Drowning in debt and cannot talk to people in Real Life? A problem shared is a problem brought into perspective - come and join the lens.

[Ta1kinPeace]

This thread is loosely linked to several previous ones on the same topic.

We live in a society that makes it horribly easy to get into debt but makes it incredibly hard to admit you have a problem and even harder to get out of debt.
Everybody is welcome to share problems, ideas, solutions, but not be judgemental please

I am not in debt, any more.
Here is a link to some spreadsheets that might help explain how
SPREADSHEETS-for-Debt-Control-Budgeting-Mortgages-etc

and lots of people use this
YouNeedABudget

The important things to remember are

• 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 and we are here day and night )

• 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, including getting those closest to you to recognise the changes needed )

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 partner, your children, and your friends and family are worth it.

You deserve a medal for doing this! I'm so grateful. Hoping you can help me.

Just been promoted which comes with a 3k bonus and roughly another £500 per month.

I have debts so am following money saving expert advice

• 1k left on a 8% zopa loan
• 12k on nbs loan at 13%
• 10k on credit cards all at 0%

It's the nbs one I need advice on - should I use my bonus on it or should I get it moved to a new provider at a lower interest rate and then use my bonus on it to reduce it?

My plan is to throw £500 a month at each one in turn until debt free

As you can see from my post, I'm bloody daft!

Hello!
I'm sure TIP will.be along when she lifts her head from her tax returns :)
I would suggest;
Use the bonus to pay off the £1k loan
Then use the rest to pay some off the nba loan
Then put your £500 paying off that loan monthly
Your credit card is 0% so it isn't costing your anything to service the debt
Good luck!

Oh, and congrats on the promotion!!!

I love it when people who were in debt have so absorbed the way to go that they give spot on advice !

Yup, get rid of the Zopa quickly and swiftly.
Then switch the NBS to a standing order AND throw every possible penny at it.
At the same time, set the 0% card up on a standing order so that you pick away at it

and while you are at it, check how to change your spending habits so that this is the last time you have to clear debt

Thanks Badders and TIP! So I shouldn't move the nbs loan to another provider at a lower interest rate and then use the remainder of my bonus to knock 2k off it?

I wouldn't...you will just end up paying for moving it

Thanks guys - bonus received - £3,770 so have just made full payment £1k on the zopa. That's freed up £85 a month. Will chuck the remainder of bonus at the nbs. Feeling v positive - thanks for all your help and support.

it's a lovely feeling closing accounts isn't it!? 😀
Good luck x

Well done Chorlton
THe mindset change is underway

says she who just bought a car that cost nearly as much as my first house and I had to use a loan to cover the cashflow

Rolls up sleeves.

Right, need to get on it. Too slack for too long and going backwards.

I have finally come up with a plan of priorities that will involve saving. I can't save. So now I need focus and determination to make some real changes and START SAVING. I've been skirting on the edge of getting a grip for too long.

I need to:

Pay off the card (I put the remaining balance of a loan on it). This should be done in 2-3 months.
Pay off holiday balance - another 1-2 months.
Save up for a car (within 12 months as mine is in its death-throws).
Save up for a loft conversion - longer term, will be £££££.

I'm still running 3 big loans, but not sure whether I will overpay or let them tick down whilst I attempt to save up for the other things.

I'm also overpaying the mortgage with a view to building enough equity to get a better mortgage deal.

I think waffing about, uncertain of what I really wanted to achieve in terms of the house, has meant a general lack of focus and overspending.

I'll be losing CB for DD in a year and possibly maintenance payments, so need to get sorted properly. For too long I have frittered. No more.

I was feeling a bit rubbish this morning as I've gone £200 over my food / travel / expenses budget for this pay month. I tried to console myself that this is a huge improvement as I used to go £1000 each month over (and actually have no idea what the true extent of the problem was as I was in denial and never kept track). I didn't get on with YNAB so have designed my own trackers which are working reasonably well for me.

I've just added up my total debts though and they are £2700 less than on the 1st January (even taking into account my £200 overspend this month). This means I'm still on track to meet my target of getting the debts to under 10K by Christmas.

Can I join?! I'm overdrawn to the tune of £2k. And have a Zopa loan for £1000 which will be paid off July. Really struggling with this overdraft though - it's costing me £40 per month in fees so I am only chipping away at it very slowly. The pressure I have is that we need to move house this year and I need to be zero credit to get a decent mortgage

Hello flumplet, you are very welcome .

guiding it sounds like you are doing really well . I'm still a pest for not following my budgets, so that is going to be my resolution for February pay: put something in place and stick to it.

I think my weak point has always been grocery shopping. We don't waste much, but I don't use up what's in. I'm still very greedy too, so need to work on that . I'm losing weight but eating loads of fruit that I'm sure I don't need. Costing ££ every week, so will be trying to get a grip of that.

Back to work week, so plan to meal plan and shop carefully.

Hello all
Sounds like you all have plans in place!
I wish I did!
Started my new job - it's classed as casual and is nmw so it's not much but it replaces the CB I lost last year when dh got his promotion.
Only got £50 left on the next account and that will be gone next month
£10k on the cc which is on 0% - we hope to pay this off by next summer (when the 0% ends)
Balances of holidays to be paid - £800 in total by end of May
I need new glasses - £475
Struggling with food budget...ds1 eats so much!!!!

Hi Flumpet
Welcome to the gang.
On your overdraft, have a look at any and all direct debits / standing orders.
Do you know what they are?
Do you need to do them all?
Are they for the right amount? (check your utility bill balances)

It can be quite scary to look and see what is coming out of your bank each month without you realising as the client who realised they were paying for two old phones discovered

Cancel any false insurances - like extended warranties and that sort of junk
Suspend charitable giving until you are not paying monthly bank fees

it sounds mean but you have to get your finances straight before you can help others

Kinky and Badders
The main thing to remember is how far you have come that you are both identifying and narrowing down the little blips and bringing them under control

Blimey Badders you must be worse than me & im -5.

It works! I meant to say

Well, as soon as I resolve to be more careful, lots of things crop up that cost money that I hadn't planned on spending. Sigh.

I need to strengthen my resolve that I will build a financial base that reduces the effect of nasty surprises.

Nice to see the thread rolling again . Hope everyone is having an unspendy day .

That's the thing isn't it kinky?
My dental work alone has cost £££
Then new glasses (I need varifocals!!!!!)

Expensive bodies! I had to get glasses for the first time in summer and had a big sulk at the price, but nowhere near as much as yours.

Mine is the dying car. MOT and service yesterday, went through with some little bits, then the battery totally died on me immediately after it . RAC man tested it and that failed, so new battery. Then drove to my parents and it's just not feeling right. Sigh. I will pray it gets us home at the weekend. Really could do without getting a new one at the moment, but not convinced this one is going to live a lot longer.

To top it all, found out I also need to have an E passport when I go to the states in summer, so have to renew mine even though it has a year on it yet.

And the tumble drier is shrieking. Literally, shrieking.

Pah.

It is the financial karma monkey getting me back for booking holidays I really can't afford.

I hear you!
Car ok for now thank god, it had its MOT in December and needed a couple of small things doing but it is 10 years old.
We are going away twice (!) both in the UK to keep costs down (yeah, right!)
It's half term here and we met friends in town for lunch on Monday which was spendy but not something we do very often at all.
Nephews coming tomorrow and they usually eat me out of house and home!
I do 5 hours per week :) I also volunteer one afternoon a week.

Hello
I am back! I posted a while ago, got some great advice. Sat on it a while. Relapsed a bit (over spender, debt hider!) but new year and sweeping changes were made and pleased to say so far stuck too!!

I had a small pay rise in Jan and I bit the bullet, rung step change and upped my monthly payment. It's a good way of paying it off without spending it.
I started a healthy eating plan, have given up booze (still dry!) and saving quite a bit thru this.
Credit cards that were still usable have been deleated from websites and laptops etc and cut up. Standing orders set up to cards that I was using for 5 over the minimum.
Savings ac set up for kids (5 each a month so not a lot but won't touch it as its for them)
Haven't applied for credit since new year. Any text/ email I get re this I send to junk.
I owe a family member 1800 that is my main priority as I should have paid back long long time ago. Start of new Yr it was 2150 so done well with spare money I have.
Haven't disclosed hidden debt to other half as its been so long and I feel I have a plan now, but, I have sat him down and said our costs are going up so we need to cut back on food bill (was shocked when I told him how much m and s stuff costs!) in turn he has increased his amount to our bills which in turn helps me out.
I have also learnt the phrase 'sorry can't do X today as we don't have enough money!' And repeat! Or sorry we can't have m and s dine in for a tenner tonight as I don't have a tenner on me
So feeling good. Thought I'd wait a couple of months before posting so I knew I was sticking to it!

badders
save money on the varifocals : get normal and reading (cheap from the charity shop)
my pair cost me over £300 and I hate wearing them for driving (the blurred area at the side does my head in) and for out walking (the blurred area in the middle)
so now I use my old ones most of the time and my very expensive new ones only indoors

feekerry
WEll done - once you get in the habit of saying, "no, I cannot afford that" it gets easier and you start to value the things you really DO want to spend money on