best way to go forward?

lilpunkkitty

Basically I have a lot of debt due to being foolish when i was younger - not finding a permanent job and relationship breakdown. I have been trying my best to pay it all off but more and more debts turn up and it feels like a wave taking over me, i've been on an administration order but now it is all getting on top of me and ive been getting behind on my council tax etc, would bankruptcy be a better way of solving this as i have had this constant stress for years -dealt with bailiffs and now it's affecting me and my partner as we are trying to save for a wedding but we don't get any where due to debts. I just want to make a clean start .

The_Boss

Post up a statement of affairs - listing debts, outgoings, incomings etc always a good place to start, but also do not rule out professional advice.

I had similar issues regarding relationship breakdown, not finding a permanent job and £22k of debt after losing £25k. That was 7 years ago and I finally cleared it all at the start of 2010 without the need for missed payments, defaults or bankruptcy. I'm proof that it is all fixable and that you can come out of it with a few changes.

lilpunkkitty

so how did you do it?

gettingbackontrack

lilpunkkitty wrote: »

Basically I have a lot of debt due to being foolish when i was younger - not finding a permanent job and relationship breakdown. I have been trying my best to pay it all off but more and more debts turn up and it feels like a wave taking over me, i've been on an administration order but now it is all getting on top of me and ive been getting behind on my council tax etc, would bankruptcy be a better way of solving this as i have had this constant stress for years -dealt with bailiffs and now it's affecting me and my partner as we are trying to save for a wedding but we don't get any where due to debts. I just want to make a clean start .

You might have to provide more detail to get some proper advice.

The bankruptcy board here is excellent for helpful, non-judgmental advice from people who've been there. I can't recommend enough the worth of posting there.:)

You sound very stressed - I normally say people should pay back their debts but there are times when that's not possible. Once you get to arrears with priority debts such as council tax, bankruptcy could be the answer and a clean slate for you. Good luck.

The_Boss

lilpunkkitty wrote: »

so how did you do it?

No big holidays (did a few weekends away though)
Not going out as much
Cutting down on spending on stuff that was a 'nice to have' rather than a need
Cancelling football season ticket
Cutting back takeaways/alcohol
Staying single/not thinking about having kids (this changed towards the end when the debt was a lot more manageable)
Buying a Playstation 2 and games using vouchers I got from work
Selling lots of stuff on ebay

Believe me - it all adds up. Maybe quite a 'boy' thing, but the PS2 combined with playing Football Manager on my laptop helped me pass so much time to keep me occupied. Not ideal, but at least it meant I was not spending so much.

Basically got my job in October 2006 and worked my way up since, using free salary to repay the debt. Bonuses went on the debt too.

The_Boss

gettingbackontrack wrote: »

You might have to provide more detail to get some proper advice.

There's no 'might' about it :rotfl:
A statement of affairs is the best place to start. I do not have a link to the template but believe it may be on the stoozing website?

gettingbackontrack

The_Boss wrote: »

There's no 'might' about it :rotfl:
A statement of affairs is the best place to start. I do not have a link to the template but believe it may be on the stoozing website?

I was using "might" in its correct grammatical form so I'm not sure of the need for the ROPFL graphic????????? Perhaps you did not understand this grammatical point?

Anyway, I'd really advise the Op to consult the bankruptcy forum as well as the DFw one. There are some very considered posters there who will offer intelligent, expert advice.