first post and i'm making a new start

needtopaymydebts

Hi
i'm new to posting although i've been reading the boards for a while now. It seems to make more sense to join in with the challenges as I hope then it will be harder to give up and spend the pennies that i've saved on something i don't actually need!

I've recently been married and are thinking about starting a family so i really need to get a grip on the finances, to be honest myself and husband are as bad and seem to encourage each other to spend money.

as it stands our total debt is £21109.04 including my overdraft, then my husband also has an overdraft. In addition to this i have student loan, we have our mortgage and also a bit of money left on a car loan to my parents which will be paid by Christmas - only £384 left to go! and then about £3000 on the car finance although i need to check this. we are going to use our wedding gift money to repay the car as we feel that at least we have then got something to show for it rather than paying it back to a loan.

It seems to make for sorry reading...but rather than post yesterday I spent the day registering for Mystery Shopping sites and putting stuff on ebay and amazon. I have also set myself a weekly limit for spending each month and hopefully if i can keep up with all of this the debt will come down nicely.

I've found some really great ideas alreay from the forums, just need to get myself going and i'm looking forward to updating my totals at the end of the month already!

vyvyan_2

Hello and welcome :wave: sounds like you've made a good start!

Lemon_Tree

well done for making the leap onto here, if you post your SOA then greater minds than mine will be able to suggest ways for you to save money. Also try the snowball calculator and it will be able to help you chose the best ways to minimise the interest you pay and bring forward your debt free date.

benbenandme

Hi and welcome !! :hello: , well done for posting ... as already said please post your SOA and we'll all see if we can spot anything to help you further. Best advice I can give is keep visiting here every day, it will help keep the motivation up, and everytime you think you've done everything you can to save money somebody here will come up with some other way to save a few more pennies

You've made a good start with registering for other sites and stuff, have you joined Quidco yet? Another bit of advice, keep a log o all the mystery shopping / ebay etc bits of money you get ... it may only seem like a couple of pounds here and there but over time it can add up to huge amounts of money and it is great motivation to be able to look back and see how far you've come :beer:

Good luck and keep posting

In_Search_Of_Me

Just to say welcome! Its incredible what you can pay off when you cut down on spending and set your mind to it. It can be very up & down with enthusiasm waning and coming faster than the tide in WSM but looks like you'll need to be with the long haulers among us so clim aboard & welcome to a new kind of life where getting a bargain is the buzz & paying of a CC makes your month! Big hug for you & well done for tackling things!

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the board :T

beanielou

Hi & welcome to the DFW board.
Pop up your SOA & we'll see if we can help!

Kaz2904

needtopaymydebts wrote: »

as it stands our total debt is £21109.04 including my overdraft, then my husband also has an overdraft. In addition to this i have student loan, we have our mortgage and also a bit of money left on a car loan to my parents which will be paid by Christmas - only £384 left to go! and then about £3000 on the car finance although i need to check this. we are going to use our wedding gift money to repay the car as we feel that at least we have then got something to show for it rather than paying it back to a loan.

I really don't wish to sound harsh but think you may be misleading yourself or it could just be the way you've typed it.
You say you owe £21109.04+ DH OD+ student loan+ parents car loan+ car finance.
You need to add it all up if you want to tackle it the best way.
I don't know if you are familiar with snowballing but if you head on over to www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx then you can input everything including interest rates and what you are able to repay each month and you will get a picture of your debt free date. Then any extras that you earn or manage to trim from the budget can go towards repaying the debts and will bring your dfd closer.
When you set the amount for your snowball you must be realistic because there is nothing worse than trying to repay debts and always feeling like you are one step behind.
You also need to give yourself a set leisure budget for you as a couple and each so you don't get resentful about just throwing money at your debts.
Good luck and here's to your new life!

chloebelle

Welcome :hello:

You've made a great start, read the boards, get more ideas, get involved in the challenges and you'll be well underway.

And sit down and do you SOA, its not fun and can be a nasty shock but its a must-do.

david_hellier

Hi.

SOA please within 3 days and remember to include your current od balance and its APR.

Cheers.

needtopaymydebts

i'm just going to read the boards thanks