Please help new and desperate

jaapie

Please can you help me I am finally trying to face up to my debt. I am 36, married with 2 children (3 & 4) My husband left me in charge of finances (big mistake) and I am now over 40,000 in debt I have never missed a payment and have a good credit rating the amount is making me ill and I cannot stop thinking about it I feel as though I am going to lose the house and ruin my childrens lives. I am so ashamed as it is due to not managing my finances and overspending when I was off with the children. I cannot sleep and it is making me feel ill. Here is my SOA any advice will be most appreciated as it is starting to affect all areas of my life.

Total Debt
15,000 - northern rock 5.7% 9 years
2,000 - northern rock 5.7% 10 years
15,000 - natwest 6.8% 7 years
6,500 - Barclaycard not 0%
3,860 - mbna not 0%

Outgoings (Debt)

Northern rock = 150.00
Northern rock = 25.00
Natwest = 230.00
Barclaycard = 125.00
Mbna = 75.00
total = £605

Outgoings (Household)
Mortgage = 587.00
Elec = 55.00
Gas = 35.00
Phone = 35.00
Water = 30.00
Car tax = 30.00
Life insurance = 18.00
Home insurance = 23.00
Council tax = 78.00
Sky = 45.00
TV licence = 10.00
Mobiles = 60.00
Total = 996.00

Incoming (monthly)
My Salary (part time) = 828.00
Husband = 1320.00
benefits = 160.00
Total 2,308.00

Thank you

lauradora

Hey there J. Al the expets will be along soon to help

There is no accounting for food on your soa?? The only thing that strikes me straight away is the sky. Could you cancel that??

Keeping_Motivated

Hi you've come to the right place so stick around and someone better than me will be along shortly.

They will ask you to post more details though, such as how much for food, petrol, other expenses like clothes, haircuts etc basically you need everything on your SOA to get a true picture.

You need to find out the interest rates of the 2 credit cards.

On a positive note at least the interest rates of the loans are quite low, some have horrific interest rates.

Good luck

jaapie

Thanks for your comments I will add neccessary;

Diesel: 100.00
Food: 300.00

The rest is just waste and my husband smokes. have I posted this is the right place as I could not find it when I looked for it. Thanks

Keeping_Motivated

jaapie wrote: »

Thanks for your comments I will add neccessary;

Diesel: 100.00
Food: 300.00

The rest is just waste and my husband smokes. have I posted this is the right place as I could not find it when I looked for it. Thanks

You can edit your original post to add these amounts so its all together.

If you mean you couldn't find this thread you need to subscribe to it at the top of the page under 'thread tools'.

Have you looked at the old stye board? I have got our food shop down to £200 per mth for 4 of us and one is a teenager. So you might be able to save there. That would be £1200 in a year extra paid off a debt and that is only one area you can save on.

And you need to start a little book where you write down EVERYTHING you all spend. Right down to the last penny so at the end of the wek or mo th you can see exactly where all the 'spare' money is going. If it stops being wasted it can be thrown at paying extra off the highest interest debt to get that down quickly.

beverleyhills

Welcome jaapie.

Is your OH aware of these debts?

From your post it appears thar anxiety is taking charge. Take a deep breath and tackle a bit at a time. For your first attempt you have written your SOFA well.

Smokers recommend 'roll your own' as money saving.

Can you salvage any of the 'waste' by selling anything? Small childrens clothes sell well.

sophiesmum_2

If you have agood credit rating it may be worth applying for a couple of 0% credit cards to see if you could move the credit card balances or the small loan onto interest free.
This would save you interest and mean more would be paid off the actual balance. You would have to make sure that you did not use the cleared cards though or you would soon be back to square one.

Basically you need to start throwing any small aamounts you can spare at your credit cards and try not to keep using them. Food, sky and mobile phones are the other obvious places where cuts could be made. There are still things missing from your soa yet (mot, car insurance etc) you need to find out exactly what you are dealing with and where the money is going. Have you spoken to hubby about all of this? It would be easier if both of you were on board.

Good luck, and I'm sure you will get lots more help from the site.

MissEyre

Hi Jaapie, welcome!

Even with your diesel and food added it, in looks like you have about £300 a month left over-this is good news, as it means you have some extra money to throw at the debt. The OS board is great for cutting down your food costs, so have a look over there-loads of brilliant tips, including meal planning, great recipes for scratch cooking and cheap cleaning methods that really work.

jaapie

My husband is aware of this but it does not worry him as we make the payments I just know we are reaching crisis point. Selling is a good idea as we have lots of toys the children have outgrown. I keep 1,000 in emergency money for mot and tax and things like that. He is giving up smoking on Monday 7th January I am desperate for him to stop as I can use the money to pay off the cards but am worried I will put too much pressure on. I am going to cancel the sky for a start.

Dumbledore55

Hi jaapie - just under 3 years ago I had £22500 debt and now I only have my mortgage thanks to this site. I can be done but takes determination and discipline.

1. First write down everything you owe, outgoings and all income - don't miss anything off the list or you won't be able to budget properly.
2. I found this site invaluable to help me decide what to pay first www.whatsthecost.com - I used the snowball calculator to help me.
3. I applied for credit cards with the longest term 0% balance for balance transfers and with the lowest one off fees - Martin's credit card page will help with that - and transferred my debt on a regular basis to avoid interest costs
4. I registered with E-Bay and sold off anything I didn't need/want
5. I joined lots of survey sites. discovered cashback sites to earn a little bit here and there
6. I did a full overhaul of all my utility costs, car/house insurance etc to ensure I had the best deals - I now do this every year - it saves loads of money.

Finally, don't despair there's always someone friendly on here to advise - go one step at a time though and your confidence will grow.

Best of luck,

DD55

yorkshirepud87

I'm only a newbie myself but the first thing i did was contact Payplan, www.payplan.com or ring them on 0800 917 7823. They will be able to give you really good advice and practical solutions... and its free!!! They may be able to arrange a Debt Management Plan with you. Give them a ring, it's worth it!

And i'm sure theres lots of people here that can help more than i can!

Chin Up and Good Luck!
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