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.

Our old supplier is still billing us for AFTER our switch date. It's been going on since 19th September 2013 - every month they bill, I phone, they cancel the bill and say the account is frozen, then they bill me again. It is so f**king tedious.

I'd a bit of luck this week re energy suppliers...my fixed deal was coming to an end but have extended for another 2 years...and at 3 pounds per month cheaper than before! Gas and electric for 70 pounds per month

Mum2Fergus that's great news! Our (new, since we've just moved) DD is something like £130 a month, and we are £300 in debit from the first 2 months, but I'm hoping we'll catch up quickly as it warms up and get into credit and maybe reduce it to more like £110. We have had a horrible rental overlap period which has cost us a fortune in rent, gas and electricity bills despite keeping the heating down to 13 degrees to stop damp.

We do menu plan, and I cook most of our meals from scratch, but I think I'm going to get back into baking treats/bread (have made flapjacks and bread today - start as you mean to go on!). Looking at the lidl receipt I spent £6 on newborn nappies and perhaps a fiver on treats that I could probably make for less (especially since my store cupboards are well stocked with flour etc at the minute). I'm going to challenge myself to do it for £85 next week! Need to persuade DS2 to potty train so we can stop buying nappies for him

burma what ages roughly are your DC? £100 for five sounds brilliant, that's only a tenner more than we spend on average for four!

In other news (sorry, I am such a multiple poster) we made this budget risotto for dinner and it was really really good.

Ellie sorry to hear your news, what a nightmare for you. Luckily we are of the 'our debt' camp in this house.
Sorry for those of you having nightmares with energy bills. Dh mentions swapping every now and again but I have managed to put him off thus far. You hear so many horror stories about changeovers.
Well dh's car cost us £177 yesterday but really needed a good overhaul so can't complain. We have a deal with my work with this particular garage so got 10% off what it should have been. I've also paid £77 for car tax this month and my MOT is due! Bloody cars!
Had to get dd new school shoes tonight as her old ones have broken - £36! Why are they so expensive?
On a positive side, dh has just updated the spreadsheet and we have paid 8% of our debt off now. It's not a lot I know but it's great to see the percentage going up.

Orange! It's vegetarian! I love you! And ds loves risotto!
Mum - fab news on the energy front.
Switching is fine, I'm just a bit that you pay in advance.

Nerf,I think we'll be needing a shiny new thread soon!

I'm not very good at this budget shopping. I have a Tesco delivery saver plan as I get a lot of regular items. I decided to go Lidl as I know I'm paying through the nose for Tesco, but when I went I only got half the stuff. the delivery plan literally rolls over at midnight tonight so I doubt I could cancel the payment. So, I've now got £42 of shopping from Lidl and a £55 order for Saturday from Tesco, just so I could get some cheaper spinach. Sigh. Need to get my head round this properly. Might stick with Tesco for next few weeks whilst I'm so swamped at work, suck up my anger at paying £1.50 for baby spinach when it's 89p in Aldi, and make a concerted effort to do the changeover at Easter.

Once again, I feel I'm paying for working FT. I would be in and out of all the bargain shops if I had the time, but I really struggle at the moment. DH and I did Lidl, but it was very lacking in stuff. Would not be able to do a second supermarket trip this week.

Complicated stuff. Hoping that Aldi or Lidl start delivering from a warehouse where they have a bit more stock... One can dream .

I've cheered myself up by setting up a secret standing order to overpay the mortgage. I know I should clear debt first, but I am feeling thoroughly soul-destroyed at how slowly it is going down and how much interest we pay because we are stuck with the blighted NRAM. Everyone I know is on weeny interest. We were paying 6.9% on our fixed rate, now 4.78%. Sulk!

Nerf I haven't made risotto for ages, but this was really really yummy. Need to find somewhere that sells decent sized packs of risotto rise, the ones in Sainsburys were all 500g, and Lidl didn't have any. I can see risotto in general being a good money saving/fridge contents using meal as an alternative to stew/curry. We eat veggie quite a lot.

Kinky it took us a while to get used to lidl/aldi, and at first we were only doing about half the shop there and half in Sainsburys, but over time our menu plans have shifted over more to what's available there and away from what we used to habitually plan/buy. Today's top up of £12 in Sainsburys was an all time low, and to be honest I could have got a couple of those bits in Lidl if I could have been bothered to hunt! Sounds like a good plan to do it when you can focus on it for a couple of weeks though.

Oh, and Kinky working FT definitely has costs associated with it - I normally work 4(ish) days a week but in Dec/Jan/early Feb I worked 5-6 days a week and we spent waaaaay more on food/birthday presents/little treats from the corner shop.

Mum2 - you are right! But I am too squiffed on cheap aldi wine to work out how to link and do! Any takers?

Orange, I am v excited by the risotto plan.
Kinky, we also did half and half and then gradually I adjusted to mostly aldi except the things the dcs really hate from there.

I do the posh supermarket first, get the list items I know also don't do (frubes, quorn roast) and then do aldi.

Nerf I love Aldi wine!! Cambalala Sauvignon Blanc for £4.79 is the bees knees!

Well almost had a NSD today...realised I've left phone charger in hotel when I was away the other week,bought a replacement tonight.

DP paid tomorrow so can pay back emergency fund 160pounds and pay nursery top up 74pounds...

Those of you switching energy companies - I do hope you've gone through TopCashBack... we generally earn about £100 each time we switch.

In fact - ALL of you should be using TopCashBack or Quidco for all purchases online. We've gained about £700 to date.

So, my pay goes in at midnight and I stuck to YNAB and all my categories are green OK, most are on 0 but none are red!

Had a lovely school trip today and used the £20 I had been saving for lunch. Had a few £ left to get a coffee on the way home and the Mirror for the £5 Aldi voucher. 26p now in my purse!

Bit of an end-of-month report:

Bank balance at payday last month -£151.
Bank balance today -£57 (with income of £32 pending from music magpie and income of £18 pending from Amazon, so I could say it is -£7)
CC balance at payday last month -£364
CC balance today -£86
Amount paid off the "big debts" in Feb £613

Goals for March:
Pay off remaining £86 on CC and don't use the card
Get shopping to £280 (was £292 in Feb)
Put money aside for road tax and Christmas and don't spend it.
Put money aside for emergency fund/car repairs and don't spend unless an actual emergency
Buy no clothes

putting money aside for road tax and Christmas and don't spend it

I'm REALLY bad at this. I need to start a bit of a future fund. I've put £50 in the savings for Christmas, but should do the same for the car. Sounds like you're doing really well ishe.

Thanks for all the shopping tips. I love that you have to go for frubes and quorn roast - your house sounds like mine nerf Thanks too possibly

I could cry. We're going to have to replace a porch carpet. We rent but my fat arsed dog has just waddled into a tin of rubber paint and knocked it on the floor. the flipping lid popped off and has gone everywhere. There is no way of cleaning the carpet of it

luckily its only a 2.5m sq room so should be able to get an off cut from somewhere.

I really could cry

Oh Winter that's utterly crap, poor you. We rent too and things like that make me want to build up a little emergency fun as soon as possible so I don't need to use the CC.

Kinky I am desperate to start a Christmas /car fund too. Yet another thing that will have to be post maternity leave for me, but it will be lovely to be a bit more in control of it.

ishesingle wow, that sounds like great progress on the debts, well done.

I signed up for topcashback in late December and even though there haven't been any big insurance renewals or anything there's already £11 in the account. I'm vaguely planning to leave it to accumulate for the year and use it for amazon for Christmas, depending on things go.

Bumbolina- oh no! Didnt Know ot existed but will investigate today.
Winter, how crap. Are you allowed to do it yourself? Some of the little carpet shops are good for off cuts and you can get a fitter separately.

Yes, quorn roast is essential on a Sunday!

Payday here too but unfortunately last month went slightly wrong at the end (grandads big birthday, dhs big birthday and mums birthday) not that we spent a fortune just having to so cards and presents and cakes so have eaten into 100 already.
I cut the last remaining cc up last night in a fit of frustration. Things kept dribbling into it.

Can I ask those of you who use ynab how easy you find it?
I downloaded it last year have haven't got round to using it yet!
Dh always knows where his money goes but me....not so much :)

Putting money aside - every time I go to morrisons I but £2 in stamps, and I'm saving tesco club card vouchers.
Plus if I see nice things that would suit someone in buying them.

DP can fit them, Landlord doesn't really care. We changed the same carpet when the washer chucked up everywhere and trashed the lino 2 years ago

That aside we are managing to stick to budget this month