Light bulb moment

enthusiasticsaver

I would start with a couple of the smaller debts like Very and Capital one.  Surely your child is not doing the activities at the moment so you have £150 to play with and you can reduce the presents for this year especially as you just have the one child. The groceries figure is surely also very high given it is just you and your child as your husband is away. Is the TSB debt a card or an overdraft? The fact that all the interest rates are high is a sign you are over committed.  Surely if your husband is away a lot you don't need two cars? 

[Deleted User]

As someone also in the oil & gas industry I wouldn’t go banking on any pay rises for the foreseeable. I don’t want to burst your bubble but plan for the worst and hope for the best. 

Is your husband aware of how much debt you’re in? If not would that help him downsize or do away with his  car altogether? 

Rockin2014

If your Husbund won’t get rid of his car why don’t you get rid of yours and just use his? 

[Deleted User]

Those are a frightening set of numbers aren't they   

Your 'shopping habit' is an all too real one for a lot of people, of both genders, it often borders on a compulsion and that's hard to break; cut up the cards you favour spending on/in and throw your money at the debt of it instead, once you see number reducing that becomes your 'fix' instead of spending on it.

Does your other half know all the numbers relating to the unsecured debts, what is/are his thoughts/plans for stopping all this money from being given away ?
Honestly, as soon as you see the numbers/debt dropping lower and lower it will become your new addiction   
. 
Edit:
Have a look at @zippygeorgeandben 's 'Sticky' at the top of this subforum, she did an amazing job. 
 Sorry, she's in 'Loans' not here. 

Grumpelstiltskin

£1200 a year on presents is obscene. Looks like you have fallen into the trap of ' the more expensive the present I buy the better person I am ' you must stop this, it's the thought that counts not the cost.
 That plus the money you are not paying out for your child's activities at the moment give an instant £250 a month to throw at your debts

thegreenone

My husband is an engineer in Oil and Gas and just been made unemployed but he was land based so very pleased to hear your husband is still employed in this difficult time.   We have an old MG sitting in the garage, which my husband has owned for 40 years.  It doesn't require road tax or MOT but we did have it tested and it sailed through.  Insurance is £104 per year.   Perhaps have a look at this option as a second car.   Something sporty, classic and fun to drive but with very low running costs.  As you have one child it may, just may be a cool school run car.  Maybe???  research thoroughly to make sure it's not a money-pit.

sammyjammy

Just a quick question, what is your husbands gross salary?  You seem to be in the bracket of not being entitles to Child benefit (or all of it at least), its worth checking, you don't want a big bill!  https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge

shoppingobsessed2020

sammyjammy said:

Just a quick question, what is your husbands gross salary?  You seem to be in the bracket of not being entitles to Child benefit (or all of it at least), its worth checking, you don't want a big bill! 

Thanks, he’s tax free so is entitled to child benefit as works out the U.K. more than 180 days in a tax year.  his tax advisor keeps him legal on that front as we have queried it on multiple occasions.

re getting rid of “my” car.  I can’t unfortunately.  Both cars are in his name and under his insurance, legally I am the main driver on both cars so nothing iffy going on there with insurance.  I physically can’t get rid of either car as legally neither is mine to sell.  

today I have cut up all credit cards bar one (1k limit tsb card) and have sorted the “budget” for next month to implement come payday.  I’ve missed some info off the Soa when looking through through the accounts so spare cash is actually reduced.  I didn’t realise dh had £250 a month standing order to the mortgage (will cancel when I can get to the bank as complicated set up due to power of attorney) £25 bank account charge (need to keep as benefits we use would cost more separately - phone insurance, home emergency cover, aa breakdown cover plus travel insurance although travel insurance we don’t use especially at the moment it’s handy to have), £50 union fees for both us (need to keep) ive still been paying £15 to hmrc ni contributions from when I had my business years ago.  That I need to cancel and stop and see if anything to be reclaimed.

ive cancelled the standing order to the presents account for now and will reassess in 3 months as there are now no more birthdays in the family later in the year.  There’s nothing in there anyway as had a spate of birthdays and anniversary’s in March and April so bar a few quid it’s empty.  

Car account is also empty as before lockdown commenced both cars were serviced and had their mot so I need to keep the money allocated for that to one side as insurance is due for both cars in December.  We pay at once for that.  Ditto the house insurance, that’s paid for in one go so the money that’s in there I’ll be spending very soon as home insurance is due for renewal next month.

its been a productive day so happy with what’s been achieved so far.

ryanm8655

Does your other half know about the debt? Sounds like he needs to be on the same page if you are going to be successful. It’s a huge amount. Getting rid of a car would be a huge help. If you aren’t going to make sacrifices then the debt will be virtually the same a few years down the line (assuming you don’t spend more). The interest rate on those loans is crazy, if you were able to make a good dent quickly it’d open up lower interest forms of credit and the debt disappears far more quickly. I’ve gone from having £20k of my debt charging interest to £3k in about 8 months this way and should have everything interest free by the end of May. It’s made a big difference as a greater proportion of the repayments are going on debt rather than just interest...

Obvious things are the cars and a crazy presents budget. The fact is you can’t afford to be spending a fortune on a wide range of family and friends when you’ve got huge debts.

Well done for confronting it though, that’s the first and arguably toughest step.

shoppingobsessed2020

Hiya
yes he knows about the debt as both loans he took out plus he uses the mbna credit card, the Barclays card on interest free and the car loans.  The rest is mine from spending day to day on my credit cards and not keeping track properly of what we were both doing financially.

his has built up funding his work courses over the last few years (Acvomodation, living expenses and course fees) and the rest has just been me spending and treating ourselves and doing up the house not realising what he had going on with his accounts.  I have had pattern historically of spending and almost maxing a card then paying it off then starting again which has been fine in the past when we had the resources to do it.  I need to close each account now as it’s paid off as there can’t be two of us spending and not taking control.