Help me be debt free

emmie

Have just put house on market as constant interest rate rises are crippling us (have tracker rate which goes up with rate rise)

Have bank loan, car loan, extension loan, shed loan, laptop loan... ah.

Mum has given us 5k to bail us out. But where do we start to get us out of this mess??

DH earns 23k pa I'm not working and we have 3 small children (5yo and 3.5 twins)

- I am applying for jobs, but trying to find something to fit round kids is a nightmare. Have just applied to Sainsburys for evening shift to that DH can babysit.

MrsTinks

First we're going to need a SOA - see this post
Take a deep breath, jot it all down, and we'll get things straightened out Oh and grab a cuppa tea - they always help

RAS

Hi Welcome

It would alos be worth your while having a look at www.entitledto.com t make sure that you are getting everrything you should.

And are your twins getting the free child care sessions yet? That might make job hunting easier.

jo1972

Hi Emmie and welcome :wave:

Do as tine has mentioned and sort out your statement of affairs, the good people on this board will have a look through and give you advice on where to cut back and where you might be going wrong.

You've come to the right place

Jo.x

pandapaws

Hi!

You'll get loads of help from everyone here, and posting on here is great motivation to keep your plans to get out of debt!

Look forward to your full SOA, and good luck getting yourself sorted!

chevalier

my comments are in blue

emmie wrote: »

Have just put house on market as constant interest rate rises are crippling us (have tracker rate which goes up with rate rise)Is this REALLY the best idea? Will the equity you release from the house pay off the other debts? Will it leave you with a deposit for a house later on down the line. Could you see about getting a fixed rate mortgage so that it would be painful now but would get better with time? Do you think you will be in a position later to get another house? Will renting be cheaper? Ie some areas it costs as much to rent a decent place as it does to pay a mortgage.
Could you try selling part of it to a houseing association and then paying reduced mortgage but also rent to housing association? What I am saying is don't do something in a panic that you might regret later.

Have bank loan, car loan, extension loan, shed loan, laptop loan... ah.
As someone else has mentioned we will need the apr, minimum payment and term of the debt to help you with this. Once you have this information you can then put it into the snowball calculator on www.whatsthecost.com, so you can find out what your debt free date is. Doing things which will bring your debt free date (DFD) closer is very motivating:D

Mum has given us 5k to bail us out. But where do we start to get us out of this mess??
Silly I know but stop spending. Ie no lunches from the works canteen, no magazines/papers/coffee on the way to work etc etc. The only things to spend on at the moment is mortgage, utilities, council tax and food. Anything else can be paid at a reduced rate from what is left over. It is about changing your mind set about money. It is not to be spent but to be hoarded for debt paying. It is think at every spending decision do I NEED this enough to put back my debt free date by a few days. That sort of thing.

With regards to the 5k once you know what your APR's are for your debt , you can pay it off the one with the highest APR, as this will save you interest and lower your monthly repayments. Alternatively if you have lots of bitty debts then pay off a lot of the small ones, and CLOSE THE ACCOUNTS. This will have the effect of reducing the available credit you have, which will start to improve your credit ratings.

As to

DH earns 23k pa I'm not working and we have 3 small children (5yo and 3.5 twins)

- I am applying for jobs, but trying to find something to fit round kids is a nightmare. Have just applied to Sainsburys for evening shift to that DH can babysit.
As others have mentioned you can get 5 sessions of free care now that your younger ones are 3. If you did this as 2 full days, then you could fit some part time work around this, as well as doing some evening work.
Can your OH get more overtime at where they work? Does their work place do the child care voucher scheme so you can get cheaper childcare?

Also can you / OH do any mystery shopping? There is a whole thread on here about that.Pay isn't great but you do get to have free meals out sometimes!

best of luck with this
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