Are we really in debt? YES WE ARE

dudleyboy

tolip wrote: »

Hi dudleyboy, just seen your post.

Child Benefit is not means tested, everyone who has a child is entitled to it.

We dont get any form of tax credits

Ah, I see (as you can tell I don't have any children otherwise I'd know... haha).

magentadreamer

With regards to your OD you might like to think about opening an A&L Current account - they are currently offering 12 month 0% OD's - and no you don't have to have your salary etc paid into the account. I paid off my OD this way.

Try giving AMEX a ring to ask about further LOB deals -they were always asking me when I had a card.

angelavdavis

I remortgaged a few years ago to clear my debts. Through a change of circumstances and the interest rate rising, I found I couldn't make the payments (I had 14 years left on my mortgage so it would have completed by the time I was 48). As a result, I had to remortgage over 25 years and now as it stands, I won't have paid this off until I am nearly 70!

I then got myself back in debt to fund an MBA, so I have been back at square one.

I dread to think how much interest I will have to pay on the £20k I borrowed when remortgaging, and really regret not getting my act together sooner.

I have now almost paid off my MBA debt (complete in July) after which time, I will be throwing as much money at the mortgage as possible in the hope I can clear the debt in the original timescale.

I would never recommend moving the debt onto a mortgage. I seriously regret my actions now and think with some judicious spending pruning, and your high salary, you should be able to clear these debts in a fairly decent timescale without being ripped off for mortgage interest over longer term.

Hope that feedback helps.

moanymoany

The OS and frugal chats will give you an insight into just how cheaply you can live. There are hundreds of tips and ideas. One that is important to help get to grips with what is going out is keeping a spending diary, where you write down EVERY penny that goes out.

Using these sites I have cut down my monthly budget for food, groceries, wine and petrol from £550 pm to £300. That is for two of us and I can halve that in times when I want to buy something and go onto super frugal! It is not easy to go from a nice way of life to frugality, but sometimes it is necessary to bite the bullet and do it.

It is possible to let the reins out in the future - but let me warn you this site gets under your skin and you will be reluctant to 'waste' money and will start wanting to pay off your mortgage.

Good luck friend;)

MUSTBEFUNNY_2

Hi Tolip,

My husband and I have plenty of money too and it's hard being frugal when everyone thinks you're loaded - cos you don't want to look like a miser:rolleyes: I just tell people that we have to be careful with our dosh as we have a massive mortgage and we don't "really" have alot of money - we're just in debt the same as everyone else. I took control of our spending and am now really mean with myself ( my clothes budget is £4 per month:D ) but I'm never mean with gifts for others.

My hubby used to work for an airline and many of the flight crew were extremely savy with money. They could tell us where to buy things cheap in any city of the world and they even know where all the local supermarkets are in any city too!

Good Luck and welcome to MSE

:money:

PS MM is sooooooooo right about the spending diary

tolip

Hi Everyone

Angelavdavis, Hi, thats what I am frightened off, that we remortgage and find ourselves back in same position again because the remortgae would feel like we have no debt, and no pain. Thanks to all who posted, we are not going down the remortgage route.

Moanymoany, my wife has really taken this spending diary on board, I really hope she keeps it up, thanks for your comments

MUSTBEFUNNY, your post has somehow hit home, in fact i read it a few times, and you are so right. Our friends think we are loaded, and in turn you dont want to look like a miser. I would easly earn more than most ouf our friends, but I guess we easily have the largest debts, they would be shocked if they only knew the truth. Most of the guys are savy with their money and I guess there are quite a few like me.

Now sorry for not getting the SOA up yet, in fact I am still working with the snowball, what a great thing, I will post my findings.

One thing, our £28k secured loan is at 7.5% and cannot overpay, its either complete payoff of continue with monthly commitment.

I am trying to decide if we should do the old credit card juggle and move this debt to some spare credit cards at around 5.9% Bal of Life, and 6.9% bal of life? Or is this just a waste of time, leave the loan to run its course?

Regards

hypno06

How about leaving the loan where it is for the moment and concentrating on getting the credit cards etc snowballed. As you get into the swing of things you can then decide what to do with the loan. If you try and do too much too soon you may get either in a muddle or have DFW burnout (and believe me it is not pretty :rotfl: ).

One step at a time. Get snowballing and see those debts shrink pretty dramatically I reckon. Give yourself a good feeling when you know you are in control of things and then when the time is right tackle the next thing.

Others may have different ideas, this is only my very humble opinion

By the way, I am glad you have moved away from the remortgage route

tolip

Hypno06, I think thats a wise idea, maybe taking on too much too early !! will leave loan on its own, still at the snowball !!

SOA

I hope this is close, we have never sat down and done this before, so I will work on refining it. We now know that the answer is cutting down on what we spend and that we cannot have everything we want without any thought about how we are going to pay for it.

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £1400
Council Tax - £120
Gas - £35
Electric - £35
TV License - £11
Insurances (life, Crti Ill) £130
Phones - £80
Food - £500
Car Insurance - £115
Petrol - £100
Servicing Credit Cards / Loans - £2600

Total: £5,126

As I say, this need more refining I think.

I am still working on the snowball !!

art_student

Hi Tolip! Well done for getting on top of all your finances - it's great to know that your wife is helping out too - you hear so many stories of when people can't tell their OH / OH hasn't seen the light so you are lucky there.
I would say go over to the old style board and ask about meal planning - you will be able to halve your food bill easily I reckon!
Then check you are getting the cheapest gas, electric, insurance etc etc.
What about car tax, mot, birthdays, christmas, holidays, clothes - all need to be budgeted for (but you did say that you still need to refine your SOA).
Well done for coming on here - half the battle, I think!

chevalier

My comments are in blue

tolip wrote: »

SOA

I hope this is close, we have never sat down and done this before, so I will work on refining it. We now know that the answer is cutting down on what we spend and that we cannot have everything we want without any thought about how we are going to pay for it.

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage/Rent - £1400Is this repayment or interest only. Can you get a better deal elsewhere
Council Tax - £120
Gas - £35
Electric - £35
TV License - £11
Insurances (life, Crti Ill) £130:eek: :eek: Is this for both of you? I think this is the highest insurance I have seen. Is it really only life and crit illness? If it is then I am sure you could get it cheaper.
Phones - £80can go do pay as you go or opt for a more basic tariff?
Food - £500 As has been mentioned you can really make some inroads here. I spend less than this on two adults to young children and two cats AND petrol a month. I do an online shop every other week and my challenge is to get what I need as close to £50 as I can, then I can get a free delivery code and save on the delivery:D I also cook from scratch, batch cook etc.
Car Insurance - £115:eek: Again is this for two of you? If it isn't then again I am sure you could get cheaper. If you have a really flash car, then maybe now is the time to go for a new car - eg vectra or focus or something smaller.
Also there are no MOT, car tax, servicing on here. You need to have a monthly amount for these so you can put this away. Saves putting it on the credit cards when the bills fall due.
Petrol - £100
Servicing Credit Cards / Loans - £2600

Total: £5,126

As I say, this need more refining I think.

I am still working on the snowball !!

I am afraid I am writing in a hurray, but I would definitely look at trying to balance transfer any debt that isn't on a life of balance card eg virgin. You may find that if you call virgin though, they might give you another deal

Best of luck
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