SOA check for me

greensalad

densol wrote: »

You are in debt but your partner is not ? This happened to me once. He earned more than me and I got into debt " keeping up with him " he always had a plan to buy this or buy that and bully me into paying half ! Most of the stuff was a load of old tat. Are you loans spent on " your " stuff or shared ?

You seem to have a decent amount left per month. I would focus on paying off the debts as fast as I could and refuse to buy stuff until it was.

I've only got one CC now. None of that 0% swapping around crap. Sounds good in principle but you end up with loads of credit cards, all growing in debt unless you are extremely disciplined - which most people are not. I only use mine for holiday stuff and pay off when bill is through.

I earn about 30% more than him so it's not a case of trying to keep up with him. We still split equally which I'm grateful for (when he earnt more than me, he offered to pay more towards bills based on his earnings, but when I started earning more he agreed to keep it 50/50 so I can pay off my debts quicker).

The discipline thing is exactly what happened. I got the MBNA as a 0%, balanced transferred it and then spent up the two cards again I'm a fool, but what can I say.

I think my current attack plan is to clear the Barclays overdraft (my most "annoying" debt as it's in my current account), then attack the Barclaycard and finally the MBNA. I will still pay my grandparents off but only £50 a week so I feel good paying them off but they don't mind as much about how long it takes.

getmore4less

The OD should be the easy one, next pay day only spend from that account and stop if the money runs out anything left hit the debts

Keep a bit of a buffer as soon as you can see the there is enough to get to next pay day hit the debts with the surplus.

You have the OD limit and not overpaying debt as a big emergency fund (over £2k) any month.

Also as the DFD is not that far off I would start to think about the next goal, so you don't squander the sudden wealth when the debts are gone, any plans to buy and get out of renting.

anna_1977

Are you really spending £1400 in rent for the 2 of you?

greensalad

getmore4less wrote: »

Also as the DFD is not that far off I would start to think about the next goal, so you don't squander the sudden wealth when the debts are gone, any plans to buy and get out of renting.

Yes, very much. Our plan has been that as soon as my debt is repaid we will start saving. I'm trying to convince my partner to start saving now. He's pretty frivolous with money (though not as bad as me obviously!) but at least he only spends what he earns.

Next goal will be saving for a deposit. We've already discussed how. We currently have a utilities/rent account with all our bills on direct debit and we pay into that account on a monthly basis (I pay weekly because I am paid weekly). Once my debt is clear, we will have our salaries paid into the joint account instead and then withdraw a set amount of "play money" for personal expenses and entertainment to our current accounts. Therefore all our surplus will sit in our utilities account. I've just got to make sure we don't overspend on groceries and such just because it's there, but hopefully with YNAB and such we should be able to track it

getmore4less

anna_m wrote: »

Are you really spending £1400 in rent for the 2 of you?

I did think that was a fair amount(compared to where we live) but if they still live in Woking and handy for commute you don't get much for your money at a quick look might stretch to a 2/3b house nice flats, £1k gets you a flat.

greensalad

getmore4less wrote: »

I did think that was a fair amount(compared to where we live) but if they still live in Woking and handy for commute you don't get much for your money at a quick look might stretch to a 2/3b house nice flats, £1k gets you a flat.

Yes we do. Woking is expensive. But my partner works between London and Guildford and I am a contractor in London so it's the only place that works for us. We did live in Guildford but it's more expensive so Woking is the better option. We did consider moving to one of the villages but that adds a longer commute to the station on top. Currently commute is around 1hr - 1hr 20 depending on where I contract (currently in Victoria which is great).

We did consider dropping down to a smaller place but having lived in a studio by myself, I feel like I would go stir crazy. We lived without outside space for a long time and have just got some and it's like a breath of fresh air and has improved our moods greatly. I think if I was facing 2-3 years of debt repayment I would definitely downsize to a cheaper place, but if I can smash it in less than a year then I think the cost is worth the extra space.

Living in a flat with no garden, all your shared space is together, you cook and eat and live in the same room, you can't store anything anywhere etc. We had a meth addict neighbour and weed smokers downstairs who's smoke was always swirling around our living room. Ugh. It's worth the extra £200 we pay a month I think.