Help me and my family

paulblake01

Hi everyone,

long time reader of the site & forums... but first post.

Me and my fiance work hard and don't reep much from what we earn, we have an 18 month old daughter so my partner only works 2 days I week. I work 5 days a week and together we earn enough to pay the mortgage, bills and shopping. But it leaves nothing left over.

We have one credit card with £3k on it, and the 0% has just finished, so now we pay £26 per month interest. We need to move this as soon as possible but my problem is we aint going to be able to pay it off anytime soon as we dont have any spare money, to make matters worse we need to find around 4k to pay for some minor changes to our wedding in Sepetmeber.

Im quite level headed and this site's really helped me get a grip and face the facts. But I need some advice on what we should do...

Any ideas?

leoetal19

hello and welcome
the experts will be along soon i am sure-but to help they'll need a full soa-you'll have seen them i guess? then they can help target areas for you. id switch that balance to another 0% asap-the longer the better-have a look at quidco-ive made nearly £500 on there since jan just switching my insurances, opening a savings account etc
and £4k doesnt sound like minor changes!!!! my whole wedding didnt cost that???? what does thet cover?? if u dont mind me asking!!
hang on the cavalry will be along...............sue x

paulblake01

Hi there

Thanks for the quick response, I must admit i dont know what SOA is so if there is anything I could be filling in before "the cavalry" arrives, then please do share!

The weddding money will cover 2k of spending money for 2 weeks in florida and 2k will cover the food, suits, cars etc.

bargainbird

I would say drop Florida, Me and my partner got married in Oct just gone on £1500.00 tops.

If i were you i'd talk to your fiancee and cut the costs....

Good Luck, The less credit you have the better

RAS

Welcome

look here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=107280

Go to go. Good luck

leoetal19

ras beat me to it with the link-thats the statement of affairs x
with the florida thing you have to weigh up a couple of weeks having fun with, from what you are saying, months of scrimping to achive that-i guess its a personal thing really. the less credit the better but if you need credit do the card shuffle-swapping 0% deals just in time to save interest costs
post the soa and maybe peeps can see where to help x

KiKi

Well done for posting, Paul. Put up your SOA with *everything* on it and we'll help wherever we can.

Initial comment - £4K is not minor tweaks if you're already in debt. I mean that kindly! You do not need £2000 spending money for a two week holiday - you really, really don't. Unless you're already committed to it, you could have a lovely holiday in France much more cheaply, then go to Florida once you've saved up and your daughter will be old enough to appreciate it. She's too young to care right now, anyway!

If you're already committed to Florida and have it booked, then do not spend more than you need to. You can eat *very* cheaply over there, you don't have to do all the theme parks (your daughter's too young to appreciate most of them!), and £142 a day for you all is a huge amount! I took £130 spending money when I was in Australia for two weeks - and came back with change! It can be done!

However, let's get the basics first on your SOA before we scare you by suggesting cheaper ways to deal with the wedding.

KiKi

Beerworshipper

Hey Paulblake,

You said it yourself in your 1st post, you're not going to be able to pay current debts off for a while hence the BT. I guess its not what you want to here but given that debts will not be decreasing is Florida such a good idea?

If your heart is set on it and I can understand why it may be how about postponing it until Jan or Feb, its a lot cheaper to go then, its quieter without all the Brits there on holiday and the weather is just as good if not better because its not Hurricane Season.

Just a thought

bargainbetty

You could also ask guests to contribute to a honeymoon fund rather than give gifts. My friend and his missus already have a houseful of stuff, so have requested that gift money be put to their holiday. None of us mind, and it works out better for them.

My entire wedding and honeymoon cost less than three grand - that included 6 days in Vegas, and 6 days in Hawaii!! £4k is no tweak....

beanielou

Ditch the 'minor' changes to your wedding.
Look forward to seeing your SOA.

tigtag02

Hi and welcome

We took £2k spending money to Florida a couple of years ago and we didnt need nearly as much.

I agree with the idea of asking for contributions as opposed to presents for anyone who wants to give