Can we have a support thread for people who are massively in debt?

[Nerfmother]

Because you can't talk about it in real life? We owe 44k, reduced from 60k in a year. Not including mortgage.
It's so depressing.
Dh is determined to pay it off and so bankruptcy or plans isn't an option. I do think its doable, just hard hard hard.

Well having added up the debt properly, it stands at £10,920 rather than my original estimate of £11,800. I'm much happier that it's that way round rather than bigger, but still rather depressing given that two years ago we had a really healthy savings pot and no debt!

Ishesingle I'm like that with red numbers on YNAB, it drives me demented . I am currently finding excuses to check my spreadsheets and YNAB about four times a day...

Talkin I was surprised how nice HMRC were today, everyone says they're awful if you owe them money. To be fair, I haven't had to speak to the debt collection department yet, and I suspect they'll be a little less friendly! At least I don't actually owe anything from the last tax year though, which I thought I did.

Burma on the bright side, at least you have some leftover, which means you're in a position to hammer away at the debt even more. Proper budgeting (which I love YNAB for) where you can actually see where everything is allocated is such a good way of seeing how most of your salary is accounted for the minute it comes in - I think it's forgetting that that got us into trouble in the first place!

Evening all, not much to report on today...NSD and should be same tomorrow. I bit the bullet and finally closed my Next ac. It's been a zero balance since Nov time...so one down!

Hello everybody, lots to catch up on! Looks like everyone is having a positive week so far?
I'm very intrigued by YNAB - do you need to use a computer, or can it be done via phone?

We don't have a tablet or anything.

I've had a crap week this week, gone over budget already. Was so tired today I wound up spending £18 in tesco on food instead of making the chicken stir fry that's sat in the fridge

I can't wait for Friday either - when our new bills set up kicks in and in going to live by the cash only rule!

Oooh, and latest credit to CC1 has cleared so 1108 remaining there...

Puffy - there is a YNAB phone app but it is complimentary to the software and is only for checking balances and logging transactions. You need the desktop software for it to sync with.

Does anyone know if those "You have xx off your next shop" vouchers you get at tesco have a minimum spend? And can you use more than one at once?

I have two totalling £4.13 and would like to use them get a bottle of wine to take to a friend's house tomorrow. The wine I usually get is £4.59 so I figured it would cost me just 46p from my change pot if I use the vouchers and I won't have to break my last £20 note...

just downloaded the free trial and am CONFUSED! I have put my different budgets in but I don't understand how to sync it to my phone? Wah help please!

Ishesingle...don't think there is a minimum spend, and Ive used up to 3 in one transactio so think you will be grand for your wine...happy days!

Thanks Mum, am getting a lift there AND no teaching the next day so I feel like breaking the "no wine on a school night" rule!

Ellie - you need a Dropbox account to sync to your phone. Set that up and then activate cloud sync under "preferences" in the software. Then set up iPhone app with the Dropbox details.

I think the trial version I have is 3 but it says you need to have version 4 for cloudsync? Sorry I don't know if I'm being thick!

Ellie - you should probably download the latest trial version (v4) as if you buy it, that's the one you'll get

ok thanks. Think I got the wrong one lol. Good start!

Finally found version 4 and got that free trial and it just transferred the info I put into the old version which is good! Don't have to start again lol just need to work out how to use it and actually stick to it!

Hi all. I'm struggling to get on here this week already - flipping work! So we made it to payday - hooray! I have done all the sums, put things aside and there is not much left for 'me money' but there is a little. I had to pay 6 months car tax this morning, there will come a day when I can do 12 months at a time!
Tonight my monthly shop is coming from Tesco and I am a little excited - how sad is that? It will be good to see if we can make it last and keep the top-ups under the budget.

Tesco monthly ship - and you'll get vouchers too from club card points.

Shop - ship would be weird

Ship might be even more exciting!! I have been shopping at Aldi recently but I am stil struggling to keep under the monthly budget so I though I would try monthly this time with small top ups each week. It's not here yet, hope it isn't too much longer.

Well done Ellie! I'm sure you'll get to grips with it soon. I have just looked at the calendar and realised it is a bit of an expensive month and I have nothing in my rainy day categories yet, so I know my small planned "clothes" pot for spring clothes purchases in March will need to go. Without YNAB, I would have gone ahead and shopped and then been broke and used the credit card. It does work, it makes you think about buying stuff.

Watch some webinars and remember to "roll with the punches" - you WON'T stick to your budget, but it is just a PLAN. Plans change. As long as you budget to zero it doesn't matter how many times you adjust your categories. I did it today just for a pesky 2p! You haven't failed at budgeting if you have guessed a category wrong, just roll with the punches and move stuff around (it's called WAM - whack a mole)

we are planning our first visit to Aldi this weekend (I am actually super excited, which is quite worrying !)

Any views on the following from Aldi? Any no-gos/must haves? :

ground coffee
bisto/gravy granules (prole, sorry!)
honey
fruit
fresh herbs
crackers
fish
baking powder
eggs

How do people budget for things like birthdays? I don't have an actual fixed amount I spend, should I just estimate, count up the number of family members and divide by 12?

MissAnnersley To be honest there's nothing I don't recommend from Aldi! I can't tell the difference with anything. The only thing I don't get from there is meat and fish as I buy it from the butcher/fishmonger.

For birthdays we only buy for the DCs in the family (our own, plus a handful of nieces and nephews) and adults get cards. In an ideal world we budget £20 a month, but TBH that hasn't been happening, and we always get a horribly surprise at the tail end of the year when most of the birthdays are! I allow about a tenner per child's present, more on my own DCs.

YNAB experts, I don't have my debts on YNAB, only my current account (not even my credit card, as I haven't spent on it since I've had YNAB). I'm wondering if I should make a fresh start and put my debts on there, as I will be spending lots on the CC in the coming months while not earning much on maternity leave, and it seems that the only sensible way to track everything is to put it all onto YNAB. Otherwise I will be putting outgoings on as if they are coming from my current account but actually they will be CC spends, so my account won't match my YNAB, iykwim.

Oh, and in other news we instigated our first weekly family business meeting, inspired by this blog post. It was really good to quickly check through with everyone what the plans were for this weekend and the coming ones, what activities are coming up, any birthdays, whether we're running out of staples. We have also agreed with the DCs to start giving them a paltry 50p a week pocket money for a couple of chores (checking stores of things like laundry liquid and shampoo once a week, and laying the table for the evening meal). I've been wanting to start their pocket money for a while, and it seems as good a time as any to start them learning about money alongside us! Best bit was asking for money saving ideas from them, DC1 was quite good at suggesting free outings like the park, and baking rather than buying snacks

I need to read and catch up, but just wanted to drop in and do a little happy dance for

PAYDAY!!!!!!!!!

Aldi - quixo gravy granules are lovely

possibly That's a great idea re pocket money - at my house we were not just given the money, we were on commission, so we had to do a set amount of chores to get the money, e.g. clean bathroom on a saturday, hoover living room, wash dishes one evening, help with weekly shop. The chores got more onerous as we turned into bratty teenagers

Payday - had £363 left from last month, no OD, nothing new on CCs. Paid £436 to my card this morning (minimum + extra + £363.

DH should be getting paid for some extra work he did this week on top of his usual pay so can't wait to sit down and pay off the CCs/work out new totals, the debt has already come down by almost £1000 in 6 weeks.

Once I am debt free (end of this month) although I am giving DH pretty much all my spare money for his debts I am going to start putting aside a small amount for emergency fund savings - I know it seems weird to save when we have £16,000 odd debt but not having a contingency fund is partly what caused this!!

Have started a smart saver e-access account to save for the recurrent "extra" expenses, put £50 in last month and will put another £50 today for this month. Also, got DH to pay in £25 that he owed me, so total stands at £125.

Goal this month is to keep the grocery bill down as much as possible. Hello Aldi!