I have massively fucked up our finances

[Skintorama]

I've just been scooting along with my eyes shut for ages. I bit the bullet and sat down with DH to go through stuff a couple of months back and we were 14k into the credit cards, and paying interest.

We have a 13k bank loan which we took out to clear the last lot of credit card debt, there are still three years on that.

I also have a car loan that was around 14k, I think that's down to 12.5k now, 4.5 years to go. I am looking into selling the car back to the garage next month and buying a cheaper, smaller car (needed a 7 seater for work but don't anymore).

We then took out a new 0% cc and shifted stuff around, so we're not paying any interest now, but having totted up all the balances today we are now £16k into the cards. I know some of that is fees, but it's also that we've managed to piss £800 away over our budget in the last two months, and we have paid the balance of our holiday (£700).

It's completely unsustainable. About 6k of the debt was court fees, and 5k was our kitchen overspend. The rest is just spending.

Help me. Please give me all your best advice and tips. I seem to just be failing miserably at this. We have over 4k a month coming in and I don't understand how we overspend every single month, it's nuts.

Money is like intelligence, you always have less than you think you have

"set up a dd for £250pm, so that's 2 years until it's paid. The rest is on another couple of 0% cards and I'll pay those off as soon as possible. If I can keep our monthly spend down to below £1k (which it should be ffs!) for food, petrol etc, then we are laughing."

I don't think you're ambitious enough - you are kicking the can down the road. You won't make a dent in this for a long time. You'll be only about 3K down by Christmas and then Christmas will set you back 1K and the January will be a catch up so by Feb you'll have barely made an impact.

No, what I mean is we'll pay the £250 as a minimum and try to save £1k a month to add to it.

Keep a diary. Write every purchase. I mean every purchase, inc 20 p ones.

If u have to write it down you see very quickly what your doing.

TV/Internet= £70
Surely that can be cut?

Well, reduced right down.

If you ring up to cancel the tv/Internet package they usually offer you a good discount to stay with them.

You might be in credit with the electric/gas and you are entitled to a refund, don't take any bollocks about overpaying now for winter, it's your money.

The other thing to learn from that is if you want to move house in the future then presumably your mortgage will go up and you'll have moving costs so even after the debt is paid off you will have less disposable income after bills then anyway so get used to it now IYSIM.

Hang on, just to clarify

Debt = £42.5k?

12.5k car loan
16k on cards
14k on bank loan

Your take home is £4200 after you stopped work, but not inc DPs overtime at £250 a day?! or week?

Your outgoings are

Mortgage is 1k.
Council tax £160 is this over 10 months or 12?
Gas/E;lectric £140
Water £40
Insurances £150
Car Insurance £60 is this def not inc in the insurances listed above?
Tv/internet £70 * freeview for a year or two @ £100 for a box*
Phones £40 * check billmonitor and see if this can be reduced*

=£1660

Food - ?
Petrol - ?
Hair dressers?
Dental?
Clothes?
School money?

Whats the minimum car payment and its interest rate? How much are you paying each month solely on interest charges?
Whats the minimum bank loan payment its interest rate? How much are you paying each month solely on interest charges?
Whats the minimum cc payment on your 0% card and when does it run out?

Skint I'm going to be harsh - unless you put it on the standing order it will slide. And unless you make a big dent in this quite quickly you'll lose heart and go back into Oh Sod It mode.

When you apply for a mortgage now they go through all your finances with a fine tooth comb. We've just done it.

Posting from the garden so excuse any stupid mistakes.

Dh brings home 2400 Excluding any overtime which is 250 gross per day but not always available.

I bring home about 1800 including child benefit. I work but am trying to change career at the moment.

Insurances are house, life and redundancy.150. Car insurance for both cars is 60

Food is about 600,petrol about 100.

Car loan is 249, about 6pc

Bank loan is 230,again about 6pc

All credit cards are now 0pc for 2yrs.

Also OP, what motivates you? and your DP?

I have a chart on my wall that tracks income ,spending and savings. I like filling it in daily as things change...except the spending section ;) It motivates me. (I also have spreadsheets etc...but its a bit ott for most folk!)

I also made pretty fabric pouches that hold my "envelopes" - clear pencil cases. It was a small outlay of £3 but I like using them. Paper envelopes fall apart too easy.

Get a pay as you go mobile phones and only use in emergency? It's tough to get out of phone contracts though I know.

One more question - what age are your kids? Will you have childcare costs when you go back to work outside of the home?

You can save 1500 a month. If you want to make a serious dent in this you should have that as a minimum and save 120 a month for Christmas.

Skint is that £1,800 per month from childminding?

Yes, we will. We will be about 800pm worse off, depending on what I can earn. But the long term benefits are worth it.

1600 from childminding, 200 child benefit.

How many children do you mind a day?

Get real. That's not an insult, it's advice. What money comes in each month? Your outgoings need to be well under that. You should be saving money/paying off debt every month. Healthy finances come from living well within your means. You are consistently living beyond yours.

The fact that you've already had a consolidation loan and you've run up huge credit card debts again says that you can't have credit cards. Full stop. You don't have enough self control.

It's not complicated. Money comes in, money goes out. Stop spending money you don't have.

Hundreds!

I have seven children on my books, but obviously not all at the same time. I work 7am to 6pm four days a week, plus evening and weekend paperwork, courses and training. The impact on my own dc and DH and frankly my own sanity is becoming untenable, hence the careerchange.

Justfornow - she is facing it all now, and stopping the debts from accumulating higher. She is asking for advice and will hopefully take it. I think its a very positive step :)

How long have you been childminding for? That £800pm will significantly reduce the amount of time you are in debt and therefore the amount of interest you will have to pay.

Five years. It's not just about the money though, we have to do what's best for our family.

If I stop spending like a moron then we can swallow the loss AND pay the debt off quickly. I just need to take control.