45k debt... anyone want to help please?

Gareth_Ainsworth

WhySeaEm said:

 

£20 a day, 4 days a week! 

Sounds about right. £17 a day up here or £10 for a 15 minute visit in the day to let the dog out for a wee. Crazy! But if there is no other choice, it has to he paid!

WhySeaEm

Gareth_Ainsworth said:

WhySeaEm said:

 

£20 a day, 4 days a week! 

Sounds about right. £17 a day up here or £10 for a 15 minute visit in the day to let the dog out for a wee. Crazy! But if there is no other choice, it has to he paid!

It's less than all of my friends who pay £25. She's cheaper because she doesn't do pick ups/drop offs, I have to drop to hers. It's a really big expense!

IrishSean

DrEskimo said:

I would certainly try and aim for £2,000 surplus to throw on top of your current £1,270 debt payments. You should have little problem clearing £45k debt in under 2-years with a £120k salary.

• Get a written budget, and stick to it.
• Save a couple of grand as a safety net incase anything happens in the near future.
• Find any way you can to earn extra money and throw it all at the debts.
• Become debt free, stick to your budget and begin to start building wealth and assets you should be benefitting from given your household salary (house ownership, savings, investments, pensions, etc.).

Best of luck to you and your family

This m8...all this☝☝☝

You cud build a serious savings pot on your household bank... that's your target; even more than paying the debt, which in truth, shud b a speedbump if you fully commit

👍👌💪

elsien

Have you looked at kennels?  Where I am, kennel daycare cheaper than dog sitters or people calling in, and you can drop off and pick up outside of normal opening hours. 
It's not the same as them being at home or in someone's house, but they're safe and at my place spend a lot of outside time with other dogs.
Kennels are struggling at the moment with no one going on holiday,  so it may be worth checking again.  

monetxchange

All great advice on here. I think I'd just reiterate that you need to be honest with yourselves about your overspending that's led you to this position. I know rent is a bit expense, but even on £50k previously you shouldn't have been "barely coping" for two adults and a child. People manage on half that.

Always question what are needs and what are wants. Even on your current budget there's generous allowances for things like entertainment and groceries that could be lowered if you wanted to seriously go at the debt. Be sure to keep an eye on things gradually creeping up and up until you're back to spending too much again. Debt clearing is about making changes and compromises you may never have considered before. The current climate has proved people find it hard to differentiate between what is essential and unchangeable and what's just actually less convenient!

Don't try to run before you can walk. It seems from what you've said that you tend to do things you want and think you'll pay back later, like expensive wedding and getting a puppy when already struggling. No criticism, many of us have been there. But it's always helpful to remember the future is not guaranteed. Like you know, you may not be able to work and then you can't pay off what you've ran up. Truly realising I need to save up for something I want and wait instead of having it now and sticking it on credit has revolutionised my money habits.

Honeysucklelou2

Have you tried menu planning? The grocery budget seems quite high for a household of 3 - it’s the same as I spend for a household of 8 including 2 teenage boys! My income dropped last year so I spent an evening planning a rigorous grocery budget so that I knew exactly what we needed and how much it would cost. I’ve kept to that budget until lockdown when it’s increased a little to allow for the fact that we are all at home all day. Lots of home baking helps!

WhySeaEm

We're not good at menu planning I admit. We buy a lot of convenience foods as we're pretty time poor (usually, pre lockdown). We've been having lots of properly home cooked meals in lockdown. 

@Elsien we don't need daycare now until September when I go back to work, (in a school) so that's saving a big amount each month. 

WhySeaEm

monetxchange said:

Truly realising I need to save up for something I want and wait instead of having it now and sticking it on credit has revolutionised my money habits.

Yes, I definitely feel like I don't want to use credit again!

Mahsroh

Whilst your situation dictates that some adjustments and changing to spending habits can massively help get this debt paid off quickly, I think under lockdown you can really hit it hard and put a big hole in it. 

I’m personally finding a huge difference to my bank balance every month. Saving fuel by working from home (albeit offset to an extent by gas/electricity etc), saving money by not going out, and also having that extra time to spend on cost effective home cooked meals. You appear to also have all these short term savings too, plus the daycare. 

Take this opportunity to really hit your debt hard. 

IrishSean

I meal plan each month; I think you lot are better at the shopping than me as I try to keep the grocery budget below £400 for a family of 6 but it's tight! (Not all food, that's everything). We actually don't eat lots of meat either.

 I finally got the Andrew whatshisface breadmaker out which my parents-in-law bought me for my 40th (4 years 9 months ago!). I thought at the time, a lot of hassle to save a few pence but its awesome! (Plus I associated it with posh folk like David Cameron, lol). But I am a convert; the fresh bread is amazing. I'm not saying to anyone splash 3 figures on a machine but if u have one or  are offered one its a good job and so easy / fuss free.

The kennel suggestion was a good one.