A house of cards - help

Malestrom

All un-secured debts must be included. If any debts are in joint names then the DMP or IVA will also be in joint names as you are both liable.

cgnao

I would recommend to sell your house as soon as possible while prices are still high.

Then clear as much as possible of your debt with the equity from the sale.

If you wait you'll end up in negative equity and it'll be worse.

Sorry mate.

DrStep

cgnao wrote:

I would recommend to sell your house as soon as possible while prices are still high.

Then clear as much as possible of your debt with the equity from the sale.

If you wait you'll end up in negative equity and it'll be worse.

Sorry mate.

You're not alone if you sell to reduce your debts. I've heard this from afew people lately. Down sizing is a valid but emotional option. Can a smaller home be just as good? (reduces maintenance costs, heating bill, council tax too etc). If you are selling, you' ll have to price competitively, there are too many sellers at the moment (no-chain speculators) who are selling at unrealistic prices slowing up everything.

If selling is not your cup of tea- how about getting in a lodger? Make your property work for you. Advertise in the paper / local university union/library if there is one. Its all tax free if the rent is not more that £4K or so per year. It would be good to make use of that spare room. Same again if you have a garage- let it out.

Good luck :T

drplokta

Squiffy wrote:

Hi Jo.
We do have two fully paid for cars, but both are necessities for our current jobs. (I actually make a profit from my car as regular business trips at 40p per mile can occasionally earn me up to £500 per month extra for actual fuel cost of £120).

If your wife's salary is only covering the nursery costs, and her job means you have the extra expense of running a second car, then you're making a loss on her job. Give up her job, the nursery and the second car.

czarq

Squiffy,

Sorry to hear about your problems. Another good source of advice and support is the Motley Fool Dealing with Debt message board. Well worth a visit IMO. You'll find many people there with debt problems such as yours who can offer practical advice on your situation.

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Messages.asp?bid=50079

Squiffy

Well, I told my wife on Saturday morning.

And what a woman! She was shocked and disappointed, but no words of blame, and total support. I'm very lucky to have her as my wife. :A

Drplokta - good point. Thing is, overall it is relatively cost neutral for her to work. But while she is at work she isn't using gas / electric / telephone, and she is maintaining her career until nursery fees reduce (drastically) in about 10 months time. She is a nurse, so is going to look into possibly doing some extra shifts on the nursing bank.

We're cashing in our investment trust, plus about £1750 worth of shares that are in her name. So that is almost £10k off the debt this weekend alone. (Or when we finally get the cheques from the various companies anyway).

She did our first cheap weekly shop this afternoon. Value items, BOGOFs and no luxuries meant a cost of about £59 for a family of five for the week. With £10 left aside to buy bread and milk during the week...

I've listed quite a lot on ebay last night, and we have 1/4 of our garage floor covered in other things to sell on ebay or at car boots. With a few gadgets, DVDs, games and other things I'm sure we can bring in another £600 to £700. Hopefully more.

You know, I actually feel excited about getting this sorted. And I'm so pleased I told my wife. I always knew she'd be great, and she was.

And I'm very glad I posted on here. It really helps to know that others are in the same boat, and to read about some of the success stories.

debtbuster2K5

Squiffy,

Well done for sharing you problem with your wife.

What you will find now, (As you have already found actually) is that this whole dealing with debt thing becomes a lot easier.

EG> Weekly shop is done economically etc etc.

When all people concerned are in the know, you will be far better equipped to deal with the problem.

I am thanking your last post in recognition of my respect for what you have done

Regards

zAndy1

Can you give me any clues as to how you do a weeks shopping for £59 as we're really struggling! Is it just a case of buying fruit and veg from a grocers and tinned stuff from LIDLs or if not get the own brand value stuff? It's meat that seems to do a lot of damage, chicken costs a fortune these days (breast fillets are at least £4 for 4 or 5). We get through 4 6pt bottles of milk a week (that's my wife and the 2 kids) and I use 1 4pt bottle of milk (that's £7 straightaway!). Glad to hear your wife took the news well and you're taking control of the situation anyway, keep us updated with how things are going

Cheers,
Andy.

Squiffy

Well maybe this week wasn't the best example as we already had some stuff in the cupboards & freezer. Also this week we didn't need nappies, coffee or washing powder.

But bearing in mind a normal weekly shop would have been around £120, getting it down to £59 was good.

She got the value beans, peas, carrots, etc. Prices are very competitive there. There was a fair bit of veg, which is always very cheap. During the week we'll be making corned beef stew and stuff like that.

There were quite a few BOGOFS too.

LearningToSave.

well done on telling your wife and wow at how you are getting it sorted!!
not got any advice just a fellow struggler myself
also getting excited about sorting it here too.........have you tried the snowball calculator?? they are fab and are the thing trhat has got me most excited and dedicated to clearing the debt this time.