I am an idiot top tips to clear debt please

belldit18

Hi, Im 47 and need to sort my life out! I will do whatever this takes.
Can you please give me your top tips for clearing debt. (I have about £28k worth :eek:
I am going to ask my boss for more hours. Hubby is self employed and is paid irregularly which is a pain when budgetting.
I am cutting corners such as meal planning, phoning round to get better deals on stuff etc but please give me some tips I probably haven't thought of.
I am determined not to be a complete screw up for any longer!
xx

[Deleted User]

Going through every one of your expenses is a good starting point - making a spending diary if you need to.

There will lots of things you can cut once you've identified them - some easy, some not so much.

Willing2Learn

Completing an SOA is a good way to start. Post it up here and will get a ton of money-saving tips and guidance.
http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php

Also, google 'snowballing debts' as that is a really good method to busting debts.

Edit: Another good thing to do is to plan your budget. Have a look at the MSE article below:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning/

belldit18

Thanks Willing2learn - a major problem is that both mine and hubbys income is variable every week! What do I put for income?

Willing2Learn

If it were me, I think I would use the minimum guaranteed monthly salary when planning the budget. That way you will always stay within the 'worst case scenario' when making your calculations.

enthusiasticsaver

I agree a spending diary is a good start and an soa.

Irregular self employed income often means debt. Saving an emergency fund to cope with the low income weeks or months is sensible. Look for small ways to economise. Take packed lunches to work, cut down on coffees out or takeaways if those are your downfall.

pinknsparkly

Hi Bell!

First off, take a deep breath and give yourself a pat on the back for having this realisation!

As advised by previous posters, you need to create a statement of affairs (a budget, by a fancy name!). I would work out two incomes: the first one being the MINIMUM income you would get in a month (look back at bank statements over a suitable number of months to work this out, I'd suggest 12 months) and the second being the AVERAGE income you get in a month. If you can possibly make your budget work so that you can live on the minimum income then you can throw everything else (in months when you get paid more) at your debt as over payments. If you can't make the minimum income budget work then you'll need to work with the average budget instead. The first step for making this work is to make your minimum debt repayments only and throw any extra money you make on top into emergency savings. The size of this emergency savings pot needs to be enough to pay for an emergency such as a boiler replacement or car repair but ALSO enough to top up your income for several months (as many months as you are likely to take home less than the amount you need for your budget to work). Only once that savings pot is filled up should you start overpaying your debts. Otherwise you are going to constantly be accumulating more debt in months when you have low income.

Good luck, it sounds like you're pretty determined to do this and that's the biggest battle won. You CAN do this!!

tlc678910

Hi,
Consider using the YNAB app - or an alternative free budgeting tool that works in a similar way (if anyone can recommend one).

With YNAB you design your budget but you only fund it when you actually get money in real life.

To give you an example your partner could receive a sum of money now and you allocate it to Jan rent and Jan gas/electric but you can see you still need to fund the water bill and groceries pot when you get paid.

Because of this method it deals with variable and random income very well. You can add funds of any amount as many times as you like through the month. You would initially be working to get your funding further ahead. So if your partner received some money now and you already had January fully funded you could start to use the money to fund your February expenses, build an emergency fund or overpay debt.

I believe there is a free trial available.

Good luck

belldit18

Thank you so much for all your replies. I am in the process of getting all info together for the SOA and will report back as soon as Ive done it. Thank you for the advice and encouragement - it certainly means ALOT xx