Very long journey ahead, time for change is now

happyfuture

Hi everyone I've been away a long, long time and it certainly shows in my level of debt Made the decision to day to come back to forums to start a thread which will help keep me accountable. 

Very brief summary of us! Married, 4 kids (2 older, 1 lives with us) 2 dogs. Moved into forever home in 2022. 

Over the years, our debt has increased then go through spurts of paying in off from work bonuses etc but it's never fully gone. Now its grown to massive amounts and it's getting scary, am thinking about money all the time but can't seem to stop spending "the kids need that" "we need that" "we work hard" so many reasons and excuses. When I think of all the money we've spent (and are still spending, it makes me feel ill. 

When we moved in 2022, the reason we could afford to was down to inheritance- a very substantial sum. We used that and more to buy our home and whilst I don't regret it, it has really stretched us and we still haven't got to the root cause of our money issues- we simply spend too much against what we bring in. 

Which brings me here! I have followed Martin Lewis for years (obviously don't listen enough to his advice though!!!) and know that there are many brilliant tips and ideas on these forums. I had a quick scan through some diaries but haven't seen any that are the same level of debt as us which is scary

Thanks for reading. Next post will detail the debt we have....

WinterWarrior

Good luck. You will get some good advice once you post your figures. There are lots of knowledgeable people on here.

happyfuture

The debt 12th May 2024

Loan- £31,787.06
Tesco CC- £13,183.19
MBNA CC- £6587.86
RBS CC- £5805.12
Barclaycard CC- £3692.22
Lloyds CC- £2191.65

Family 1- £5810
Family 2- £3746

RBS overdraft- £148.27

Overall total= £72,951.37

MFWannabe

I think to get to the root of your problem you really need to do an soa to see where your money is going 😱

happyfuture

WinterWarrior said:

Good luck. You will get some good advice once you post your figures. There are lots of knowledgeable people on here.

Thank you, know this is the right place to be and will help keep me accountable!

happyfuture

MFWannabe said:

I think to get to the root of your problem you really need to do an soa to see where your money is going 😱

Thank you, I will do but I know that every month we just overspend on everything whether it be going out, takeaways, deciding to buy a new power tool for the garden- basically if we want it, we buy it. I do know how awful and entitled that sounds though, we generally don't lavish stuff on ourselves so no new clothes unless necessary and it's all on kids and lifestyle if that makes sense. Poor choices I know. 

happyfuture

happyfuture said:

The debt 12th May 2024

Loan- £31,787.06
Tesco CC- £13,183.19
MBNA CC- £6587.86
RBS CC- £5805.12
Barclaycard CC- £3692.22
Lloyds CC- £2191.65

Family 1- £5810
Family 2- £3746

RBS overdraft- £148.27

Overall total= £72,951.37

Should probably explain that the loan and part of the credit cards are basically our mortgage. We are in an amazing position of not having a mortgage due to inheritance (would sooner rather the person was here though :cry) The loan, part of the credit cards and family money due was taken out when we moved.

WinterWarrior

Having no mortgage is a much better position than most of us on here, so that’s really positive. I’m sure you can turn this around with some focus. 

Philliggi

Obviously im speaking without no real knowledge of your interest rates or specific circumstances, but would it not be better to have a mortgage in this circumstance, rather than credit in multiple places, possibly at much higher rates?

May feel less scary to have one small neat and tidy mortgage payment a month

_Dolly_Rocker_

Welcome to the boards and well done for writing it all down - makes it seem more real and now it's time for you to plan and pay it off. 

Probably seems like a mountain to climb but you've taken the hardest step already so keep going. 

You can do this.

ChillyP

well done for dealing with it. Can you give an idea of your income?