DoOrDie - Accepting Debt and aiming for a brighter future diary

DoOrDie

Hi Everyone,
this is me accepting my debt and putting my story out there for anyone else to ask questions and also anyone who may give future advice as i travel this path.

My story is almost typical. I had my first child at 22. I already had 5k debt to start with. my partner (who was at the time 31 with £1k debt), couldnt keep her job as a teacher and originally we agreed we would balance it out for 1-2 years until she could return. Silly us had 2 more kids each 18 months apart. fast forward 3.5 years i have 3 kids about to get married to partner and renting a house and moved my job to london to work up the ladder. This delayed my wife back to work and we agreed we would wait till kids had finished primary or as close to. Due to health and mental health issues my wife didnt return to work. Fast forward 16 years or so. I have 3 healthy children, all teenagers now.
As you can imagine, cost of living increased higher than my salary (even though ive pushed to go as high as i can). Debt became bigger and required to ensure food on the table. Though the biggest issue was Debt moving into other debts. Expanding the debt more and more.
5 years ago my parents gave me a deposit to buy a house and i got on to the ladder, repaying them back the deposit over 5 years which i managed.
though debt stayed with me and as i saw a never ending circle of debt with no way out i made a decision to talk to Step Change and start a DMP for my debt.

More details/
Ive just setup a StepChange DMP for my debt totaling £55k.
I have a house worth £320k with a mortgage of £225k
So my equity is enough to pay off my debt. Though i want to sell and move house im worried even if i paid off my debt within 12 months and had enough deposit for the next place, i might not get a mortgage.
I am on a good salary £70k with my partner hopefully going back to work which might bring in £12k to start with. Though i cant count on this as she hasnt worked for 16 years because of a hernia which is still preventing her working (we are trying).

My current DMP would take 9 years to clear if i just sit still in my house on the plan i have.
I have a need to move house in the next 2 years. Ideally i want to sell to clear all and start fresh as soon as possible.
My plan is to pay off as much as i can in 2-3 years and try and get a settlement figure in year 3 with the sale of the house to move forward. I know i might end up on sub-prime mortgage for a while.

Any advice is very welcome and if anyone wants to know my story more, feel free to ask.