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.

Ineedsomehelp
Ah yes, that lovely scam of fees to set up mortgages.

The fee will be added onto the loan and then you will pay interest on it till the mortgage is paid off.
So even with the lower rate you may not be better off.
I'd suggest popping the two sets of numbers into my spreadsheet and checking

set A = current borrowing at current rate = total cost of ....
seb B = curent plus £450 at lower rate = total cost of .....
how much do you actually save?

could you save that for free by overpaying ?

The grip has slipped; it has been a shocking month.

Hope everyone else is doing okay .

Are you ok, Kinky?

Hi Kinky
Spill the beans. What have you been up to?
As admitting to it is half way to making sure it won't happen again.

Kinky if it's any consolation, we're currently playing a financial version of the five second rule....if it's bought before our new regime in January it doesn't count!

The good news is that my car passed its MOT (much to our amazement) and DH has had the interest refunded from the balls up with the Virgin card! I have money set aside to have our front door replaced once the guy gives us the price mates rates

Bad news is that from Jan 1st we have to start a super strict regime, with the aim of paying off the loan and halving the CC debt by the end of the year, then be completely clear of debt by the end of the next. All while feeding three hungry kids, and making sure they don't miss out on school trips etc. oh, and our elderly cat has just been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid which means expensive blood tests and tablets.

coco
and our elderly cat has just been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid which means expensive blood tests and tablets.
Petdrugsonline
make your vet give you a long term prescription and then but the pills from the website
the vet charged me £20 for the script but I saved around £100 on the pills
and the miraculous change in the cat was worth every penny
he was on them for 3 years till he died (age 19)
and a "pill popper" is a good investment

Kids trips - might this be an opportunity to get them to "work" for stuff

• car washing
• path sweeping
• lawn mowing
• kitchen cupboard cleaning

you are just recycling money in the house, but making them realise that you are pulling as a team for a goal

I take it you have already done the standing order trick on the card

I'm fine, just zero self control when it comes to Christmas. Every year I say I will save; every year I don't; every year I spend too much. Nothing on CC, but wipe out bank account.

I'm five second rule like CoCo .

Shopping is done now, grip is back in place and I'm budgeting strictly for the long, barren month that is January.

Our cat is also a money pit with his renal failure pills and pricey food.

Thanks for the tip TiP! Our cat turns 17 in the new year and this is the first time anything like this has cropped up. To be honest, it's more keeping her ok till she dies really as not doing anything leads to other things and that doesn't seem fair. I'll have a chat with the vet in the morning.

kinky / Coco
Old cat was DHs true familiar. We all cried like babies for a week when I had to have him put down
BUT
THe thyroid pills and the high crunchies diet made him a happy old sod till about a week before he died
it IS worth the money
and if it isn't you'll know in a week
with compost cat I chose not to give her the pills and had her put down right away
psycho sis died of her cancer aged 17
I've been there with cats

Kinky
Christmas
we can afford it but all took a view to only buy things that will be used for 5 years
we've still spent a lot (dd goes to Uni next year, DS to college) but we have not bought "stuff" IYSWIM

We had guinea pigs a few years ago, one died in a cold snap and the other one developed a tumour.....the vet got excited and wanted to biopsy etc at over £200!!! I pointed out very firmly that as I'd bought the two of them for £26 the pair there was no way I was spending that kind of money just because he fancied the science bit!!

I'm not prepared to put our cat through anything unnecessary, I'm secretly hoping she just goes in her sleep like her sister did a few years ago. Whatever happens it will be hard when she does go, DH gave me her and her sister when we bought our first house together back in 1999 and she's a link with those happy years (before kids ) One of the family!

Forgot to say, yes I've sorted the SO and have a plan to start clearing cards in order.

Thyroid is nasty and reversible : when old cat darn near died during DDs birthday party we took pictures of his daily recover back to pain in the neck within a fortnight

tumours : yup Psychosis hated the vet. I let her die in my arms. It broke my heart but it was 7 months after diagnosis
and her bastard brother (see above) stole her final meal

That made me chuckle TiP. Bowls have disappeared as it's a starving blood test in the morning, Old Lady isn't fussed but our 19lb tiger is deeply concerned already that he might never, ever be fed ever ever again.....I fear I might come down in the morning to find him eating one of the children!
Just realised it was this time last year I joined you guys. While the amount we owe hasn't gone down, DH is employed and I feel much more in control of things and it's great to know you folks are here when I need to think out loud waffle on about nothing in particular so thank you all [santa]

Are we all resisting further twitches .

I must admit, I hate the shops at this time so it makes it far easier to avoid spending.

I've spent a lot on Christmas - but had stopped spending in early November
and we set a family rule of no "stuff"
so its all "one off"

and YYY to the fact that debt is part of a mindset so can only be managed by chatting about the whole mindset

Happy Crimble

Happy 2016!

Happy New Year!

Hi

I used to post on this board but under a different name (it was a thread about being a shopaholic). I started 2015 with two resolutions - to go to the gym and lose weight, and stop shopping. I didn't expect to achieve either as aside from education, I've never really stuck to anything. I managed to lose 20% of my body weight, which equated to 3 dress sizes. I did this purely through watching what I ate a bit, and going to the gym every day I went to work.

As happy as I was to achieve this, it made my 2nd resolution impossible after a while as none of my clothes fit. Because of my shopaholic tendencies I obviously went massively overboard. I ended 2015 having paid nothing off my debt.

The positives however are that I am now so much happier and more confident in myself; although I didn't pay anything off the debt I haven't added to it; I've paid 10% of my salary into my pension (I considered paying this money off my debt instead but it would cause a whole host of problems in the future) and I achieved a level 7 qualification which will hopefully be my first step into management (and hopefully a payrise).

This has all made me more determined to get on top of the debt, and after my success at losing weight I feel like I can achieve it (I've never felt it was possible). I've made spreadsheets to help me track spending as I've never got on with YNAB. I've also created one showing my repayments and how I'll redistribute payments once each debt gets cleared. In the next few months I'll make the final payments on my car, my student loan and my enormous loan which equates to £1200 that can be redistributed onto the smaller debts.

My debt free day is May 2017 if I stick to my plan. I can't believe it is so soon considering I have £27000 in debt. I am giving myself 5% of my salary for spending as I think this is important to beat my demons - withholding all money won't help me. I will also overpay some payments and then redistribute as each one gets paid off.

I am not getting any younger and DP and I have decided to TTC (he doesn't know about my debt, please don't judge). It may not seem sensible while I have debt but despite this, financially I would be ok - even if I got pregnant straight away I would have repaid my big loan, my car and my student loan so my minimum repayments on other stuff would be minimal and more than possible on maternity pay. In an ideal world I would wait until it is all cleared as I plan to overpay to get it down quicker, but who knows how long it could take to fall pregnant - even if it takes us only 6 months I'd be debt free before baby arrived.

Sorry for such a long post - fingers crossed I make a success of it this time, this is my last chance.

Hi everyone, this time last her I was in such a bad place with debt, hubby was made redundant and it really did take him over 3 years to find another one, but there was rent to pay, council tax all the other bills. Step change were lovely but almost refused help other than a debt management plan, with this a creditor can change their mind at any time and it seemed to be never ending, I needed to see an end to my problem, I did go to an agency, I won't name them on here, BUT they were amazing and it was all sorted out in around 10 days, I decided to go into IVA I am not proud of how much debt I had or that I have done this, infact I am ashamed of myself, Christmas was frugal this year but we still had a lovely time, lots of trips to local parks with DD and DS on their nearly new bicycles from Gumtree, so please don't ever give up as there is more than 1 way out of debt where you can keep your car and house if you own it . Iam also self employed and work very hit and miss for around a year but the bank and credit cards just kept giving me more and more credit,. I am nearly at the end of my first year in IVA and it has been hard, only 4more to go then I will be debt free, its all set in stone no one can change their minds, I can even have a 2/months break if things are particularly hard, it just gets added onto the end, , Roll on 2020

Can I join please? I know I'm law to the party but 2016 is the year I'm eating rid of my debt. I don't have a lot in the grand scheme of things but have just started working pt and can finally make a decent dent in things.

I currently owe
400 next
900 barclaycard
1300 cc
300 very

But since November I've gotten rid of 350 fashionworld account which I'm very proud of :D

We are living as we were before and using my wages to get rid of as much debt as we can. Next one targeted is going to be next. Then closing the acct.

Very is on a buy now pay nothing for 12 months so isn't due until December. will pay it off before then though as not to accumulate interest xxxx

My god- sincerest apologies. I forgot where I was and put kisses

Happy new frugal year
I wonder if any has any suggestions for my predicament.
Bare bones of it are
I have ran out of money, I have £80 to cover £317 bills this month
I have just had to order oil I stupidly thought it could last until end of month but didn't factor kids being home over xmas would obviously bump usage up so that's another £200 ordered half a tank
I do have agreed overdraft of £200
I am starting a job in two weeks though won't get paid until the end of the month
Help I just need some help until the end of the month
I could ask my sister and daughter for £200 each but don't know if they could do that
I have a credit card but I think it's reached its limit of £3,000 do you know if I over spend in that they would allow it, I know it probably means more interest
If I go to bank to ask for more of an over draught will that damage my rating
It's shit isn't it getting yourself like this

Sorry to hear your situation mamas
I believe the bank may increase your overdraft, however I think I'd be more inclined to ask family to loan me the money as it doesn't go onto credit file and there's no interest payable, other than maybe a bottle of wine if you wanted to I also feel more obliged to pay family back first so I'd make sure they were paid back, companies in not so fussed about doing it quickly

I've had a good first week of January - cancelled the internet contract for my iPad as I use it on wifi at home and can tether it to my phone if I need connection when I'm out. Also cancelled the TV package. These were all things that I had as I thought having this things meant I was a success. Oops. In total these will save me £80 a month.

I have also taken a packed lunch every day for work where previously I was spending up to £5 per day. I've not spent any money on clothes either.

I know it is early days but hopefully I'm getting into the mindset and this will become habit soon enough.

Hello all.
A very happy New year to you all.
Well.
Xmas was a bit stressful as for the 3 weeks coming up to it I was either looking. After sick kids or my Mum who i had to rush into hospital on 17th
She is ok but her mobility is now severely limited.
I got a (very) part time job which I start tomorrow (dinnerlady) so poor pay but no childcare issues.
The next couple of months will be very spendy as I need new glasses and my tooth is STILL not right and ive had enough....going back and he can take the Damn thing out.
We also need to pay the balances on the holidays...that will be about £800 in total.
I am hoping that by the end of the summer we are feeling the benefit of dhs pay rise. No bonus though this year :(

Hang on in there folks.
I'm up to my eyes with tax returns till the end of the month so not here much for a while