This is more difficult than I thought.....

Debtdescendee

Hi,

So I’m one of those lurkers who adores this forum and how it’s driven me along for the last 2 years.

My story, just under 2 years ago I found out we had unsecured debt that I knew nothing about. Totally my fault for my naivety and not being a supportive spouse.

Once I started to find out the extent of the problem (that’s twice now that I’ve been too embarrassed to put the total number, it’s like it’s ingrained on my forehead sometimes) I started making lots of spreadsheets that accounted for every penny.

The finances totally switched to me be pretty much in total control....that’s from not having a clue what any bill was.

I did soooooo much to cut down outgoings on food, insurances....we have pots for everything....and to be honest it’s worked....I would have been more radical but I do get that we have to live as this will take a long time!

We did do consolidation loans and because I had everything under control these are 100% working.

So the numbers, in April 2018 the highest I got to was £95,566.......unsecured......I’m ashamed!!!!

So the good news is, when I complete the payments at the end of this month the debt will be £53,506....which I’m really proud of the reduction.

So why am I here....this is taking way longer than I planned and it’s at least another 2 years....and I’m struggling to keep going!

Everything is planned out, I have pots for car maintenance/insurance, Birthdays, Christmas, clothing, holidays and fun money! The rest goes on debt and bills.

I suppose I’m just looking fir someone to bounce off ideas, changes, hurdles along the way....no idea if this is the right place but I just wanted to ask.......

MovingForwards

It does take time, you have done so well already, two years will fly by.

Are you cooking in bulk? Meal planning? Using every scrap of food you buy? Or is some still going in the bin?

I assume you shop around for insurance?

Do you also know why you ended up owing so much? Was it lifestyle or something else?

To save more money to pay at debts don't buy each other presents and do token ones for parents.

Are there any children?

Clothes, only buy for yourselves when something wears out, again it saves money ("smalls" are excluded).

How much fun do you have? Can you cut back? Eg if you do it each month can you swap to every other month?

Holidays, how much do you spend each time, including cost of holiday / spending money / clothes etc. Would it be worth saying no holiday next year?

enthusiasticsaver

To reduce it from over £95k to £53k in 1.5 years is brill. Saving in pots and budgeting is the way forward and whilst I do not recommend consolidation if it goes alongside strict financial discipline and saves interest it can work but only if you change your spending habits. Have you stopped using credit altogether now so not adding to the debt?

This has to be a long term thing so you cannot think of it in time terms. Even when the debt is repaid you will still need to know you are living within your means. £95k is a lot to build up so can you identify how it got so high? How old are you?

Debtdescendee

MovingForwards wrote: »

It does take time, you have done so well already, two years will fly by.

Are you cooking in bulk? Meal planning? Using every scrap of food you buy? Or is some still going in the bin?

I assume you shop around for insurance?

Do you also know why you ended up owing so much? Was it lifestyle or something else?

To save more money to pay at debts don't buy each other presents and do token ones for parents.

Are there any children?

Clothes, only buy for yourselves when something wears out, again it saves money ("smalls" are excluded).

How much fun do you have? Can you cut back? Eg if you do it each month can you swap to every other month?

Holidays, how much do you spend each time, including cost of holiday / spending money / clothes etc. Would it be worth saying no holiday next year?

Hi,

We meal plan every week and batch cook. Never throw food away now but do eat healthily to try and stay fit. This does cost more though.

We budget fun money every month and also holiday pot money. I’d say both are critical due to the length of time this is going to take to get sorted. We just can’t put our life on hold totally for so long.

I know there are ways we could definitely save more money but I think for now we are going on the right direction every month.

Debtdescendee

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

To reduce it from over £95k to £53k in 1.5 years is brill. Saving in pots and budgeting is the way forward and whilst I do not recommend consolidation if it goes alongside strict financial discipline and saves interest it can work but only if you change your spending habits. Have you stopped using credit altogether now so not adding to the debt?

This has to be a long term thing so you cannot think of it in time terms. Even when the debt is repaid you will still need to know you are living within your means. £95k is a lot to build up so can you identify how it got so high? How old are you?

Hi,

I was so naive to it all I never knew about the debt. Credit cards are long gone and we are barely paying any interest now. That’s why I can take such chunks out of the debt each month.

We live well within our means now as everything is tracked and then tracked again. I know to the penny what we will pay in the following months.

My problem is keeping up the enthusiasm, I’m 42% of the way there as of today but it’s just hard sometimes to keep up the motivation.

I’ve actually let it consume my life now and it’s getting more difficult to keep it up.

Any wise words are truly welcomed.

enthusiasticsaver

It sounds like you are doing everything right then if you are budgeting for fun stuff and holidays plus tracking your spends. I am not sure about letting it consume your life though. If you are barely paying interest and have managed to pay £42k off in less than 2 years then whatever you have been doing has worked so don't give up.

My advice would be save for emergencies alongside the debt repayments and save in pots as you have been doing. That also gets you away from the credit card mentality of putting everything on credit.

Build a fun budget in as you have 2 more years to go.

Make a list of the things you want to do when you are debt free. That could be a holiday, extra savings or investments for early retirement or a new kitchen or car or even buying a house if you rent. Having some aims and reasons why you need to be debt free may motivate you to keep going.