spend less. Read other people's threads on this board and look at the Up Your Income board for ideas regarding earning more and spending less.

Have you had a go at selling your old stuff via ebay, amazon, loot etc? Some people can claw back some money by doing these and you can generally fit it in around work and family. If hubby's not too busy working then maybe he can chip in a bit with this and then the effort can be shared a bit which can make it a more viable effort.

Start cutting the food budget by going down a brand and looking for the cheap reduced bargains. I save £20 to £30 a week by mostly only buying the reduced stuff so I save £1,000 to £1,500 a year which is now £10k to £15k over the last ten years that I've been doing a lot of bargain hunting. So it soon mounts up and makes a difference.

Similarly analyse all your spending and cut it to the bone. For instance, I get all my clothes from charity shops or when people give me their old stuff. I appreciate that you may not quite be able to manage to source all your needs this way but at least look into it and see if you can get stuff very cheap. Also check prices on ebay whenever you need to buy something as there are often very cheap bargains available, often a lot cheaper than in shops.

Similarly with the cars, is there any way that you can reduce costs with them?

2 Consider doing a DMP and you can either set up your own direct without need of a third party. Several people on this board do this themselves so perhaps search for their threads and see if you think that might be suitable for you. Basically you contact all your creditors telling them that now they have to renegotiate as you will from now on be paying them less. There are various template letters to use for this and various procedures and techniques that sometimes work but other times don't that you need to read up about if going down this route.

Alternatively, if you decide that doing a DMP yourself is not appropriate for you then perhaps consider using the free services Payplan or CCCS (or whatever it's called, sorry if I've remembered it wrong) so read up about them and then, if you think it might be right for you, give them a ring and submit your application.

Don't use the pay services, they often just take a lot of your money needlessly and can add to the problem. And there have been cases reported on this board and others of some of the pay services not even doing the admin that they're supposed to but nevertheless often still charging you lots.

3 If you want to try to maintain a good credit rating then, if possible, it would be good to not default any of the borrowing as if you do then you'll probably therefore get a CCJ or several which generally take 6 years to come off your credit records. So you'll likely not be able to get any more credit during that period.

However, if push comes to shove and in fact you find that you just can't avoid defaulting then bear in mind that as you are renting you don't have a house that can be taken off you so this wouldn't necessarily be as bad for you as it might be for some other people. In other words this is likely to be a bit more doable for you than for people who own houses and or pay mortgages.

Ok, that's plenty to think about. There is a lot more that could be said about all this but I'll stop here. Perhaps have a good read of lots of other people's threads here as you'll probably find a lot of good information that is directly and indirectly relevant to you and your situation.

Ok, now keep your chin up, you can deal with this, although it's £35k and that feels like a lot there are some people here who have sorted out double and even triple that amount and as they have demonstrated that they can, then, with a bit of effort and concentration, you probably will do as well.

So, well done for posting here, that's a good start. Now do some more reading and thinking and maybe typing up lists and plan some goals to aim to and that kind of stuff. And if you haven't already done so then perhaps have some more chats with hubby about it all.

Hope this is of use. All the best, good luck.

eyeopener2

That feed a family for £100, its worth checking out some of the recipes just for ideas or even a sort of target for yourselves.

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

MrsTinks

Nappies - Lidls - seriously! My DD was in huggies for a long long time - wouldn't use anything else - then Lidls opened and in an emergency I had to buy theirs one evening... Now I won't use anything else! And they work out pretty cheap
You HAVE to do the maths on exactly how much childcare costs you and how much going to work costs you and then how much you really earn. Factor in car costs, fuel and everything! If there is a shortfall then look at if you can make more than this doing something from home (ok - your mums...) either WITH the kids or when your mum and husband can mind them. Avon isn't a bad idea - google Gail Reynolds - there is one inspirational lady! She started as a single mum and now she and her husband make over £100k a year from Avon- ok they are VERY business focussed but it shows what CAN be acchieved and this is a great time of year to start Avon
Failing Avon (it's not everyones cup of tea) then what about cleaning? It's not glamourous but it pays! I used to have a cleaner because of the hours we work and I paid £7.50 per hour. And importantly a lot of people can be flexible about when you clean for them...
Another outside the box thing to look at is setting up an ironing business - a friend of mine did this and is expanding for the 2nd time now! Look at if there is a service where you go and see if you think setting up could be an option

eyeopener2

rachel23 wrote: »

I am finding it really hard to think I might not get back to uni. I hate my job and I am bored. That's partly why we are in this mess. Boredom = shopping.

I am selling / have sold loads and bumped up our current account.

I am also going to try and do some tutoring in the evenings if I can find it. Will make little ads for notice boards tonight I can just change the evening to one my husband is at home so no childcare.

I have really cut down on things from what I was spending (£300/week supermarket easilly) but you are right it will be hard. I have told everyone who has asked that the children would like clothes / PJs for Christmas in generous sizes so they should be ok for a while. I have loads of clothes - am selling some of the branded ones and my husband is always at work (has uniform) so he doesn't need any. Just school uniform when outgrown but that can be supermarket/second hand.

I will work on the grocery budget. I have 2 in nappies and 1 needing formula though so got to factor that in! Am bulk buying nappies though to get the best possible price and have now switched to follow on formula which is sometimes on special offer (baby is 6 months).

Your getting in the right frame of mind now by saying these things. You will be a frugal mum before you know it, bargain hunting everywhere!

Good luck.

nat21luv

I feel for you, living in the South West is hard; wages are low and rent/house prices/bills are high. We pay the highest rates of water and council tax in the land so no matter how much you reduce it by, its still so high.

I agree with other posters, you need to postpone uni for another year, knuckle down and pay off some debts. How much better will you feel going to uni knowing that you can honestly afford to study. I know how you feel though, I've been putting off joining the police for a few years as I would have to quit work in order to train, someting I cant justify yet.

Really hope this works out for you, at least you know however bad this gets, living at your mums there will always be food in the cupboards and a roof over your head. Best of luck.

DancerSupreme

Have just seen that your haven't yet defaulted. Chances are the likes of CCCS won't take you on until you do.

Def use store brand nappies. They are all I buy - I have a newborn and a 2 year old only in pull ups at night - at the difference in cost and quality is amazing. I find branded nappies leak uncontrollably and are ridiculously overpriced!

Have you talked to your husband yet? Xx