Embarrassed & a little scared

LittleMissKitty

The car has definitely proved a money pit! Hopefully that has now all been fixed though I suppose there's never really a way to know.

Before we went nuts and completely screwed ourselves we used to put £900 aside each month to cover cars/holidays/Christmas & emergencies etc but I've had to stop and we've promised no more holidays until the debt is paid. Not having an emergency fund panics me no end but we're at a point now where the emergency is getting out of debt so I've had to cut it completely, at least for a few months while we get out of the overdraft.

You're completely correct that we should have considered all this before the move, the fuel costs we anticipated (although we were hoping school transport would be available for all the kids instead of just the high school ones) but we were assured by BT that we would have broadband access so were really only expecting to pay £25-£30 a month. The current costs were a shock.
We're on a fixed 10yr mortgage so we're (happily) stuck here for the foreseeable future.

Our overdrafts probably total £10 a month in interest so they're what I'm currently concentrating on, then I can skim any excess off the current accounts the day before payday and throw it at Creation.

I think, being honest, the £500 has been sunk into the overdraft since Christmas, before that it was just us being horribly irresponsible. I'm hoping for budgetbrain to be back up and running soon so I can stick in some new figures and get my head round what our actual surplus is. For the moment I'll use this as a spending diary as it'll keep me focused!

WibblyGirly

I don't know what your skills are but have you looked at sites like peopleperhour to see if you can do any jobs on there?

LittleMissKitty

Oh thanks Wibbly, I'd never heard of them and it looks like I may be able to get some work there.

I'm a photographer and digital retoucher so it looks like it might be worth signing up. Awesome!

CapricornLass

I'm mulling over the internet issue. How often are you having to put an extra £20 to let the kids finish their homework?

The reason I'm asking is that I pay for unlimited broadband, although I don't use any of the streaming services myself. Reason: when my son comes home he would attach his laptop to my router ( he is a programmer and also gives system support) and he would bust my data limit in a couple of hours. Paying for the extra was horrendous, and in the end I calculated that it was cheaper to pay for the unliited data upfront, rather than pay the extra data he used when he was home.

I appreciate that you are on 4G routers rather than broadband, but I assume that there are different packages available to you. If you are regularly having to shell out for the extra data, it might be worth looking to see what the next band would cost you? It might be cheaper overall to pay a bit extra every month than have to fork out for the extra data when you need it, especially if this is happening every other month. And if your business takes off, then your data demands are going to up because of that too.

Wizzbang

I'm afraid you're not going to get out of debt until you accept that some of the changes you need to make will be hard. You admit you have spent recklessly, therefore in order to get out of debt (if that's what you really want to achieve is going to involve sacrifices.

Your children do not require extra curricular activities, you'd just like to give them that. Likewise, you don't need to drink alcohol. The fact is - you cannot afford to.

I think it's also time to face up to some of the poor choices you've made in the last few years, as again you admit this has only happened in the last 2 or 3 years. It's fairly obvious you've moved to a place that you cannot afford. I'm sure you're not the first person not to consider how high your bills would be, or how much fuel you'd be spending. However, just because you are on a 10 year fixed rate mortgage DOES NOT mean that you cannot move house. In-fact if you're not prepared to cut back in other smaller ways, the quickest way you can tackle your debt is to sell-up. You need to consider down-sizing, or at least moving somewhere close to schools and utilities, like a landline and broadband!

What you have said is completely inconsistent. On the one hand you're telling us/yourself that your kids need mobile phones because they have to catch 3 buses to get to school. In the next breath, you're telling us/ yourself that you have to have 2 cars because you have to get the kids to school and because you live 10 miles away, public transport is not an option. So which is the truth?

You need to work it so that it's one method of transport or another (i.e. You take them all in the car, sure the older ones may have to get dropped off slightly early. Or they all go together on the bus which would save what you are spending on an unreliable car). Also, have you considered car-sharing with another parent, or paying them to drop off your children? Paying them a token amount of petrol money will be vastly cheaper than what you appear to be spending on your old banger. I've also never heard of a school not providing transport for children, and I was under the impression, in the UK anyway they were legally obliged to provide transport if you live more than a certain mileage away (depends on the age of your kids) providing you live in their catchment area. If you live outside the catchment, then I'm afraid that's another thing you should have considered before moving.

Fact is, until 20 years ago - children (and parents) managed perfectly well without mobile phones. For kids to be spending £10 per month on a mobile phone is just stupidity. But, why can't they share a phone between them as a compromise? If they're only using it to contact you about transport problems, then really pay-as-you-go should be more than adequate with a basic handset. You just need to make it clear it's for emergencies only. I can see you're locked into poor value deals with a provider. You need to get onto SIM only and pronto. Look into whether any exit fees would be beaten by the savings you'd make by switching.

And I'm sorry, but no-one needs to have Netflix, not when they are grossly in debt. It's time to get real. And you're paying for an internet router solely to have Netflix? Mind-boggling. And if you think your children will be suffering from not having TV, then you need to think again! Likewise, with the internet - why can't they use it at school or for free at a local library? It's not going to kill them, it's actually going to make them more resourceful, more respectful of the cost and more discriminating in what they choose to view.

Also, where are you actually food shopping? Do you have Aldi or Lidl as options? People regularly say they can save 30% off their bill by shopping there.

Finally, what are the realities of your business idea? Has it been up, running and profitable in the past and you're trying to revive it? If not, then I think you'd be better trying to get a job as an employee until you're debt free. Being self-employed is never stable income (speaking as one who knows). It's just not what you need when you have debts and/or mortgage.

The truth here seems to be that your move has been the source of all your financial woes and it strikes me you need to reverse that decision ASAP and get yourself back on your feet.

Onebrokelady

Maybe the younger children go to school by car and the older by bus,I wouldn't let. 5 year old travel on the bus to school and I think you are being a bit harsh in your reply!

Onebrokelady

Do you have the option of DMPs in N Ireland if so and your not bothered about your credit file you could consider going down that route,I wish you good luck and hope you manage to sort it out
Forgot to say you can set up a diary in the Debt Free Diaries section of the board,I set one up just after I joined and I use it to ramble on about life in general and my journey to becoming debt free,Im finding it really useful

Floxxie

Ok as someone who has moved from England to NI, I understand your difficulties. Outside of the two cities, it is rural. Options you have in the rest of the UK do not exist here.

It is normal over here to put children on buses from the time they start school. School holidays are different for each school. Mobiles are essential for children out travelling. Transport issues, school half days and other disruptions are normal. Internet options are limited. Gas and electric options are extremely limited. Jobs are rare: let alone ones that fit around children. Public transport is awful and expensive. Food shopping is more expensive over here and the range of shops is not as wide. It has been an eye opener.

Anyway are you able to use this internet option: Bluebox ?

louby40

I think your food budget is amazing for a family of 7. I honestly don't know how you would reduce it further.

Come over to the debt free diary board, you'll get lots of support over there!