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Anyone else feel over indebted?

17 replies

Crumpetpie · 14/12/2024 10:15

9:28
Morning,
just having a whinge really, which is daft as these are all choices we’ve made. We earn well (7.6k take home combined) but our outgoings on essentially deny us crazy. Mortgage has risen to £2100. We also have car debts of £600pm total for 2 cars. A PO personal loan that we had for renovations at £260 as well as us both having bits on credit cards etc. the unsecured stuff will be gone in 20 months thankfully.
so about 3.5k of our take home pay is just paying debts! Seems a bit soul destroying. Is anyone else in the same boat?

OP posts:
jellykitkat · 14/12/2024 10:20

Didn’t you already post this once?

Miley1967 · 14/12/2024 10:23

I guess it's all relevant to your total income. debt isn't a problem if you can make the repayments ok. Even after debts are paid you still have over 4k per month to live off which is massive !

niki26 · 14/12/2024 10:25

Yes. Take home combined is less than yours - but still good at £5,700. Mortgage £1,368, loan £15,600, cc 1 £7,800 and cc2 £3,500. I'm starting the journey to get these debts down and cleared as much as possible! I've got a spreadsheet set up now and seeing how much disposable cash we'd have if we didn't have the debt repayments is soul destroying. Totally of my own doing as well, wish I'd been more frugally responsible when I was on a lesser wage but unfortunately I wasn't and these credit card debts have essentially been around in some form for over 10 years.

I have got rid of the cards as I don't need to spend on them anymore, so working on reducing balances as much as I can.

StMarie4me · 14/12/2024 18:51

So you still have £4.1k after your mortgage etc is paid?

I'm struggling to find any sympathy

sophi1995 · 14/12/2024 20:27

Similar takehome pay and mortgage to you. No other debts thankfully but the size of the mortgage does weigh on me even though I realistically know that we're fine. From what you've written here it sounds like you're doing fine too. Maybe try paying off some of the smaller loans faster, it might help you feel better?

m4rky1985 · 14/12/2024 21:06

StMarie4me · 14/12/2024 18:51

So you still have £4.1k after your mortgage etc is paid?

I'm struggling to find any sympathy

Exactly what I was going to say!

Your not really struggling per month once everything is paid.

We have a slightly higher income than you - similar mortgage but higher car expenses etc and still live a very comfortable life - we usually eat out once a week - have 3 - 4 foreign holidays per year - until your mortgage is paid off its just life!!!

Redwinedaze · 14/12/2024 21:09
Sad Animation GIF by Holler Studios

Poor thing 😭

ClassicalQueen · 14/12/2024 21:16

You took on the debt, you have a substantial income and roughly 4k left after debt. I don't think it's a problem.

Mercurial123 · 14/12/2024 21:45

You're looking for sympathy, lol. You obviously don't realise how good you have it.

Heatherbell1978 · 15/12/2024 07:41

Our take home is around the same as yours but I don't really view the mortgage as 'debt' in quite the same way as, say, credit cards. It's loaned against an appreciating asset that in theory you could sell at any time and repay with money left over. To an extent the same as cars. Although we have a car lease but to me that's just a necessity. The only 'debt' that bothers me is credit cards. We have around £10K combined but all on 0% deals and easily manageable.
You perhaps need to reframe your thinking.

Crumpetpie · 15/12/2024 09:05

Mercurial123 · 14/12/2024 21:45

You're looking for sympathy, lol. You obviously don't realise how good you have it.

Looking for sympathy???

OP posts:
IndustrialActionAhoy · 15/12/2024 09:54

I think everyone should be able discuss their financial situations on MN - some will have more and some will have less, but everyone can potentially benefit from / learn about personal finance management (particularly because this won't be discussed within all families).

The OP didn't seem to be looking for sympathy, more asking whether anyone had as much unsecured debt.

AddictedtoCrunchies · 16/12/2024 13:13

You need to sit down and do a detailed budget. Money in vs money out. Set up an excel spreadsheet with categories down the left and months along the top.

Mortgage, gas, electric, water, council tax, tv, broadband, phones, subscriptions. Every single thing that goes out of your account by direct debit or standing order. List them all, dates and amounts.

Look at your pay day and try and move the auto payments to the same or similar dates shortly after this. I get paid on 25th and all my bills go out on 1st or 2nd.

Next thing is to look at the variable expenses. Food, fuel, kids' activities, family stuff. Allocate a certain amount for each category and try and use a different current account if you can. Be realistic but when it's gone it's gone.

Then work out what you pay annually. Car tax, car insurance, home insurance, season ticket, annual subscriptions etc. Add the totals together and divvy up to work out what you need to put aside monthly. Use another account for this.

Then when all that's done, you need to build an emergency fund of £1000. Use this for emergencies so stop using credit cards. If you dip into it, you refill it ASAP.

Finally see what's left. That's your gap and what you can use to throw at your debts. List the debts in balance order and either pay the smallest balance down first (snowballing) or the lowest interest first. You choose. All the while maintaining the minimum payments to the others. Once one has gone, divert all money to the next one and so on.

Look on Facebook for Rebel Finance School, Meaningful Money and My Money My Goals.

Look for the Meaningful Money podcasts on Spotify. Listen to the back catalogue.

If you want a.copy of my spreadsheet dm me and I'll send it to you.

Yes you're a high earner but I'm not going to jump on you for that. But who knows what's round the corner so while you are a high earner, take the chance to get your finances in order and have a stress free rest of your life.

Good luck.

timetodecide2345 · 16/12/2024 13:16

Sell your house then and downsize and hand back the new cars and get old ones. You can correct your position immediately. It's people who are trapped in poor housing with absolutely no chance of earning I feel for!

BeckyAMumsnet · 16/12/2024 16:29

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Crumpetpie · 16/12/2024 21:46

timetodecide2345 · 16/12/2024 13:16

Sell your house then and downsize and hand back the new cars and get old ones. You can correct your position immediately. It's people who are trapped in poor housing with absolutely no chance of earning I feel for!

Downsize? We’re already short of space. Down siding would not help at all. We can’t hand the cars back without them cutting huge fees so that’s not an option now. As soon as we can surrender the cars we will.

I feel for those people too

OP posts:
Harassedevictee · 17/12/2024 15:41

I’ve typed this on other threads. You are at the expensive bit of life, most people go through this. The long term is when your mortgage is paid off you will have £2,100 “spare” every month. Pay off the debts and you have c£900 a month “spare”.

It doesn’t make sense to downsize or sell off the cars. As pp have said do a proper budget, pay off the loan and credit cards asap. When you come to changing the cars evaluate what you need not what you want and you may find less expensive options.

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