'normal' amounts of debt in this day and age

worriedDan

AlexandLauren wrote: »

@worriedDan

It's good to hear that you've recognised the debt and pushing to sort out the finances :beer:

It's easy for someone not in debt to say 'Dont get in debt!' but everyone is different with different circumstances. I was a sole earner on £25k looking after a now ex partner and her littlen trying to pay the mortgage while she was going to town on my credit card without me knowing.....one of many reasons shes now an ex lol, she left me with £10k debt but i took the situation in hand, moved back in with my parents (back in my home town in their 4 bed house so didn't really bother them) and rented out my house which helped clear the debt and rebuild my shattered confidence. Then i met my new partner a couple of months later and when we were ready to move in together i sold my house and we bought one together

I learned my lesson to keep finances under control and be greatful for what you've got and do my best to plan for the future financially

@AlexandLaura

Thanks for reply. For us, it was just a case of allowing the finances to run away with us. It really spiralled after our wedding, much of which we put on 0% cards. We should have waited another year and saved up but.... we didn't. Then there was the period of maternity and reduced income, new cars, holidays and generally using the cards without thinking. The crazy thing is we have a really good income so we could have avoided this situation! I am trying not to look back though, we are where we are and what matters now is that we sort it out as quickly as possible.

Budweiser_072000

Im 28 and have £12500+ stacked against me, the typical way of getting a credit card young and thinking itll be easy to pay off....ive decided to use as much as possible of my wages until the end of the year to overpay everything

Mofette

I agree with the posters saying that this isn't a great place to be comparing against other people. Comparing yourself against others is a one-way street to depression, or purchasing to 'keep up' which is what got some of us in this mess in the first place!


If you have some debt that you're able to pay down on, and able to still pop to the pub occasionally, take a holiday every other year and keep all of your bills up to date, then I don't see a problem for now. Keep plugging at it and just go through that mantra every time you spend "Can I afford it / do I need it / will I use it"


Our debts (52k income, ~6k debt + mortgage, 33 and 42) were originally from a holiday that we could've waited for, then from a poor housing situation where we had to sell at lower than we owed. We'll be clear from it this year and we've learned some hard lessons around it.


It's really difficult not to look at friends taking holidays / buying new cars and trying to emulate this, and when a mega repair bill comes around and we don't have that cushion to deal with it, we go one step backwards here and there, but we're learning better habits on the way.

Puddylove

StopIt wrote: »

If that was a typo, best typo ever on MSE.


If it wasn't a typo, then it was the best "flushing away money" analogy I have ever seen.
.

No typo

suki1964

Tommymxm wrote: »

I've just googled it and apparently 13k is the average uk unsecured debt per household, not that averages mean much. I'm guessing the average for the 30-40 age group would be more than 13k

Now that's scary

Scary that you are looking for answers to make you feel ok about your debt

£20k is a LOT of debt, no matter how much you sugar coat it, it is nearly your years wage

You have been so lucky in that we are living through the lowest interest rates I've ever known, but all that can change in an instant

And the odds of it happening very soon are getting shorter

What you should be concerned with is that you don't appear to have anything to show for your debt, it's just debt run up on day to day living. That means you really are living beyond your means, and that's not sustainable

What will happen if you lost your job and it takes you a year or more to find one that pays as much as, or more, then you are earning right now? Who services the debt then? How do you live day to day trying to service the debt at the same time? What happens when during that time, interest rates start their rise and inflation goes even higher?

If right now you can't live within your means, you are going to find yourself in a bit of bother. Bother that may effect the rest of your lives


I'm not an old fogey. I have just always been scared of losing the roof from other my head, something that nearly happened when I was in my 20's. Whilst it only took a £1k bank loan to sort me out, it took two years to pay it back and has left its mark on me ever since. Since that day I have saved money. i had a set amount that would stop me worrying, if we went below that, I was back to sleepless nights till it was topped up again

Please please please don't become complacent about how much debt you have. There's a good chance it will turn around and bite you

worriedDan

Mofette wrote: »

I agree with the posters saying that this isn't a great place to be comparing against other people. Comparing yourself against others is a one-way street to depression, or purchasing to 'keep up' which is what got some of us in this mess in the first place!


If you have some debt that you're able to pay down on, and able to still pop to the pub occasionally, take a holiday every other year and keep all of your bills up to date, then I don't see a problem for now. Keep plugging at it and just go through that mantra every time you spend "Can I afford it / do I need it / will I use it"


Our debts (52k income, ~6k debt + mortgage, 33 and 42) were originally from a holiday that we could've waited for, then from a poor housing situation where we had to sell at lower than we owed. We'll be clear from it this year and we've learned some hard lessons around it.


It's really difficult not to look at friends taking holidays / buying new cars and trying to emulate this, and when a mega repair bill comes around and we don't have that cushion to deal with it, we go one step backwards here and there, but we're learning better habits on the way.

I agree that this can cause depression - I am currently going through these very issues as a result of my debts. I also agree with your comments about plugging away at it. This is what we are doing at the moment - plugging away 2k a month so get rid of it asap!! We have still allowed for a few treats though - a few drinks or a pub meal out once or twice a month.

Budweiser_072000

suki1964 wrote: »

Please please please don't become complacent about how much debt you have. There's a good chance it will turn around and bite you

totally agree, ive had that realisation this year about how it could change quickly and leave me with even more debt, best bet i think is to dedicate yourself to just clearing it even if you have to cut back on luxuries

Ben75

I am in my 40's earn £35k and have debts of £12k. These are a legacy from when I was younger and got as far as £50k in debt and had no handle on money whatsoever and nothing to show for it. Redundancy and mental health issues ruined my credit rating and left me in the financial wilderness for years - these things can happen any time. I now expect the debt to be cleared in the next 2-3 years then the only debt I want after that is a mortgage. Best advice I can give is learn to live within your means and don't have any debt unless its for a home or something you can't do without.

worriedDan

Ben75 wrote: »

I am in my 40's earn £35k and have debts of £12k. These are a legacy from when I was younger and got as far as £50k in debt and had no handle on money whatsoever and nothing to show for it. Redundancy and mental health issues ruined my credit rating and left me in the financial wilderness for years - these things can happen any time. I now expect the debt to be cleared in the next 2-3 years then the only debt I want after that is a mortgage. Best advice I can give is learn to live within your means and don't have any debt unless its for a home or something you can't do without.

Well done Ben for turning things around.

joshardy

Whilst I was young my parents saved for everything - unfortunately that didn't rub off on me. I joined the forces (some time ago) and had my food and accommodation deducted from source, presenting me with a decent amount of disposable income. Because I didn't need to worry about food or a roof over my head if I didn't have any money, I became quite ambivalent and spent everything I had pretty quickly, not really worrying if I didn't have anything left after 10 days, with another 20 to go until pay day.

When I met my wife I had quite a lot of debt but did have a nice car and motorbike to show for it. She fell pregnant quite quickly and I ended up paying off mine and her debt which took some time, whilst we were trying to set up a home with newborn twins. We worked hard, sacrificed quite a lot and ended up debt free (or so I thought). Unfortunately my wife suffered from quite bad post-natal depression and whilst I was deployed for 4 months, racked up about £20k of debt to make herself feel better. The kids had lots of nice clothes, which fitted them for about 4 weeks, and we had really nice bed sheets and towels, but sod all to show for it. We worked hard to pay that off, which was tough as I was the only earner and not earning a great deal, but we got there again by cutting back on everything, but it took a few years. Along came another baby which meant we needed a bigger car. It seemed every step forward was followed by two steps back. Fast forward a few years (and another baby), the wife has got a job and we still have an unhealthy relationship with money. Even though we are saving quite a lot of money each month, trying to build a deposit for a place, we have to be on our guard that we don't just think 'sod it'. I'm not sure if this is because we always went quite hard core in trying to pay debt off, we almost felt like we 'deserved' something nice (which inevitably meant spending ££££s) which is not a good place to be in!

It's just too easy these days to get credit and before you know it, a couple of meals out with the kids, a few visit's to the cinema with the kids (with popcorn obviously!) and you're £500 down.

We're both much better now but when I look back on what we could have done with the money we wasted (probably about £60k of unsecured loans over 17 years), I could cry. We currently have about £9k unsecured debt but have two cars, a motorbike and lots camping equipment for cheap holidays! Still no bloody house though....