I've got myself into a MASSIVE debt in 9 months...

weebit

Hi all,

It's been a year since I updated this thread. I did consider starting a new thread and pretending that this one doesn't exist, but then I thought that's an analogy for ignoring how we got a portion of our debt in the first place!

So, we had our wedding in July 2014 and it was an amazing day. However, I'm sure as some people would have expected, it cost us quite a bit more than our planed £5k budget. In fact, it was probably closer to £11k. I don't know the exact amount because once we passed the £10k mark, I pretty much stopped counting (to my shame). A lot of this went on credit cards.

After the wedding, we had increased our debt to an eye-watering £51,800! I just can't believe I took my eye off the ball so much that it spiraled this high.

I've had these last 2 weeks off work due to the Xmas break, so I took the opportunity to make a plan to pay this all off. I've created a spreadsheet to keep track of my spending and my debt repayments (effectively a snowball spreadsheet which is custom-made to my own circumstances). It showed me that if i only paid the minimum each month, it'd be 2042 before it's all paid. but paying £600 a month above the minimum would reduce by DFD to April 2019. This assumes that i keep all the debt where it is and don't move it around to 0% deals etc. I do expect to do this, so therefore hope to be debt-free by Xmas 2018.

A few things which are going to throw a spanner in the works though:

1. I have a holiday planned and paid for in 2015 in 2 weeks' time. We're spending 4 nights in Dubai then going to Cape Town spend some time with my wife's family. The whole holiday has been paid for and can't be cancelled, so we just need some spending money for Dubai. We won't need any spending money for Cape Town because my wife's mum is giving us 10,000 Rand (Apx. £550) from her inheritance from my wife's grandad.

2. I also have another holiday planned and partially paid for in May for a music festival in Ibiza. The flights are booked and a deposit has been paid with the remainder to be paid for in February. We also expect to need about £1000 in spending money for the week (but we're not going to any of the stupidly expensive clubs on the island)

3. Our housemate has also decided to move out and move in with her boyfriend and we're thrilled for her. However, that did leave us in a dilemma about our living situation. Do we move out and find somewhere cheaper? Do we find someone else to live with instead? Ultimately, we decided that we're going to stay where we are just me and my wife and suck it up. This will increase our rent by £460/month and our bills will increase by about £100/month. If this proves to be unsustainable, then we'll consider moving at the end of our tenancy to somewhere cheaper.

The 3 points above will affect my DFD, so I intend to keep updating this thread with my progress. After these 2 holidays, we don't plan to go on an expensive holiday again until our debt is much lower and ideally paid off completely. Perhaps a weekend away once or twice a year, but nothing extravagant.

My next 6 monthly targets according to my spreadsheet are below. Any advance on this and I'll be happy:
Dec 2014: £50,965
Jun 2015: £46,000
Dec 2015: £39,500
Jun 2016: £32,500
Dec 2016: £27,500
Jun 2017: £18,500
Dec 2017: £13,250
Jun 2018: £7,250
Dec 2018: £3,000
April 2019: £0

When_the_going_gets_tough

Without being harsh you seem to be very good at making plans but not so good at sticking to them. All the planning in the world won't work whilst you continue to overspend. Sorry.

FireWyrm

So, let me get this straight...contrary to the previous advice you received, you went ahead and spent money you didnt have. Then, you spent way more money than you had and pretty much dont know how much extra you spent.

You are, you believe £51K in debt and are planning to spend £1000 on a music festival, £1000+ in Dubai and absolutely no idea in South Africa, all in the space of a few months. At the same time, your bills will increase by at least £650 a month with no sign (from what you have said) of a commensurate salary increase.

So, can I ask...what do you think has changed between the advice you were given last year and this year, because (forgive me) but it seems you are hell bent on getting into even more debt than even last year. Your plans are pie in the sky and as yet, you dont seem to have any real idea of an actual budget as such. How can you possibly sustain debt repayments for years on end with a cost of living squeeze coupled with increased and reckless spending?

You have gone, in the space of not very long from £30K debt via varioua misadventures to £51K in a year.

This is what you wrote right back at the beginning :

In the mean time, I've had all sorts of issues money-wise. I already had around £21,000 of debt and was gradually working on bringing this down, and it was working too. Before all the issues, I had a debt of £15,000 in total. But ever since our troubles, the debt between the two of us has increased massively and is currently standing at around £32,000 and climbing.

Forgive me, but I think you need to have a much better and more in depth look at your situation and make some pretty tough choices (and hope that lightbulb really does hit you between the eyes, because it doesnt seem to have yet). For a start, that music festival should be first on your hit list.

lee111s

You need help.

It makes no sense at all to be in so much debt yet already have plans to go on two holidays totwo very expensive places.

You don't have your priorities in the right order. You need to stop planning trips, move somewhere cheaper and hammer away at those debts. I fear in 12 month you'll come back having filed for bankruptcy.

Sorry if I sound harsh but sometimes people just need a good shake!

FireWyrm

lee111s wrote: »

Sorry if I sound harsh but sometimes people just need a good shake!

Or that scene in Airplane with the hysterical woman....

bouncydog1

I am totally gobsmacked! You have significantly increased your debt and are still justifying doing so when in reality, your debt has increased because you spend significantly more than you earn.

just think about what is going to happen in the future - you now have a lifestyle that you like that is totally unsustainable - you're only going to get your wake-up call when it's all too late. You have been given good, solid advice from others genuinely trying to help you.

OP you are a fool - the only person that can help you now is yourself and until you get your lightbulb moment you are a lost cause.

Rossim1985

You sound like me circa 2/3 years ago. Loads of good ideas for clearing debt, but really your head is still in the sand.

There is no way you should be going on holiday with that much debt!

Please read my story or PM me if you want any help.

sparkychris

Have just read this thread from start to finish...

Am speechless!!!!! !

ladymdg

If this is for real then I think you and your partner need to get help in dealing with money. There are lots of free courses that can help you and a few of them are mentioned on this site. This site is great but I don't think you'll get the help you need here. The reason I say this is because it seems to be a pattern and one you haven't fully acknowledged as an issue. I know things happen that can throw us off course but you are over 20k worse off than last year and still planning on spending huge amounts of money despite you saying you wanted to turn things around.

I think it's really important that you learn how to say no to yourself and feel OK about it, because I bet you haven't got much to show for the the debt you have accumulated (no offence intended).

Surely it would be better to clear your debts save up and really enjoy your holiday rather than paying with credit,knowing how much trouble you are in financially. If it were me I wouldn't be able to relax with that amount of debt hanging over me.

It's really quite a sad thing to see just how much people are living outside their means. This is not meant to beat you down because it's all too easy to get caught up in consumerism but I really think you need a long pause and a step back to really look at your situation, acknowledge the fact that your habits need changing in order to break your pattern.

I honestly hope this works out for you, but it will start and end with you

Bored

Wow, you need to completely change your relationship with money and debt. Currently you buy whatever you want and plan to deal with the 'cost' of the item/weddding/holiday at a later date. However you don't seem to want to accept that NOW is the later date and you will have to deal with your overspending. It's going to be very tough, and since you're still planning fancy holidays that you can't afford then it seems that you have not yet had your lightbulb moment.

This is a bit futile but I honestly think you would benefit from using YNAB simply because it forces you to budget only with money you have on hand and encourages you to save for rainy days rather than relying on credit.

I hope this wasn't too harsh but I really hope you can deal with your debt and make positive changes. :A