Debt free wannabe! Please help no judgement

Sophie8916

Hi all!

I am embarrassed and ashamed to say at 30 years old I have hit rock bottom and want to be debt free.

All this debt is my own fault, ive been in debt twice before and cleared it through re-mortgaging but I wish I hadn't as im back in this position again, I sold my property and am onw renting.

I suffer with anxiety, and in a panic last year I took out a load of mobile phone contracts, to sell the phone to make a quick buck, foolishly spent it then im stuck with the monthly payments (thankfully some end next year).

My monthly income is £4675 (I have a good job)

Below are my monthly spends

Rent - £1350
Council Tax - £160
EE - £220
Water - £30
Wifi - £30
Tesco mobile - £150
Virgin mobile - £30
02 - £80
ID mobile - £40
Gas and electric - £225

My debts are

MBNA  credit card - Balance £5200
Jaja credit card - £3400
Natwest Credit Card - £7200
Pay pal credit - £700
Very account - £1400


I know it sounds silly but I pay the minimum at the moment on CC's ect and the rest of things when I am depressed or sad which is alot, ive been suicidal over this debt . Firstly, is there light at the end of the tunnel? will I ever be able to be debt free? Secondly where do I start? do I snowball? Do I start an emergency fund first? how much do I leave for disposable income and how much for clearing debts?

sourcrates

Well your SOA is far from complete, no food spend, and various other things are missing, however, you should have around 2k a month to throw at your debts, at least on paper you do.

Just snowballing them would see you debt free in a little over a year.

Unless you are spending much more than you have put down on paper, I can’t see your problem.

Sophie8916

sourcrates said:

Well your SOA is far from complete, no food spend, and various other things are missing, however, you should have around 2k a month to throw at your debts, at least on paper you do.

Just snowballing them would see you debt free in a little over a year.

Unless you are spending much more than you have put down on paper, I can’t see your problem.

Ok thanks I’ll add food on

what about disposable income? What would you allow? Also is it reccomended to start a rainy day fund aswell as I have no savings 

RAS

Travel to work?
Haircuts?
Medical and dental, at least enough for one visit to the dentist?
Contents insurance?
Christmas and presents?
Holiday, even if only visits to family?
Emergency fund, you've mentioned.
Entertainment/going out?

You really need to list the APRs for those debts. Pay off the most expensive one first.

sourcrates

Sophie8916 said:

sourcrates said:

Well your SOA is far from complete, no food spend, and various other things are missing, however, you should have around 2k a month to throw at your debts, at least on paper you do.

Just snowballing them would see you debt free in a little over a year.

Unless you are spending much more than you have put down on paper, I can’t see your problem.

Ok thanks I’ll add food on

what about disposable income? What would you allow? Also is it reccomended to start a rainy day fund aswell as I have no savings 

Yes you need savings, as for disposable income, it rather depends on how you go about this, do you intend self managing or getting help from a debt charity?

The debt charities are ok, but self management gives you much more flexibility and freedom to organise things as you see fit.

Anther question is are you bothered about your credit file ?

Invariably debt management will not reflect well on your credit report, but that’s to be expected, after all, getting rid of the debt is the goal here.

Sophie8916

sourcrates said:

Sophie8916 said:

sourcrates said:

Well your SOA is far from complete, no food spend, and various other things are missing, however, you should have around 2k a month to throw at your debts, at least on paper you do.

Just snowballing them would see you debt free in a little over a year.

Unless you are spending much more than you have put down on paper, I can’t see your problem.

Ok thanks I’ll add food on

what about disposable income? What would you allow? Also is it reccomended to start a rainy day fund aswell as I have no savings 

Yes you need savings, as for disposable income, it rather depends on how you go about this, do you intend self managing or getting help from a debt charity?

The debt charities are ok, but self management gives you much more flexibility and freedom to organise things as you see fit.

Anther question is are you bothered about your credit file ?

Invariably debt management will not reflect well on your credit report, but that’s to be expected, after all, getting rid of the debt is the goal here.

To be honest my credit file at the moment isn’t great BUT just done a snowball calculator and I can clear this myself in a year-18 months so feeling a bit more positive! 

sourcrates

Well that would be the way to go then, one thing I would suggest is that you take stock of your spending habits once you have got back on track, many people post on this forum with 1000’s of pounds of debt, and they can’t always remember what they spent it on.

You are lucky in that you have a good income, you should not need to borrow at all now really.

Here endeth the lesson, good luck with the debt busting.

born_again

With £520 + £30 wifi? to mobile co's. Are you paying for other family members. 

MFWannabe

Ok. Firstly start by filling in a soa: https://www.lemonfool.co.uk/financecalculators/soa.php

You need to budget for everything and be completely honest 

Put the interest rates against the debts 

Once you’ve done this you can see what debts you need to tackle first and how much spare you have to throw at them 

You also need to address your spending and acknowledge why you keep spending 

TheAble

born_again said:

With £520 + £30 wifi? to mobile co's. Are you paying for other family members. 

OP mentioned took out the contracts to flog the handsets.

NeverendingDMP

Sophie8916 said:

sourcrates said:

Sophie8916 said:

sourcrates said:

Well your SOA is far from complete, no food spend, and various other things are missing, however, you should have around 2k a month to throw at your debts, at least on paper you do.

Just snowballing them would see you debt free in a little over a year.

Unless you are spending much more than you have put down on paper, I can’t see your problem.

Ok thanks I’ll add food on

what about disposable income? What would you allow? Also is it reccomended to start a rainy day fund aswell as I have no savings 

Yes you need savings, as for disposable income, it rather depends on how you go about this, do you intend self managing or getting help from a debt charity?

The debt charities are ok, but self management gives you much more flexibility and freedom to organise things as you see fit.

Anther question is are you bothered about your credit file ?

Invariably debt management will not reflect well on your credit report, but that’s to be expected, after all, getting rid of the debt is the goal here.

To be honest my credit file at the moment isn’t great BUT just done a snowball calculator and I can clear this myself in a year-18 months so feeling a bit more positive! 

Onwards and upwards then. Good luck with the repayment and catch it now whilst you can. Maybe also keep a spending diary  to keep you on track and have a look at the 1% challenge to motivate yourself to pay off the debt and make it into more manageable chunks.