Little By Little...

redmel1621 · 26 August 2018 at 8:32PM

Well, I've been here before! Not on this forum as such, but in this situation. We never seem to learn, but this time is different. This time we are going to clear our debts once and for all.

I have been shoving my head in the sand pretending we barely have any debt, but in reality, we have lots and the debt mountain just keeps growing... It is starting to get out of hand.

I'm hoping a diary will help me to see clearly and break down exactly what needs paying and when. I am not expecting anyone to comment; I just need to hold myself accountable. Instead of wasting money on things that we shouldn't, I am going to throw it at the debts. The difficulty is getting the husband on board. He seems to think that because he is earning at the moment (quite a rarity I must say) he can just buy what he wants. He forgets half of what he has bought and then wonders why we have no money! I've said I am going to start writing down every penny he (I/we) spends, so that he can see where it is going.

Our debts are made up of lots of smallish amounts, no mortgage and no huge loans/credit card debts. Although we do have car finance, which is a pretty large amount and we are only 1yr into a 5yr repayment plan. The benefit of the car finance is that it is balanced out by the free road tax and very cheap fuel, because it is electric. The amount we were spending on these two 'bills' pretty much covers the finance each month.

The list of debts will be in the first post. Let's get these pesky numbers down to £0, little by little...

redmel1621 · 26 August 2018 at 8:33PM

Placeholder for debts list and figures (now in order of tackling/paying off)

Payee - Original Debt - Start Amount/Lightbulb amount - Current Amount - Monthly amount

V12 Finance - V12 (Scan) - £1299.91 / £837.31 - £214.88 - £30.84pm
V12 Finance - V12 (Scan) - £1119.89 / £863.19 - £154.02 - £25.67pm
Next plc - Next Directory - £418.05 / £230 - £175 - £0pm
Lowell - Littlewoods - £559.90 / £559.90 - £559.90 - £0pm
Lowell - O2 mobile - £729.80 / £519.80 - £439.80 - £10pm
Restons - Aqua Credit Card - £543.40 / £528.40 - £124 - £124pm
Student Loan Co. - SLC (M) - £762.89 / £752.89 - £662.89 - £10pm
STA - Liv Hope Uni - £1872 / £1037 - £967 - £10pm
Robinson Way - Lloyds Bank - £1533.12 / £1533.12 - £1533.12 - £0pm
Student Loan Co. - SLC (P) - £2031.55 / £1702.55 - £1622.55 - £10pm
Car Finance - Raphael & Son - £14919 / £11438.05 - £6812.92 - £188.67pm
Bike Loan - Hitachi - £4245.12/£4245.12 - £1982.86 - £90.14pm
Argos - Argos - £401 - £295 - £60pm (May deadline)
Argos - Argos - £749 - £749 - £75pm (December deadline)
Paypal - Paypal - £789.25 - £722.14 - £61.67pm
Barclaycard - Barclycard - £1200 - £1200 - £35pm
Vanquis - Vanquis - £100 - £998 - £55pm

Total original debt £31495.52
Min Monthly payments £454.75
Total current debt amount £13711.30

I think that is everything except our main student loans (which are about 100k for both.)

Having got over the shock of these figures I am now ready to tackle them.

redmel1621 · 27 August 2018 at 11:14AM

Jobs to do next week.

Write to Robinson Way to ask for a reduction in the total amount of debt repayable. Include an offer of monthly payment and a complete soa.

Write to Lowell (Littlewoods) to arrange a monthly amount and include soa.

Phone council (hubby to do this) to make arrangement to repay overpayment of £350.

Make a meal plan and cut right back on treats to reduce weekly amount.

Work out remaining amounts on V12 and Lowell debts.

Find things to sell around the house (not much of value, but sure there must be something) I feel as though I am in a pit of despair right now! I am not even sure how to tackle all of that ^^^ and have no idea how I thought we had barely any debt. Seeing it written down is frightening.

At the moment we only have one income, but I start work in a week and will be paid at the end of September, albeit only a part time wage.

I think I need a cuppa after the shock of those figures!

Lydia42 · 27 August 2018 at 2:18PM

Hi redmel1621
Happy new diary! Well done facing your situation. I've only recently done the same and it's so daunting isn't it? I think the best way to look at it to begin with is to concentrate on not increasing the debt and take it step by step. Our debt has gone up since my light bulb moment due to interest/fees charged to transfer our debt to 0%. This is now all done and things are much clearer to manage.

However we have also had some unexpected repairs to carry out and i need to sort kids uniforms this week for their return to school. After this i am hoping things will start to look more hopeful. Like you we currently pay £450 ish per month to our debts but i know things will get better. I'm hoping to start an emergency fund soon too, but can't do that until this month is out of the way.

Have a cuppa, get all your final figures together and start looking at writing a budget to see where your money is going. Chin up - we'll get there.

redmel1621 · 27 August 2018 at 4:14PM

Lydia42 wrote: »

Hi redmel1621
Happy new diary! Well done facing your situation. I've only recently done the same and it's so daunting isn't it? I think the best way to look at it to begin with is to concentrate on not increasing the debt and take it step by step. Our debt has gone up since my light bulb moment due to interest/fees charged to transfer our debt to 0%. This is now all done and things are much clearer to manage.

However we have also had some unexpected repairs to carry out and i need to sort kids uniforms this week for their return to school. After this i am hoping things will start to look more hopeful. Like you we currently pay £450 ish per month to our debts but i know things will get better. I'm hoping to start an emergency fund soon too, but can't do that until this month is out of the way.

Have a cuppa, get all your final figures together and start looking at writing a budget to see where your money is going. Chin up - we'll get there.

It is very daunting! I am almost finished with final debt figures and have made a start on a monthly budget. It will all be more maneagable once I get back into work, assuming my husband doesn't get laid off as the contract he is working on is coming to an end. We have no idea if the company will have any more work for him.

Anyway, what will be will be and the sooner we get rid of some of this debt the better.

I've just done a tax credit calculation and we will lose most of it once I start work, but will still get a small amount. I think my priority is to get rid of the credit Union loan. It is a smallish loan, but takes a significant payment each month.

At least I now have a starting point.

Lydia42 · 27 August 2018 at 4:47PM

Well done starting getting a budget together, and good luck on the work front. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I've subscribed :-)

redmel1621 · 28 August 2018 at 9:05AM

In the interest of 'getting on with things', today I am going to write to Lowells (Littlewoods) and ask for them to accept a £300 settlement offer and to accept this on a monthly basis of £10pm

I will also write to Robinson Way and ask them to reduce the debt by 50% and also accept a monthly amount of £10 initially, to be reviewed in a year.

I will then make a start on a more comprehensive budget. I have done a master one with the main bills on it, but need to add in things like Xmas/Bdays/Mot/Kids clubs etc... I need to work out if it is better to work these over a set period or whether to just have them as extra expenses in each particular month. I appear to be rubbish at this!

I will also pay £10 off Next today.

Depending how I feel after doing all of the above, I might make a start on food/meal planning. I'm not sure I will be up to that today too as this is all quite draining mentally. I'm trying to stay positive, but now I know the extent of the debt, I just want it gone.

redmel1621 · 28 August 2018 at 9:49PM

Update on today's jobs.

I posted the letter with my offer to Robinson Way offering 50% paying monthly. Will wait and see what the reply is on that one.

I paid £5 off Next instead of £10 as I realised I haven't bought lunch boxes yet, so need to go and buy them tomorrow.

That is ll I managed. I got distracted by a mouse in the house! I have bought traps and poison and checked for holes etc.. Eurgh I hate the little scratchy, whiskery things! If I could catch it/them alive I would take them to my brother for his snake! I think we need to get another cat...

Tomorrow I have a gym induction. All very MSE, as I got it via the gp for being a fatty. I'm getting 3mths unlimited use of the gym and swimming to see if I can shed some pounds. They used to offer SW memberships too, but had to cut that because of their budget cuts.

I also need to go shopping tomorrow, so really should get cracking with a meal plan. It isn't really main meals that cost us a lot, it is the lunch stuff. All 6 of us need packed lunches and it just works out so expensive!! I suppose I should make a loose plan of what I need or I will forget essentials and come out with a load of junk food.

redmel1621 · 29 August 2018 at 9:07AM

Feeling a little deflated that I didn't achieve as much yesterday as I hoped I would. I am going to turn that around and have decided to only set myself ONE dfw job per day. There is a lot to set up and plan and it is all far more time consuming than I thought it would be.

I have done my one job for today: I have created an order in which the debts will be tackled (I will update the Debts List to reflect this)

I am going shopping, without a meal plan or shopping list. Al I know is we have 'old mother hubbard' cupboards, so need food!

I always found I saved a lot when I did a monthly shop, when it was just dh and I (or even when there were 3 of us) but it is just too much to buy in one go now there are 6 of us. I need to have a think on the best way to approach this.

kindofagilr · 29 August 2018 at 1:11PM

Hey :wave:

I'm here waving you on

You will do awesome, I have complete faith in you

Try not to feel deflated, you have done so much already

xx

Lydia42 · 29 August 2018 at 1:56PM

Don't feel deflated. You're doing great. Write a list of the things you want to get done, and pick off a few easy ones to start with. That will help get you motivated and you'll be able to see things getting crossed off the list. My 'to do' list seems to keep growing but i can actually see i have achieved something when i look back, instead of panicking over what i haven't got done.
Just a quick suggestion about your council tax - have you spread this over 12 months? It's not something they seem to tell people, but if you call them they do offer this as an option instead of over 10 months. It gave us a bit more breathing space each month. Little things soon add up.
Hope you have a good day :-)

Good luck with the gym by the way. I went back to slimming world this morning - summer holidays have definitely caused tighter trouser syndrome hahahaha

Little By Little...

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