To slow down on my clearing credit card debt quest?

[Onlyrainbows]

We've got just below £4k in credit card debt. Can't remember how much there was originally but I think it was around £7-8k at the start of this year. The debt is down to my husband overspending over the years and a few months of redundancy last year (my end). We now have a decent joint income and live a fairly comfortable life, however I'm always stressing out that I want to clear them before the 0% ends (one is first of January 2023 and the other one is in a year or so). However, I'm always stressing that they need to be cleared and get a tad annoyed that I never get to "enjoy" my money, because the priority is always to clear the cards.

I'd give yourself a set amount per month for treats (me stuff) £200 quid sounds good enough to buy weekly treats or something a bit bigger. Pay off the card where interest ends first (min payments on the other). Life is too short to not have some treats when you're working hard for a decent income.

I don't see it as living beyond my means, and no I don't consider that "me" money. Most (if not all) debt had been caused by my not so dear (in that sense) husband. I would se living beyond my means if I was accruing more debt (which we're not).

YANBU and it sounds like you've made great progress, especially with your DH putting all his money in the joint account. I remember your previous threads about how he earned hardly anything and spent most of what he did earn on himself and it sounds like this has stopped?

As you say, you can always transfer the debt if it's still there to another card at no cost and allow yourself to live a little in the meantime (and meet higher utility bills etc). After all, it's not you who's run up the debt, so it shouldn't be you who's going without while it's being paid back.

When I'm working 50 hours per week and bringing £75k to the house income the last thing I want is to live frugally all because my husband had terrible (hidden) spending habits.

Thanks Barbara that's exactly how I feel :)

I'd keep the debt repayment as it is, and cut back on some of the family spending if you want more money for you.

Why are you thinking of dropping the payment by £300? Why not more? Why not less?

How would you feel about going through finances and having a more structured budget? So a certain % is me money. There are lots of apps you can use to track spending etc.

I live overseas and overpaid my student loan. Remembering to login and manually transfer every month was a real ballache. The headspace it freed up was incredible! So on that basis I would highly recommend paying off asap.

A small amount of “me money”, say £50, would make a big difference to me. If you’re dropping the payment, I’d only drop it by that sort of amount or I’d see if I could make saving elsewhere to allow for that at the full £500 repayment. It’s a drag but you want that debt gone as soon as possible.

I get that. If I were you, I would pay before interest kicks in (otheriwse you will spend more whilst you could actually enjoy the money), but in the meantime did you had a serious talk with your husband? You can't keep going on like this. He can't put you in debt because he likes shopping.

Oddly enough we have a fairly structured budget it's the leisure activities (and maybe household extras like towels, linen, etc...) That don't have a budget. I used to have one in my previous marriage and found it suffocating. It actually got simplified over the years. Why the £300? I don't know! I think it's because that's how much home gadgets are in average (which what I would spend it on most likely).

You go on holidays and eat out when you like. You say you can do what you like. What is this "me" money of £300 a month for that you so desperately want.

If you are paying £500 a month on 4k that should be cleared in 8 months, and you say you will soon have more expendable income due to help with childcare. So to me it sounds like you ought to just continue paying.

You want to spend £300 a month on home gadgets?? What home gadgets do you need to spend £300 a month on?

YANBU. Life needs to be a balance. Yes, you can pay it all off quicker, but you also need to live life. Taking an extra year to clear it, even if you pay a little extra to swap to another 0% deal, really isn't the end of the world. Life is too short and money, while useful, really isn't the be all and end all.

A shark, a Fitbit, the ninja foodie, new headphones. I'd also like a new purse but haven't found one I like. Same for my glasses

Never pay the minimum on a credit card. Pay £1 more than the minimum if that's what you can afford and fix it via direct debit at that amount.

This blog explains why. The credit card provider will fiddle with your minimum payments each month to string out the debt for as long as possible. A purchase of £1k at 18% just paying the minimum payments will take 19 years to pay off.

debtcamel.co.uk/credit-card-minimum-payment/

Not everyone has 4k sitting around in savings 🙄

Change it by £150pm and buy a new gadget every other month? Like a compromise?

It's hard to feel sympathetic when the things you're forced to 'go without' are actually luxuries. I'd like a Harley Davidson and there's a £3000 laptop I've got my eye on; should I cut back on paying my debts off? Who cares??

These are all 0% so that logic doesn't apply. I don't pay the minimum payment anyway, I normally pay as much as I need to pay before the 0% period expires

I could be the world’s most extreme pessimist but look at what’s happening:

The cost of fuel and utilities rising. The knock-on effects are increasing prices of everything.

There are likely to be job-losses across the board.

Interest rates rising.

Your margin for enjoying the life-style you have currently could change for the worst in a trice.

There’s no guarantee that there will be a zero percent balance transfer should you need one at the end of this year.

What would I do? Put your family into extreme austerity measures and throw everything possible at the debt until it’s cleared. Start now

How much fun money does your husband get compared to you, and how much effort is he putting into paying it off?

There’s no guarantee that there will be a zero percent balance transfer should you need one at the end of this year

That's true but I've been exploiting the zero fee 0% offers for about 15 years by offsetting a transferred balance with savings earning interest and there has never been a time where I've not been able to get a new offer when I've wanted one. I've never paid a fee or interest and have made thousands in interest due to this.

He doesn't get any either, he puts all the salary into the joint point (same as me)... But he didn't used to, this only happened from March this year.

I should have been clear my comment re paying minimums was in relation to other people telling you to pay the minimums in case other people in debt are reading this thread too and think that's good advice.

You don't want to be told to pay it off early, you want to be told to splash out on yourself. Just do it, you want to, you just want permission for some reason. Buy the stuff you want that's more important than debt to you. Dunno why you are needing permission, you're an adult, quite capable of making your own mistakes. Go right ahead and buy the stuff.