Feel sick

Therese1

Ok £400 per month is more realistic...but this means you are definitely overspending every month (you know that anyway of course)

Cutting back considerations....
- groceries...home cooking, brand challenge, cutting back on the "extra shop runs", cut out takeaways if that's in here?
- mobile phones
- clothes ... can you get handmedowns from family/friends for the kids? Embargo on adult clothes for a bit?
- holiday .... is this already booked/committed? If not this would be better put into an emergency fund for now.
- mortgage is massive....do you have any spare rooms to rent? Or even consider downsizing? Extreme measure but it might be worth it in the longer term?
- council tax....if 10 months then move to 12 months
- childcare is another mortgage but a necessary evil...when will both kids be in school and this will be cut? Are you getting all the work related childcare vouchers etc that you can?

Contents insurance is a must (in my opinion) - this will need to be added but worth its weight in gold if you had a big emergency in then house

Sorry I've not come up with any great debt busting solutions for you, but its a start. My big red flag would go to the mortgage though.
Tx

happppydays

the mortgage is huge but it was under a 20 year agreement and we are both in our late 40s so couldn't get a shorter term.

Cakeguts

I think I would be looking at your communications. You are spending £85 per month on landline, mobile phones and internet connections. Do you need all 3 or can you get a package that is cheaper? If you are short of money £30 a month in entertainment seems a lot. Can you really afford that mortgage and holidays?

enthusiasticsaver

If your groceries are £75 or £100 a month then payments are either being missed or you are still spending on cards as that would give you a shortfall as that £10 surplus is calculated on the incorrect groceries figure. How are you meeting the shortfall?

That Lloyds £5000 - is that an overdraft? If so, the fees on those are now astronomical and not accounted for in your soa.

Do you not qualify for any tax credits or will either of your children qualify for free childcare hours soon? If you are in England I think it is 30 hours from the term after their third birthday. Getting that £800 down would help.

Mainly, as you know your problem is too much debt and an astronomical mortgage. £1850 of your income is going on the mortgage and debt each month and of that £80 going to Barclaycard £73 is going on interest so the debt is not reducing. I think you may now be in DMP territory unless you can restructure the mortgage.

I would suggest you contact stepchange and see what they suggest as I don't think this situation is sustainable and presumably you are now starting to miss payments?

Sky_

As well as checking tax credits for childcare, do you get child benefit? That would give you another £180 or so each month.

When does your current mortgage deal run out? Paying over 20 years should mean that your equity builds up relatively quickly, so you might be able to get a much better mortgage deal once this one ends.

brizzlegirl

Well done on getting back in the MSE bus....and good advice above. These forums are great for support.

Best of luck

Brizzle

suki1964

Happydays, Im a bit confused ( but then Im easily confused ). How much of your money goes into the joint account each month towards the bills and how much of whats left is yours?

Is enough money going into the joint account to cover the day to day bills? Or is it because there isn't, that you have been borrowing to make up the short fall? Does your husband have money left over each month that he is saving or is everything going on debt payment?

sourcrates

Hi,

It appears to be the mortgage, and the childcare costs that are crippling you, over two grand just in those two payments.

Obviously the unsecured debt is another serious concern, once you start funding everyday living expenses with credit, the day of reckoning coming, is only a matter of time.

So essentially its time for your "light bulb moment", that moment in time you realise things cannot go on the way they are, and you must change your habits, and right now.

I am unsure as to exactly how much disposable income you have, but as a first step, you should perhaps stop paying your credit debts, offer them token payments, or nothing at all, concentrate on your essential payments, try and cut back as much as possible in all areas of your budget, save up as much as you can, by the time the debts have been sold on, you may be in a position to make settlement offers to the collection agencies.

This way, although your credit file will be shot, you get to keep your house, which, i would imagine, is the area of most concern.

happppydays

My situation is a little tricky which is why I was unable to do an accurate one last time. I put 800 into our joint account every month. Which my husband tops off to pay the rest of our outgoings with money he has. He got an a bit of an inheritance this year so luckily this tops up any shortfall. He!!!8217;s paid the car and going to pay a little of the mortgage off. He does say though that I have to deal with my own debt as I have built it up and he!!!8217;s over the years has said I send too much.
We will get 30 hours of funded childcare in jan 2019 which will ease things massively. I work 4 days a week and with children under 6 I don!!!8217;t think I can go back up to full time.

happppydays

Not sure what all those numbers are in my post. I didn!!!8217;t put them in!!