About to be struggling really badly

embob74

Just been reading this thread and love how it gets more positive about dealing with the debt.
I am in a 3 bed house where I pay a fixed annual amount for water - it's £600 per year. In my previous 3 bed house we had a water meter and paid less than £500 over the year. We had 2 teenagers which we don't have now (so lots of showering), I shower every day, OH has a little bath every day and we have 2 LO's so little baths at least every other day - and we filled up a BIG pool a few times in summer. So a water meter really does save money. My friend got one fitted and they said she can monitor it for 6 months and if she decides she doesn't want it permanently they could revert back to fixed amount.
As for clothes shopping .... I have 3 older children and I used to spend a lot on clothes which were not worn for very long. Now my 2 LO's share a wardrobe as their clothes only fill a rail and 2 drawers. I buy as little as possible. I figure 7 outfits and 5 PJ's suffices. Plus undies, socks and a coat.
I have been given a bundle of clothes for baby and £40 has provided me with all I need for her for the next year!!
I found I was being good not buying clothes for myself but had projected the clothes buying onto the kids! Now I ask "do they really need it?" and most times they don't.
The same with toys really.....having moved house and clearing out the loft of thousands of pounds worth of toys that were hardly played with I'm a lot more choosy about what they have x

bogusdruid

I have built up some space on one credit card which has an apr of 18%. I was wondering wether to transfer the balance from another card (apr 26%) to this card, and then throw the extra payment at a card with an apr of 30%

Does this make sense to do or not?

sistafromanothermista

It depends. The apr you quote, is that for balance transfers or purchases?

bogusdruid

for purchases, i think

hattiefats

I'm really enjoying your thread! You're doing great!! So nice to hear you getting more positive as thread goes on! X:T

startingtogetoutofdebt

I've just read your thread from start to finish and its great to see how much more positive you became since you started.

I've just started dealing with my debts so although I've had a very positive day today its very up and down at the moment. Trying to get used to not spending money without thinking and planning everything in order to pay off debts as quick as possible is hard.

I had a breakdown last year as well and its a terrible thing to go through and I know my debts got worse around that time. I was off work for over 4 months and spent most of that time either in bed or shopping on the credit cards.

It's hard to make a full recovery mentally as well as financially. I've just finished taking antidepressants (a saving of over £7 a month in prescription charges!) and I have to say I'm pleased with how I'm handling things at the moment. To read this thread has given me more of assurance that things will be ok.

Good luck with everything!

bogusdruid

Another day and another dollar as they say.

Have just done an update for the first time in a couple of weeks - we've had HMI and DFE in at school in the last couple of weeks and the only reason that I'm posting during the day is I can't talk (laryngitis) so have decided not to be in. Everything is bowling on quite reasonably but not really making any strides to paying off debt early at the moment. I am still undecided whether to pay off the next card with the nationwide card and then pay more towards nut (who's money never seems to reduce by much).

On the plus side, Christmas seems to be going reasonanbly well with a budget, but I have no idea what I owe to my sister (who's done most of the shopping)

Have been wracking my brain for the last half an hour what the hell I wrote a cheque for £20 for, when it has come to me - driving licence photocard rip-off (oh well, that's another 10 years of looking old and haggard before someone says to me 'you're picking it up for your daughter then'! - cheeky mare)

More updates when barclaycard and mint decide to send me their bills

ms_london

Hi Bogus

I just wanted to say hi and well done for sticking with it, sounds like you've had a tough year. At the end of the day, your health and family is more important, not the money you owe! Have you called your creditors to see if they can freeze/reduce interest? Could you post a new SOA? I was £19,000 in debt so have been there, but thankfully this site was here to keep me sane!

Wishing you a lovely Christmas and better 2013! Xx

asparagus1968

morning bogus,

before transferring balances between your cards,see how much the fee will be-

they usually charge between 1% and 5% to do this!

wishing you a speedy recovery

bogusdruid

Pleased with myself - have broken through the 5% barrier paid back on cc. Doesn't seem much but it's a step forward. Haven't used any cc at all for nearly a year (can't, they all got cut up apart from one emergency one which is buried in a big block of ice in the freezer!). Another plus is that one of the cc has finally had all the cash advances (I know, they were bad, but that was the biggest problem with them) back, so that means the interest rate drop slightly, and the next payment will take me down into the £5000 rather than 6 - it's not huge in any way except psychologically.

Will be looking at the pay for the promotion that I got and seeing if I can make some additional payments - not that they will be huge, because the payrise isn't - but it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick as my dad says!

Only waiting for barclaycard to send a statement, and then I can do an end of year audit and compare it to my starting point when things started to go pear shaped.

It's been a tough year so far, financially, emotionally, professionally but hopefully i have emerged a stronger and more balanced person that is ready to tackle the debt problem that I generated.