big debts

MrsGSR

Why did you get rid of the SOA?

shelly71x_2

i think that my main concerns are my loans and credit cards... and credit accounts. Felt judged really.
Did I mention embarrassed!!

shelly71x_2

ok really gonna have a rethink about monies...

danidav88

sourcrates wrote: »

She may get a slightly better deal, but I switched beginning of this year and I got an excellent fixed rate deal, but they were only short lived, I checked recently and there were no deals anywhere close to what I got available, my electric is £50 a month
for two people, after searching again recently the nearest deal I could find even close to that was £100 a month, prices have shot up recently, depending what part of the country you are in.
We don't have gas so cant comment.

We pay for two adults- £68 for gas and electricity a month and that is with NPower. I think it depends on where you are in the country.

dani

wegle

Shelley, no one is judging you, honestly, all anyone here wants to do is help. The problem is its hard sometimes to face the situation that we're in.

The fact is the debts won't go away. All anyone can do here is highlight areas that can be cut back on. We all wish we could just say "don't worry they will all go away if you do nothing" but that's not reality and won't help.

Your energy costs are very high. Get your bills out and check what you have used over the year and put the figures into uswitch to see if you can get a better deal.

Head over to the old style board for tips on how to reduce your grocery bill. Teenagers are a hungry bunch but you can definitely save money here.

Do post up your SOA again, showing the debts and interest levels as this will help people to identify which debt you could tackle first etc.

You've pulled your head out of the sand now which is a massive step, so don't put it back in there. Xxx

Weird_Nev

Yep.
It's not about judging you or the way you live your life, but what you've realised is that your current lifestyle is unsustainable.

No-one is saying "OMG live in darkness you can't afford electricity!" or "Get rid of the car!" BUT they are offering practical advice on how to reduce your outgoings, which is what you asked in your original post.

If you are spending more than your household income, then you need to make changes, quickly, because any delay means more debt and longer term pain to sort it out.

You can live your life, feed your kids well and have what you need (plus a little of what you like) an save large amounts of money to clear your debt, but you need to be honest with yourself and have discipline about it.

Sazzie23

Hi Shelly,

This is going to be tough, you know you cant keep the repayments up, the credit cards will realise you are only paying the minimum and start to bump up the interest rates so get them onto O% asap. If its too late for that then I suggest you get in touch with creditors and re-negotiate. Contact Hub's phone provider get the contract price down as much as you can. Does Hub know what is going on?

I was in your shoes, just about managing, though starting to spiral upwards then long term illness struck at same time as my bonus got cut and here I am !!

Stepchange, a DMP and the NSD threads have saved my life, literally. Its still a struggle, so no pretending its going to be easy, but if you are living on the thread, you can't save and your credit goes up, think car insurance, repairs etc.

Get realistic, take control, face the music and come back for more help :-)

shelly71x_2

OK wrote letters to all creditors and loans asking to renegotiate the payments. Hubby knows everything and has agreed we need to cut back ALOT. Also put a menu in place, we buy what we need.
Thanks for all the replies I do appreciate all the advice and if anyone can suggest anything else to help then great. I need all the help I can get.

bess1234_2

Only other advice is stop being embarrassed and read loads of diaries to realise everyone is in the same boat. There are loads of challenges to make it feel more positive
Good luck and hopefully you will get off the roller coaster x

shelly71x_2

just checked electric and gas bill online... apparently we pay £2867 per year!!! only live in a little three bed house.... shocking!!!