Too much debt, where do I start?

SandyShores

enthusiasticsaver said:

......... you can offer emotional support and free childcare to your children but they have a lifetime to sort out their finances but you now have a limited window....

That's so well put Enthusiastic Saver.  

welshspendthrift

enthusiasticsaver said:

You have a fairly decent surplus on the presumably temporary payments so you have a great opportunity to save that £330 plus the £59 for the settee from January so that you are in a position to tackle the most expensive of the debts when they start charging full interest again.  I would not rush to overpay initially but concentrate on saving any surplus and living within the budget as long as they aren't charging interest so the exception may be Halifax.  You won't be able to get new credit as you now have defaults so you need access to a decent emergency fund. As you don't appear to have savings this should be your priority.  The only exception to this would be if you are  tempted to dip into the savings  for other unbudgeted stuff in which case I would overpay the New Day which was not only the most expensive but also the smallest debt so clearing that will give you a good win and get rid of one of the cards.  Make sure you close them as you clear them. 

There is one more thing I would say and as a mother and grandmother myself I understand how difficult it is to see our children struggle and I love helping my DDs out too but we don't have debt and are already early retired but you really need to get your financial ducks in a row if you are close to retirement so you may need to take a step back and fight the urge to  offer financial support.  You have a mountain of debt to clear (on your own) , I am not sure why your partner is not helping if the debt was spent on things for both of you but that is your choice and hard as it is you can offer emotional support and free childcare to your children but they have a lifetime to sort out their finances but you now have a limited window.  I assume the settee was for your daughter but you are actually prioritising that over debts in your own name. 

 How far off retirement are you? 

Thank you enthusiasticsaver good advice, my DD knows now I am not in an position to support any more, I am 59 so could retire ( voluntary retirement offer starts at 55 in my organisation ) but I can continue till at least 68/70 if the stress and pressure don’t take over. My aim is 63-65 with all debts clear and mortgage paid. My partner and I only moved in together 3 years ago and apart from holidays the spends weren’t joint ones. Unfortunately this week my partner had some mental health issues and currently off work , which is an added worry. 

Halifax are now defaulting the account which is what I thought was happening anyway so it was a little frustrating after going through the budget sheet with them And talking to them. So have to wait another 60 days to sort out a payment.  I have used what would have paid to them half to Halifax cc and other half to overpay car loan. 

Don’t think I actually said but all cards apart from debit card are cut up, so not using any credit cards since May. 

Going to attempt a spreadsheet to keep a closer eye and we have agreed to cut our grocery budget and use a separate account for shopping for food/ cleaning stuff so it’s easier to track. I will keep a spending diary and aim for NSD of at least 20 days. 

SandyShores said:

I'm following Dave Ramsey's baby steps - the first one is to get £1,000 saved into an emergency fund as fast as possible, so you don't have to put any more on the cards/loans.  The next step is to pay off all your debts.  There's a debt snowball calculator on here somewhere to help with that.  Good luck with it all here's a link to the baby steps;  https://www.daveramsey.com/dave-ramsey-7-baby-steps#baby_step_1

Anthony O'Neal is also really positive, there's a link to an article about him here:  https://www.success.com/anthony-oneal-can-help-you-get-out-of-debt/  

Thanks SandyShores will have a look at both those 

welshspendthrift

Hi everyone bit of an update, cancelled AA breakdown / recovery Today , cannot believe I have paid so much for this service which I haven’t used since 2015, found a much cheaper one for £28 a year, Start rescue @£28 a year for roadside/ relay and home, just need to check some of the finer details to make sure no hidden costs but as AA lasts till mid Dec and not likely to be going far till after Christmas it can wait till after Christmas. Anyone got experience of this company or other cheaper roadside recovery companies? Reviews look good for Start. 

Cancelled a cake decorating mag Subscription which I forgot to put On SOA due in December, love my cake/ baking decorating, can’t get approved to sell as my kitchen is accessed by the cats ( hasten to add not allowed on kitchen worktops) , was thinking could do some bakes to sell at Christmas but the approval would be tricky, might mention to friends and family but need to work out prices properly ( not good at charging friends and family) 
also OH agreed we need to cancel fridge insurance job for tomorrow 😀
Also did a Whats the cost and hope to be debt free by sep 24 , could be before if I knuckle down to eBaying Some stuff 😀
Have also sent for details of the buildings/ contents insurance as want to see if can cut the cost of this.
food budget is getting cut and into a separate account in an effort to cut this eventually by half I hope. Work in progress , will hit it hard in January. 

SandyShores

Sounds like you are making great progress wsb.  Debt free by September 24 is brilliant.  I think that's about 45 months - you'll soon be counting down.  Keep up the good work

monetxchange

If you miss your magazine, have a look to see if your local library offer e-mags to download onto your phone or tablet. I recently did this when I was tempted to get a Good Food magazine subscription! Also shout out to the Asda and Tesco magazines for their free recipes 😁

[Deleted User]

monetxchange said:

If you miss your magazine, have a look to see if your local library offer e-mags to download onto your phone or tablet. I recently did this when I was tempted to get a Good Food magazine subscription! Also shout out to the Asda and Tesco magazines for their free recipes 😁

Completely agree. I get the Radio Times every week on my tablet - saves a fortune, especially the xmas edition. Most libraries seem to use RBDigital access.

welshspendthrift

monetxchange said:

If you miss your magazine, have a look to see if your local library offer e-mags to download onto your phone or tablet. I recently did this when I was tempted to get a Good Food magazine subscription! Also shout out to the Asda and Tesco magazines for their free recipes 😁

Thank you great idea , will check that out 😀

welshspendthrift

Hi everyone , sold my unused for a good while treadmill today for £50 which I’m hoping to overpay on  my car loan ! At least I won’t feel guilty for not using it now. Much prefer a walk outside. Also put an old fridge freezer up for sale it’s got dents etc and only fit for beer fridge/ spare space in garage. Was going to take to tip but hopefully will be £10 better off tomorrow afternoon. 

Food budget is being carefully tracked this month and in January more meal planning to cut down. Where do people bulk buy their meat as we have a big freezer which could accommodate. 

I really need to do more sorting and sell clothes which are already on the to sell pile. All bills paid for this month and just waiting to see how much left after all essential payments made and have distributed to pots for car maintenance and professional registration and gifts/ Christmas / hair/ health opticians and dental. Petrol money in a separate pot too. On a positive note as now in tier 3 no going to an event with friends which means less costs. I will also reduce the hair and beauty stuff if not cancel altogether but feel bad for the person as she is struggling due to COVID . Dilemmas! 

enthusiasticsaver

Good that you sold the treadmill and have got other stuff to sell.  I think I would build up your emergency fund before overpaying the loan unless it is already at £1000? The reason for having an EF is so that you are not forced to  use credit if you have an unavoidable bill.  You will also have a buffer in case any of those cards start charging interest as that will be way higher than the loan. 

welshspendthrift

enthusiasticsaver said:

Good that you sold the treadmill and have got other stuff to sell.  I think I would build up your emergency fund before overpaying the loan unless it is already at £1000? The reason for having an EF is so that you are not forced to  use credit if you have an unavoidable bill.  You will also have a buffer in case any of those cards start charging interest as that will be way higher than the loan. 

Thanks enthusiasticsaver , no the EF has been started but only at £100 so far £50 from joint account last month and £50 this month and will be a regular transfer every month till we get to a £1000. My plan is to put any pot leftover / under budget in too. Thank you for the advice, all credit card accounts frozen so thankfully use of them is not possible. 

I’m reading diaries and really identify with some of the things in there, changing habits for a lifetime now and living life I can afford not the life I thought I wanted! I was hankering after a cake icing mould for sugar craft / Christmas cake gonk design but resisted whereas in the past would have stuck it on cc or spent it from household budget.  Having budgets for everything is good, will even be saving for car tax and maintenance now, next year I aim to put extra in so can pay for car insurance in one lump  rather than monthly payments, hopefully will be cheaper. No additional debt being accrued and slowly cc / loans going down. 

Cut down vastly on Christmas and renovating my daughters old dolls house for my granddaughter for Christmas , tbh not many presents being bought, my bf and I decided years ago we would do something together instead of big presents, going to think of a cheap day out, maybe overnight trip in January if we can! We pay for ourselves too. 

Off to finish off my Christmas cake now