Newbie, in debt and just coming to my senses

Iwannabefree_2

Came across the forum and any help or advice would be much appreciated.
I took redundancy coming up for a year ago as my littlest girl was diagnosed with a heart condition and I wanted to spend time with her (not knowing how things would turn out). She (thankfully) has made a great recovery but while I was working we buried our heads in the sand and although not extravagent we built up debts which are now spiralling. We are both positive people and are trying to make the most of any income opportunities but we can't go on relying on credit to get by.
My husband is self-employed and although earns a reasonable wage we are now at the stage that it has all caught up with us and we have a very uneven cashflow but that doens't get away from the fact that we don't earn enough to pay everything. Even if I go back to work full-time (which would be difficult now I'm the main childcare) it wouldn't really make a significant dent in the debts which total something ridiculous like £60k as well as our mortgage. I feel pathetic even letting on it's got that bad!
We are having a serious discussion tomorrow about our options. We could always downsize the house but if there's any way at all we can avoid that we want to as it would mean going from 4 beds to 3 and there are 5 of us! A first start is our sitting down and working out what we can cutback on but in the longer term I'm really worried that it'll all go pearshaped. Can anyone give me any advice on someone to talk to?

DawnW

You will get lots of advice on here, and can also try the CAB and CCCS, which is a free debt charity. Avoid any company which will charge you for setting up a debt management plan. One of the first things is to do a statement of affairs, a list of all incomings and outgoings, including interest rates on all debts, and post it on here. There is a sticky at the top of this board (from Southern Scouser I think) which will show you how to do this. Once you have done this, you will find you get lots of advice on starting to deal with your situation. Good luck. Lots of people on here have done it, and you can too. You might also want to check out the old style board on this forum to look at ways of cutting back on household spending.

Iwannabefree_2

Thanks Dawn. Just come across the sticky thread - now got to get up the courage to put it all on paper!

Squirrel29

Nothing to add as everthing covered in message above. I just wanted to say welcome to the site, everyone is so friendly and postive. Two weeks ago I was honestly feeling suicidal, but after finding DFW board and being advised to post an SOA and start a snowball on https://www.whatsthecost.com plus taking advice on trimming down expenses, I can finally see the wood for the trees, and am finally sticking to a budget.

I usually overspend by a couple of hundred a month, not by being extravagant like you say, but just not keeping an eye on things carefully, however I will end this month £150 up (more to throw at debts instead of treating myself - see I am in the mindset already!!):A

The challenges get addictive i.e Moozie's Sun - Fri challenge and the £2 savers club, now I could kick myself if I go over the budget, it certainly makes you stop and think before reaching for the plastic!!

Don't feel ashamed about your debt, we are all in the same boat. You are doing the right thing by acknowledging it, what is done is done and how you deal with it from this point on is the key.

We are all here to support you xxx

madmoney_2

hi hun good luck n we are all here for you xxx

redsquirrel80

You've made the important first step by acknowledging the problem and posting on here, definitely get that SOA up, you'll be amazed what difference little changes can make. Good luck x

fluffydukz

Hi the people on here are brilliant and will offer you loads of advice and support. I only came on here last week for the first time and I can now really see a way forward. Also by continuing to log on and seeing how others are getting on really helps keep you motivated. First thing would be to put your SOA up and then you will get loads of advice on rejigging things and other tips on making/saving money.
Keep your chin up and youve made the first step - onwards and upwards from here xx

Iwannabefree_2

Hi

Thanks for all your encouraging words. I must say even before we had our serious chat today I was much more positive.

We worked through our SOA and decided where and how we could make savings. Just by some careful looking today I have already saved

approx £70 on a weekly shop
£20/month on home insurance
£15/month on gas/elec
put my sons' gymnastic gear up for sale now he's given up (£approx 60)
Hubby has looked at sky and should save £30/month
Stopped mag subscription of £10/month

In fact our aim is to save £500/month on what we already spend.

This, however, doesn't address the fact that we still have to find about £1200/month to just service the debt, let alone the mortgage etc.

However after reading lots of threads and looking at the CCCS we clearly on what our possible options are so for the mean time we are going to cut back wherever possible and really work hard on our income opportunities so we can live and aim in the future to start to put money towards taking care of the debt problem.

I've signed up to Quidco and mystery shopper sites and have a stack of things I can put on Ebay. Also looking into this uVme thing - anyone else looked at this? It's an online gaming site.

We're going to try our best and keep the house by trying all these things first. It's either that or sell up and go and live my parents in Spain which sounds attractive but not sure the kids would be too happy!

Total debt is £80,000 (help!) so we've got a way to go and will use the snowball site to see where to start.

So, all in all still up the creek but we're paddling!

Kevicho

Welcome to the board, and great going so far, sounds like your hammering the expenses, what I would say is that maybe posting your SOA may help us find something you may have missed, sounds like you are organised but usually a 2nd perspective gives us a push (sometimes to make a difficult cutback).

Also, and I hope its not too late, did you use quidco for changing suppliers?

Some cashback could be handy to clear down a small but high APR debt.

As Squirrel rightly said, check out snowballing, for how to prioritise your debt (basically pay as much as you can on the highest APR debt, while continuing to pay minimum payments on the rest - this clears debt quicker) ad just generally surf these threads for ideas.

Iwannabefree_2

Hi Kevicho

Completely forgot about Quidco when it came to switching stuff! Still, I did use one of the websites recommended on here so should get some cashback for switching the gas & elec.

Cuold someone tell me what piggy clicking is???