Time to sort out our lifes and spending habbits

sirspendtoomuch

Morning all, Hope you're having a great Easter

I am looking for some advice/help myself and my partner have got ourselves into a big mess it all started 2 years ago when I was a IT contractor we decided to leave the UK and go to Canada for a few months to snowboard I saved up a lot of my contracting wages but we also took out a loan (mistake one) for 10k basically we blew this and my contracting money on paying for the trip and snowboarding equipment.

On our return we both found work quite swiftly I became permanent and the problem was that we were so used to the income I used to get contracting and what we had been spending while away we would just put everything on credit cards for a few months and before we knew it we had run up 4500 on 3 cards. We then decided to get a place together and still being idiots added another 10k to our loan we used this to pay off one of the credit cards and bought furniture for the flat. We then took out credit to buy a plasma and computer thinking we would pay it off by time the interest would have to be paid (9months) Again like idiots we were to busy spending to save the money and something that had cost 2300 then became a 3500 debt due to their interest being added.

Since then I have changed jobs a few times and we have bought our first home we have now managed to cut down on the silly spending and both really regret how stupid we have been unfortunately the costs of all the payments are so high that there’s not much left over for overpayments etc but we would like to be rid of all this debt. Unfortunately I have had credit issues in the past which means all of this credit is in my partner’s name which means I cannot get lower rate cards to move the money to and she is maxed out credit wise.

Sorry for my life story just thought I should explain how we got in this situation it is of our own making and a very expensive lesson learnt.

Thanks Paul

Please see below our SOA

sirspendtoomuch

My salary 2281
Partners salary 1220
Total - 3501

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage 795
council tax 120 (appealing banding should be a band c)
Electricity 50
service charge/ground rent 80
Sky 15
BT Phone 10
BT Broadband 23 until dec 2008
Gym 114 until oct 2008
food 300
car insurance 58 for 2 people fully comp with tesco (can i switch during the 12 month period?)
petrol 140 (partner travels to 20 miles a day to work)
train 317 (I work in london)
tv license 11
contact lense 20
pet insurance 10
Life insurance 12
Mobile phone 40 (until Apr 2008)
mobile phone 40 (until June 2008)
Cat food/Litter 40
Car payment balance 1200 - monthly payment 100
egg CC - Balance 4650 (limit 4700) - monthly payment 98
Abbey CC - Balance 4570 (Limit 4700) - monthly Payment 98
Barclays Loan - Balance 3500 - monthly payment 120
Nationwide loan - Balance 20000 - monthly Payment 294
Next Directory - Balance 650 - monthly payment 20
Nationwide Overdraft - 1900
LLoyds Overdraft - 900 - monthly payment 80
Barclays Overdraft - 1500 - monthly payment 50
Capital One - Balance 155 (limit 200) - monthly payment 15
Littlewoods Catalogue balance 900 (limit 900) monthly payment 45
Open University balance 1000 - monthly payment 150
Barlcay card balance 440 (limit 400) monthly payment 20

outgoings = 3245
Total Debt = 41365.00

findingmyownway

Good morning and welcome to the boards!

Well done for posting your SOA. I have made some comments below.

By making some serious cuts, and increasing income through second job, ebay things etc you can free up enough money to overpay the debt. see www.whatsthecost.com to decide which one to overpay.

What was the debt used for? Do you have any major purchases you can sell / return? EDIT: just seen above yu have plasmas etc that could be sold and replaced by freecycle.

There is nothing in your SOA for socialising, clothes etc though. Where does the money for that come from? I think keeping a spending diary would help.

You do have quite a high level of debt, might be worth a call to CCCS to discuss options.

sirspendtoomuch wrote: »

My salary 2281
Partners salary 1220
Total - 3501

Monthly outgoings
Mortgage 795
council tax 120 (appealing banding should be a band c)
Electricity 50
service charge/ground rent 80 is this really monthly? seems like a lot, what do you get for it?
Sky 15 you can't afford this - get a freeview box from freecycle.
BT Phone 10
BT Broadband 23 until dec 2008
Gym 114 until oct 2008
food 300 this can be reduced, have a look on the old style forum board
car insurance 58 for 2 people fully comp with tesco (can i switch during the 12 month period?) maybe you can't switch during the 12 months without penalty. you might be able to remove 'extras' though such as courtesy car etc
petrol 140 (partner travels to 20 miles a day to work)
train 317 (I work in london) over £450 on travel is a lot. are there ay cheaper monthly schemes?
tv license 11
contact lense 20 is this the cheapest? martin has an article on it
pet insurance 10 this is rarely neccessary
Life insurance 12
Mobile phone 40 (until Apr 2008)
mobile phone 40 (until June 2008) phone the networks to reduce these to lowest tariff and then cancel at renewal time. you can get a contract for abour £10/month these days
Cat food/Litter 40 thats a lot! can you switch to cheaper food?
Car payment balance 1200 - monthly payment 100

egg CC - Balance 4650 (limit 4700) - monthly payment 98
Abbey CC - Balance 4570 (Limit 4700) - monthly Payment 98
Barclays Loan - Balance 3500 - monthly payment 120
Nationwide loan - Balance 20000 - monthly Payment 294
Next Directory - Balance 650 - monthly payment 20
Nationwide Overdraft - 1900
LLoyds Overdraft - 900 - monthly payment 80
Barclays Overdraft - 1500 - monthly payment 50
Capital One - Balance 155 (limit 200) - monthly payment 15
Littlewoods Catalogue balance 900 (limit 900) monthly payment 45
Open University balance 1000 - monthly payment 150
Barlcay card balance 440 (limit 400) monthly payment 20

outgoings = 3245

Total Debt = 41365.00

findingmyownway

sirspendtoomuch wrote: »

Unfortunately I have had credit issues in the past which means all of this credit is in my partner’s name which means I cannot get lower rate cards to move the money to and she is maxed out credit wise.

I hope for her sake that the relationship is strong & you are serious about working together to pay the debt off, because she is LEGALLY liable for the whole lot on her own.

skint_spice

Hi sirspendalot,
The good news is that you already earn more than you spend. If you find the APRs on the debts you'll be able to work out which to pay off first. if you then throw your excess at that and min payments to the rest you'll get it all paid off in no time. (the snow ball calc is in the sticky post for newbies)
you could make a few savings especially on food (and the gym and mobiles when they are up) try the Old Style board for ideas.

Good luck. x