First post on my debt - please help.

jojogirly

Thank you all for your kind responses and suggestions.

I just called our morgage lender and they want an extra £590 a month on top of the normal payment (for the next three months) to stop it going to litigation. With our income as above we are really going to struggle.

They say this is the least they can take with so much arrears, so i guess we are going to live on pasta for the next year.

:sad:

jo1972

Have you got in touch with CCCS or payplan yet?

Here's a link to CCCS, you can do it online.

I urge you to do this as soon as possible and before you contact any of your creditors, find out where you stand in everything first.

http://www.cccs.co.uk/

rayday2

Maybe your mortgage company when they realise how serious things are and that you are contacting a charity will come up with a better plan for you. Please speak to someone the advice you get on here is pretty limited but professionals can help so much more at this point.

After that you will find the help on here wonderful!

poppy10_2

jojogirly wrote: »

Ok so its time for us to face up to things, We were struggling before but over the last few months hubby (since hubby was laid off from a higher paying job) we are really struggling. We have never really lived on a budget and I really dont know how to cope with what we have got ourselves into.

Our siuation is we have a 7 and 6 year old.

Monthly income:-

Hubbys :- 1950.00
Mine :- 120.00
Family allowance :- 116.00

---

Total :- 2186


Out goings
[STRIKE]
Morgage - 1046 (now 2542 in arrears)[/STRIKE] -almost half your net income - you can't afford this, sell up and downsize or rent
Car loan - 347 (now 1037 in arrears) To much oweing to sell would end up without a car which hubby needs for work Can't do anything about this now, but you shouldn't have bought such an expensive car, you can't afford it.
Council tax - 110 (1300 in arrears - the whole of this years oweing)
Electric - 32 (just had 67 bill)
Gas - 40 (99 bill outstanding) Check uswitch for cheaper providers
Water - Bill of 558 outstanding
[STRIKE] Sky - 31[/STRIKE] You can't afford this - get a freeview box for a one-off payment of £20
[STRIKE] house phone with internet - 95 (173 outstanding)[/STRIKE] You can't afford this - you can get phone+broadband interent for less than £20/month
Hubbys mobile - 100 (needs for work) Then work should pay for it; or he can reclaim against tax as a legitimate work expense
Credit cards - 120 (total balance 5500)
Loan repayments - 120 (21 months left)
Provident loans - 120 (balance 1235) stupid I know !
Tv licence - 11
[STRIKE] car maintence plan - 26.24[/STRIKE] Waste of money
life insurance - 24.53 See if you can put this on hold
car insurance - 39.98
house insurance - 22.40
Food including school meals - 450 OMG this is shocking. Buy supermarket-own label stuff instead of branded stuff, make pack lunches instead of buying school dinners or eating out. Can easily cut this down to less than half.
[STRIKE] Dvd rental - 18 (will be cancelling today)[/STRIKE]
Diesel - Hubby gets through work so we dont pay for any.
Apart from this we spend another £50 - 60 a week on I have no clue what, Hubby does smoke, pressies for kids bday parties, school trips, the odd happy meal etc. Keep a spending diary to see where the money is going. That's potentially an extra £3000-odd per yearto go towards your debts.

Good luck! :money:

millionaire_in_training

Hey JoJo. The first realisation of how bad things are is really scary. Seems the consensus is to call cccs. I can't comment on them but folks on here swear by them. Your food bill is huge. Mine used to be about that and I started reading the old style board and following a few things over there. Main one being cooking 'real' food instead of pre prepared stuff. Adults normally enjoy this better and the kids will get used to it really quickly. My kids are great. We have done away with sweet tin, Biscuits are all smart price now and so are crisps. They are eating much more healthily and DD is actually getting not too bad at the cooking. Keep the diary as when you get to the end of your first month you will be shocked at where you waste it. I used to spend an absolute fortune on lunches and snacks and I mean a fortune but not any more. Good for the waistline too. I wish you all the luck but you need to realise you have to focus and work really ahrd to make it happen. Keep reading the threads they are inspirational. xx

dancingfairy

Hi. Just wanted to say you can do this. You do need to deal with it now though as it should be saveable at this point. Pick up the phone and call CCCS/Payplan/CAB etc. I'm sure you'll feel much better for getting the ball rolling and facing up to it all.
All the Best.

jo1972

I totally agree with millionaire, go on over to the old style board and pick up some tips on there. There's 5 of us and we used to spend easily what you do but we spend half that now, I've learnt that I need to cook from scratch, bulk cook and freeze, buy supermarket own brands and value (especially tinned stuff - not meat for me though some do ), packed lunches for everyone. Plus you'll find loads of tips for cleaning stuff made from salt, vinegar, lemons, alsorts! Get on over there and take a look, they're a friendly bunch too

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=33

I guarantee you, once you start the ball rolling you will be addicted!! I've not bought anything in the last few months without asking myself, 'do I want it/need it', 'can I get it somewhere else cheaper', can I get cashback through quidco' :rotfl:

rayday2

Darn my post disappeared if it reappears later I will look stupid!

Anyway as I said - we have a family of 5 humans, two cats, 1 dog, 1 hamster and goldfish - and yes the goldfish cost!

We spend about £55 on food a week, I hardly buy any budget food because I swopped from Tesco at 80-100 pound to Netto. We eat a lot healthier and more fresh things, shopping is quicker too because there are only 4 aisles! We are all on packed lunches but on my budget sheet I do say we pay for school dinners but that does give me more cash for unexpected things of which we seem to have a lot!

Anyway budget sheets will mean more when you have contacted CCCS, Payplan or the National Deb Helpline, I know it may seem we all keep saying the same thing but that is because we know they will put your mind at rest and we are worried about you.

Take care and keep us posted!

jojogirly

Thank you all again. I must admit I was so nervous about calling cccs. I really didnt want to do it

But I did... and they have given me a personal plan and lots of advice. I am not sure how realistic some of it is. They said I should offer the morgage people 53 a month and pay it off over 4 years - Which they refused immediately. They also said I should try and add the arrears on the car to the balance outstanding - Which the car people also refused. So it looks like I am going to have to keep talking to them.

But on the whole it looks like we are 1000 a month short (just under the extra amount hubby was earning in his old job)

It works out that we owe creditors 6400 which is alot, but includes our overdraft and current credit card.

I knew I was overspending in the food department but not quite that much so I will definately be making some changes there.

So I guess this is it - time to knuckle down and get to work.

Yorkielass

welcome to MSE Jo. well done for posting on here and taking the first steps to sort this out. One that jumps out at me is your salary. I don't know what you do at the moment but here are a few thoughts for working around your children:

When I was growing up none of my family lived near us but my mum worked at a school so she had school holidays with us (I know this has already been mentioned).

If you got a part time job (e.g. 9.30 - 3) then that would be fine during term times, you could still do about 25 hours a week.

In the holidays look around your area for playschemes etc. When I was a student I worked on playschemes and in some areas of the city they were free, in other areas in worked out about £5 a week per child and they were fantastic loads of activities etc. A combination of things like this and yours and your husbands work holidays would get you through the holidays.

Good luck!