In a mess! Advice needed

MrsCanary

Hello,

I am wondering if we could have some (potential) debt advice please because I am literally losing my mind with worry? We have had a really bad year last year which hit us financially.

Long story short, I am a teacher so work all the hours God sends.. My husband was made redundant last Jan which resulted in a large wage drop because he needed to take basically any job in his field. Sadly, he received barely any pay out due to the time he had been with the company and what he did get was swallowed up by him then needing a small op and having to take time off for that. 
Then, our home flooded (daughter left bath running) and we weren't covered by contents insurance so had to use catalogues etc to purchase new furniture and furnishings.
My car engine then gave in and I had no money to buy another so I had to take out credit for a new car at a ridiculously high rate of interest.
Then, just before Christmas we then had a huge car bill to pay to repair my husband's car, well over £1200, which we had to take another loan out for to pay.
Luckily, our children are grown up - we have our youngest at home studying for her degree - so we have minimal outgoings for children, but our eldest daughter is getting married abroad in November so we are having to pay for that too.

Prior to this, we held a lot of credit but always able to keep on top of our bills, but our interest rates are climbing and we had to take our credit here, there and everywhere.  Now we are drowning in ridiculous levels of credit and I am on the verge of a breakdown. We are both caring for elderly parents so we have so little spare time to boost our incomes. I will be able to exam mark in June which will give me a boost of around 2000, but there is little else we can do.

Currently, our monthly outgoings and incomings are:

HOUSING ASSOCIATION	465.08
COUNCIL TAX	102
EON - GAS AND ELEC	199
WATER	53.9
LEGAL AND GENERAL - CONTENTS INS	17.17
ZENITH - HUSBAND CAR INS	27.34
ADMIRAL - MY CAR INS	42.58
DVLA - HUSBANDS CAR TAX	13.56
DVLA - MY CAR TAX	14.43
VIRGIN MEDIA (NEW CONTRACT)	39
THREE - MY MOBILE (OCT)	49.3
EE - HUSBAND'S MOBILE (OCT)	56
THREE - DAUGHTER'S MOBILE (AUG)	53.29
TV LICENCE	13.25
AGEAS - PET INS (2 ELDERLY CATS AND 1 ELDERLY DOG)	24.98
FAIRMEAD - LIFE INS	19.26
OODLE - MY CAR FINANCE (50 MNTHS)	349.72
HMRC - TAX CRED OVERPAYMENT (FROM 2014)	30.47
DG - JEWELLERY WARRANTY        2.99 DG - TUMBLE DRYER WARRANTY 16.25 NEU - UNION FEES 24.99 GROCERIES AND PACKED LUNCHES                                                               400.00 DIESEL - HUSBAND 80 PETROL - ME 60 HP INK PLAN 4.49 AMAZON PRIME 8.99 DENTAL AND OPTICAL - BOTH 20 RAC - BREAKDOWN 9.47 NHS - HUSBAND PRESCRIPTIONS 10.81 NHS - MY PRESCRIPTIONS 10.81 NETFLIX  6.99 GYM - CONTRACT (SEPT) 55 RING DOORBELL PLAN 3.49 CURRY'S EXT WARRANTY OVEN 2.5 HAIR AND BARBERS 16 HOLIDAY PAYMENT (ENDS SEPT) 350 CREDITOR              AMOUNT OUTSTANDING NEW LOOK 119.05 MIN MONTHLY PAYMENT 4.02 CAPITAL ONE  1127.34 90.35 VANQUIS 474.45 46.18 POST OFFICE 182.66 20 WAVE 1215.17 80.62 ZOPA  1752 65 118 188 CARD 473.5 10 FLUID 590.91 13 TAPPILY 1361 100 LIKELY LOANS 856.32 107 118 118 LOAN 2009.6 63 LA REDOUTE 1703 108.75 FREEMANS  616 31.66 JD WILLIAMS  3481 139.84 MARISOTA  2731.85 114.79 OCEAN 200 20 ZABLE 989 28 PAYPAL CREDIT 500 15 FINIO LOAN 1716 89 STUDIO CATALOGUE  785.3 54 JACAMO 171.67 10 KALEIDOSCOPE 204.49 7.7

Income:                
MY WAGE                                                            2146 PCM
HUSBAND'S WAGE                                            1680 PCM
DAUGHTER'S BOARD                                            60 PCM (All she can afford at the moment)


I apologise for the formatting, I really don't know how to change it!

Basically, we are treading water at the moment. We are using cards to hold back the tide, but I feel like once the prices increase in April with inflation, we are going to really be hammered. We have just managed to get our credit file clear of defaults and debts from a period of hardship 16 years ago, so I really feel devastated that we are back here again. I literally hate myself for it.

Please can anybody help?

Thank you,

Saran and Phil

Grumpelstiltskin

A quick answer. £400 food, needs to be reduced if there are only 3 of you.
Amazon Prime, Netflix, cancel now. Warranties for appliances are they worth the money?
Holiday, can you cancel?
Daughter can she get a part time job? She needs to understand finances.

Grumpelstiltskin

SOA   SOA Calculator (lemonfool.co.uk)

Format for MSE and copy and paste.

RAS

I assume the holiday payment is for the wedding?

You've got several items missing like parking and clothes. You can't afford new wedding outfits, it's going to be what you've got or chazzer.

Get shot of the appliance and jewellery insurance. Now. To make room for price increases.

Get shot or reduce virgin, prime, Netflix and gym.

Try to reduce the media and phone packages. If you can't then cancel when they end and go PAYG.

By the autumn, you'll have some leeway and need to tackle the most costly debt first.

Daughter's going to need a PT job and to pay her own phone.

And you all need to sit down and meal plan to cut the food bill.

And see if there's stuff in the house that can be sold. If so, put that into an emergency fund. And freeze any credit cards. 

Grumpelstiltskin

Go to this board for ideas to reduce food budget.

Old style MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Rob5342

Lots of us have been in similar situations, myself included, but there is a solution.

To start with complete the SOA that Grumpelstiltskin has linked to and post here. When you have done that we take a look and suggest which areas can be cut down on, and which way out of debt would be the most suitable based on what you have remaining.

MrsCanary

Hello,

Thanks for the speedy reply! Please see my responses to your comments x

I assume the holiday payment is for the wedding? Yes, it is an all inclusive package.
You've got several items missing like parking and clothes. We don't have to pay to park at work etc. Rarely use the car beyond work, parents, supermarkets really. You can't afford new wedding outfits, it's going to be what you've got or chazzer. We have some smart outfits and we rarely buy new clothes now, We know it is a luxury.
Get shot of the appliance and jewellery insurance. Now. To make room for price increases. Will do.
Get shot or reduce virgin, prime, Netflix and gym. We are in contracts with Virgin and the gym. The gym ends September, Virgin we have just moved to because our Sky bill was near £80. Will remove the prime and Netflix.
Try to reduce the media and phone packages. If you can't then cancel when they end and go PAYG. These are in contract until October. We will be moving to PAYG/SIM only deals then.
By the autumn, you'll have some leeway and need to tackle the most costly debt first.
Daughter's going to need a PT job and to pay her own phone. She does and she is taking over the contract in August when it ends. This was our way of saying thanks for all she does for us and her grandparents.
And you all need to sit down and meal plan to cut the food bill. We will try but this is really hard because I have dietary needs which are always more expensive. I batch cook, we freeze left overs, we meal plan, we shop for cheap cuts, and buy reduced items. 
And see if there's stuff in the house that can be sold. If so, put that into an emergency fund. And freeze any credit cards. We have no assets in the house, no computer consoles at all, only one kindle and my laptop which is needed because I have to plan a lot from home as a teacher.

How would I go about freezing my credit cards?

MrsCanary

Apologies Rumpelstiltskin! I didn't see your queries but think I have answered them too above x

Grumpelstiltskin

Credit cards you can physically freeze them by putting them in a container of water in the freezer.
Also remove their details from any website they are on.

You need to only use cash nothing on credit cards.

OK the idea of helping your daughter is good but seeing as part of the problem was down to her she needs to understand you can't have everything you want.

MrsCanary

Just to clarify on some points because I feel they may seem wishy washy excuses, and they really aren't.

My daughter works 3am-3pm in an airport every weekend and through the week she attends uni 5 days a week then does her grandparents shopping for them. She also takes them to their appointments etc. She has a 30 mile round trip for uni and her work is the same distance. She has recently passed her test so her insurance, car payments, tax etc are to be paid for and she rarely socialises for her age at all so I really couldn't ask more from her.

Also, I am gluten and lactose intolerant so have to eat a really strict diet and the food is a lot more expensive. I do try to buy cheap but it is so hard!

Bolt1234

So why is the daughters mobile contract so much.  That is clearly a iphone 14 or similar. I have a son still at university who wanted something similar (everyone has one etc etc!).  I said we would fund £25 per month.  Anything else he would pay for.  He did think about it carefully (!) and decided to go for it.

Amazon Prime and various warrenties really arent worth it.  Gym will have to wait until you can afford to re-join.

How much is your daughters wedding costing?  I have heard that the average cost of a weeding is well over £20K.  Please dont say its anything like that?

Also what is your daugher working as as that only allows her to pay you £60? There are plenty of jobs out there, bar work, etc.

You can probably tell I am from the world of tough love.  Young people want all this 'items', big wedding, flashy phones etc but often expect the Bank of Mum and Dad to pay for them.  

I am sorry to sound so harsh but you really cannot afford all of the above.  But on a positive point reducing/cancelling a number of items should give you a few hundred pounds plus daughter can get a more robust job and help out too.