Pay off debt quicker or move house?

Toomuchdebt

Some advice please.
I am starting work Jan 5th(been off for a year) part time just under 24 hours. I owe just over £8000. All 0% interest at the moment. Now I have a dilemma-with the extra money that will be coming in from wages do I pay off the debt quicker or do I save up to move house? (Very unhappy where we are-been here 2 years and can't stand it here any longer).I honestly don't know that I'd cope with living here another 2 years. As it is the constant noise outside makes me very irritable and snappy.(Noise being yelling, screaming, footballs thumping against my living room window and front door-that sort of thing). My old house was noisy in the day as it was opposite a school, but was peaceful after 4pm, and as it was set back from the road, people walking past didn't bother me.
I am in a council house currently and would be happy to do a swap-except I need 4 bedrooms and although I have told them I am happy to take a 3 bed house because my eldest will be moving out in 2 years anyway to go to uni, they won't let me do this as I will be overcrowded.So the only option is to go back to private rent but for that I need around £3000(deposit, 1st month's rent, agency fees, moving fees).
So what do I do? Pay off the debt and try and cope somehow here for another 2 years, or save up and move and then try and attack the debt afterwards? It kind of makes it harder to decide as it's all on 0% interest right now-if I was paying interest I'd be going after that debt obviously. Thoughts?

in_need_of_direction

I'd say go for the option that most improves your quality of life. That would appear to be the deposit.

Toomuchdebt

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I'd say go for the option that most improves your quality of life. That would appear to be the deposit.

I am leaning towards this option not just for myself but the children, however I feel guilty that I wouldn't be throwing it all at the debt.

starnac

Personally I would save to move. I know it's not paying off your debt but it would improve quality of life. Once you have moved then you can get back to serious debt busting

triple_choc_chip

I also think save to move.
You can't turn back time and we should work to live, not just live to work/pay debt.
If you are saving, there will be a pot of gold that could be used for moving, emergencies or re-paying debt. You keep your options open in case circumstances change.
You could ’offset' the savings against the debt when calculating your net worth in the same way as those who are stoozing and of course the debt will still be reduced with smaller payments.
Good luck

MrWillyWonka

At the end of the day money is just a form of trading. If you can afford to live with the debt without problems then your quality of life is more important. Better to have an extra year of manageable debt than 2 years of misery?

debtbgone

You've described an almost a identical situation to one I've recently been in.... I waited and waited and it ruined my relationship so now we are living in different towns and I'm still living somewhere I hate with no way of moving soon. In would just move as a priority. For yours and your children's happiness xxx

katy_ann

I agree with all the above, I would save to move, that way your quality of life will be better and you can get stuck into debt busting again, with low morale that just wont happen x

Pidge_jen

I'd move, if you're unhappy and anything like I used to be you will comfort spend and the debt will just increase again anyway. Not worth sacrificing your quality of life to that extent to be debt free a bit sooner

steelee_uk

I'm in a similar-ish position. We've been living somewhere that we've been desperate to move from (7yrs now). A few other factors have been in play, but my main concern keeps being that I keep spending all our "free/savings" cash - and then our money never grows and I'm never confident that we should move.

Myself and OH have, over the past 3 yrs, suffered on/off with varying degrees of depression, so finding a time when we're both motivated to make a decision on what to do (nevermind the actually doing it), has been difficult.

Reading this thread has made me realise that I'm comfort spending, and perpetually feeding the cycle:

feel low->spend->don't save->don't move->feel low

I came on here looking for inspiration, and I've just found it. I'm going to make sure that we are outta here, by hook or by crook, this year.

Thank you!! :j

Move OP - make 2015 the year you get to live in peace and harmony!

debtbgone

steelee_uk wrote: »

I'm in a similar-ish position. We've been living somewhere that we've been desperate to move from (7yrs now). A few other factors have been in play, but my main concern keeps being that I keep spending all our "free/savings" cash - and then our money never grows and I'm never confident that we should move.

Myself and OH have, over the past 3 yrs, suffered on/off with varying degrees of depression, so finding a time when we're both motivated to make a decision on what to do (nevermind the actually doing it), has been difficult.

Reading this thread has made me realise that I'm comfort spending, and perpetually feeding the cycle:

feel low->spend->don't save->don't move->feel low

I came on here looking for inspiration, and I've just found it. I'm going to make sure that we are outta here, by hook or by crook, this year.

Thank you!! :j

Move OP - make 2015 the year you get to live in peace and harmony!

This is the situation we have been in, we were finally about to move and the stress was too much so we ended up apart. We are now stuck in our respective homes apart for the next 4 months miserable apart trying to save for a deposit so we can be a family again!!