0% Balance Transfer or Loan?

Troublesum1

Emmia said:

It may be worth looking at what you've got in the cupboards and eating through that/using that as the basis of meals before shopping again. 

M&S can be good value / better quality for the price.

You might also find it works to shop via Ocado or similar online, so you can work through the shopping list together, and see a running total.

But if takeaways aren't in your SOA groceries budget - how much are you spending on them? 

It varies but I would like to be within £250 for the month on takeout and coffee. Having a quick look at our transactions now, for this month (25th-25th cycle) we've roughly done £200 on takeout, £100 on coffee. Looks probably bad but that is progress from what it has been in previous months

Emmia

Troublesum1 said:

Emmia said:

It may be worth looking at what you've got in the cupboards and eating through that/using that as the basis of meals before shopping again. 

M&S can be good value / better quality for the price.

You might also find it works to shop via Ocado or similar online, so you can work through the shopping list together, and see a running total.

But if takeaways aren't in your SOA groceries budget - how much are you spending on them? 

It varies but I would like to be within £250 for the month on takeout and coffee. Having a quick look at our transactions now, for this month (25th-25th cycle) we've roughly done £200 on takeout, £100 on coffee. Looks probably bad but that is progress from what it has been in previous months

And that's on top of groceries... You're spending a grand or so a month overall.

Cutting out the takeaway food (not coffee) would save you £2,500 a year... And reading between the lines, this is a low spend month.

On what you have coming in, relatively small changes would allow you to pay off your debts fairly quickly, and build some savings. 

Naturelover22

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Troublesum1

Naturelover22 said:

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply, honestly its not a wake up call (though I can see why it looks that way given me just posting this yesterday), the real wake up call was when I had to borrow almost a grand from family and I had no idea what had happened financially to make that neccesary - I then went through the statements to see grotesque figures on groceries, takeout and coffee. Since then I've been battling hard to reduce those 3 across the household. I will definitely look at everything you've said here to improve the grocery spend. I looked online an saw from one source that the average household of my size (2 adults 1 child) was roughly £500 per month, so I'm trying my best to get us down to that.

I can still borrow according to Experian etc, my plan is that my income will not be reducing but of course there's a risk that that may happen. Officially there's nothing on my credit file to say I am taking any type of redundancy so I doubt that will be an issue. None of my current providers are offering any useful balance transfer rates unforunately.

At the moment I'm considering the combination of a new 0% card at £1500 limit and another debt consolidation loan (at 14%APR) for the rest of the debt. Lowers my interest significantly but of course but is another 2 credit accounts. Any thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks again all

Emmia

Troublesum1 said:

Naturelover22 said:

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply, honestly its not a wake up call (though I can see why it looks that way given me just posting this yesterday), the real wake up call was when I had to borrow almost a grand from family and I had no idea what had happened financially to make that neccesary - I then went through the statements to see grotesque figures on groceries, takeout and coffee. Since then I've been battling hard to reduce those 3 across the household. I will definitely look at everything you've said here to improve the grocery spend. I looked online an saw from one source that the average household of my size (2 adults 1 child) was roughly £500 per month, so I'm trying my best to get us down to that.

I can still borrow according to Experian etc, my plan is that my income will not be reducing but of course there's a risk that that may happen. Officially there's nothing on my credit file to say I am taking any type of redundancy so I doubt that will be an issue. None of my current providers are offering any useful balance transfer rates unforunately.

At the moment I'm considering the combination of a new 0% card at £1500 limit and another debt consolidation loan (at 14%APR) for the rest of the debt. Lowers my interest significantly but of course but is another 2 credit accounts. Any thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks again all

Consolidation is normally not recommended - if you do this you must shut all other credit lines that you pay off.

You're in danger of doubling your debt by consolidation - low "manageable payments" but still spending on the cards... As the penny hasn't dropped fur your wife, I think you'll end up with ~£70k of debt really quickly.

LzzyIsGod

There are far more experienced and knowledgeable posters than I to comment on consolidation and debt advice.

What I would say that is that I have learnt along the way we both had to be on the same page about our spending - we only really started turning things around when we both committed to making changes and compromises and sticking to the budget. I've also found that I had some things I thought I couldn't possibly live without when I started, but I've been amazed at what you can adapt and live without. Getting out of debt has become more important than my perceived "non negotiables". So I agree with @Emmia that your wife needs to be on board too.

Troublesum1

Emmia said:

Troublesum1 said:

Naturelover22 said:

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply, honestly its not a wake up call (though I can see why it looks that way given me just posting this yesterday), the real wake up call was when I had to borrow almost a grand from family and I had no idea what had happened financially to make that neccesary - I then went through the statements to see grotesque figures on groceries, takeout and coffee. Since then I've been battling hard to reduce those 3 across the household. I will definitely look at everything you've said here to improve the grocery spend. I looked online an saw from one source that the average household of my size (2 adults 1 child) was roughly £500 per month, so I'm trying my best to get us down to that.

I can still borrow according to Experian etc, my plan is that my income will not be reducing but of course there's a risk that that may happen. Officially there's nothing on my credit file to say I am taking any type of redundancy so I doubt that will be an issue. None of my current providers are offering any useful balance transfer rates unforunately.

At the moment I'm considering the combination of a new 0% card at £1500 limit and another debt consolidation loan (at 14%APR) for the rest of the debt. Lowers my interest significantly but of course but is another 2 credit accounts. Any thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks again all

Consolidation is normally not recommended - if you do this you must shut all other credit lines that you pay off.

You're in danger of doubling your debt by consolidation - low "manageable payments" but still spending on the cards... As the penny hasn't dropped fur your wife, I think you'll end up with ~£70k of debt really quickly.

Thanks for the replies, yours too @LzzyisGod.

So what would you reccomend here then? Just do the 0% for £1500 and try to pay off the rest as best as we can from savings made by being more efficient with budget? I do understand the danger you speak of and in a sense I've fallen victim to it before but I do trust myself to stay disciplined to not use the old credit lines if I do go for consolidation. That said everybody isn't onboard I can find myself in a position where I'm forced to use it and what you speak of easily happens. I'm due to have a meeting with the wife on this all on Wednesday maybe I can get a  gauge of how much cooperation I will get during that..

Naturelover22

Good point from @LzzyIsGod it is joint spending and you both need to be aware of spending and deal with it together.
I dealt mostly (not well) with the joint money over the years, just gave OH a summary or a 'we need to spend less' which would last for a few months and I would lose track of the spending 
This year I asked him to 'take over' and work everything out and it was much more of an eye opener for him to see himself rather than me nagging about spending less.
He has a better awareness now and we discuss our bank balance together and what we have spent multiple times through the month. I feel like we have turned a corner in our joint approach to improving our finances.
So while you may lead the planning your wife needs to be just as aware and both of you contribute to the effort to reduce spending on a day to day basis.

Emmia

Troublesum1 said:

Emmia said:

Troublesum1 said:

Naturelover22 said:

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply, honestly its not a wake up call (though I can see why it looks that way given me just posting this yesterday), the real wake up call was when I had to borrow almost a grand from family and I had no idea what had happened financially to make that neccesary - I then went through the statements to see grotesque figures on groceries, takeout and coffee. Since then I've been battling hard to reduce those 3 across the household. I will definitely look at everything you've said here to improve the grocery spend. I looked online an saw from one source that the average household of my size (2 adults 1 child) was roughly £500 per month, so I'm trying my best to get us down to that.

I can still borrow according to Experian etc, my plan is that my income will not be reducing but of course there's a risk that that may happen. Officially there's nothing on my credit file to say I am taking any type of redundancy so I doubt that will be an issue. None of my current providers are offering any useful balance transfer rates unforunately.

At the moment I'm considering the combination of a new 0% card at £1500 limit and another debt consolidation loan (at 14%APR) for the rest of the debt. Lowers my interest significantly but of course but is another 2 credit accounts. Any thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks again all

Consolidation is normally not recommended - if you do this you must shut all other credit lines that you pay off.

You're in danger of doubling your debt by consolidation - low "manageable payments" but still spending on the cards... As the penny hasn't dropped fur your wife, I think you'll end up with ~£70k of debt really quickly.

Thanks for the replies, yours too @LzzyisGod.

So what would you reccomend here then? Just do the 0% for £1500 and try to pay off the rest as best as we can from savings made by being more efficient with budget? I do understand the danger you speak of and in a sense I've fallen victim to it before but I do trust myself to stay disciplined to not use the old credit lines if I do go for consolidation. That said everybody isn't onboard I can find myself in a position where I'm forced to use it and what you speak of easily happens. I'm due to have a meeting with the wife on this all on Wednesday maybe I can get a  gauge of how much cooperation I will get during that..

I think you can probably tackle it effectively through better budgeting, but it's no use you doing it alone, your wife needs to be on board too. The reality is making choices about PTs, take aways etc.

Doesn't £35k of unsecured debt scare your wife?  do you want to rent forever with a child, or would you like to purchase your own property at some point? 

Edit: How do you and your wife see the next 5, 10, 20 years financially? What are your goals - that's how I'd frame starting this conversation.

Troublesum1

Emmia said:

Troublesum1 said:

Emmia said:

Troublesum1 said:

Naturelover22 said:

This looks like a bit of a wake up call.
Could you get supermarket delivery, then you can choose to buy from a shop you don't need to walk/be close too?
Gives you time to review your basket and check the cupboards before checking out rather than popping in every day or going when hungry/tired/baby playing up
You could buy alot of posh readymeals alone on the takeaway food spend.
Look at why the spend is so high, luxury high quality brands, shopping everyday, forgetting what you already have at home, special diets, wasting food and buying more? When you know the reason you can work on a better solution to reduce it.
It looks like there is alot you could cut from your lifestyle spending to improve your situation, but it is a mental switch to do aswell and that can take time to get to.
If the gyms are very important to you both then work around reducing other spending to appreciate them better. You don't have to give them up, however something needs to give so work out what is most important to you and how to make it work.

Regarding the borrowing, can you borrow knowing your income will be reducing soon? The soft searches are good to check and the tools on this website are helpful.
The credit accounts I have are always offering 0%balance transfer rates, have you checked who you have accounts with and see if they are offering you anything first?

Good luck

Thanks for your reply, honestly its not a wake up call (though I can see why it looks that way given me just posting this yesterday), the real wake up call was when I had to borrow almost a grand from family and I had no idea what had happened financially to make that neccesary - I then went through the statements to see grotesque figures on groceries, takeout and coffee. Since then I've been battling hard to reduce those 3 across the household. I will definitely look at everything you've said here to improve the grocery spend. I looked online an saw from one source that the average household of my size (2 adults 1 child) was roughly £500 per month, so I'm trying my best to get us down to that.

I can still borrow according to Experian etc, my plan is that my income will not be reducing but of course there's a risk that that may happen. Officially there's nothing on my credit file to say I am taking any type of redundancy so I doubt that will be an issue. None of my current providers are offering any useful balance transfer rates unforunately.

At the moment I'm considering the combination of a new 0% card at £1500 limit and another debt consolidation loan (at 14%APR) for the rest of the debt. Lowers my interest significantly but of course but is another 2 credit accounts. Any thoughts on this would be very welcome.

Thanks again all

Consolidation is normally not recommended - if you do this you must shut all other credit lines that you pay off.

You're in danger of doubling your debt by consolidation - low "manageable payments" but still spending on the cards... As the penny hasn't dropped fur your wife, I think you'll end up with ~£70k of debt really quickly.

Thanks for the replies, yours too @LzzyisGod.

So what would you reccomend here then? Just do the 0% for £1500 and try to pay off the rest as best as we can from savings made by being more efficient with budget? I do understand the danger you speak of and in a sense I've fallen victim to it before but I do trust myself to stay disciplined to not use the old credit lines if I do go for consolidation. That said everybody isn't onboard I can find myself in a position where I'm forced to use it and what you speak of easily happens. I'm due to have a meeting with the wife on this all on Wednesday maybe I can get a  gauge of how much cooperation I will get during that..

I think you can probably tackle it effectively through better budgeting, but it's no use you doing it alone, your wife needs to be on board too. The reality is making choices about PTs, take aways etc.

Doesn't £35k of unsecured debt scare your wife?  do you want to rent forever with a child, or would you like to purchase your own property at some point? 

Very much so the latter. Hard to really explain my wife's stance without becoming a therapist and psychoanalysing her but I think she just cant phathom the size of it and to her she makes enough money to do all the things she wants to do. At the end of the day, I have to find a way to get her on board.