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BabyStepper

You are off to a flying start with getting this debt sorted out, doing all the right things and making brilliant progress. £1k paid off, £600 emergency fund, you're doing it. Well done!

It might help to get all your debts listed correctly with interest rates added in. Include your car finance and your last 2 sofa payments, and get that info from OH about his card interest rate. That way, you will see the full picture and also know what order to pay your debts off in. You will also see the wins more clearly as they happen. Sofa about to be paid off, CC5 about to be paid off, you really are doing amazingly. Celebrate the wins, every step is improving your financial position. 

If you can bear to post an soa we will all try and help you cut it down. I know it feels exposing, but I wish I'd done mine sooner, even just for confirmation that it looked ok. 

About your girls, I don't think it would hurt to sit them down and have a family discussion about what is happening right now. You don't need to tell them about the debt, but to explain that things are very difficult right now, you're worried about OH's job, you need to work extra shifts to make sure everything is alright, and they're going to have to help in a way they never have done before. If you can get the whole family on board then great. Was your 16 year old due to sit exams? There is all this talk about A level students and uni places, but the younger ones will be feeling lost too. And the thought of you coming home after such a long shift to a sink full of dishes and overflowing laundry... I'm concerned you'll burn out. Everyone needs to pull their weight at this time, finding the right motivator (earning pocket money?) might help.

Best of luck. I've subscribed.     

shellslife

Thanks BabyStepper. I am trying hard. It is just so easy to get into debt and really hard getting out. I did have a shock when I realised how much we owed lol. The worse thing is some of the debt I have no idea what the money has gone on. Some has been used for redecorating the living room as it hadn’t been done for over 13 years. This included a new carpet. I stupidly got a cream carpet originally and as you can imagine with 2 young kids it didn’t stay cream for long 😂 The sofa was replaced but only the 3 seater as it had huge holes in it. We kept the 2 seater as there was nothing wrong with it. They are both the same colour but different designs but who cares. 

We also got a new TV at the same time as DH kept eyeing up the smart TVs. Luckily we got a brand new TV and we ended up being £55 richer and saved money on cable bill (and got more channels). Turns out Curry’s had a deal on where if you changed internet provider going through them Whilst buying a tv they were offering cash back, money off internet bill and a gift card. The TV was £399, we got £200 cash back, £100 off the internet bill and £100 gift card. I then went on to sell my old tv for £50. 

Some of the debt is also the holiday we booked that I thought “oh it’s ok we have loads of time to pay it” and as you can imagine only paid a small amount so then gets hit with a bill for thousands. I then stuck that on the CCs. This will only be our 2nd family holiday so decided to go to Jamaica which as you can imagine wasn’t cheap. We are now hoping that it will be cancelled as we really don’t want to go what with COVID. We could postpone it apparently but I want to see if they will cancel and I can claim a refund back onto my CCs. We are due to go in August and up to now holidays up to 15th July have been cancelled.
I have done a SOA previously and know where we go wrong. If I feel brave one day I will post another. 

I know I need to be more organised with food especially for me whilst I am in work. I often find myself going to the restaurant and spending between £2-5 on a meal for my tea. I also need to stop saying yes if people ask if I want pizza/takeout/coffee etc when in work as it all adds up. I annoy myself doing it especially when it’s an extra shift because I’m supposed t9 be there to earn extra money to clear the CCs faster! When you add it up it could be £20+ a month that I could use on a debt repayment. 

Well it would appear that I have locked myself out of one of my credit card accounts lol. I tried to log on and must have put the wrong details in as I had just come in after a long day in work. Now I have misplaced the CC as well so looks like that will be a job for today.

Have picked a couple of more extra shifts up but found out yesterday that apparently we don’t get Sunday enhancements on bank work! Will have to clarify that as it doesn’t seem fair. 

enthusiasticsaver

Good news on that CC5 almost being gone.  
Presumably when you paid the balance for the Jamaica trip we were in lockdown? Can I ask why you paid it in full at that point?  We have a big trip booked for September but we decided in April even if travel was up and running again by then we would not want to go. We therefore delayed the trip to September 2021 so the balance is not due until next June now. Could you not have postponed the holiday? 

shellslife

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good news on that CC5 almost being gone.  
Presumably when you paid the balance for the Jamaica trip we were in lockdown? Can I ask why you paid it in full at that point?  We have a big trip booked for September but we decided in April even if travel was up and running again by then we would not want to go. We therefore delayed the trip to September 2021 so the balance is not due until next June now. Could you not have postponed the holiday? 

I think I just panicked and thought if I didn’t pay balance we would lose all the money we had already paid. Stupid mistake I know but what’s done is done.

shellslife

Been a bit quiet on here last week due to working 5 14hr shifts and will be the same this week. No extras available for next week tho sadly.
Got a random £5.40 paid into my bank on Friday, turns out it was a small tax rebate lol so that has gone off CC5 and my normal payment of £50 was paid today so that will take this balance to £190.88. I should get paid for some of my extra shifts this Friday which will mean that this card will be gone 😀
This will also be my last month for the mortgage payment holiday so that £400 will be paid off the catalogue I think as I will have to start paying interest in August. 

Just got notification that the refund for DD2s holiday with school has gone onto the parent pay account so I’ve requested this to be refunded into my bank. As soon as this clears that will be another £444 to be paid off the debts.
I also sold a cake 🍰 to someone if DHs work. It was only a traybake so not expecting much money but that will go in my emergency box. Plus I have an order for a cheesecake and a traybake. I know they won’t bring in huge amounts but I enjoy doing them and the extra £s will build up nicely. 

X

shellslife

Got £8 for the traybake which went into my emergency box.
On an early shift in work today so DH couldn’t pick me up. I didn’t feel comfortable getting the bus with Covid so ordered a taxi. It cost £9.50 🙁 just as well it doesn’t happen often at all as I do usually do long days. There was an extra shift available for the late but I’m already working 60 hours this week, plus DD was having her leaving assembly this afternoon (a virtual one sadly). I wanted to be with her to watch it.

Payslips have come in for my pay for Friday and I am getting paid an extra £300, something to do with enhancement arrears. Plus the parent pay money hit my account today so that’s CC5 all paid off 😀😀😀.
Now on to tackle catalogue as this is 0% until The end of August when it will become 39.9% 😬😱 Just paid £244 off this, only £554 left. Hopefully this will be gone with this pay on Friday. 

I will get these all cleared off x

shellslife

Payday today fro both DH and myself plus I have also been paid my weekly pay for the extra shifts I have worked. 

It’s the last months mortgage holiday so i have used that £400 and £154 from my extras wage to clear the catalogue 😀 

Out of the 7 debts to be cleared that’s 2 of them gone. Sadly the other 5 are quite high balances but I know I can do it.
i checked DHs CC2 the other day and it showed me his offers and typically it is allowing him to do a 0% balance transfer lol. If only one of the other cards where doing this. 

I have changed the payment on this card to £200 a month as it was set at £150 but as CC5 has gone I’ve added that payment. Once the last sofa payment [didnt include in debt list) comes out In July then that’s another £60 I can add to that direct debit payment.
Its going to be a long slog to clear these debts especially as I now can’t use the mortgage money as the payment holiday has finished, plus I don’t think there will be as many extra shifts once the people shielding come back to work. 

It is both DDS birthdays in August as well as DHs and my nieces and nephews, my 2 brothers and my sis in law. We stopped buying for the adults last year thankfully so will just need to get the last 3 cards. DD1 wants a £360 pair of trainers! Told her not a chance so she then tried to lay the guilt trip on me saying does that mean she will hardly get anything for her birthday. Errrmmm even if I was daft enough to get her the trainers that would be all she got. 

Will need to ask my nice and nephews parents for ideas for them as I want to order online (I still don’t feel comfortable going shopping, it’s bad enough doing grocery shopping lol)

WinterWarrior

Well done on standing firm...Were the trainers made out of gold? 😬

Narola1976

You are doing extraordinarily well. Well done.

shellslife

Suzanne54321B said:

Well done on standing firm...Were the trainers made out of gold? 😬

Lol they are McQueens. I had to google them. To be honest I think they look just like the cheap white trainers you can pick up from markets.
i would much rather get her something she could keep like a bracelet that spend that sort of money on trainers that she will either destroy within weeks or keep in the box cos she is too scared to wear them 😂
I’ve asked both girls to give me ideas on what they want so let’s see what they both come up with.
We could possibly be in Jamaica on DD1s 16th birthday but I am still hoping that this gets cancelled so we get a refund. If not then I will try and postpone to next year.