I Left You and Now I'm In A Mess

sugarcube84

Naomim wrote: »

I forgot to add the dog's food: Probably about £12-£15 a month. I buy own brand dog food from Pets at home.

Why not try the Aldi working dog food, my lab loves it it's £4.99 for a big bag (cant remember the size)

Naomim

My answers in blue

anna_1977 wrote: »

Hi
PLase see my comments in red. I have done the same as you, paid debt off and here we are again

Good luck

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

OK. Positives first are that you have plenty of equity in your home and your incomes cover minimum payments just about and there is room in the soa to economise.

I am not sure where the bottom of the soa is but from adding it up the monthly payments on your credit cards are £394.46 leaving you a surplus of £325. Do you have £325 spare or are you putting that towards the debt?

No, at the moment DH and I both have £150 per month each which is supposed to cover all our personal monthly spending. He coaches two children's teams and has to pay the Referee. The cost of this is then deducted from my son's team membership.
I make us sandwiches everyday for lunches but I know I have spent far more money than I should on coffee whilst out.

I am sure you would rather not know but the total of the unsecured debt which should be on the bottom is £21610.47 but £15407 is on 0%. Can you get the Tesco and your husbands MBNA on 0% too or have your credit ratings been affected? I don't think they have been affected but didn't really want to apply for another credit card. although we had two that weren't in use. I think one got cancelled but the other is active with 0 debt but I don't have the card.

I appreciate what you say about your DH being depressed but unless he gets on board with debt busting this will be difficult for you. Maybe he is aware (hard not to be if you have overdrafts and credit cards in his name too) and the depression is caused by the fact you have not been dealing with it plus the worry and stress of the house renovations. If you make a plan together to deal with it then this may help his mental state.
He know's we have credit card debt but not £21k worth. He doesn't see any bank statements or anything and only one card is in his name but I set it up online.

Your groceries bill is high so can that be reduced by going to Lidls or Aldi which are much cheaper than the other supermarkets?
Definitely going to be shopping in Aldi's

The sky definitely should be cut back or ideally got rid of and what is sky protect? It's an insurance policy for the boxes. We've had loads of trouble with the boxes and SKY charge £65 minimum per call out so it seemed the way to go as we had two boxes covered with this.

If you both work in central London and catch the train to work do you really need two cars? The petrol is high considering you get the train to work so can that be cut back? The petrol is an estimate but between driving to and from in-laws every day, various kids activities at weekends, swimming lessons etc.

Savings accounts for your children should wait until the debt is gone. I can reduce this to £10 each a month as the account is 4% interest and has a minimum per month

Can you change the mobile contracts to sim only or are you still in contract? We are all in contract. DH & DD share the contract which has another year. mine has about 18 months to go.

Can you cut your sons lunches down and he have packed lunches? I can try...


Did the debt arise because of the overbudget work on the house or is it living costs? It's mainly living costs I think.

Is the rent because you are living at your inlaws while the work is being finished and how are you paying for the rest of the work? Is the house totally unliveable in? Yes rent is inlaws. There was no downstairs, no kitchen nothing. Kitchen was delivered yesterday but still no floor which is coming next week. Almost everything is paid for now although we still need to make completion payment but need to work out final figures.

Lots to take on board but if you are able to make payments of between £500 -£650 per month to the unsecured debt you could be free of it within 3 years if you get the other 2 cards on to 0%. I'm going to try and have a look at transferring the balances and doing a snowball calculator.
Do not be tempted to consolidate debt on to your mortgage by the way. It never works unless you change your spending habits and get rid of the cards and as the debt is mostly on 0% this would be a massive mistake.

Naomim

Katzen wrote: »

Just a little thought but could your DH cycle home from the station? It seems like that one journey that he makes home in the evening is not really enough to warrant an entire car right now. Plus, exercise is a brill antidepressant

That's a brilliant idea. I will see if I can put it to him as he really wants to lose some weight and get fit again. He stopped exercising when he got made redundant and never got back into the swing of it.

Naomim

I don't know the interest rates on the overdraft. Coincidentally, the bank called me yesterday. I missed the call and it's one of the things that has prompted me to peek out of my hidey hole and tackle this. I'm scared of getting in touch with the bank though.. i'm not good with authority - as in I get intimidated. Can the bank help and what sort of thing are they likely to say or offer?

MrsTinks

Once you have a plan for the debts and can show your OH the path do you think he would cope with the details? I understand depression is a fickle beast, but you have to ensure that you don't take too much on yourself too. Maybe he will be fine if you can say "ok we have £21k worth of debt, BUT I have a plan, here is what our budge looks like, this is how we're fixing it and how long that is going to take. I need you to work with me and if you have any ideas then I'd appreciate them!" - do competitions between the two of you about what extra you can make online, win in competition etc and find fun ways to work together on this

Naomim

Sorry for the jumbled replies. I'm trying to answer everyone's posts and can't remember how to multi quote etc it's been so long!

Water Rates: We're not on a water meter. this is the amount we are charged from South East Water. We have no arrears. - But why isn't there a reduction whilst the property has been uninhabitet? Have you checked to see if a meter would work out cheaper?

I didn't know I could get a reduction.. I did a check and a water meter wouldn't be cheaper. However the price I put on here is over 10 months and not 12.

Gas/Elec: I pay by monthly DD so although we're not there, the DD still goes through. We are in credit but this will get used up in the winter I guess. How much in credit?

Blimey just checked and I am £268 in credit! We were paying over £100 a month and then BG reduced the payments to the £44 we currently pay.

Road tax................................ 36.3 Do you pay this monthly?
Car Insurance........................... 41.66 Is this being paid monthly?

Road tax is paid monthly. Car insurance is paid yearly.

Other travel............................ 335.6 - Two monthly Travelcards. We both work in London Have you investigated whether there are any alternatives? Maybe another local railway line where the fares work out slightly less? It may even be worth driving slightly further to pay less on the train fares.

I used to drive all the way to work but it could sometimes take me best part of 3 hours just doing 15 miles into town. (We live on the London Surrey borders). And another good hour home so I was getting home later and stressed to get the kids. There's only South West Trains or if we went further out of town, Southern (which is a shower of !!!! anyway!) so not other lines we could use. I've tried it by bus but again it's a 3 bus journey and takes about 2 hours minimum. We could possibly try and park nearer London but the traffic to get closer would negate any savings I think. Also parking. Every road near a train station is yellow lined. So we'd either have to use official station car parks, our local one is £10 a day or park miles away and walk, after having spent 45 minutes driving there. If we work closer to home pay is less... I'm always looking!

Naomim

MrsTinks wrote: »

Once you have a plan for the debts and can show your OH the path do you think he would cope with the details? I understand depression is a fickle beast, but you have to ensure that you don't take too much on yourself too. Maybe he will be fine if you can say "ok we have £21k worth of debt, BUT I have a plan, here is what our budge looks like, this is how we're fixing it and how long that is going to take. I need you to work with me and if you have any ideas then I'd appreciate them!" - do competitions between the two of you about what extra you can make online, win in competition etc and find fun ways to work together on this

I think it would completely freak him out BUT if I approach him with it positively he'll probably take it on board.

MrsTinks

Naomim wrote: »

I didn't know I could get a reduction.. I did a check and a water meter wouldn't be cheaper. However the price I put on here is over 10 months and not 12.

Many/most water companies do a reduced fee... ours does a 50% one if the property is being worked on. Better in your pocket - see if they will apply this retrospectively

MrsTinks

If £44 monthly is the new reduced fee then I would keep an eye on your usage and leave the credit in place to be honest. Do check if that is an estimate and therefor if you are even more in credit (unless that's what you did )

Naomim

Council tax............................. 167 - if you don't live in the property can you get a reduced rate for a period of time until you move back in? Years ago I had a fixer upper and I think there was 6 months free or 25% of council tax then it was a discounted amount for x months... Worth checking

I just called the council.. I could be eligible for a discount as the house is uninhabitable. They've asked me to email which I have. They said I may only get 1 month off but even that would be £167 in my pocket!