In debt and shouldn’t be

[Debtfulanddoomed]

I own just under £6k - mainly accrued it in covid times when I lost my job but haven’t really made much of a dent in it.

After bills and expenses (including food and petrol) I have around £1700 each month.
currently I am paying back £250 a month which still leaves me £1450. I rarely have anything left at the end of the month.

I need to get a handle on this and have started noting down when I spend money. It’s the summer holidays so I don’t know how likely I am to be able to over pay this month but ideally I’d like to be able to double my repayments which would still leave me with £1200 free spending money - this should be enough? I have two dc.

owe
I don’t own it! That’s the issue!

After all bills, food and petrol?! That’s loads.

I feel you! Is it interest free? I owe 9k for similar reasons but it's interest free and I have a dd for £500 a month set up.

Wow £1450 left at end of month? I have £450 after all bills are paid and I still need to buy food travel etc - you are okay!

When you say overpay, you don't mean you are just paying the minimum do you? And it is interest free? If it isn't, you need to switch it to an interest free card immediately. Then the trick is to assign the money on pay day and not wait and see what you have left at the end of the month as nobody has anything left, you spend what you have. I would advise paying the minimum on the credit card, and putting the rest in a higher interest savings account that you can't access instantly, I use moneybox. You could also open an account like Monzo or Plum that saves for you without you noticing. Assign all that money to the credit card too.

You only have to do 6 months of tightening your belt and it would be gone. Sounds like you just need to try harder rather that it being any other issue.

So after all essentials including food and petrol you have £1700 left and instead of using this to get rid of your debt in a few months, you're spending it on non essentials?

Either your budgeting is way off and you've missed loads of necessary costs, or you're wasting money all over the place. How do you spend £1450 pm without really knowing where it goes? That's mad.

You could pay off £1k pm and be out of debt by the end of the year. Have you transferred the £6k to an interest free card so you're paying the debt off, not having a chunk of your payments go on interest?

Is this honestly a real question? Is £1200 free spending money per month left enough? I'm not sure if cost of living is the right board for this as to me, cost of living is for people really struggling, I wouldn't say that much left each month is struggling at all and possibly a little insensitive to those people really struggling. Maybe money matters might be a better place for this.

£1,700 left after bills is quite a significant amount.

What are you spending it all on apart from the £250? You could have it paid off in a year and still have plenty left each month.

Has the debt reduced much since you originally accrued it?

I agree with the others, either you haven't calculated your budget correctly or your spending a lot of money on non essential without realising it.

You could shirt that 6k onto an interest free crest card and pay it off in 6 months time. You'd still have £700 spending money.

@Debtfulanddoomed obviously didn't like the answers!

Blimey £1200 for personal spends is tons of cash. I allow c £250 for my personal spends pcm and to me I feel I am doing quite well in these difficult times.

What do you spend it on? The more frugally you choose to live the quicker the debt will reduce. Go through statements and identify how it is spent, what you do not need and can cut down. Extra coffees, going out, alcohol, clothes etc.

What are you spending the rest on? What are your bills coming to?

The obvious answer is to pay more on the debt. Don't wait till the end of the month to see what you have left to pay it off, pay it at the start of the month.

You have 1700 after bills and food. Love the debt to a 0% card if possible, pay 1k a month and you'll be clear in 6 months.

I would be tempted to have two very frugal months and over pay as much as possible.
as close to £1000 each month making a dent of 1/3 of the balance. Maybe after the summer. Short term pain would be worth it. This is how I save for things that seem unaffordable

The OP wouldn't even need to be that frugal, as she'd still have £700 pm free spending money, unless her budgeting is way off, but until she gives further information, who knows?

I write down my monthly personal spends. They used to be nearer to £400 and now maximum £250. It really helps to see it written down in front of you like that.

Are you paying interest on it

Cash envelopes (or virtual cash envelopes if you prefer to use debit cards) are a good way to plan your spending on payday. Fill the envelopes and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Pay the loan on payday once the cash envelopes are stuffed, so there’s no temptation to dip into the money earmarked for the loan.

Well surely you should pay £1000 off each month for 6 months to get free of debt!

Pay it immediately you get paid and you still have £700 pm for entertainment and incidental expenses.

This should be easily doable unless you have a habit you haven't disclosed on here!