Silverbird's Diary

Silverbird

pinkshoes wrote: »

I agree with Zulu Dawn, that you speak mainly using "I" rather than "we". I had to remind myself half way through reading that you were renting with your husband, not a dependent child!!

You seem financially very responsible, so congratulations for that! Would it not be possible for your husband to transfer all his salary to your account, so you can manage the debts, but do it from a joint fund? (some people are just not good with money, so maybe he'd appreciate you volunteering to do this!?!).

The Broadband/Telephone monthly cost is rather high. Ours is the same, but only because my OH uses it for work purposes, so we need an expensive package, and his work pay the extra cost! Do you NEED broadband? You can get dial up for 1p/minute, then a basic line rental with TalkTalk or something... I know dial up is slow and tedious, but it would give you alot of extra free cash!

You can buy an epilator for £45, which comes with a lovely ice pack, and does the same job as a bikini wax, right from the "comfort" of your home!! (Sorry, shouldn't use comfort and bikiniwax in the same sentence!). After 3 "waxes", it would have paid for itself!

Well done with the food budget! impressive!!

Thank you!

Yes, I'm not happy with the amount we pay for Broadband/Telephone and BT are useless in my opinion. However, because we're in the middle of nowhere we literally have a couple of telecommunications options, which doesn't leave us with much choice. I suppose we don't actually NEED Broadband, but it's something we wanted. We'll have to have a think about changing it. It's very useful for entering competitions and eBay at the moment though!

Yes, I'd been looking into getting an epilator. Epil Silk was the one I was recommended. I'll have a look and see if I can purchase one cheaply (probably off eBay). Would save a bundle and still be hair-free! LOL

Hubby was not good with money in the past, but is very 'on the ball' now and he was the one who set up both of our financial statements/SOA so we could see exactly where we were at.

I'll have a word with him about whether he'd want to transfer his salary to my account and have me sort the debts, but to be honest I'm not sure if it would make any difference. Might be worth trying though.

Thanks for food for thought!

Silverbird

I've noticed a few negative things said about my husband and just want to set the record straight:

He knows he's made mistakes and he feels terrible that we're in the state we are because of his finances. He's done everything he can think of to try to ease the burden and has reduced his monthly debts by communicating with each of his creditors. He can get really depressed about this and he says it's a horrible feeling that he can't currently provide for us. He thanks me for all my help financially all the time. We both wish we could turn back time, but what's done is done.

He enters competitions online daily in the hope of winning something to sell on. He has also said he wants to join the Mystery Shopping sites I am signed up with and no doubt we'll do this at the weekend when we both get some spare time.

I know it may seem that I'm defending him, but I promise you I would come right out and say if I thought for one second that he was taking advantage of me (indeed, I wouldn't have married him) and I wouldn't hesitate in telling him (and all of you) if I thought he was with-holding money or spending it flippantly.

ixwood

Ok, fair enough. I apologise for being overly harsh then.

It is a partnership though. Go for the joint plan of attack. Prioritise the debts by interest rates and switch any you can to 0% deals.

RAS

Silver

Thanks for the clarification, but if you read some of the other posts on here, you may have more understanding where people are coming from; particularly frequent posts from partners who have taken out debts to help OH who is unable to get credit and then got into trouble.

It seems like OH has had his light bulb moment as well, which is often not the case.

Can he get any sort of evening/weekend job, even bar work? That would give you/him a bit more slack.

Also would it be worth you both putting your debts into the snowball at www.whatsthecost.com and getting some idea of your debt free date. Then you can see how every little extra brings the date forward. A sort of deferred reward?

Silverbird

RAS wrote: »

Silver

Thanks for the clarification, but if you read some of the other posts on here, you may have more understanding where people are coming from; particularly frequent posts from partners who have taken out debts to help OH who is unable to get credit and then got into trouble.

It seems like OH has had his light bulb moment as well, which is often not the case.

Can he get any sort of evening/weekend job, even bar work? That would give you/him a bit more slack.

Also would it be worth you both putting your debts into the snowball at www.whatsthecost.com and getting some idea of your debt free date. Then you can see how every little extra brings the date forward. A sort of deferred reward?

Yes, OH has definitely had his light bulb moment. We both did quite a while back.

He is looking for evening/weekend work, as you suggest. I'm looking for the same. It's a bummer because where we live jobs are very scarce, but we will continue looking every day and I'm sure something will turn up eventually.

Yes, I meant to use the snowball calculator last night and forgot about it. I will do that tonight.

Thanks for all the help everybody!

Zulu_Dawn

Hi Silverbird

I've now read all your comments.

You've clarified things really well.

It looks like the next step is the old snowball calculator and remember to do it together including both your debts. You may also want to consider trying to negotiate a little more on your Lloyds TSB credit card. 1.49% per month is a lot of interest. If you phoned them and asked them if they would freeze interest for a few months so you can get straight, you just never know. I would suggest the same for the loan though this is usually harder. I've found credit cards usually very receptive though obviously you won't be able to use the card while you are doing it.

ZD

Zulu_Dawn

....I'd also be tempted to suspend the trust fund for a bit. It is mad you paying vast amounts of interest whilst sticking money into a pot that is probably paying 5% pa.

You can always pay more once your own debts are under control.

betti911

Just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forum. You sound as if you are making great steps in the right direction. The people here give invaluable advice and coming here and being with people who are in debt but want to get out of it is a great support.

Silverbird

Zulu_Dawn wrote: »

Hi Silverbird

It looks like the next step is the old snowball calculator and remember to do it together including both your debts. You may also want to consider trying to negotiate a little more on your Lloyds TSB credit card. 1.49% per month is a lot of interest. If you phoned them and asked them if they would freeze interest for a few months so you can get straight, you just never know. I would suggest the same for the loan though this is usually harder. I've found credit cards usually very receptive though obviously you won't be able to use the card while you are doing it.

ZD

Yes, I will definitely have a go with the snowball calculator later this evening. I hadn't thought about trying to negotiate interest or for them to freeze it for a few months. I haven't used my card in a year, so that doesn't bother me. I'll certainly give it a whirl. Thank you!

Silverbird

betti911 wrote: »

Just wanted to say hi and welcome to the forum. You sound as if you are making great steps in the right direction. The people here give invaluable advice and coming here and being with people who are in debt but want to get out of it is a great support.

Hi Betti - thank you

Yes, you're right - it's nice to know we're not alone and the support is wonderful.