4 CC's, childcare, mortgage, bills etc, need help.

Enigma80

MrsSave: That's exactly what it is. If I include all my wife's incomings and outgoings it'll get too messy. This way I split down the middle all out main joint outgoings, like mortgage and childcare.

The mortgage is around £610 and the childcare is around £960-£1100 per month. She receives about £200ish in child care credits and then we split the rest every month. This is a recent thing as they were paying a lot more towards the child care credits but it changed recently and we're now getting much less than we used to get.

So that on top of the time I was unemployed for some times has put us in this debt.

The bills come out of my account so I pay those and she generally pays for kids clothes and any groceries, I earn more than her slightly so I pay a little towards to groceries too. Which is why they're only at £100 for me for the month.

Enigma80

chelseablue wrote: »

Your electric and gas costs seem high. Have you shopped around recently?


I live in a 3 bed semi and pay £65 a month for both (and I'm £120 credit at the mo)

Yes, I am in credit sometimes too. I pay monthly and during the summer I'm usually in credit and then in Winter it balances out as the C/H comes on.

We also used to hang clothes out more too, and now due to longer working hours and the two boys having allergies to almost everything (being see by specialists at two hospitals for these issues) we've been advised to avoid hanging clothes out due to pollen. So we used the dryer almost daily now. They both have antihistamines daily to help with it and stuff etc. I'm just glad we have the NHS over here, otherwise we'd be paying 1000's for their meds...

Enigma80

MrsSave: We're on a water meter which was there when we moved in as the previous owner was one elderly lady.

Buildings includes contents insurance too.

Life cover is just for me, my wife's is twice this! It was required by our mortgage provider and covers critical illness etc.

Groceries, my wife pays the bulk of it. I help towards it.

Yes I am in the process of setting up a DMP. Just need to clarify the figures on my end.

Out of interest, if any of you have DMP's how much of a percentage are you paying via the DMP compared how much you should be paying according to the creditors?

Surely there must be a point where they say that's too little and they won't accept the DMP amount.

Currently Stepchange are saying it'll take 27yrs to pay it off at this rate...

MandM90

Enigma80 wrote: »

MrsSave: We're on a water meter which was there when we moved in as the previous owner was one elderly lady.

Buildings includes contents insurance too.

Life cover is just for me, my wife's is twice this! It was required by our mortgage provider and covers critical illness etc.

Groceries, my wife pays the bulk of it. I help towards it.

Yes I am in the process of setting up a DMP. Just need to clarify the figures on my end.

Out of interest, if any of you have DMP's how much of a percentage are you paying via the DMP compared how much you should be paying according to the creditors?

Surely there must be a point where they say that's too little and they won't accept the DMP amount.

Currently Stepchange are saying it'll take 27yrs to pay it off at this rate...

Time to get serious about this debt! Cancel the tv subscription, and start tracking every penny.

Have you applied for free water saving devices? My local water company (Thames) posts out attachments for shower, tap, toilets etc to reduce use, including a shower timer.

We pay under £200 a month for groceries for a family of three. This includes cleaning products, toiletries and booze Get yourself onto Old Style and see how they go it.

You need to look into changing insurances, a bit can be saved there. Your mortgage rate is also quite high for current times. When are you fixed til?

Are you and your wife set on keeping finances separate? If she has more wiggle room than you it might be prudent to meld them together so you can see if there's any money leaking that you're not currently aware of, or anything you can cut to save.

Some things to check out:

Mr Money Moustache - he is just pure awesome.

YNAB - an amazing budgeting programme. 1 month free then £3 a month. Far more useful than brain melting telly and has turned my finances around completely.

Dave Ramsey (podcasts, youtube, website) - bit evangelical, and don't agree with everything he says about wealth building, but he's helped loads out of debt.

It looks like it'll take 27 years but:

- You won't be paying for childcare forever
- Hopefully your incomes will increase at some point
- You can learn to reduce your expenses.

Finally, a huge good luck!! Well done for facing it all. It's hard, but you'll feel better for it!

Enigma80

Thanks MandM90.

I felt a bit better about stuff yesterday, but a little down again today.

Just keep going through stuff and getting confused all the time, my mind isn't properly with it today.

MandM90

Enigma80 wrote: »

Thanks MandM90.

I felt a bit better about stuff yesterday, but a little down again today.

Just keep going through stuff and getting confused all the time, my mind isn't properly with it today.

Little by little, you'll get there!! And the pennies really do add up!

I'm changing my buildings and contents (was arranged by my financial advisor and he probably got a big cut!) from £40 like yours to £20. £20 a month over 27 years is £6480, and that's completely ignoring compound interest!

How far away is work? £308 a month is £3696 a year. That's forgetting car repairs, insurance, tax, depreciation and time spent sitting in a metal box. Could you take job closer (even if it means a pay cut!), buy a second hand bike and cycle to work instead? It might sound a bit mental but could save you hours, money and also increase fitness.

Could you also think about either of you getting a second job for a while? Pulling pints, freelancing in whatever you do, tutoring, dog walking, babysitting, whatever? Just to start smashing through everything?

Groceries too, if your wife pays the bulk I imagine it's quite a bit more than our family's £200 monthly budget. Could you cut it by £100...that's £1200 in a year. Bit by bit, everything can help. It seems insurmountable now but some lifestyle change and a bit of inspiration can make all the difference. I really advise reading, reading reading. Blogs like ThriftyLesley (cheap recipes) or Frugal Queen (paid off loads of debts) or Mr Money Mustache (his whole family live son under 24,000 dollars a year - he retired aged 30!) can give you the kick up the bum.

And of course the lovely people on these boards too. You can do it! You can! :j

Sorry for the complete brain dump. The fact you've had your light bulb moment is a fantastic thing. You're on your way!

Enigma80

MandM90 wrote: »

Little by little, you'll get there!! And the pennies really do add up!

I'm changing my buildings and contents (was arranged by my financial advisor and he probably got a big cut!) from £40 like yours to £20. £20 a month over 27 years is £6480, and that's completely ignoring compound interest!

Groceries too, if your wife pays the bulk I imagine it's quite a bit more than our family's £200 monthly budget. Could you cut it by £100...that's £1200 in a year. Bit by bit, everything can help. It seems insurmountable now but some lifestyle change and a bit of inspiration can make all the difference. I really advise reading, reading reading. Blogs like ThriftyLesley (cheap recipes) or Frugal Queen (paid off loads of debts) or Mr Money Mustache (his whole family live son under 24,000 dollars a year - he retired aged 30!) can give you the kick up the bum.

And of course the lovely people on these boards too. You can do it! You can! :j

Thanks.

We do save quite a bit shopping as we find the best places to get stuff and use vouchers/coupons wherever we can. It means to have to go to 4 different places for groceries, but it works out. One of the main issues is that both of our boys are allergic soya and dairy and find replacements is difficult and expensive.

We tend to make our own food, apart from convenience frozen foods like chips etc. As we both work long hours and kids don't get home until late we bulk cook a lot and freeze up portions.

I do buildings and content renewal every year and this is the cheapest it comes to on the comparison sites. Maybe it's our location??

jamesd

Enigma80 wrote: »

It's figured I have around £100 left over after priority spending and will take about 27 or so years to pay off

One nice thing about debts is that they don't increase if interest is frozen, but pay does tend to increase, so it wouldn't really take that long. interest freezing isn't always done but with that sort of timescale it's likely to happen.

First Direct are one of the fussiest banks around for who they want as customers so no surprise that they didn't want your business.

Enigma80 wrote: »

I can guess that the creditors aren't going to hang about for that long are they? So what would be their likely response to StepChange's offer?

Accept it is most likely, or ask for more details of income and expenses before accepting it. They know that an IVA would lose them money so it's not in their interests to push you into that.

Dealing with debt is a journey of ups and downs, so try not to worry about the downs when they happen. Just part of the process.

jamesd

Enigma80 wrote: »

I do buildings and content renewal every year and this is the cheapest it comes to on the comparison sites. Maybe it's our location??

Might be your estimate of the rebuilding cost. It's not market value if sold but how much it would take to rebuild if the place was destroyed. It's very common for people to use a number that's too high, like market value, and for insurers to increase the value by inflation every year. You must not go below the real rebuilding cost or the insurance firm would argue that you were under-insured and not pay out fully, but it's something to look at. A surveyor doing a valuation would often say what the rebuilding cost was estimated to be at the time. Even if you didn't get the check done you may find that your mortgage company can tell you the number from their valuation survey.