Just worked out how much we owe…

[EmbarrassedDebt]

Sat with DH tonight as it’s a week till payday and we have nothing left, so started a spreadsheet for our income and outgoings we are broke like absolutely destitute

In doing this I’ve found out between us we owe

55k’s worth of debt no wonder we have no fucking money

credit cards stand around 17k

cars around 9k on one and 7k on the other (nearly £600 a month on car repayments)

we have 4 loans between us owing 18.5k (seriously didn’t know this)

and other random stuff on finance (shed, tv, sofa)

Dh earns around 40k and I’m on 35k

I literally have no idea what to do but seeing it all down on a spreadsheet make me feel sick.

so far I’ve started a new spreadsheet sheet with the amount owed on each credit card and the interest rate & looking at ways to start paying it down.

I am horrified 😞😞 I’ve been half heartedly for a new job and looking at a second job but now that is something really important on my list of things to do…

please no nasty comments I just needed to get this off my chest and then plan a way out of this mess.

randomly we both have reasonably good credit scores as well I check those tonight as well

Primary schools have buses for those living further away, have you applied for transport to school?

I realise that, I think she meant you would be able to get free transport to school as it's eight miles away but that doesn't happen if you have moved. It's only for people who are allocated a school over three miles away.

A friend of mine fou d herslef in a similar position....theres lots of advice and help online (some is shit and others less so) we found a really good article on how to reduce tye cost of your debts and reduce them as well as where to get some professional help Citizens Advice, Stepchange etc)....link below....hope this helps....x
https://beamoneypro.com/category/debt-credit/

If your children are at their "nearest suitable school" you can apply for free transport. www.gov.uk/free-school-transport

Giffgaff (among others) has a sim only contract for £6 a month and you can keep your old number.

Well done for doing this, everyone should do this from time to time to see where you are financially. Get rid of any direct debits you are not needing anymore. Ring around to get cheaper phone deals, broadband etc., concentrate on paying off credit cards with highest interest rates or contact them to ask for a payment plan to be put in place. To be honest cars are expensive but a necessity. Good luck. With 4 adults here, most money goes on food and must admit, I’ve cut down on the amount of meat we eat, absolutely nothing is wasted. I get food delivered so I don’t buy what we really don’t need. Same with clothes, I’m only buying when really essential.

Definitely speak to a debt charity like Step Change though. A family member was considering applying for bankruptcy in a similar situation but instead was able to get a lot of the debt written off by creditors so that paying off the remainder was manageable and he's now debt-free about 4 years on.

Phones have now been changed to £25 a month for the 2 of them with the same provider (apparently I use of lot of data so went with more as to not end up with a massive bill) DH uses less so kept his smaller.

£95 a month saved just by one phone call

On the phone now to the internet provider to sort out why I’m paying for 2 contracts

It's absolutely brilliant that you've discovered the extent of your debts. Now the magic happens! Get on MoneySavingExpert - live on that site. It will solve everything.

Throw yourselves into repaying this. It'll bring you closer as a couple and you'll feel SO GOOD when it's gone.

How did you not know, though? Is your DH in charge of the money, but actually a bit crap at it? 😆

We don’t have joint finances and have just bumbled along transferring money between his and my accounts, I knew he had a loan etc but not the finer details - I didn’t know he owed 4K on one credit card.

I am now in charge of our money and I am determined to sort this out

I think we have always had enough but when we ended up a week before payday and I have nothing left for fuel or food I sat down and worked it all out.

Now reality has hit me quite hard.

A shed at £28 a month isn’t expensive or a sofa at £85 but when it all adds up it’s shocking what we owe and looking back most of it has stemmed from DH being made redundant and just not being as switched on as I should have been, plus the added cost of moving, that has been mega expensive each time. Putting the food shop on the credit card was great until your at the limit 😞

Is there a particular reason why you live in such a rural location? You mentioned multiple house moves in the past few years. Is there a particular reason for this because the removal costs is adding to your financial burden.

Still on the phone to the internet people 🤦‍♀️

Ive looked at we buy any car and they will offer 6k for my car after paying off the financing I would have 2k to buy one but a hunt has shown me I’m not going to get anything decent for that amount so I may just have to suck it up until next year.

I can’t look at DH’s until he’s home tonight - as I don’t know his log on details

You need to get in the habit of saving for a purchase rather than putting it on credit. Or at least saving up for a large deposit to put towards the purchase. This is what's putting you in financial difficulties.

Great start to the morning for you OP, hopefully the internet company will refund you for the old contract!

A house 3 bed house in our nearest town is 1300-2k a month - the rental market is shocking here. Very few houses and £££ money. We were given notice after a year at the other place. I was lucky to have found this house. This place is cheaper, close to the school and close enough for a commute to work.

no chance of a mortgage at the moment…obviously and then I’d have to find the deposit etc

Just had a quick look on rightmove

these are the rents for the 3 houses within 5 miles of the school

we are tied in to this place for another 9 months

I really don't understand why people spend so much on cars when they can't afford it. I spent £3k on my car last year, it is absolutely fine for our family of 4. Yes I'd love a 10k car with more space in it but I couldn't afford it.

That would be the first thing I'd sort out if I was you.

It's likely you'll get more for your car from somewhere else than WBAC. I've heard good things about Motorway or you could talk to the dealer if they're on PCP.

You might be able to double that £2k you'll have to buy another car, which could get you something significantly better.

You have made the hardest step but acknowledging the extent of your debt. It is so easy to not check with DH their debt so in your head you only have debt you know about.

Get DH to do a sim only deal. You can get them for £10 on 3 network or Giffgaf. That would be a good saving to make.

Impose a takeaway ban and coffees to go ban. Buy DH a travel cup to go in his stocking. We switched to taking coffees in travel cups and saved about £35 per week. Also I bought DS a water bottle so now refuse buying him bottles of water everyday for lunch and after sport. I make him fill water bottle before he goes.

You might need 2 cars but you don't need cars costing £9k and £7k. Try to get rid of one and long term lease instead.

Change bank account get free £175 for switching. If you do Santander you get cash back for paying bills like council tax and utilities by dd.

Use Top Cashback to buy anything on internet. If you go through their platform you get money back on purchases. I have got about £240 in last year buying house insurance, car insurance, switching from Sky to Virgin.

I also saved a lot by combining package from Virgin Media by buying TV channels, internet, home phone, Sky Sport, BT Sport all in one bundle instead of several individual bits.

Cut back massively on Xmas. Do a kids only Xmas maybe.

I hope your DH will be on board with tackling debt with you.

If you lease a car rather than buy, you won't have to think about repair bills, new tyres or servicing as all included in lease fee.

@confusedlots my old Audi was a 3k car and lasted me years and was absolutely fine, then in the space of 6 months I spent a fortune fixing it, at the time we could afford the repayments so decided to get something which wouldn’t break down twice a month and cost £800 a time to fix.

In June next year I will own the car outright.

If we sell one I think it will be DH’s his has a higher resale value and lower mileage and is newer. Before he was made redundant he has a £400 a month car allowance so it didn’t really cost us anything but now it does.

I’ve done we buy any car on his as well I just need to know how much he owes and when his agreement finished - I’ve sent him a message asking for it but I won’t get the info until tonight. I won’t use we buy but it was just for a rough cost.

I’ve listed everything we owe and the % next to it.

the old contract for internet has been cancelled - it should have happened back in June when we moved 🤦‍♀️ they have offered to pay me back the money, which is very nice of them 😂😂

Oh that's good about paying you back OP. Can you use that lump sum to pay off a chunk of a debt? Or put it in a savings account so you have a small buffer in case other expenses come up?

I just downloaded a spreadsheet that lets you calculate how a snowball approach would help pay off your debts more quickly - it's here (don't click the first download button it's an advert) www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.html?utm_source=debt-reduction-calculator&utm_campaign=templates&utm_content=url

will you actually own your car next june when you finish paying? or is it a lease; if you own it you may as well keep it look after it ie make sure you do oil changes etc a car should last 100,000 miles.
I think you should plan to buy next car / furniture or holiday for cash, ie you start saving for next car / furniture / holiday as soon as you buy one so if you buy a 5k car with intention of swapping it in 3 years for a 8k car with 3k trade in for old car you need to save 5 k in 3 years ie 5000/36 or £139 a month

christians against poverty ( CAP Courses) also do really useful courses about money management they don't push religion at all martin lewis recommends them too

sorting out finances will be the best paying day for you, you have saved over £1000 a year in about 20 minutes that's footballer rates of pay!!!!!!!

You've saved more than £100 for half a morning's work, which is a great boost already.

I'm a bit concerned about your car - in your earlier post you say you have at least £7k to pay off, but you are now saying you have about 9 months at <£300 pcm to pay and will then own outright. There's something wrong here unless you mean that it was originally £7k but you've already paid most of that. If the latter, it makes sense to keep your car and get your DH a cheap one at least til yours is paid for.

I see you've been on MSE. I'd definitely recommend asking for specific help on there. They are great, will stick with you for the long haul, and you don't get judgy idiots and people smugly stating the obvious.

Put diary reminders in your phone for 11 months after you have agreed any new tariffs so you have plenty of time to look at prospective deals when the existing ones are due for renewal.
A lot of companies (particularly insurance companies) give good deals in the first year to lure you in but hike them up in the second and subsequent years.

Give some consideration into the possibility of moving once your 12 months are up to a place where you can all walk/cycle/bus to school and work and give up both cars.
Obviously this would involve finding new jobs but if you could arrange things like this you would potentially have a huge amount more money and also more time.