Introducing me and my debt

ColourInformal

Ok, so my debt is nothing compared to other people's and as my boyfriend has pointed it, it's me panicking but i'm only 21 and if I don't sort it out now it'll only get worse. I want to be debt free by the time i'm 25 and have some savings since I have NONE at the moment. I earn around £180 a week working for Royal Mail and also earn commission on orders (like being an Avon lady). The OH is only getting odd jobs from his self employment and by being a retained firefighter. He also gets occassional work from a removal company.

Currently I owe:

Studio: £356.50 (minimum payment of £22.46 due by 23rd May)
Local Shepherd/friend: £100 (bought a full sheep from him- for the freezer may I add)
Coalman 1: £235 (fortnightly coalman. Helpful that he filled our bunker up even without the cash but have since asked for no more coal until this bill is paid off)
Coalman 2: £56.90 (weekly coalman. We get coal from him after the last load of coal has been paid for. This bill is from last Wednesday so we won't be getting coal again until this is paid off)
Cake Decorating Magazine: £9.96 (I subscribed, didn't like it- it wasn't worth the money, cancelled the subscription, this is what is outstanding from the issues I did receive)
Bank of mum: £17.14

Total: £775.50

The OH has a Jacamo account which he is supposed to pay off each month and owes me just over £1,000 from all the times i've bailed him out for his half of general bills.

NinjaSavingKat

Get your OH to cough up. Problem solved.

ColourInformal

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Get your OH to cough up. Problem solved.

Not really problem solved, he can't give me what he hasn't got.

Trajal

http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Just because you don't have debt in the thousands doesn't mean it's not worth worrying about. It's a good thing that you care about this and accept that you have financial problems down the road before they get you into real trouble. Well done.

Now go to the link I posted at the start of this and fill out a Statement of Affairs ('SOA') which will help everyone be able to take a good look at this and suggest areas where you may be able to cut back or best divert your resources at your debts and bills.

(By the way, the first thing to do is stop paying anything off on the bills for the OH, he really does need to not be carried. If he can't earn a decent wage through work then he needs to claim JSA until he can find a job which lets him live without pulling you down).

Monkeyballs

Hi,

I hate to say it but I'd have to agree with NSKat here...

Your debt's aint so bad, I wish I'd had your mindset at 21 and looked to sort my finances out! LOL

My suggestion would be to push the other half to find work and accept stuff which might not be what he wants to do - it's a short term measure only remember - to help get back in the black...

The other thing to try is look at budgets for food, entertainment, etc.

All told, you'll be good within 6 months I bet :-) good luck!

MB