Does ALL of your surplus income go towards debt?

DrWatson1

I'm on a debt management plan, on the hook for about £30k. Most of these debts are with debt management companies, and the interest is frozen.

I pay the minimum I can get away with, however I'm not frivolous and the majority of my spare income is added to my savings. I've managed to save up around £10k, which i'm prepared to use to negotiate some F&F offers, but if they don't play ball then I'll keep my power dry in case of some kind of emergency.

Anyway, my more general point is that I'd be happy to pay the minimum for as long as possible, as i'm comfortable with this arrangement, however, everyone is different and it ultimately depends entirely on your personal circumstances and how you feel about your debt.

WantToBeSE

Watson, are your debts all on 0%?

While I'm in no major hurry to get rid of mine asap, i don't want it hanging around any longer than 12 months from now. S

So 8000/12 (months) = £666 a month that i need to put towards it.
That actually means that all of my surplus income WILL be going towards debt, with none left for fun. But i need it to take no more than 12 months, as my 0% rus out in November 2017.

*sigh*

Fireflyaway

I wish I could say yes but I went so long in debt and struggling to make ends meet (literally calling in sick as really I had no petrol to get to work, using toilet roll from work - feel bad as technically that's stealing- not eating etc etc) now I have some money I can't bring myself to hand it all over. Probably I should get serious and get rid of it sooner.

rubyjam

We have been in a DMP for so long now that we would have lost the will to live if we'd carried on paying every last penny to our debts. In the first 3-4 years we threw everything at it - we were literally living off thin air. It dawned on us that we had many years ahead and this (non) life just wasn't sustainable so we decided to to give ourselves a little slack and reduced our payments a little.


We still struggle to make ends meet and our DMP has at least another 10 years to go but we do have a life now. If we could do it all again I think we would have gone down the IVA route but because we have put so much into this blinkin DMP we are going to see it through to the end. Our debts have started dropping off our credit file now and we have been thinking of reducing our payments even more so that we will have spare cash to save up for full and final payments but our debt is still huge so I think we will keep payments as they are for a little while longer. Perhaps next year ..... Good luck, hope your DF day comes soon :-)

WantToBeSE

Fireflyaway wrote: »

I wish I could say yes but I went so long in debt and struggling to make ends meet (literally calling in sick as really I had no petrol to get to work, using toilet roll from work - feel bad as technically that's stealing- not eating etc etc) now I have some money I can't bring myself to hand it all over. Probably I should get serious and get rid of it sooner.

I was in a similar situation that you describe about 10 years ago. I have a fear of going back there, and now i've got my s**t together i worry about paying off all of my debts but having no savings 'just in case'. I do have a £1000 emergency fund, and a £600 car maintenance fund..but i worry about not having enough money for things.

WantToBeSE

rubyjam wrote: »

We have been in a DMP for so long now that we would have lost the will to live if we'd carried on paying every last penny to our debts. In the first 3-4 years we threw everything at it - we were literally living off thin air. It dawned on us that we had many years ahead and this (non) life just wasn't sustainable so we decided to to give ourselves a little slack and reduced our payments a little.


We still struggle to make ends meet and our DMP has at least another 10 years to go but we do have a life now. If we could do it all again I think we would have gone down the IVA route but because we have put so much into this blinkin DMP we are going to see it through to the end. Our debts have started dropping off our credit file now and we have been thinking of reducing our payments even more so that we will have spare cash to save up for full and final payments but our debt is still huge so I think we will keep payments as they are for a little while longer. Perhaps next year ..... Good luck, hope your DF day comes soon :-)

Yes Ruby, i can imagine that if it's going to last for a considerably long time, you just cannot live a life with no enjoyment in it at all. It looks like you've done the right thing for you

lumpyspaceprincess

In short, no. I contemplated having all my spare paying it off, but I knew I would 'act out' if I had no wiggle room. There's definitely a surplus each month that I could put towards DMP, but instead I use it for my mental health. Additionally it occurred to me, if I'm getting defaulted for all these cards etc, a slightly easier ride will make the default dates further away when I'm done.

WantToBeSE

lumpyspaceprincess wrote: »

In short, no. I contemplated having all my spare paying it off, but I knew I would 'act out' if I had no wiggle room. There's definitely a surplus each month that I could put towards DMP, but instead I use it for my mental health. Additionally it occurred to me, if I'm getting defaulted for all these cards etc, a slightly easier ride will make the default dates further away when I'm done.

Thats a good plan lumpy. Yes i would find it too hard to literally have NO 'fun' money, especially since my DFD is another 13 months away.

PoorGuyNextDoor

No it doesnt. You still need to have a life even if you are in debt. If it takes 3 years instead of 2 and a half, so be it. Saying that im planning a very frugal January and Febuary. Usually two months of the year i spend way more than i earn.

WantToBeSE

PoorGuyNextDoor wrote: »

No it doesnt. You still need to have a life even if you are in debt. If it takes 3 years instead of 2 and a half, so be it. Saying that im planning a very frugal January and Febuary. Usually two months of the year i spend way more than i earn.

Same here. Jan and Feb are going to be really frugal months, where i put as much as possible towards the debt. December i wont put anything apart from the minimums towards them.