Debt mutual support thread number 5 .... the light at the end of the tunnel is NOT an oncoming train

[TalkinPeace]

This thread follows on from the last four threads in the series, the most recent of which is here.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/a2142758-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-4-every-journey-starts-with-the-hardest-first-step

We live in a society that makes it incredibly easy to get into debt but makes it incredibly hard to admit you have a problem and even harder to get out of debt.
The posters on threads are here to help people get to where they want to be.

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.
The long term results for you, your marriage and your children are worth it.

Bookmarking

Marking my place.

Marking my place...happy Thursday everyone

Marking my place

Forgot to include my progress so far!

Ok, I joined the thread at start of 2014 (February I think?) ... breakdown to date is as follows:

Storecard - approx 2k/repaid in full
Overdraft - 2.5k/repaid in full
CC1 - 3.5k/repaid in full
Car Loan - 12k/5764 remaining
CC2 - 3.5k/2.5k remaining (interest free)
CC3 - 5.3k/4.7k remaining (interest free)
Mortage - 90k/87k remaining

So, 10,836 repaid in total!!

Great figures Mum4, here goes with my update (original figures are from Jan 2014):

Car loan (7629) 5342
CC (9000) 8140
CC 2 (2000) 0
OD (2200) 0
Loan from mum (500) 0
Am very happy with that. Now that the overdraft has gone we will build up the money to pay off the credit card in 15 months time (when the 0% deal ends). In that time we'll keep it in our offset mortgage account so that it works for us.

I'm in! Been reading this series of threads with much interest over the summer. Standing in a queue with two small DCs and basket of groceries wanting to cry when my debit card refused and having to call DH to come bail us out was a very low point in late July. Big wake up call. We've become very conscious of our debts now and made a lot of changes. Lots of hard times ahead but with sensible budgeting and the great advice on here I'm much more positive about where we should be by next summer. Thanks to this thread we've actually got a budget in place now and even saved over £340 on car insurance renewals. Onwards and upwards!

I'm in!
i'm not putting my debt breakdown on here because i'm still trading.

.

Welcome aboard motherwombat and delighted to hear that lurking has helped.

mum4Fergus and northender : excellent to see the numbers heading in the right direction.
An inspiration to those who feel they are drowning.

well done mum4 and northender - that's some serious reduction!

We got an unexpected car bill today - repairs totalling £450. Thankfully we can pay it, but it's wiped out our mini-emergency fund so fingers crossed no more emergencies until we've replaced it. DH is actually considering selling the car as he has been offered £6000 for it and buying a much cheaper one, setting aside a repair fund.

Any car afficionados able to advise?

i've been cooking up some of the veg mountain we acquired as an online shop arrived as scheduled while I was in hospital and DH just piled it all in the fridge and ate toast for 5 days

So far - roasted squash, red onion and butterbean casserole, tofu and chickpea stuffed lettuce leaves with cucumber and spring onion, brown rice salad with prunes, cucumber and spring onion diced into it and a large vat of squash and cauliflower curried soup.

Forgot to include debt details too

Credit card and loan debt approx £27,500.
Overdraft of £1800 now paid off
Car loan paid off
Mortgage arrears £ not sure, too much..

Unable to make more than £1 per month payments at the moment due to unemployment

Hi place marking will do figures when I get home

I started in Feb and am approx 15k down .

These threads move quick.

Pay tomorrow.

Loan - £8.5k
Next acc - £200
Cc - £200

Loan ends in 2.5 years.
Hope to pay off next acc after Xmas
Cc ditto

Not a big poster but I'm going to try to get more involved.

Since January, I've paid off £4000 CC debt and about £500 Next account. I then took a huge leap of faith at work when they offered me a full time role to cover a sickness absence - the old me would have turned the work down in fear I wasn't good enough.

However, I did it and did it well and the extra cash paid for some essential, overdue work on the outside of the house that wouldn't have lasted another winter, totalling £1500, a plumbing job that had sat undone for 2 years costing £700 and a car service(lots wrong) and renewed insurance totalling £500. All paid for in cash I earned. I also put a grand away for emergencies.

The pride I feel is fantastic. I have stopped wasting money on lunches out, coffees and clothes 'bargains'. We as a family still have some way to go as my dh has a credit card with £6000 that he pays about £500 a month to but its all going the right way and this thread has helped keep me on track immensely. My hours at work have been cut again but instead of sending me off on a downward spiral I've just kept my head down and taken any scraps they throw my way. I also think HMRC will owe us quite a bit but Im not making plans on the strength of that!

Good luck everyone!

Well done!! :)

Newbie checking in!

CC debt 1960 (paying off in chunks- not sure if best approach? Keep spending on it anyway!)
Personal loan 4812 (for home improvements and new 2nd hand car that died- after warranty expired!) Can't overpay this due to penalty fee!

Went into overdraft this month (only by 60gbp, but nonetheless will be charged 6gbp+ interest)

Monthly income is not great but we should in theory have enough to save/disposable cash without having to resort to cc and loans!

I need new winter boots (my others were shot after wearing 4yrs running).

We need a new laptop as ours is beyond repair. It's needed for ds schoolwork, but mainly dh needs it for work stuff, I need it for paying bills & printing off important bits (our library is totally unreliable).

Ds1's birthday is coming up, have already committed to a party and fancy homemade cake.

Then Christmas...

Sigh...

Any words of wisdom, please?

MissBeans
welcome ..... Laptop : look for a refurb HP or Toshiba on ebay : high spec machines for under £300

Hoping to start cutting our debt

Hello again :)

Hmmm well currently have overdraft of 1300 (gulp) but it clears to 0 at payday and then gradually goes back to 1300 again so really need to try and bring it down....

Cc currently about £2k. On 0%.

Trying to budget more effectively really. House account (one that is overdrawn) has £1200 going into it every month and total bills only come to £850 including mortgage so there is no reason in hell we should be this shit with money. Out of what is left I need to pay the cc / overdraft off between what there is (aim is £200 left split between both debts).

In my other "food/stuff for week" account I get our £120 a week tax credits paid and this is what I need to try and stick to for the week to stay in budget.

I'm finding it hard (which is ridiculous, I don't know where it all goes) but I'm trying my best.

Had a bit of a crap month with unexpected household bills of £250 (!!!)

Hoping for a better month to give me a chance to stay on budget and not add to the debts!

Missbeans for your boots try branch309 and check out the ex display section. You sometimes get a good bargain. It's the same shop as schuh so all legit etc.

Also see if there is anything like cash generators or cex where you are for the laptop. Sometimes you get some good deals - and if you have anything to trade in (computer games / gadgets / dvds etc) they may give you some money off.

I'm still looking at eBay for laptops.
I've gone to techradar to see what they class as great laptops, then typed them jnto ebay search.
toniggt alone I've seen 3 dell inspiron 17 thingy refurbed by professionals for under £200.
find the name of the laptop you want and the ssize of it and search uk only auction only.
the best time to do it is mid-morning when auctions are ending with small bids on (think aboit it - a refurb shop is listing them in their quiet periods, but that means they'll be ending when most people are at work so can't check listings)

Thanks for the tips... having a look on eBay & Branch309, will check out others too.

Hope to be debt free by next December when loan repayments come to an end. Wondering how we can be more frugal & pay debt down quicker.

We're on the slow crawl out of a small but crippling to us debt- roughly:

£600 credit card
£3100 in my overdrafts
£2000 (I think) on DH's overdraft.

We have just moved house to a cheaper rental from one area of London to another. My DH has just got a new job but is itching for payday now while I try and get it through that we need to spend less.

We want to have our honeymoon (been married two years) and get our own place and start a family. I am so, so broody and want to be able to afford a baby. At the moment the slightest knock leaves us with no money for the month. We have both got higher earning jobs this summer to get into the spending less, earning more mindset.