Where do I start???

Jemmie

Hello I'm new to these boards and wanted to know if anyone could give me some advice on where I need to start on the road to becoming debt free.

I've recently married and so have some outstanding money on both mine and my husbands credit cards - roughly around £7,000 EEEEKKK! My husband also has a loan of £2,000.

We also have a joint loan which I think has another 2 years to pay which is costing us £300 a month on top of our mortgage and bills etc. We both also have overddrafts amounting to almost £2000.

Our household income is about £46000. Does this situation sound really bad? We are managing the payments every month but the credit cards are just being paid by minimum payment every month and I would like to see these come down. We have just applied for 0% interest credit cards to transfer onto.

I really would like some advice on which steps I need to take and where I should start.

Thank you,

A very stressed Jemmie

immoral_angeluk

Jemmie wrote: »

Our household income is about £460000.

I hope that's a typo or else I'm going to fall off my chair!!!

Jemmie

oopppss hee hee yes sorry it was!

Scarlett.1974

Good morning Jemmie and welcome :wave:

First thing to do is have a read of this thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280 and post your SOA so all the dead clever people can come along and help you

You'll get stacks of excellent advice, I promise.

Well done on your LBM, things can only get better from now

Scarlett xx

Karmacat

Yep, what Scarlett said. Welcome to mse! This next bit will blow your socks off (in a good way, I promise). We'll help you cut your outgoings down, so that more of your money can go on paying off debt, not paying interest to lenders. Good luck.

Jemmie

My salary - £1,376
Partners salary - £1,450

Total - £2,826

Monthly Outgoings:

Mortgage - £777.48
Council Tax - £98
Gas - £35
Electric - £39
TV License - £8.63
Household insurance - £48.01
Water - £24.52
Phone - £36
Food - £250
Car Insurance - £19.41
Petrol - £90
Life Insurance - £37.58
Gym membership - £35
Mobile phone bills - £55
Abbey Loan - £298.84 (2 years left approx £10,000 6.9%)

Total: £1,852.48

Me - Abbey CC – Balance £2,164.46 (limit £5,200) APR 15.9%
Partner - Abbey CC - Balance £4,515.53 (limit £5,000) APR 15.9%

Me - Overdraft - £1,000 (limit £1,000) APR 0.1%
Partner - Overdraft - £700 (limit £1000)APR 0.1%

:eek: HELP - Where to start?!?!?

Shineyhappy

:hello: Hiya and welcome to the boards!

Well done on sorting out a SOA so quickly!

Firstly do you actually use the gym? Is there anyway you can do without it by running, walking, exercising at home?

If 250 pounds is for two of you for food, then you should be able to shave quite a bit off that, have a look at the Old Style board and use coupons to knock the cost down further! Swap from branded goods to supermarkets own and see if you like any of the value stuff- my brother laughs that I buy basic tinfoil but how does anyone tell the difference?

Could you swap the mobiles to PAYG?

Check out Quidco when taking out insurances or buying online and do some research and make sure you are getting the best deals for your utility bills and insurances.

Any chance of raising some extra cash from Ebaying your stuff, online surveys, mystery shopping etc?

Shineyhappy

Ps I think maybe you and your OH should keep spending diaries so you know where all your money goes as you do have quite a bit left over each month

lunar

I would start by going to www.whatsthecost.com and working out when you will become debt free if you use the snowballing method. i found it a really good motivator. well done for posting you will get loads of support on here.

Jemmie

Thank you for your comments - I've just added a couple of other costs. Actually you are right about the gym - I don't actually use it. I think I will cancel it and start running with my partner. I have also started selling on ebay so that should raise a bob or two to help pay off some debt.

Thank you so much!

duchy

OK the basics
First of all hop over to https://www.quidco.co.uk and look on Utilities and check you are getting the best deal on your gas and electric-if you switch using the quidco link you will also get cashback 3 months down the line.
£91 a month on phone calls combined is a lot-looking at the landline you should be able to find a better deal for sure and it's worth looking to see if your contract is the best for you or if you are paying for min you don't use whilst running up the house phone bill instead.
Food-do you menu plan ? How do you shop ? I find planning ahead and then on-line shopping (so I'm not tempted by impulse buys and can see all the special offers and plan meals around them) really helps keep it down.
Lunches -do you pack a lunch or buy ? A spending diary might help you see if you are wasting money on stuff through the working week (coffees, snacks etc really add up).
Declutter-we all have loads of tat, mistake clothes, books, cd's etc-Ebay and Amazon them. You'll have more space and more money.
That is how I started-and I really noticed the difference. Try and make it a challenge and not a slog. If it becomes a game to make savings rather than a chore it's a lot easier than if you do it with a bit of resentment because you are only doing it because you have to. Tat's where the MSE forums are invaluable-you make a saving-post about it and get the kudos and encouragement and feel twice as good about it