I want to stop drowning

[Deleted User]

Well done, debtaghh! Hope this is the turning point you were hoping for!

Silver_Queen

That's fabulous! Hopefully this is what helps tip you over for everything to balance, so you don't have to feel so worried all the time now

Spendy_Spenderson

Great news Debtaghh! Really pleased for you

MrsSave

Great news about the money and reducing your monthly payments. Hopefully this is the start you need!

debtaghh

Morning,

I'm on a real mission to completely clear the Nuba card. I wondering if I can do my food shop for £250 this month. I've looked in the diary and we are not due any visitors. I've got a fair bit of cupboard food, do you think I'm being unrealistic?

enthusiasticsaver

That is a pretty good challenge to set yourself. I managed to get our food shopping in January down to £90 for 2 of us obviously with Xmas leftovers, no visitors, alcohol and me on post Xmas diet. I think £250 is perfectly doable if you watch each penny. That is about £60 a week isn't it? Lots of meal planning and maybe batch cook things like bolognese, cottage pies, casseroles? Lots of veg.

Honeysucklelou2

When I'm careful, I can get our food shopping down to between £70 and £80 a week but that is for 8 of us. I tend to have pasta and rice based meals with lots of veg to achieve this. I also limit breakfast cereals to weetabix type cereals and Mr T's version of Shreddies. This tends to slow down the having bowls of cereal for a snack because they'll only have it if they are truly hungry rather than continually snacking on cereal, if I have bought the more sugary ones.

enthusiasticsaver

I am not sure how much you have in your savings account but I wonder if allocating what is in there might be a good idea to see what you could spare to go towards the Nuba?

I know you have booked a holiday and have some health and dental issues so budgeting tightly for these may release some spare cash?

I know there was £5400 on the Nuba last month and if you pay £55 a month by May just on minimums it would be £5180. Of course if you put the £4K you got immediately onto the Nuba the minimum will reduce but by my reckoning £4000 plus the £55 a month for Feb to May brings it down to £1180 which is difficult on your tight budget but if you can release some of the savings that would definitely help.

Xmas can be made up over the rest of the year but it depends on how expensive the holiday is. I know debt busting is hard but really booking these holidays is making it so much harder but this seems to be one thing you really struggle with. We went for years without a holiday when our kids were small and we went down to one wage. I know often they are uk holidays but these rarely work out cheaper. With the £4000 you have got a real chance to start really making inroads into getting the debt down and therefore less of your income going to credit cards. Can you go hardcore after this holiday and not commit to anything so giving you best possible chance to get rid of this? I know many on this forum do take the scenic route and continue to book holidays, spend out on Xmas etc etc and this may work if your income was higher or the debt lower but your dad has let you off repaying his debt and you have £4K gift so it seems this is the year to turn it around if you can keep disciplined and focused.

Good luck with your grocery challenge.

debtaghh

I've paid just under £4K off the nuba . It stands at £1375. Shall I just clear it?

enthusiasticsaver

debtaghh wrote: »

I've paid just under £4K off the nuba . It stands at £1375. Shall I just clear it?

Make a note of what you need to pay for over the next 6 months. If there is enough to clear the Nuba and providing you have a few hundred to cope with an unexpected car repair bill and enough to cover you for birthdays, holiday and medical/dental costs then yes I would clear it then you have the £55 payment to go towards the Tesco and helps on lean months with no overtime. Or you could just pay what you can spare as it will all help.