29, single, living with parents and in debt, please help.

copperman05

How close are you to the end of your pcp deal? Do you absolutely need the car? If not and you can, sell it or hand it back (looking at you SOA it would free up £460 towards your debt payment). I recently sold my £430 a month car and considering insurance, fuel, tax, etc, it freed up about £650 towards debt repayment, I then had a long hard look at my frivolous spending and after making adjustments found another £500 that was literally being wasted on nothing each month. (Alcohol, socialising, eating out, etc)

If you want to do this properly, and I'm sure you do, you need to sit down and work out exactly what can be cut back on, debt needs to be attacked with full intensity otherwise it tends to just sit there. If you wanna get it paid off you'll need to make some (short term) sacrifices. You are in a favorable position living at home so can really attack this. I found a lot of inspiration from Dave Ramseys baby steps (its a good place to start) and then a good budget really got things going for me, YNAB (YouNeedABudget) is widely used here with great effect.

Rather than thinking of where you currently are and the depression that may bring, think of where you could be in 18-24 months time (which really isnt that far away), debt free... You just need to take the road there..

zippygeorgeandben

Well said copperman!

KxMx

I found the tool most effective for my finances was a spending diary. Absolutely everything goes down and it allows me to prioritise what I do alongside saving and normal day to day expenses.

Sure I have to choose one thing over another, but I am "paying back" my savings at a good rate and everything else that needs to be paid is paid. The social occasions I really enjoy and I do more that I did before I started the proper budgeting, or at least that's how I feel.

I also opened another current account which a regular SO goes into, and any left over cash from my monthly budget (I take out a set amount). This is for occasional treats, semi emergencies and so on. That could be your "just in case" fund.