SOA - please can you take a look and give me some advice please!

foxgloves

Looks like you've already had lots of good suggestions for cutbacks. When we were first trying to get a hold of our finances to start paying back our debts, I found the following mantra helpful - 'If you have to put it on a credit card, go into overdraft or take out a loan to buy it, then that's someone else's money, not yours, so you obviously can't afford it'. Can't say I always wanted to hear it at the time, but we've stuck to this like glue & became debt-free May 2011. Since then, we have not borrowed so much as a single penny & we both wince when we think of the sheer amount of money we used to waste in the years Before Budgeting. It needs a different mindset - one that often has to accept uncomfortable truths like not being able to afford a holiday - but the feeling you get when that last debt is paid off....it's so worth it. Look at it like a challenge & it can often feel quite empowering to get your finances back under control. Best of luck with it all.

Tabatha_Kitten

Im going to be even blunter as I dont think the grocery bill is the real issue here.
Two questions, please think about them seriously.

Do you actually put aside £200 each month for your holiday ?

Is any of your £20k debt is carried over from previous holidays ?

rising_from_the_ashes

Re consolidation - TBH the bank have done you a favour as many people find themselves with the same debt again + the loan - much better to make cuts and pay it off - and you have the leeway in your SOA to do this

Don't need to post the reasons here - but have you addressed the reasons for the debts building as (from personal experience) until you do this, it's really hard to a) make progress and b) stop them building up again.

If you can make some cuts as above (say £1000 - might sound awful but say £700 Groceries, £100 clothes, £50 entertainment, £100 holiday & £50 elsewhere with better deals) - you could be DF within 2 years:) Best of luck

PasturesNew

I am DESPERATE to know what £1000 of food looks like...... DESPERATE....

nicnicj

please don't think i spend £1000 on food - it's lots of other things like toiletries, cat food, stationery etc...

nicnicj

Tabatha_Kitten wrote: »

Im going to be even blunter as I dont think the grocery bill is the real issue here.
Two questions, please think about them seriously.

Do you actually put aside £200 each month for your holiday ?

Is any of your £20k debt is carried over from previous holidays ?

we do save money each month for hols but you're probably right some of the debt is from previous holidays.. but the majority of the debt is just general living from when I wasn't earning and on maternity leave and from when I retrained.
but I appreciate what you are saying. we do need to prioritise more.

Brock_and_Roll

Also worth bearing in mind that presumably as your mortgage payment is so low, you are on interest-only. So effectively you are only renting your house at the moment - the £40k or so of equity you have could rapidly dissappear in a forced sale scenario.

As other posters have said, interest rates are at historical lows - you will never get a better chance to repay your debts. You may soon start to run out of 0% balance transfer options so you need to take action now, even if it means a few years at Butlins rather than Barbados!

heartbreak_star

I don't really think you've had your LBM yet...but I hope you have.

Good luck!

HBS x

nicnicj

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I don't really think you've had your LBM yet...but I hope you have.

Good luck!

HBS x

no probably not... I think both my husband and realise that we need to do something about it though.

@BrockandRoll - yep we are only paying interest although we are still paying into an endowment that matures in 14 years - 60k guaranteed. Not enough to pay our mortgage off but still a substantial chunk. think i might have forgotten to put this on my SOA actually?!
it's a hard time adjusting with young children when we have been so financially secure before that (£70k with just the 2 of us!) so I think that's where our problem lay - we didn't adjust to the difference!
better late than never though and we are really going to make a big effort now to try and be debt free within 4 years.

Barbeduk

Our debt was caused by the same thing, years of living on 2 great wages, totally spoilt, then me giving up work when DD came along. It has taken me 8, yep 8 years to work this one out!!

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do it. And it really is worth it to be unchained from that blooming' debt.