And so id like to be a debt free girl....but....

Lancashirelass1

nikongirl wrote: »

I went through a similar situation to yours about 10 years ago. Discovering how much you really owe is terrifying but you have enough expendable income to make it work.

I get the feeling that one of the keys to this is getting control of impulse spending. I'd recommend sorting through everything in your house and deciding whether it's really something you need/want any more. The Konmari method is one way of doing this (get Marie Kondo's 'The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up' from your local library or their free ebook service) or you can ask yourself "If I had a house fire and everything was destroyed, would I replace this?" It's really helped me confront all the things I've spent money on over the years. Previously I would have hung on to them because I felt guilty about spending so much money. Now, getting rid of stuff brings me more joy than buying them ever did. It will inform my buying decisions for the rest of my life. And of course once you sell them, that's a bit of extra cash towards the debt.

Oh, and Aldi's great but go there with a list and don't even look at what's in those wire racks down the middle of the aisles!

Hi there, thank you for sharing, and I have read this....do you fold like her too? I do, and all my drawers are full of folded items and its quite addictive.
Now, asking myself if there was a fire?? well, I would take my daughter and my dogs because, actually they are all that matters, the rest is replaceable isnt it. I have honestly been thinking of this for a while, my dad is only 60, he is terminal, and I had all these plans of getting a new kitchen and even a little utility room and actually none of it really matters does it, I even had the drawing and the plans done. He has told me to sort it out and get living, and his words 'never mind the f*****g kitchen, that my daughter will not remember me getting a kitchen will she, what she will remember is us having times together, all I have done is think about it since he became ill, if you are facing death like him, and as awful as it is, all this stuff isn't needed, and its time to sort myself out now. It really puts it all into perspective doesn't it. Don't get me wrong, we do things together, I am very lucky, but we could be doing more and she is watching me and learning from me, so I need to sort it all out. After this week, I am realising that i am not living at all really, so debt free shortly after 43 is brilliant for me!
I have put on here this week and its really kicked my butt into action and I have been feeling all sorts of emotions but I have felt very positive at the end of it and this site is wonderful and as i have gone around my house and looked at all the 'stuff' and what i have wasted the money on, when I look in the green waste bin and all the food wasted every week etc. I dont need to keep buying things do I. But I have read that book and it was a good read!
The other thing is that I am divorced, not that it matters, but that was a massive clear out, god that is another story, but if I can get over that then I can do absolutely anything!
thank you so much for sharing, I can't tell you how much I have appreciated advice this week.

Lancashirelass1

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

You have a decent salary and no defaults so you should be able to get some 0% credit cards to balance transfer the Barclaycard and maybe the part of the Capital one and Vanquis or Aqua card. You need to sort out the catalogue debt if you don't know what it is. You do not want it to affect your credit rating as you need 0% deals to get rid of those high interest charging credit cards. The payments you are making on them at the moment will hardly cover the interest so they will never go down unless you get them on 0% or lower interest rate or up the payments considerably.

You should have lots of money left over but obviously you don't probably because of the little top up shops in Tescos and the unbudgeted spends. The lottery may as well be stopped as you stand little chance of winning anything. A spending diary is a good idea and maybe draw cash out weekly for essentials.

You have pets but you have not budgeted for them, presumably you have hair cuts, buy clothes for your daughter at least and buy presents for birthday/Christmas? No entertainment or school trips? Nothing put aside for maintenance for the car or car tax? Doing the mse soa would be more accurate and make you think about the things you need to put money aside for but don't.

Thank you and i have now bought the diary, you will be pleased to know from the pound shop!!!!!! and I was massively overspending too!!!
I got some advice from a friend yesterday, this was only because I couldnt do the SOA and getting quite stressed with it all and then when I logged on to my computer I still couldn't work it all out and so booked an emergency day off, and got someone to do it, as I think I would have just given up, I have now got a budget for everything as i was not doing this, and I was just living wage to wage and i have got things sorted, set aside and have money to pay off the debts on snowball!
Thank you so much LL
Thank you for the advice

bexster1975

Great news! I'm glad you are on your way. I will keep reading to see progress of " debt free before I stop being 43!)

Bexster

Lancashirelass1

bexster1975 wrote: »

Great news! I'm glad you are on your way. I will keep reading to see progress of " debt free before I stop being 43!)

Bexster

Thank you and thank you for all your advice, I honestly feel so much better today. This is going to be hard, but I managed to pay a lot yesterday, and dont feel a panic as my car mot, service tax is due as usually, I am in a panic over it, but it got sorted yesterday.
I just need to nip into town next week and sort out the new account and then over to my own bank and set up the standing order and it should get sorted out.
I can't change the credit cards either, as I have that default, which also, no action has happened, so as I approach the end of paying everything off, the default will also be coming to an end, so that is also a plus that I am doing this too.
Oh and I shredded all my cards up too, I forgot to mention that one! What she did say though is that when its all sorted out as each card is paid, I have got to keep one....she said that if I pay something like a subscription something for a small amount, like a tenner to 15 pound and then set up a dd to clear in full it will help in keeping the credit file up...but I honestly do not want the cards but she is strongly advising that I keep one open....as when all this is over I wont have any owed credit at all, and will have a lot of available credit and my credit file is not ruined, apart from the default she said that I am running a good file but it can keep like that...as she is the advisor I need to go with what she has said. I think its so i can do something with my mortgage, as i think she is after me tackling that one next!!! not sure about that one though but something for me to think about in the future.
Thank you again.....massively helped me this week....
On with the action plan

nikongirl

Lancashirelass1 wrote: »

Hi there, thank you for sharing, and I have read this....do you fold like her too? I do, and all my drawers are full of folded items and its quite addictive.

I do, although probably not as neatly as her!

Lancashirelass1 wrote: »

Now, asking myself if there was a fire?? well, I would take my daughter and my dogs because, actually they are all that matters, the rest is replaceable isnt it.

Of course, the living beings come first. The fire question is less about what you'd do in the heat of the moment (pardon the pun) and more to do with thinking about the aftermath of a disaster - would you replace that object with exactly the same thing? When something really devastating happens, your perception of worth is altered which is just as it should be. There are definitely certain material items I would replace if they were ever damaged beyond repair but equally there are loads of things I wouldn't even remember I owned, let alone think about replacing. Any time I'm shopping, I now put myself in that position and ask myself if I'd really miss not having it. Most of the time the answer's no and I can appreciate that it's a nice/fun/amusing/pretty thing but that doesn't mean I have to own it.

Lancashirelass1 wrote: »

thank you so much for sharing, I can't tell you how much I have appreciated advice this week.

You're welcome. Most of us have been around the debt block at least once (in my case a couple of times before it all really sank in). It sounds like you've had some great practical advice and help from your friend. I know the feeling when it comes to the credit card as well. To prepare for getting a mortgage I had to get a credit card last year and it was pretty terrifying. I put random things on it each month but have a DD set up for the full amount and I always set the money aside ready to pay it. It is possible, you just need to make sure it's always managed like that and doesn't become your emergency fund (yep, been there!).

Lancashirelass1

nikongirl wrote: »

I do, although probably not as neatly as her!



Of course, the living beings come first. The fire question is less about what you'd do in the heat of the moment (pardon the pun) and more to do with thinking about the aftermath of a disaster - would you replace that object with exactly the same thing? When something really devastating happens, your perception of worth is altered which is just as it should be. There are definitely certain material items I would replace if they were ever damaged beyond repair but equally there are loads of things I wouldn't even remember I owned, let alone think about replacing. Any time I'm shopping, I now put myself in that position and ask myself if I'd really miss not having it. Most of the time the answer's no and I can appreciate that it's a nice/fun/amusing/pretty thing but that doesn't mean I have to own it.



You're welcome. Most of us have been around the debt block at least once (in my case a couple of times before it all really sank in). It sounds like you've had some great practical advice and help from your friend. I know the feeling when it comes to the credit card as well. To prepare for getting a mortgage I had to get a credit card last year and it was pretty terrifying. I put random things on it each month but have a DD set up for the full amount and I always set the money aside ready to pay it. It is possible, you just need to make sure it's always managed like that and doesn't become your emergency fund (yep, been there!).

late reply as I have been so busy.....
What should be an easy opening a bank account (simple and done) then going over to my own bank and getting all the banking details and then cancelling all the debt direct debits (all done) then setting up a standing order to cover the bills as instructed to my new bank (all done and really easy)
What has been a royal pain has been changing all my bank details over to the new account and being asked WHY, WHAT and why again, when I told credit cards that I am currently looking at paying off balances, its almost like they dont want me to be debt free (that cant be true!)
On my car, I was told that I could not over pay at all!!!!! This has now been resolved with an apology and a 30.00 credit applied to my account....
My spending diary has come in handy too.....as I have been thinking about doing this for while, I have found that i have easily slipped into this saving lark, and so I have come well under budget last week on my shopping and I have not spent anything since last week apart from the shopping, the list went into my spending diary too.
All I have in my book is my shopping and my petrol and I didnt go on a spending spree either when i went into tesco!!!!
I have still got money left over from last week and i have now finally set up all the direct debits from my new account and I am good to go at the end of this month - MONTH 1 and nearer to my goal of being debt free!
will come back on at the end of the month and hopefully, fingers crossed I have done it all right and worked it all out and I can start tackling my first snowball!!!

zippygeorgeandben

You almost sound like you are enjoying this?!

bexster1975

Very well done Lancashire! What an awesome amount of work you have done so far! You are forgiven for going AWOL:D

Sadly, of course they don't want debt repaid, car loans completed. How would they make all those bankers bonuses if we paid back what we owe too quickly :eek:

Money left at the end of the week eh! Can't be bad. It's a bit like a food diary. When you have to see it all written down, you are often keen to reduce the ALL somewhat!

You will have this debt thing sorted in no time at all.

Keep posting, and filling in that diary.

Bexster

enthusiasticsaver

Some positive posts from you and it sounds like you have some great support from your friend and a plan. Shame you can't get any 0% deals but this means you should focus on highest interest credit card first. Cutting them up is a great first step but making sure the balances go no higher is the next so on some you may have to up payments.

Budgeting and knowing where your money goes is the key to good money management so if you stick to the mantra that you don't buy unless withi budget you won't go far wrong.

Two further things I would say about charitable giving and your child maintenance. Giving time instead of money to charities when you are in debt is understandable as it is not your money you are giving until you are debt free. The same applies to your daughters child maintenance. Keeping some money aside for her from the maintenance makes sense but saving the rest whilst you are paying high interest on credit cards doesn't. You are getting debt free for both of you so I would throw all spare money at clearing it.

Also start an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses which can crop up from time to time.

pjcox2005

I'd really suggest reconsidering whether you could get a 0% credit card or even just a lower rate one. This could be a balance transfer, or if you can control it putting normal spend on the new card and using ALL of that money to pay down the high interest rate cards. 39% APR on a £4,000 balance is £1,560 during a year in interest.


Can't see which previous poster mentioned it otherwise I would have quoted it, but someone referenced MSE Credit Club.


Link here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub


It will give you the chances of getting each good deal so you no not to apply to ones that you won't have a chance for and will do that all in one place. If you can shift that debt, it will be one of the biggest steps to clearing it off in the year or so you are aiming for.