Please help me get a plan together to manage our debt.

Murphy2011

Re the pets we have 2 dogs, 2 cats & a hMster and again I won't be replacing them but the dogs get me into the fresh air twice a day so no gym fees, the cats love to snuggle and the hamster means my daughter understands responsibility. Certainly wouldn't have got them knowing how our financial situation was going to change (hubby made redundant & couldn't find a similarly paid job for over 2years) but love them all dearly.
Firestorm; I worship your budgeting from afar, try to do the same but it is more difficult on a DMP when you owe money to almost all of the banks! I keep jars and 3 separate accounts, also save Nectar, Tesco & Boots points for Xmas & use every scrap of food,thank goodness for a mum who taught me to cook! We have a family film night each week or so from Sky which costs £3.99 max instead of more like £40 if we all go to the cinema and clothes come from charity shops or Sainsburys if we're feeling flush! I make sweets etc for Xmas as well & tell everyone to put on extra jumpers & socks so I can keep the heating down, also use my slow cooker rather than the oven and a heated dryer which costs 5p an hour rather than the tumble. Actually it's fun finding bargains now & when a friend at work recently told me they have committed to paying £7000 for a holiday this year I actually felt quite faint! Hubby & I have managed to get a week self catering in Kos for £149 each and as long as it has a bed, pool & sunshine I shall be a happy bunny!!!

hettiecarro

What a fabulous post from Firewyrm!
I did almost exactly the same thing when I had my light bulb moment.
It is still hard, even now, but you will see from my signature that I hope to be on the 'home straight' to debt free days.
What I WOULD say, is that I have had little or no support from Hubby, who would still spend on credit given half a chance.:mad:
All I can say is that dealing with the debt and learning a different way of budgeting has given me much more satisfaction than the spending that got me into the mess in the first place. I honestly couldn't tell you what all the money went on to accumulate so much debt. But I DO know exactly what I have bought for the last 5 years, and the fact that anything new has had to be saved for (or other things ebayed to raise cash) and this has only added to the pleasure of having them.
With regard to the grocery spend - look at the 'old style money saving' board for inspiration. There are people on there who can almost do the ' loaves and fishes ' miracle!! :rotfl:
Get your head down and get on with it - YOU CAN DO THIS!!!
Hettie
x

Bublin1

Firewyrm I have a very similar way of budgeting. Infact it's almost identical. I too use Natwest and have 8 different savings accounts with different headings, 2 debit accounts - one for wages coming in and dds coming out. The other i call spending where I withdraw cash for the month and seperate into envelopes.

I also have a Santander acc for Christmas and a Cahoot acc only used for ebay. So if i need to post a parcel i use that card which is linked to Paypal.

People need to realise this kind of organising doesn't happen overnight
Over the course of about 8 months i opened all these accounts as i realised I needed more 'pots'.
My use of envelopes/cash i started last month.

Im loving it.

Scritti

d70cw6 wrote: »

simple solution: get rid of...the pets

What a complete and total berk you are, sir. Or madam.

penaltychargenotice

Thank you for your replies everyone. I can see we have a massive challenge to take on!

Hettie your post especially touched on one of our issues when you mentioned your husband. I need to be able to get hubby onside and I don't know how. He is a head in the sand person. A few weeks ago I said to him that we were skint and his response is to dig his credit card out of the pot (where it was put when we said we were not going to use credit cards) and start spending on it! I know it is only small amounts he buys but they are everyday (smokes, a coffee etc)
Feel frustrated that I am scared by this massive issue and he isn't.

thecassman86

penaltychargenotice wrote: »

Thank you for your replies everyone. I can see we have a massive challenge to take on!

Hettie your post especially touched on one of our issues when you mentioned your husband. I need to be able to get hubby onside and I don't know how. He is a head in the sand person. A few weeks ago I said to him that we were skint and his response is to dig his credit card out of the pot (where it was put when we said we were not going to use credit cards) and start spending on it! I know it is only small amounts he buys but they are everyday (smokes, a coffee etc)
Feel frustrated that I am scared by this massive issue and he isn't.

Show him your SOA (it's both of yours, after all) and he can see for himself really. Your outgoings are more than your incomings and the biggest factor to that are the credit card repayments! It's not easy, i know. People have their LBM at different points but sometimes seeing it in black and white is what's needed.

He needs to see that putting things on the credit card is not only going to increase your debt but also increase your outgoings (repayments) so it's actually going to make it much worse.

Best of luck

Mort

penaltychargenotice wrote: »

He is a head in the sand person. A few weeks ago I said to him that we were skint and his response is to dig his credit card out of the pot (where it was put when we said we were not going to use credit cards) and start spending on it!

We were the same. Our credit cards were all given to the Mother in Law so that we couldn't use them any more.

penaltychargenotice wrote: »

I know it is only small amounts he buys but they are everyday (smokes, a coffee etc)
Feel frustrated that I am scared by this massive issue and he isn't.

Until he has his true light bulb moment you will be on your own. Hopefully he will come round soon.

[Deleted User]

penaltychargenotice wrote: »

The car insurance is due to hubby having had a crash in our last car and also having had a ban and points previously.

You say your OH has a company car, so any chance you could take him off the car insurance, and just you drive?

I know it would be a PITA at times, but £1,500pa is a hell of a lot to pay for car insurance. :eek:

As for the Barclaycards, is there any way to get them onto something with a lower APR?

I ask because, at your current rates of paying, your 1st Barclaycard is going to take you almost 10 years to pay off, and will cost you more than double your current balance in interest. :eek:

BTW. Are the payments to the two Barclaycards the absolute minimums, or are you overpaying, even just slightly?

penaltychargenotice

The barclaycards are being overpaid slightly - I think the smaller balance by about £5 a month and the larger one by approx £30.
I do try and round up each payment to the next 10 if I can all on the CC payments.

If I took hubby off the car insurance it would still be £940 over a year. Although we can use his company car for personal use as we have four children we don't all fit in. We pay 10p a mile on that which is deducted from his wages.

I am really struggling with the issue of whether we absolutely have to sell our car. It would be a massive blow for the kids as their hobbies are all dependent on having a car.

penaltychargenotice

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

As for the Barclaycards, is there any way to get them onto something with a lower APR?

I ask because, at your current rates of paying, your 1st Barclaycard is going to take you almost 10 years to pay off, and will cost you more than double your current balance in interest. :eek:

BTW. Are the payments to the two Barclaycards the absolute minimums, or are you overpaying, even just slightly?

Do you mean another CC? I am not sure we would get another one now. Do you think it is worth trying?