Debts vs saving vs house repairs

swjf1q

Hi, 
so I have such a heavy heart as I type this and I just don’t know where to start!! 

My husband and I are in £35000 of debt made up of loans (for a car), car on finance, Loan from friends and family and Credit Cards.
but, we are now in the position where the house (with a mortgage) needs some repairs and we’ve got no money to pay for them. 

I work a second job and a split that income 50% to debts, 30% saving and 20% spending. My normal pay covers bills and some debts
the money that I save in this way has so far been spent on car bills and other unplanned costs (school trip)
I just don’t know where to start to get back on track!   

We are trying to pay the higher costs (apr) back first (the car and the loan). 

Is there anything else we could do? 

EssexHebridean

I’d suggest that completing an SOA (statement of affairs) is a good starting point.  Make it open and honest - and it needs to reflect the way things are now, not what you think you should be spending in the various areas. Once completed (you might find a years worth of bank and card statements would be useful to have to hand) use the “format for MSE” option and paste into this thread. 

The next question for me would be what are the nature of the repairs and how soon do they need doing? 

Going forwards, you need to start working to a household budget that includes things like savings for home maintenance costs and en emergency fund. I would also suggest a savings pot towards school activities is a good idea for any parents these days - schools do seem to have a habit of assuming that all the parents have bottomless pockets! 

sourcrates

Basic rule of thumb, that everyone works too, is that all unsecured borrowing is deemed to be non essential.

So loans/credit cards/etc can be put on hold whilst you address your house repairs, yes it may trash your credit file, but you should be able to sort out the house.

If you inform creditors of your situation, they can put accounts on hold for a period of time, if its going to take longer than a few months to finance these repairs, a longer period of non payment would just see your debts sold to 3rd parties, and a similar hold can be applied again until you can resume payments.

Obviously it depends what needs doing to the house.

Brie

You've got 2 of the best on your first responses.  So that's good.  And they're right.  Have a look at your budget and post it here if you're able - lots of people will have ideas on how to deal with things.

Best of luck - you've done the hard bit of admitting there's something to sort.  You just now need to move to step 2.  

EssexHebridean

Brie you're pretty good on the advice stuff yourself!  

I personally reckon that actually taking that first step of acknowledging the issue and saying "help" is THE hardest step - massive kudos to anyone who arrives here having done that.