What should I do?

slowcoachme

£843 a month is a lot for lodgings, even in London. Can you move into the suburbs and find somewhere cheaper. You are investing £300 a month in your home business but it does not seem viable yet. Does it involve lifestyle products/selling that are doing the rounds these days?

Lungboy

Given that you're lodging, what is your secured debt secured against?

bilko89

I know it's all down to different areas etc.. but I pay £210 per month on rent for a 2 bedroom house! £843 per month is staggering! Also with a 4 year old, a 7 month old and two adults in my house, we spend £160 per month on groceries, including cleaning materials etc... These were the two figures that jumped out to me.

pollyanna24

bilko89 wrote: »

I know it's all down to different areas etc.. but I pay £210 per month on rent for a 2 bedroom house! £843 per month is staggering! Also with a 4 year old, a 7 month old and two adults in my house, we spend £160 per month on groceries, including cleaning materials etc... These were the two figures that jumped out to me.

Whilst I agree with rent being ludicrously expensive in London, where can you rent a house for £210?

I live in South Herts and know things are expensive here, and to rent my house would cost around £1,300 a month.

On_my_way

sourcrates wrote: »

Problem we have today is this, banks and financial institutions like to keep us all in debt, fact.

Why is this you ask ?, well, if people were not in debt, banks could not exist in there current form, they would make less profit, and the shareholders would not be happy, oh dear i hear you say.

How to get out of this spiral then ?

There is a moment in time, when all the stars in the universe align, the birds stop singing, the sun moves behind the moon, and you realize you are spending much, much more, than you actually have coming in, and you think to yourself, "this situation cannot continue".

This, this perfect moment in time, is called your Light bulb moment.

For here on in, you know things need to change, you need to reign in your spending, your borrowing, things you spend money on, that you simply dont need, and can easily live without, numerous options are available, it depends on your own personal circumstances, cut up that credit card, no more loans, plan, and stick to a budget.

Theirs lots of good advise available on here, from people who have been through very similar circumstances, this does need nipping in the bud, because if it continues, and you don't stop unnecessary spending/borrowing, then its a fast downhill slope to Bankruptcy make no mistake.

I led a very similar lifestyle almost entirely funded by credit for many years until my LBM, you need to take positive action now, to avoid getting into much deeper trouble.

You are a legend :T Thanks for keeping us all grounded :j

bilko89

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Whilst I agree with rent being ludicrously expensive in London, where can you rent a house for £210?

I live in South Herts and know things are expensive here, and to rent my house would cost around £1,300 a month.

I'm about 8 miles outside Glasgow in Motherwell in a council house.

Time_to_face_the_music

sourcrates wrote: »

Problem we have today is this, banks and financial institutions like to keep us all in debt, fact.

Why is this you ask ?, well, if people were not in debt, banks could not exist in there current form, they would make less profit, and the shareholders would not be happy, oh dear i hear you say.

How to get out of this spiral then ?

There is a moment in time, when all the stars in the universe align, the birds stop singing, the sun moves behind the moon, and you realize you are spending much, much more, than you actually have coming in, and you think to yourself, "this situation cannot continue".

This, this perfect moment in time, is called your Light bulb moment.

For here on in, you know things need to change, you need to reign in your spending, your borrowing, things you spend money on, that you simply dont need, and can easily live without, numerous options are available, it depends on your own personal circumstances, cut up that credit card, no more loans, plan, and stick to a budget.

Theirs lots of good advise available on here, from people who have been through very similar circumstances, this does need nipping in the bud, because if it continues, and you don't stop unnecessary spending/borrowing, then its a fast downhill slope to Bankruptcy make no mistake.

I led a very similar lifestyle almost entirely funded by credit for many years until my LBM, you need to take positive action now, to avoid getting into much deeper trouble.

Have nominated this for February post of the month:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/67789122#Comment_67789122

Gets the message across perfectly that nothing will ever change until you have a true lightbulb moment. I can remember mine vividly, it felt like the bottom had literally dropped out of my world but it truly did change my life and I have never looked back.

TTFTM x

Want2b_asaver

Hi there,

Things are getting progressively worse and I am not sure what I should do.

I am currently £25,334.12 in debt and it just seems to be getting worse and worse. I have tried to stop but I just seem to fall back to reckless spending again.

I am smart to find 0% deals but then I just spend more.

I have £10,134.12 at 0% until June 2016 on Virgin credit card and I have £15,200.00 at 20% over 5 years Barclays loan.

I can also get around £2000 interest free 10 month loan from my employer.

What should I do? Should I cancel all my credit cards or what?



Ok...so I think the first thing would be damage control. Try your best to transfer the debts into 0% interest where you can. That's the easy part.

Take a serious look at your finances. If you do online banking, this is easiest. Look month by month and see what you have spent your hard earned cash on in the past year. Put each necessity into categories 1)Car/Public transport, 2) Debts, 3) Savings, 4) Home (mortgage/rent, gas and electricity, water, council tax), 5) Entertainment (everything that is not vital...i.e. internet, phone, netflix, TV license, line rental, cable) 6) Food, 7) Buffer.

This is the easiest way to see if you are massively over spending in one category. If you are serious about reducing your debt, maybe it's time to question whether you need to spend £100 a month on a Sky package for example.

At the very least, don't make your debt any worse. Do you need to downsize your apartment/home? Do you have a spare room you could rent out to make some extra money?

If there is a way to do something cheaper...you need to be the one who knows. Treat this as a challenge, something you are going to become an expert about. Make paying off this debt your priority. This means....every day...ask yourself....am I working towards my goal.

TheLearner2008

Hi All,

Thanks for your response all, much appreciated.

I am going to update the diagram because its not secured debt its all unsecured debt. Also I have not included my holiday spendings but to be honest I spend hundreds on holidays all on credit cards. I will look what I have spent this year on holidays alone I guess.

The business investing IS in selling lifestyle products but I haven't managed to see an income yet but I am working hard at it. I have put aside £400 a month for this as I believe this could get me out of my career rut as I am not happy in my career because I think the root cause of my spending is immense unhappiness with career.

In terms of clothing, I absolutely do not need anymore clothes I have everything I could possibly need, I mean I have 4 winter coats alone so I think I could definitely draw the line here - maybe for a year!

In terms of holidays, I have booked all the flights but I have not booked the accommodation yet - the flights thus far have cost around £1000 all on credit. The actually holidays and accommodation will cost around £2000.

I can definitely cut down on going out for expensive dinners and rather have friends over.

In terms of accommodation I have a very good deal because I am a lodger in central London however I could move out and maybe bring down the rent by max £300 but I am not sure its worth it as it would massively reduce my quality of life and substantially increase my travel costs by about £100 so I would only save £200. I don't even pay bills here!

Grumpelstiltskin

' I would only save £200'


You haven't had your lightbulb moment yet. If you had you would be happy to save every penny not to dismiss £200 a month as ' only '


Oh and 4 winter coats, they will last you at least 5 years assuming they were expensive and good quality, I guess you don't shop at Primark.


Sorry but you haven't hit rock bottom yet and you aren't ready to take your debts by the short and curlies and sort them out.