A thread for people trying to pay off debt?

[moneyworries8]

Would there be any interest in this?

I'll start us off. I'm 30, a SAHM with 2DC.
Our debts are:

£4,000 loan that we've been paying off for 6 months.
£2,300 on a credit card

The debt is manageable but I've had the realisation that if something doesn't change, these figures are going to get bigger and bigger. I know it's a hard time of year to start but I don't believe in "waiting until the new year!"

We could post on here for advice/support as well as sharing our successes (and failures, but hopefully there won't be many of those) with each other. I feel like I need some people to help keep me on track.

So, is anyone interested?

Thanks Talkin I will look into that.

Will also look at moving to a 0% CC again (was refused last Oct) - although I did a freebie credit check and couldn't find myself on there - so this may mean I keep getting refused?

Bobinks are you on the electoral roll? I'm no expert with this sort of thing but I'm just wondering if this could be what's causing you to not get credit? Have you possibly moved address and forgotten to update the electoral roll with that information?

Hi sounds like lots of people are making good progress so well done to everyone.
It is hard to keep hammering on with things when you see others spending here there and everywhere. But I always tell myself you never know other people's situations.
People probably look at me and think I'm doing ok.

Frugal wow! That's a great price for a weekly shop. Can I ask how many people you're feeding?

I'm guilty of doing online food shops (Tesco) which probably isn't the most economical. However, we do use the club card points for days out/meals out which saves us hundreds. Also, I have all the ingredients listed for the meals I want to make that week and I can check the cupboards so I don't buy anything I've already got. I stick to my lists better than I do when I physically shop in store because I'm not walking up and down aisles of stuff and popping in extra treats because they're on offer. It works for us but I do wonder if we'd be cheaper with Aldi.

That's a great price for a weekly shop. Can I ask how many people you're feeding?

There's me and two early 20s children. My son works and daughter is in last year of Uni but lives at home as it's local.

Son has dinner every evening and a packed lunch every day for work. Daughter not quite such a regular eater, but more fussy in terms of products so she likes almond milk and wraps and things instead of bread. I'm vegetarian, but kids both eat meat, fish eggs etc.

There are savings on literally every single product in Aldi. So a jar of olives that I'd normally pay 75p to £1 - 59p. Halloumi Cheese £2 usually, £1.49, and it's a bigger piece. It's remarkable how much I can get for my money.

The downside is the traffic round here is awful and the Aldi is around a 5 mile drive. First trip on Friday had to be aborted because the traffic was gridlocked. I eventually went again that evening when the roads were quieter.

The giant Tesco on the other hand is a five minute cycle ride / 10 minute walk from my house. Literally at the end of the road, so I'd got in the habit of nipping out more or less daily to do small shops. Trouble is I was spending £15 upwards each time on a few bits, and when I started to look seriously at my finances I was horrified to see how much I was spending.

Unfortunately I've been hit with a bit of an unexpected outlay.

I mentioned previously that I signed up to study AAT level 2 in Accounting. I spoke at length with the training provider about the costs and he neglected to tell me that on top of the £695 I'm paying them, I also need to pay £138 to register with AAT and I also need to pay to sit each exam. My nearest test centre charges £80 per exam but there is one further away that charges £45. My plan is to sit 2 exams at a time at the further away centre. Its just so frustrating because I don't want to quit the course as I think it'll be brilliant for my future prospects but the original cost of £695 that I based my decision to study on, is completely inaccurate. It'll be over £1000. 😩

It's really going to hamper our progress in clearing our debt and has made me feel a little deflated.

That's great Frugal. I may have to give Aldi a try

moneyworries
But that £1000 spent will turn into many thousands a year of earning capacity for the rest of your life
it WILL be worth it

I know you're right Talk. It's an investment and it'll be really important for mine & my families future. Hopefully it'll give me a good stable career.

I was hoping to work through level 2 in 6 months but I think I'll probably have to do it over the year to spread some costs (the exam costs). Then I can move onto levels 3&4 once I've fully paid off level 2.

I did mention to the student services team that I was a little disappointed that none of these costs were explained to me and they were very apologetic. It seems they do advise people of this as standard but they somehow forgot to mention to me. Anyway. I'm still looking forward to it and have just applied for my student discount which should cut some of our costs a little

Been working very hard on my debts but looks like my court case is going to a 1.5 day long final hearing in may and need to plan a loan for that. I had been doing so well paying off my debts.

I’m working full time now and am contracting through my own ltd company (all perfectly fine IR35 wise) so will benefit from dividend tax savings (even after corporate tax)

Can anyone recommend a loan broker which may be my best bet?

@moneyworries have you considered going down the self study route? I’ve done that for AAT and now only have my level 4 synoptic to go

Frugal
I've just been doing DH's and my credit control... making sure that all work is billed as soon as its done and all clients pay up in good time.
Cash is king after all

I do bill immediately a job is finished - always have done, and some of my clients pay very quickly - two or three days which is great.

Others however, stick to the 30 days, and I've got one (a huge national corporation) who take over 2 months!! If I issue the invoice in January, even early January - I won't get paid until the last day of March! There's nothing to be done about it - that's their system of payment, although I do now insist that as soon as they contact me about the job - before I even start work on it, they issue a purchase order and I'll invoice them immediately. That way the invoice is already processed into their very slow system. If I had to wait until the job was completed and then invoice - it could be four or more months before I got paid.

Over the years I've got used to it and luckily it's a 'services only' client. So I haven't actually spent anything on their behalf and then have to wait weeks to be reimbursed.

It's not so much my billing system, or even chasing payment that is the issue. It's more pushing jobs along and planning my work schedule better. I have repeat jobs that I know I'm going to get monthly, quarterly, twice a year - so that's my 'regular' money.

Then I get other random jobs popping up in between and it's those I need to manage better. I have some clients who will sit on things for days sometimes weeks, so I've done the work and am awaiting feedback. What I need to do is chase more, push to get the jobs finished and invoiced, instead of skiving and letting things lapse and waiting for them to get around to getting back to me. That way I can better manage my income flow.

Just the act of writing down each week how much profit I've made has really helped. It's an eye opener to see how one week I can make up to £1,000 and one week it might be as little as £100. I just want to try and even that out more - keep a steady flow of income instead of it being so erratic. Then maybe I could set up more direct debits / standing orders etc. instead of paying bills manually when funds allow.

I found out today that my remortgage has been accepted! I'm so excited.
It means I can off pretty much all my debt and be lots better off every month.
Some of that extra will go towards building my savings back up as I have just had a new bathroom and it they are very depleted now. It was so worth it though as nothing has gone in cards and it has made me very proud of my house again.
I will be able to pay off the small debt left behind in a couple of months then it's two savings accounts and go, go, go!

That's great news ale.

Hi moneyworries I am registered to vote and have been at this address for about 15 years, so it shouldn't be that. I will have to have another go - might be a mis-spelling or something. Our address is a bit odd but I do now find it on the auto-adress lookup things (which it wasn't on a fw years go).

I've made a complete mess of things.

I should have started to sort them out last month, but instead I didn't.

I've got three loans and three credit cards,it's the credit cards I'm struggling with plus I've got a quarterly energy bill that I'm now late paying.

Each month I seem to have to pay an excessive bill out if no where.

The real problem is is that I'm over compensating with my children because of a messy seperation and last month I've had a reduction of income of £450, which I haven't realised would make such a difference.

I'm burying my head in the sand ATM and I need to pull my finger out and sort it.

I think the worst part if this is loosing my temper with my eldest who just wants to go to concerts and cons all the time.

I think I'm going to snap soon

Having just written the above, what I think is my problem, is that I don't have a budget and I'm siloing all the money problems.

Some how I don't see that the £100 for a concert ticket affects everything else, the £50 for a comicon. That on top of a dental bill for me and a lawyer's bill because if the seperation.

My ex is constantly keeping me off balance by saying I am bad parent and doesn't pay any maintainance and the cost of paying for travel etc for contact every weekend is something. That on top of my over compensating with the dcs is the problem, because I don't see it all joined up.

Amazing news Ale! must feel like a weight lifted.
@difficult. so you've had a change of circumstances and it will help to do a budget spreadsheet sooner rather than later. It's a stressful time (I've been through divorce) look after yourself too.
I've paid a smaller lump of my debt than I wanted to as I'm.waiting on the underwriters getting back to the insurance. I'm really hoping it's approved. I kept aside the amount for the excess.
My numbers are coming down. I'm going food shopping today. Will stick to budget!!
Any ideas as to stop thinking about money all of the time? I feel I'm wishing my life away until next payday when I can pay more off.

@Difficult...you recognise what the problem is so stop beating yourself up. As per PP, you need a budget...I've one in excel I'm happy to share with you to get you started if you need it x

Hi everybody. Shamefully sticking my head above the parapet. I was on these threads a few years back, managed to snowball over 10k of debt down to 3 and then took my foot off the pedal, changed jobs, life got out of hand and now here we are 5 or 6 years later with a shameful amount of debt :( partly through living beyond our means, partly renovation costs and partly me being petulant - after begging my other half to take all finances away from me and him not, I had a petulant ‘fuck it’ year and spent loads on the house..
I’ve sat down and worked out all our debt including car loan and we are at 24k, need to add another couple to that as we desperately need a new boiler.
I’ve done a budget, one that allows us to live, gym etc.. I’ve fixed the direct debits, prioritised the highest interest, most of the debt is on 0%.. I’ve pretty much done everything recommended on here in readiness to start snowballing. Partner was shocked when he realised how much debt we had, but he’s behind me in paying it off and understands he needs to take a much more active role than just ‘I don’t spend anything so how did we get here’.. his attitude in the past! Not feasible when there is 4 of us needing clothes / shoes / bus passes / a falling down house!

The biggest problem I have is that my partner who is the main wage earner gets paid weekly. I’ve got around this in the past by having a seperate bills account, and a weekly standing order - bills are spread through the month so they are always paid. It’s the main living expenses, the fact that bills have gone up, and the general jiggery pokery of it all that I struggle with! So he gets 522 per week, 320 transfered out (not enough so I’ve upped it) historically we’ve tried to spend £80 pm food and the rest on activities and then my monthly wage (1000) and child benefit goes towards bigger living expenses and debts - ringmarking one month for Xmas etc.. but it doesn’t work so I’ve now done a proper monthly budget and set up enevelope accounts again.

I think I’m there but I just hate the sensation of higgledy piggledyness of it all! Any advice? Thanks for reading if you got this far!!

Sounds like you're doing everything right puffy and getting your partner on board is obviously going to help.

I do have some sympathy with his 'how did we get here?' reaction as I had much the same epiphany a few weeks back. I've always had such a lackadaisical attitude to money, then went out with a bloke who was as tight as arseholes and that was horrible and I got rid. One extreme to the other - no thanks! He constantly bragged how he had 'never paid a penny in interest in his life' and that did make me think - because between the credit card and the overdraft, I was paying shitloads.

But what he did make me realise is that I am too far the other way, too laid back, too generous, not really thinking about what I'm spending and how I'm spending it.

I've been over my bank statements and spending and I've noticed it's a daily £15 here or £10 there. That's what I need to stop.

It's also trying to compensate the children's feelings about seperating. Things like when they comeback miserable and fighting after contact, I defuse it by taking out for shakes, becsuse I don't know what to do.

This has been a shock, just rang for settlement figures (rounded up)
Loan A = 1300
Loan B = 450
Loan C = 7300

Credit Card A = 5250
Credit Bard B = 2500
Credit Card C = 1000

I just going to have to keep going with the minimum payments for the time being.

@Difficultwithdogs
Standing order time for the three cards .... then they will all be gone in two years.
Loans - just keep them ticking along.

Kids : what kids want more than anything is your time and attention
On one of the other debt threads recently, a poster realised that she was spending money doing things with her kids
but actually just chilling worked better .....
go for a walk and pick up twigs and leaves
find a place to play pooh sticks
take them to the park and leave your phone at home
switch off all screens and do jigsaws or colouring or hama beads together
as that way you will relax and your kids will relax and your ExH's insults will start to matter less

but definitely standing orders for the cards

Hi there puffylovett
You have done it before. You know what to do. Pull together as a team
you'll get there
and I have to say that money spent on making a house more liveable is better than random coffees and manicures