Advice please?

bank_of_slate

I'm sorry to hear that debtsux.
I presume he's had some help/treatment for his problems.

Just as long as you know that you come here any time to rant, cry, laugh and for advice.
...Linda xx

debtsux

Merlot wrote: »

Not stupid - your a newbie, you are not expected to know everything.:D

So do you not work at all? Can you work in the evening? how old are your children? Can they do a sat job to help out a wee bit

I do currently have a weekend job which brings in £100 a week. My children are pretty young (5 months - 10 years) and im not exactly the brainest of people, so if i got a week job it would be minimum wage, the wages would practically go on childcare...im wondering if its worth it? With hubby and myself working I dont even know if we would be entitled to help with childcare costs

bank_of_slate

check out https://www.entitledto.co.uk to see if you should be claiming any more
...Linda xx

debtsux

Thanks Linda, I will!

Oh I have another question. Currently we have a pre pay meter for our electric that eats about £15 a week, If I went to quarterly billing would this work out cheaper?

Merlot

I gonna ask, do you feel threatened at all just now with your OH?

I'm sure your OH has benefited from the spending?

I understand you can't tell him, but you cannot sort this out on your own with 5 children, you have enough on your plate, can you talk to anyone else?

bank_of_slate

Click on Martin's Utilities tab at the top of the page, he has lots of great tips on working out if it'd be worth switching around from different payment methods
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/#GasElecWater
...Linda xx

RAS

Hiya

Sorry about the back story but one of your big problems is that he is not taking full responsibility for your joint finances. You really cannot afford the car, which you really do not need.

I suspect that since he does not know the financial picture, you are unable to get him to be suitably restrained in his purchasing?

Given what we have seen elsewhere here, pre-paid meters are much more expensive than normal monthly accounts. I would check the comparison sites, linked from the main site here.

poppyg_2

Debtsux, how old are you children?

I definitely think the grocery may still be cut back, if you check old the old style threads there's some fantastic tips for groceries, in terms of food but also money saving in cleaning etc

I can understand you not wanting to tell OH so I won't preach about that. Are the debts in joint names or just yours? If they're in your name maybe you could contact one of the debt charities regarding the detbs. I think the first thing that you need to aim to clear is the Vanquis card, extortionate APR. Have you tried speaking to the c card companies to ask if they'd considering lowering/freezing interest to help you pay back what you owe?

RAS

Hiya

Here is your debt, which does OH know about exactly and in whose name are they taken out, your, his or joint?

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR

car finance............................. 260 -
catalogues.............................. 80 - canyou lsit them and the APRs?
egg credit card................3300......60........16.9
provident......................980.......88........183.2 - this is horrendous and one that you need to clear ASAP
lloyds credit card.............2000......35........11.9
barclays overdraft.............1600......30........0
vanquis........................252.......13........39.9 - then this one unles the catalogues are worse
Total unsecured debts..........8132......556.......

What i am wondering is if we can create a budget that you can get OH to agree to based on the debt about which he knows, which people here can help you cut back on a bit and therefore work towards sorting it out to cvoer the whole scenario?

I have underlined some of the debts because I assume that your OH knows about from your earlier post. Can you mark any others that he knows about?

The problem debts about which he does not know seem to relatively small and you might be able to do something to sort these out.

Have a look at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money - even £30 a month could help.

Please do look at the possiblity of a freedom loan from your local Credit Union.

Do you have anything at home that you can put up on e-bay, amazon or take to a car boot sale?

And please join your local group on https://www.freecycle.org as you can get loads of stuff for your children, yourself and the house for free, which would help you reduce your spending.

debtsux

ok i will try and remember all the questions.

My children are 5 months, 3,4,6 and 9.

Hubby knows about the car finance, catalogues and lloyds credit card. only lloyds and car are in his name, everything else is in my name (including all the usual bills like TV, phone water etc etc etc)

I will see if i can find the APR on the catalogues!