Newbie saying hello...

mountainofdebt

I'm not sure whether you would be able to do/thought of this but have you thought about child minding?

I know it would only save £1.00 but have you thought about changing your telephone so that its paid by dd (line rental is £10.50 that way instead of £11.50 per month) sign up with 18899 and use them for calls in conjunction with https://www.saynoto0870.com.

Personally I would keep life insurance - ok you probably wouldn't need it but want would you do without it if the unmentionable was to happen?

Have you thought about visiting a financial adviser to discuss your position? I used to work for one and he was brillant....in fact I have always said that if I won the lottery I would go to him for advice on how to invest it. The advice should be free and there would be no commitment on your part to take his/her advice. If at the end of the day you and your hubby feel that selling up is the right thing for you then so be it but at least that way you will have explored all opportunities and not missed anything just becasue you didn't know the option existed.

Where in the world are you.....if you don't want to post it to all and sundry pm me.

thirdparty

Hi
Just thought I would add my views, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, out loud thoughts etc etc..might help might not, some maybe be obvious some may be non starters. Please don't take offense to any of my ramblings. (I couldn't sleep and decided to put my thoughts down)

It looks like you both are aware of your current situation and have adjusted to living within your means. You learnt from the past and are moving in the right direction to eliminate your debt - congrats on reducing your debt from 24k to 18K - It must have been bl--dy hard work and you are most probably fed up with your situation.

But selling the house may not be a good idea. It sounds easy, sell the house, rent a place, use the equity to pay off debt, save up and buy a house later.
Finding a buyer may not be easy in current conditions. How easy is it to find a place to rent that meets your needs? It maybe harder considering you have pets, I have no idea. Have you looked? Selling and moving is expensive and also a lot of hassle and stressful. I supppose it will be easier if your not buying but renting.
Getting back on the property ladder will most probably be harder in a few years time and you may struggle especially if your not working and your o/h is on lower earnings. Property prices seems to keep going up and I don't really see that will change. The predicted crash has not happened, they are not rising as fast but they are not falling. You have one foot on the property ladder, may be best to stay on.
Having you discussed your situation with your mortgate provider? You have demonstrated you can may all the repayments therefore see if you can re-mortgage to release funds, or re-mortgage over a longer period to reduce repayments. This is to reduce your debt repayment or reduce the overall interest rate on the debt. As long as you don't slip up but continue to live within your means you should be able to have more disposable income.
Are you claiming all the benefits you are entitled to? How can you be sure that you are? I have no idea what benefits are available but you should make sure that you are confident that you are receiving everything.
Looking at your budget, everything seems pretty tight but there may be room to shave of some more.
Telephone, seems like you don't use it much - are you able to get on the BT light user scheme, this should reduce your line rental. Look on their website for details as I vaguely recall their being such a scheme.
Home insurance - what is this for? is this building and content insurance? Do you need it? Are you able to stop it for a while and then continue?
Utility bills, are you up-to-date i.e do you have any arrears to pay off? If not are you able to reduce the direct debits slightly?
Shopping - are you a savvy shopper? Lots of ideas on other forums to reduce your grocry bills, do you use coupons and vouchers? If you shop at tesco you can reduce you bill by using vouchers and not actually buying the item! Not sure where you can get the coupons from but there must be a tread somewhere so you can most probably save 10, 20 per month. Depends on how frequently you shop and the availablity of the coupons. I believe you can use one coupon per product (i.e you can't use several of the same coupon). Split you shopping so you pay for half and husband pays for half - double the discount. Please read other treads as this is the impression i get as I don't use coupons.
Credit card, are you able to get any 0% introductory offers best to move as much debt to a lower rate. How many creditcards do you have? if you are disciplined, you can move your debt around the cards each month so you don't pay any interest and don't have to make any repayments. This is only good for the short term when you a caught short one particular month and need abit of breathing space. Transferring small balances around the cards is easy and no fee. can do it online.

The above is only looking at the financial side. You, your husband and kids must be able to openly discuss financial aspect of your situation and live within your means. United and you can conquer your debt problems.

Not sure what your home life is like so I talk in very general terms
Decluttering does wonders. People just have too much stuff, I know that I have. We keep things for the sake of it and don't like to throw things way. However, getting rid of, donating, selling stuff you don't need does wonders for your finances and life. It means less working in clearing and tidying, bring peace and calm into the house. Past couple of months I have thrown and donated alot of stuff and it feels good to get rid of it. Try it. The less junk you have in the house the better you feel.
Constantly worry about money can get very stressful and depressing.
You know that you owe money, you know that you have budgeted for everything and sticking to the budget and you know that you are making inroads into your debt therefore there is not much more you can do on the financial side. You now need to concentrate on the most important thing in you life, your family. You need to spend quality time with your family without worrying about money. Therefore you need to find activities the whole family can do together and have fun. This is down to you.

Anyway, sorry for the long post and my ramblings but I just wanted to put my thoughts down. better go to sleep now.

a_j_bingham

Frugal_Fox wrote:

Andrew,
Thanks for your post. You have many valid points, and I will follow these up.

Frugal
x

Hi Frugal Fox,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been experiencing computer problems!

If you have an early redemption clause on your present mortgage it may make a difference, but it's still worth enquiring about. At least that way you'll find out if there is a clause, whether your mortgage lender would waive it if you changed your present mortgage to one which had a similar clause, or you'll find out when the present clause expires, it may only be a matter of months.

Please let me know how you got on with your mortgage lender and whether you managed to negotiate with your credit and store card lenders.

I'd also be interested to know what your final decision is?

Thanks,
Andrew.

Frugal_Fox

First of all I want to say Thank you - to all of you who have posted messages of support - and of advice too.

When I started this thread I was very very new to money saving, and probably quite naive too. However in a short space of time I feel I have changed, and that whilst I still have loads to learn I feel I have dramatically moved forward.

Since my original post I have set up a financial spread sheet on our pc. Not only does this allow us to see exactly what funds we have left, it also shows us the debts we currently have and our debt free date if we continue repaying at the rate we are. It also has a snowball illustrator (probably not 100% accurate - but it works in our favour and not against, as it paints a slightly higher amount left over each month). I've also joined in the Pin Money Challenge this month - and can not believe that already I have saved over £25 - these savings would normally have been swallowed up in our account. This month I plan to donate my savings to the earthquake appeal, but future months will go against the highest apr debt.

I've also managed to increase our left over funds from £194 to £450. This is due to an increase in payment from the County Council. This means that our immediate financial status is not as fraught as it was, and whilst we do not have oodles of cash to throw around we have some breathing space.

Because of our credit history our bank are unwilling to expand our mortgage in terms of years. We have still decided to go ahead with selling, and our home is now on the market. We have approached a couple of housing associations to see about shared ownership, which would mean we could retain a foot on the houseing ladder - something many of you were concerned about for us.

My husband and I talk about money at least 4 times a week now, and we both update the pc daily with our expenditure. I now know how much debt we have left to repay - and how long at our current rate this will take. We are also keen to involve the children in finances as soon as possible, so that they take a more cautious approach (hopefuly) when they are older.

If and when the house sells (and it is no longer critical now the surplas funds have increased), we still plan to use some of the equity against the debts we have. We can then use the left over money to bolster our savings account.

Next month I lose another creditor - and as I pay him 24.9% apr this will be such a sad parting (not). The satisfaction I will have to close that account will be enormous - and if it were not for you on this thread, this would not have happened so soon, as I was only paying the minimum on this account - because it had a low balance. Now I am repaying the debts in order of APR.

Thank you all for your help - I will continue to post periodic updates if anyone is at all interested, but THANK YOU for helping me see the light at the end of the tunnel. :A

FF
x

Frugal_Fox

Hi,

Firstly we are no longer selling our home! :j

We decided that it is better to try to sit it out, and instead of uprooting the children, and probably causing them distress, I am going to try to go out to work! For those who have followed the thread, this was not an option a few months ago. However, the children are more settled now, and it is at the very least worth a try.

Our debt has not reduced as much as we would have liked. However it is coming down. At the end of each month, I rejoice at the fact that we are another step closer to being Debt Free. In fact we have started planning a major treat to keep us going! We are planning to go to Australia and New Zealand on a fab holiday - hopefully the summer of 2008, once our debts are gone! This may be postponed to the following summer, depending on what we have managed to save for it, once the debts are gone.

By staying in our home, our mortgage will be paid off within the next 10 years, and we will be completely free of debts - yipee.

I am currently in the first stages of taking action against Halifax to try to reclaim our bank charges following advice from another forum. This would enable us to clear our overdraft, and another creditor, and bring that DFD even closer. So I feel it is at least worth a try.

Again, many thanks for all your support. It has meant a lot to me, and my husband to know that we are not alone. Thank you. :beer:

serena

Hi Frugal Fox,

I have just caught up with this thread.

Wow! Fantastic news. Well done.

:j :j :j

loubie_lou

Hi FF

We are only part of the equation, you have done all the hard work and well done to you!

You are one of the inspirational stories!

good luck in redeeming your bank charges! :j

Verbatim

Have just seen this thread and read it itoday. I'm so pleased you managed to keep your home and can now plan for a fantastic holiday. Your tenacity and clear sightedness are inspirational.

Thank you.

skintchick

Brilliant! So glad things are working out for you and the children are settling down. You're doing so well! Keep us posted!

brummiebabe

Have only just caught up with this thread!! Just wanted to say well done!!! It's great that things are turning round for you and that you now have other options!!!

Keep us posted and best of luck with the children/job hunting/debt repayments etc etc....:T