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Debt Number 3 : For those who feel they are drowning and want a way out

999 replies

TalkinPeace · 25/04/2014 21:23

This thread follows on from Nerf's incredibly useful
FIRST www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1969188-Can-we-have-a-support-thread-for-people-who-are-massively-in-debt
and then
SECOND
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2011878-Debt-support-thread-2?
threads about realising you are in and supporting each other out of debt.

I am not in debt, any more.
Here is a link to some spreadsheets that might help
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/1987219-SPREADSHEETS-for-Debt-Control-Budgeting-Mortgages-etc

and lots of people use this
YouNeedABudget

The important thing to remember is

  • yesterday is as past as the Crimean War
( we will not judge how you got into debt, but we will support you on the way out )
  • this is an anonymous forum
( we will not tell your employer, family or friends of the reality of your numbers )
  • this thread is about supporting people through the huge mindset changes needed to come out of debt
( feel free to offload all of the feelings that drive you to want to spend, that make it hard to save and that generally make life crap at times )

Join in, bare your soul and come out the other end.
Its worth it.
You are worth it.

OP posts:
KinkyDorito · 19/05/2014 20:13

puffy renal failure in cat 1 set me back 1k last year, then food and pills are £100 a month for him. Cat 2 is the teeth one, so 350 or thereabouts for him this month with the op, jabs and checkups. Then there's the anti-social guinea pig who just cost me £20 for a checkup. It's not like I can't do it though. I do wish I'd had insurance still, but many of the costs we have now wouldn't be covered by it anyway.

Ishe I'm with Miss - had 3 remaining wisdom teeth out a few years ago and it is so nice not keep getting infected. Sore for a few days and bruised, but healed beautifully.

ishesingle · 19/05/2014 22:33

Thanks guys. I would push to go on the waiting list now but dentist said there has to be recurring infections to justify the extraction, unless I want to pay private. But as it has to be done in hospital (and not at a dentist surgery) due to position of the tooth, private will cost a fortune! I googled what he said and the NHS website backs this up. So I'm going to wait and see. I did find out that extraction is totally free on the NHS if you're referred to hospital. As soon as I get another infection or problem I will push him for a referral.

KinkyDorito · 20/05/2014 06:54

Yep, I had a couple and got NHS referral. Was sent to a Nuffield hospital to have it done though.

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 20/05/2014 08:17

Bah, I forgot about that - my other one was infected 3 or 4 times before I got the referral and I kept begging to have it out but they just keep prescribing anti-biotics. Then they wonder why we're all resistant to themHmm

This time round it's only been infected once but I think the precedent of the other one helped.

Argh I'm scared, having the other one out was deeply unpleasant.

Mum4Fergus · 20/05/2014 17:19

Evening all ... payday!!
Grin
Bill payments and transfers all made...envelopes filled and money left over into savings ac ready to repay OD-wish I could reduce in instalments but can only repay it in full-setting aside in savings ac meantime...

Lookrightnow · 20/05/2014 18:21

I'm feeling pretty upbeat about everything at the moment. I spent ages last night sorting separate named savings accounts (already had them but they were empty!). This means my rollover categories are easier to keep on top of (I never paid for YNAB, just stole their idea). That was pretty satisfying.

DH's phone is just about to give up. He spent ages last night researching options of how to replace it. We both use our smart phones for everyday stuff. It'd be really hard to give up the notion of having sat nav/camera/podcasts etc in one place. We've also got docking stations/chargers etc for apple products. Pondering that one.. I'm happy to give him mine, trade his in then get a reconditioned one or something. I know it isn't a NEED, but we're considering options. Both our tariffs are £15pcm.

Mum4Fergus · 20/05/2014 23:07

You're on a roll LookRightNow,well done you! On the phone front,keep an eye on your local FB selling page for ones for sale maybe?Gumtree too...

MyGoldenNotebook · 21/05/2014 08:49

Hi All,

Sounds like a mixed bag here! Sorry to hear about the dental problems :( I have an awful hacking cough myself (really sore chest) which has slowed me down.

Get paid on Friday and I'm determined to pay some money off the overdraft this month as well as paying more than minimum on credit card and next account. Have my AQA training tonight as part of becoming an examiner. All money earned to go to over draft.

Been good spending wise. Had an unexpectedly free morning yesterday and visited a free art gallery rather than going for a browse as I might normally have done.

Still waiting to hear if CTC will give us any money towards child care this year. Fingers crossed.

canmykidsplaywithyours · 21/05/2014 11:14

Hi, I was advised to pop over to this thread after I started my own about debt, I'm on my phone so can't link. I was trying to get a consolidation loan for 10,000 but have found out this morning I have been refused.

Not too sure where to go from here. I'm 120 short of my out goings a month. Have already cut everything non essential out, reduced food money, swapped energy providers. I have about £3000 in stock left from my business (if sold full price) which is how I got into this mess in the first place. Im seeking it off but at massive reduced prices to fill this gap.

My major expense is one of my credit cards. Minimum payment is 160 a month with only 60 chipping at the debt. I am unsure what help I can get or where to go to as I am making payments on time but im having to borrow to pay them until I get paid again. It's swings and round abouts at the minute!!

IAmTheGodOfTitsAndWine · 21/05/2014 11:33

Have you had any proper debt advice, Canny? The CAB have been fantastic with me and my DP.

canmykidsplaywithyours · 21/05/2014 11:46

Not really, have spoken to my Mum who was in the same situation a few years ago.

There's no cab where I live, it got closed about 4 years ago. The closest is nearly 20 miles away and has a 6-8 week wait.

Mum4Fergus · 21/05/2014 12:46

I've heard Step Change mentioned on the thread a few times as a source of support...could you visit their website/give them a call?

pixiestix · 21/05/2014 13:25

Can you balance transfer at 0% onto a new card Canmy? At least to get the worst debt off your back for the moment and give you some room to think.

Two days til payday. This has been a looooong month.

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 21/05/2014 17:28

4 days til payday here. Will be a spendy weekend, although not as spendy as I had feared (friend's 30th birthday party in London, so train tickets, plus food/drinks)

Still hoping to have a small surplus to put off debt on 25th. Even if not, I'll be able to drop a lump sum off debt with new salary, and at least I'm not spending more than I earn any more!

northender · 21/05/2014 18:08

stepchange

Found this link for canmy then realised mum4 had already mentioned it. Hope it helps Smile

northender · 21/05/2014 18:23

We've had a pretty good month here after our indifferent April.
At the moment we run an overdraft. Due to our different pay days and some frantic account juggling I can minimise the charges on this to zero most months. This is also helped by a CC we have that gets the balance paid in full each month. We also have a car loan which has 2 more years to run (no benefit to paying off early) and our main debt is a 0% cc with 20 months to run (paying min payments but no benefit in paying any more yet).
Anyway, I've done projections to the end of August and, all being well, by then we'll have cleared the overdraft and should have started building up the money to pay the cc off when the 0% runs out. That looks really doable and will feel like a real achievement. Just got to keep things tight until then.

I don't know if anyone else follows this blog but I quite like it, find it has really down to earth TiP type advice Wink. frugal queen. She has just done the first of a series of webinars about getting out of debt. Hope it's helpful to someone.

calculatorsatdawn · 22/05/2014 13:47

Hi,

It has recently come to light (to me at least) that I have debt problems and I need to do something about it. I sat down with DP last night and went through the budget planner on Moneysaving expert to work out my essential outgoings. Second to my mortgage (a very close second) paying off loans and credit cards is my biggest monthly expense and because I'm only making minimum payments these never get any less.

I calculated that I pay out 1,700 a month in things that I have to pay that cannot be altered which includes, mortgage, loan repayment, utilities, phone, tv, minimum credit card repayment, car insurance, petrol. Which leaves me 1,300.

The thing that's depressing me most is that 1,300 is a lot of money and I'm fairly pee'd off with myself for getting further into debt each month.

Anyway, sorry for the long back story but the thing I need to do is plan how I spend the 1,300 and stick to it. I like the envelopes idea and I think if I had to hand over cash for things I'm buying it would make spending a lot more 'real' for me. The problem is I have no idea how I come up with a figure to allocate myself. Would you plan backwards and say, I want to pay off maybe 500 a month so I have 700 to spend on food, doing up the house and going out or do work it the other way and allocate these pots based on what I think I need then save whatever is left over?

My sticking point is what is a realistic amount to spend on food? Do you guys plan each meal and stick to that? I want to get into the habit of doing fortnightly supermarket shops as at the moment I eat out a lot and if not I end up buying something on the way home and spending 15 a meal which is way too much.

having read this, I sound like a total dick, I really should be able to function properly on the money I have . I realise a lot of people are struggling to meet basic needs and I'm essentially pissing my money up the wall but I'm really worried that if I don't get my spending under control my debts are going to get worse and I will end up losing my house.

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 22/05/2014 15:00

calculators

OK - firstly, since you have a nice amount of disposable income after you pay your minimums, I'd do the TiP thing of setting up a fixed Standing Order to each card of this months' minimum payment plus £10. That way, you won't notice it too much but it will come down.
This of course only works if you don't spend on the cards!

then work out a written budget for food etc, don't worry if you just have to estimate the first month or two, just do that, put money aside for each thing eg.

Food - £400 (per month)
Petrol - £200
Parking - £36 etcetc

Put the rest off the debt, starting either with smallest debt (which will clear the fastest) or the highest interest one.

You can adjust the budget as you go, working out exactly how much you need to spend.

If you put every spare penny off one debt at a time, while paying the £10 over minimum on the others then you'll start to snowball the debt and see it coming down - we have done this, starting with the smallest Credit Card which was £1450 and we have now fully cleared 2 cards and an overdraft, leaving 2 further cards and a car hire-purchase deal to clear.

Try to cut back by meal-planning, getting best TV and phone/utilities deal etc - the more you can throw at the debt the shorter the process will be!

I have sold stuff on eBay, nothing major, but made about £420 which went off debt, we're doing a car boot on the next sunny Sunday, hoping for £100 to put off etc. Every penny really does help - our debt was £17,944 in Jan and is now £10,335 and will be less than £9,000 in a few more days after pay day. You might think oh, £100 won't make the difference but it really does!

calculatorsatdawn · 22/05/2014 15:37

thanks MissAnnersley that's really helpful, and well done on what you've achieved.

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 22/05/2014 15:56

calculators Smile no worries.

I suggest a plastic-ectomy too, if you can steel yourself to do it. Cut those bad boys up! Shock

puffylovett · 22/05/2014 17:48

Arghhh! I just spent £10 on a new work top, and worse - last night - I was on my own with the boys, realised I didn't have the beans needed for jacket spud cheese and beans that I was planning.... So I ordered a Chinese Blush

Admit it was cheap. But so stupid. Someone please slap me with a wet fish!!! (It tasted bloody gorgeous though, and I SO needed a pick me up this week!!!)

Welcome calculators
Yes normally I meal plan and buy accordingly, trying very hard to feed a family of four with allergies on under £100 per. Doesn't always work, as you can see above!! But mostly it does...

TalkinPeace · 22/05/2014 18:24

puffy
did you REALLY have nothing in the cupboard or fridge or frezer (sweetcorn, tuna, tomato soup, cheese, ham) that could go with the spuds
rather than the additives / fat / hidden sugar fest that is a takeaway
sorry but I'd NEVER have a mid week takeaway Unless I'd earned a LOT extra that week to pay for it

Welcome calculators : convert all the cards to standing orders and then cut up all but one.
You'll be fine.

OP posts:
MissAnnersleyismyhero · 22/05/2014 18:33

Grin puffy

I can hardly talk - I'm off down the offie for a bottle of wine tomorrow night, no-one can claim that's an essential.

Meal plan is going well - was slightly de-railed by the fact that my face is all swollen from wisdom tooth extraction and I can't chew, so relying on lots of soup from freezer, but most things can be re-jigged and nothing will be wasted if I can help it!

MrsDeanAmbrose · 22/05/2014 20:07

lookrightnow smartfonestore do reconditioned smartphones, even grade C are in great condition, I'm currently using an iphone 4s I got off them for £129.99 (and £5 quidco) with a PAYG sim.

Have been lurking on this thread (and the previous ones). I have a debt diary etc over on MSE but have just had to increase my debt due to our boiler going and my savings not covering it (well, not covering the boiler and the end of my maternity leave). I've cut down my direct debits from c.£800 a month (inc debt repayments) to £500 while on maternity leave, by downgrading Sky, cancelling Gym and contract mobile, being v frugal with energy usage and getting rid of one of our cars. I'm hoping to be able to keep this up when I go back to work (next month, it's gone far too quickly).

Lookrightnow · 22/05/2014 20:56

Thankyou. DH went to Apple store today. They'd offer £120 for his (3yr old) iPhone 4s. They ran some diagnostics and cleared some crap out of the charger port. He's going to stick with it for now.

Off to google smartfonestore.