Here are my ins and outs, as requested - sorry for delay

Bumbelina

Thanks very much for all your responses. As someone said, it comes down to individual priorities as to how you spend your money, but I will definitely be making radical changes to the present situation.

There's not much equity in the house - we owe about £92k on it including the secured loan and its worth maybe £140k. (By the way, it's 3 storeys so we really do need that window cleaner!)

I agree that our TV etc package is way too much. The problem is getting my husband to agree - I would get rid of it all today if it was just up to me. I think we might have to reach a compromise about that. (In fact, when you have joint finances I think it can be quite difficult to agree on a spending strategy - certainly in our case anyway because DH accepts a certain amount of debt as a fact of life, whereas I hate it)

Food - there must be a way to reduce this substantially and I will not rest until I've shaved off at least £100 a month. I'll be looking at the advice on the other boards about this stuff.

Gas and electric - we were about to change to British Gas because it's cheaper at the mo but heard Martin on the radio saying stay where you are for now because they're going up as well, so he advised people to hang fire for another month and then he would tell us which was the best one. So I'm waiting on that one.

Childrens savings - I understand the logic behind your advice, but I really can't risk not being able to send them to uni - I couldn't live with myself. It's all very well saying pay off your debts first, but by the time I've done that it could be too late to save up enough. I'd rather have peace of mind knowing that at least I'm putting something away for them. My mum is now paying for their swimming lessons, bless her, so that reduces their activity costs to £47 a month which is much more manageable.

Petrol - it does seem a lot - we can perhaps use the car less and do more walking if we get our backsides out of bed a bit earlier in the morning.

Although paying off debt has to be a priority, do you think it is also sensible to put aside a bit each month to meet regular expenses like birthdays, Christmas, car expenses etc? Those things are going to happen anyway and if we don't have anything saved for them we'll have to go back into debt to pay for them. How do other people get round this?

I also wondered about refinancing the car loan, as it's on a high rate of interest. I've been paying it for a year now and it has another 3 years to go. If I get a cheaper loan to pay it off, would I end up having to pay more in the long run ie. pay interest all over again on the same borrowing? Are loans still front-loaded, or have they stopped that now?

Finally, Mountainofdebt - I love your name - please don't worry about causing offence with your advice - you haven't at all. I'm really grateful to you and the others for taking the time to help me. Can I ask how you got your name? According to your postscript you don't seem to have a mountain of debt now.

Anyway, thanks again and any further advice would be welcome. In the meantime, I'm going to put together a plan based on the advice here and in Martin's book and look at the other boards for tips on individual items like shopping etc.

Love Bumbelina

newmoneysaver_2

Bumbelina wrote:

MBNA Card (APR 6.9%) 2,240
Capital One card (APR 14.8%) 700
Overdraft (APR 14%) 300
Catalogue 40
Bumbelina

Hi Bumbelina,

Is it possible to move the above to one 0%/low apr credit card?

Good Luck - its good to see that you are tackling the problem now before it does spiral out of all control!

Bumbelina

I've just applied for a Mint card at 0% but don't know if my credit rating will be good enough to make me eligible for it. I did the application by post and it said it could take 4 weeks, so will have to wait and see.

Will also have a look at the Credit cards board on here.

mountainofdebt

Ah if only the debt listed in my signature was the only debt hubby and I had.....reality is very often different eh?

The debt in my signature is one of the many debts hubby and I have...in fact its the only one I've listed as I really want the motivation to clear it before the end of the year although I think in reality I don't think I will. Having said that I've made in roads to it (must update the figures!) and hopefully won't be too far of clearing it come the end of the year... given my username I think I see it as my 'base' camp,lol!

As for the kids savings I can see we're not going to change your mind on that one ...I know what you mean about waiting until you are debt free to start saving but if you thought about it perhaps a compromise could be reached....ok, ok that's the last time I mention it .......gawd if only hubby could hear me say that (lol!)

Does your children have any friends that go to these activities living close by? Why not suggest a car pool where you take all the children one week and then their parents take everyone the next? Could you save on the petrol that way (would do wonders for the environment as well!) and it would give you and hubby some free time as well!

As for regular expenses I'm trying to put money away each month for things like car tax etc. Also I found last year putting some money each month on pay day useful for Christmas was handy for buying my christmas food/drink so I've done that again this year.

I agree that when it comes to things like reducing the sky package, you do need the agreement of the whole family....make s life bearable afterwards! Hubby moaned for months that there was nothing to watch, despite having zillions of channels to choose from but to be honest even he has said that if we could get freeview we would knock the whole thing on the head now and I doubt anyone would notice! Can you keep a record of the channels you/he/the children watch so that you can give him the evidence of how much cheaper your/his/their viewing could be?

As far as your car loan is concerned I guess the best idea would be to get a redemption figure and see if what is out there for the amount required over the SAME term that your car loan has left to run if that makes sense. However be careful about applying as you don't want them to make a search on you as too many credit searches in a short space of time makes you look desparate and has an adverse affect.

If you do get the mint card then cancel the cleared cards....not only will this stop you from being tempted again but it reduces the amount of credit that appears available to you from your credit report and will make you more attractive to new deals....in fact reduce your limits on the cards you have if possible for the same reason

Sorry to ramble on but I hope this helps

Bumbelina

Have just been rejected for Mint card, so will have to think of something else. I think I'd better check my credit rating with Equifax and Experian - it shouldn't really be that bad - have paid everything on time for the last 3 or 4 years and no CCJs.

About the childrens savings again - you've hit the nail on the head, Mountainofdebt - I don't trust myself. That is exactly the problem, but it's based on my track record so who can blame me.

I'm now going to start going through my list of expenditure item by item and looking at it afresh to see if I really want to keep paying for it, then check on the boards to see if I can get it any cheaper. It's probably going to take me ages, but what the hell.

Hubby did a good thing today and got the TV, phone and broadband costs down to £56.50 a month instead of £75. Still can't persuade him to part with the Sky Digital box in favour of a freeview box, but he's got rid of all the film channels we never use. T mobile terminates next month and will not be renewed. So baby steps have been taken, but it all helps!

Murtle

Well done!!

So how are you doing so far, £20 saving per month on the internet etc
That's £240 per year, so 1/3 of the Capital one card - or nearly all the overdraft!!!

plus the £40 per month on the childrens activities - so thats £480.....

- so in a year, that's goodbye to capital one!!!

Keep going, I don't know if you used the snowball sheet, but I'm sure if you did and you start to alter the figures with the revised figures you'll start to see the debt free day come closer.

Good luck, and keep going, I look forward to hearing you've done the £100 on the shopping bill!!!!

x

Baby steps, pay good dividends.

mountainofdebt

Can I suggest something?

If you have internet banking why don't you set up a standing order for the amounts that you have already saved to be paid onto a credit card?

That way, you won't be tempted to spend your savings ....so any savings you do make will go off to pay your debts.

johannamse

Hey Bumbelina,

It really is about small steps...you didn't learn to read/ walk in a day. You will get really good at moneysaving, but it is a process that takes weeks/months. This time next year, you will look back, and not believe how you used to live.

Oh...and hubby...he will get more on board, the more he sees what productive changes you are making. Try to involve him, with the positive changes you are making. "Oh, i saved £x on the home insurance today, love."

Bumbelina

Excellent idea about setting up dd to pay savings into credit card. I think hubby is already coming round a bit as well - seems to be getting quite interested in all these figures I'm chucking about.

He also got pretty excited this morning when he realised that we'll be increasing our income by about £300 a month in January when little daughter starts school full time and I can increase my hours and we no longer have to pay for childminding.

It's amazing how much money we've been squandering without thinking about it over the years. With the income we've got and will have in January, all being well, there's no reason we shouldn't make really substantial inroads into the debt in the next couple of years.

We're supposed to be going to stay with friends in Germany next year - will have to save for that - couldn't afford a proper holiday this year, in fact haven't really had one since the children were born. Will have to look at the travel board for that one!

Am planning on applying for the Amex Platinum card, having looked at Martin's advice on the credit card board, so I can transfer all my balance from the capital one card and as much as possible from the MBNA card, then cut it up.