The Ultimate Hard and Fast debt clearing mission

GreenSaints

N.I.M wrote: »

He needs to cop on Greenie. He couldn't afford it then, and from looking at all this he can't afford it now. That puppy is pricey to run, pricey to repair and could get him quite a few quid if he sold it now. I know you say he won't sell it, but that being the case you need to ask yourself...and him how serious he really is about getting all this cleared.

The thing is, like I said in earlier posts, he hasn't had his LBM. This car was a bought for him as a present (birthdays, Christmas and other religious holidays for the next 5 years!) only a month ago. He won't sell it, and if I even suggested it 1. He would resent me 2. He would always say "I've never told you that you can't have anything" 3. I'd never hear the end of it.

So, in an ideal world, I'd have a BF who is very money conscience (much like yourself) but unfortunately I'm stuck with a factory returns model! But credit to him, we had a proper, grown up chat about money which he has never done before. I had no idea about what debt he had, so he's made a huge step in the right direction.

The CC's can be easily sorted by sticking them on a new, 0% card. This is how clueless he is and how little his parents taught him, he said "I want to clear the MBNA off first because it has a smaller balance" I said "Why? You're not getting charged interest on that for another 6 months. You want to hammer the Mint one which is charging you £30 a month for nothing"

GreenSaints

Dinah93 wrote: »

[COLOR="rgb(72, 209, 204)"]If you used the cash and shares you could clear all the debt excluding what you owe your mum and the student loan, enabling you to start paying her back as its a lot of money you owe her[/COLOR]

Have to agree with NIM, he hasn't had his lightbulb moment if he's still running two cars. I'm a bit confused, does all of both your wages go into the joint account or do you budget seperately? I'm guessing all these costs are total not per person but can you just confirm that.

Just seen your message after I posted. No, he hasn't had his LBM. I can't force him to, because he won't be committed. The figures are for both of us. Another thing that needs to be added is the £70 (yes, £70) BF spends on nicotine replacement! :eek:

I can't have no savings. My mum would actually kill me! My shares are coming through in June 2012 (scheme through work) The minimum I'll receive is £1800, but at the moment, I'm nearly doubling my money. I just need this euro bail out to get sorted!

If you look at my signature, it shows the debts. I've ran out of lines so can't add all BF's. Our money is completely separate. We put a fixed amount each into a joint account and all household related bills come from there. All debt repayment are from our individual accounts

N.I.M

GreenSaints wrote: »

Just seen your message after I posted. No, he hasn't had his LBM. I can't force him to, because he won't be committed. The figures are for both of us. Another thing that needs to be added is the £70 (yes, £70) BF spends on nicotine replacement! :eek:

Champix, its on the NHS and it works. Beats the hell out of any patches or other NRT (Have done a HUGE amount of research on this personally and professionally)

Dinah93

To be honest there isn't much to cut from your budget, a lot of the costs are from his side, but if they're coming from his pocket not the joint one then there isn't a huge amount you can do to force him to have his LBM. Maybe when he sees you debt free with more disposable income he'll become more motivated, then again, maybe not.

GreenSaints

N.I.M wrote: »

Champix, its on the NHS and it works. Beats the hell out of any patches or other NRT (Have done a HUGE amount of research on this personally and professionally)

He has the 1mg lozenges all........the..........time! What's this stuff you are on about?

So will he have to go to the doctors for this?

Angry_Bear

N.I.M wrote: »

Champix, its on the NHS and it works. Beats the hell out of any patches or other NRT (Have done a HUGE amount of research on this personally and professionally)

From personal experience, it depends what aspect of smoking you find most difficult. I've heard a lot of people have unpleasant side effects with Champix, it also doesn't help break the habitual aspect too well. Of course, it works wonders for a lot of people too.

The inhalors worked for me because it was the habit I found so hard to break - by just keeping using the same one even after it had run out I spent less than I would have on cigarettes and was off the NRT by week 3.

For the record I'm 7 months off them now :j.

@ GreenSaints: What is he using? I've got my leftover nicorette cartridges that I'd be happy to send on to a new home. ETA: Just seen your post. If he fancies trying the inhalor just drop me a PM and I'll post it on.

N.I.M

GreenSaints wrote: »

He has the 1mg lozenges all........the..........time! What's this stuff you are on about?

So will he have to go to the doctors for this?

Colleage of mine was on them for about 18 years, the lozenges that is. Champix is a drug which basically makes you stop wanting nicotine. Yes you need to go to the doctor to get it and I think they get you into a "smoking cessation" clinic to monitor your CO levels but yeah its good stuff. Trying to convince my old man to go on it, hes back up to 40 odd a day apparently

But aside from personal experience I've been involved in a HUGE (20 odd thousand respondents) government funded series of smoking research projects. And every time we've asked quitters how they got off the smokes, after willpower and support from loved ones or whatever the heading the higher ups are using now is, the biggest success came from these tablets.

GreenSaints

Dinah93 wrote: »

To be honest there isn't much to cut from your budget, a lot of the costs are from his side, but if they're coming from his pocket not the joint one then there isn't a huge amount you can do to force him to have his LBM. Maybe when he sees you debt free with more disposable income he'll become more motivated, then again, maybe not.

I just looked at your notes in the SOA, but I'm on my phone and don't know how to multi quote! So I'll type the responses here :

Mortgage
We had a 5 year fix at 5.86%, but when it finished it was a 18 months into the recession, so we thought we'd risk it and go on the variable rate. We have overpaid quite a bit (circa £6k) without increasing the amount of money we put into the joint account

Mobile
That is just for me. I have a fabulous sim only deal with 3. BF uses his work phone and his mum tops his phone up with £10 every three months!

Internet
Can't reduce it as we love our 20mb fibre optic connection

Groceries
I'm desperately trying to reduce this. I've joined the challenge and am aiming for £40 a week.

Medical
This includes the £10.88 for my contact lenses and the rest is for the dentist (£17 each, twice a year, divided by 12)

Other Insurance
BF has critical illness and accident cover. I don't really know why

Holiday
This isn't how much we save, it's how much we spend in a year, divided by 12. If only we saved!

@Angry Bear - he has the lozenges, but anything will be greatly appreciated, thank you

Dinah93

We have a 20mb connection, but it's £12. It's worth looking as I would think you can get it cheaper.

Lara44

Hi Greenie

I would agree about selling the car, cashing in all the savings and shares and throwing it all at the debts. You effectively have a second mortgage's worth of unsecured debts (although I wouldn't count in student loan myself). However, and I think this is part of the problem, you and your OH are not on the same page moneywise.

Your mortgage rate is extremely low - is that because you have some 'sleeping' money in there from your Mum? Does she need that money to be repaid, or is it a kind of equity loan / investment type thing? Dinah is right in that this is highly likely to rise in the next few years, so it's extremely important to sort the situation out now. Your SOA is lean enough, apart from minimising your expenditure on clothes, presents, holiday, haircut etc. However, your joint debt without BOM large chunk and student loan is still over £22k. Think about what you would be prepared to cut from the discretionary spends.

If you and your OH deal with your finances separately, then I think you should be dealing with your debts separately. As hard as it may be to swallow (and I understand as it took my OH *years* to consent to a joint account for bills) you just have to let him get on with it in his own way. Does he pay his half of everything fairly? Do you? I honestly think you should just be taking on your debt and your half of the joint debt. I wouldn't allow any further debt to accrue. When I started MSE-ing my OH was not at all on board. After some time he got really into it. Now I have problems getting him to spend the stuff! Perhaps you need to go further away from your OH in order for him to feel comfortable to come closer towards your position on money.