Have I ruined my life?

Have I ruined my life?

Author
Discussion

iwantagta

1,323 posts

144 months

Tuesday 2nd December 2014
quotequote all
Been there.
Horrible feeling - builds up inside you.
Ended up not going out but unable to save enough to get me out of it.
Sold my house which had some capital and sorted myself out - worked off some outstanding as well.

You need to get full debt figures put onto a spreadsheet.

You really are best off doing your monthlys, quarterlys then scale up over a year allocating a theoretical figure for a £750 car repair etc etc. Then add 30% (or whatever you decide) - then /12. That is your fixed monthly outgoings - bad months should be close - good months should leave extra savings.
Doing just your monthly you will plan your day to day life but not cover anything bad happening.

That will tell you your money left per month - hopefully enough to live & pay a bit off your CC.

Sell your car. Buy something for a few hundred. overnight you are £3k less in debt and have got rid of some of your worst debt.

Have you changed energy supply recently?

I wouldn't sell PS3 - it gives you something to do.

Shop at Aldi or Lidl.

Make lunch - saves up to £750 per year (based on daily difference of £3)

Give up fizzy drinks except as a rare treat.

Delete all gambling and lottery accounts. You wont win. (probably)

Stop being generous.

It seems hard but its all do-able. And saving is addictive. Also make sure your close friends know what you are doing and what the debt is doing to you - (if you are similar to me it will be very hard on your mental wellbeing) they will be supportive or aren't your mates.

Good luck.

If outgoings > incomings and you cant get the numbers to add up then is there anyone who would give you an interest free loan - Mum/Dad? I ended up borrowing until house sold.












oldcynic

2,166 posts

160 months

Tuesday 2nd December 2014
quotequote all
Just to answer an earlier concern - does it matter if your credit rating goes down the swanny? You need to stop borrowing anyway, and if you're hoping to get a mortgage then the very fact of succeeding in a debt management plan then saving up a deposit has got to be good.

hornet

6,333 posts

249 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
Mr Will said:
Nothing, but a PS3 doesn't cost you anything if you already have one. The entertainment value you can get out of it can outweigh the benefit from the very small amount of cash you'd get by selling it.
Possibly so, but the games have a cost, which is where I feel excuses start creeping in. Once you've played everything you have to death, the "it's only small" mentality can easily mean you think nothing of £50 here and there for new games. That only needs to happen a few times and you've spent £200 that could have come off high interest debt instead, meaning you've reduced not just the debt but future interest as well.

I guess I'm just irritated by the attitude that only a games console can provide entertainment when there are far cheaper and far more sociable ways of enjoying yourself. Some may mock me, but in the last year in our new house, we've built a nice little circle with some like minded neighbours and have regular board game evenings. Big vat of pasta, veggie curry, stew or what have you, few cheap beverages from Aldi / Lidl and an evening of silliness and being sociable. Far more enjoyable than being shut away staring at a screen all evening IMO.

Added benefit of that is it's spawned a nice sense of community, with things like an informal time bank, borrowing bits and pieces and pooling resources for some bulk shopping. Stuff that neighbours used to do! Doubtless far too communist for PH, but all have positive outcomes.

Blaster72

10,772 posts

196 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
hornet said:
Mr Will said:
Nothing, but a PS3 doesn't cost you anything if you already have one. The entertainment value you can get out of it can outweigh the benefit from the very small amount of cash you'd get by selling it.
Possibly so, but the games have a cost, which is where I feel excuses start creeping in. Once you've played everything you have to death, the "it's only small" mentality can easily mean you think nothing of £50 here and there for new games. That only needs to happen a few times and you've spent £200 that could have come off high interest debt instead, meaning you've reduced not just the debt but future interest as well.

I guess I'm just irritated by the attitude that only a games console can provide entertainment when there are far cheaper and far more sociable ways of enjoying yourself. Some may mock me, but in the last year in our new house, we've built a nice little circle with some like minded neighbours and have regular board game evenings. Big vat of pasta, veggie curry, stew or what have you, few cheap beverages from Aldi / Lidl and an evening of silliness and being sociable. Far more enjoyable than being shut away staring at a screen all evening IMO.

Added benefit of that is it's spawned a nice sense of community, with things like an informal time bank, borrowing bits and pieces and pooling resources for some bulk shopping. Stuff that neighbours used to do! Doubtless far too communist for PH, but all have positive outcomes.
Do you all drop your car keys into a bowl on the way in eek

JB!

5,254 posts

179 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
@OP I was in a similar situation this time last year, I have halved my debts and my credit rating has shot back up;

1. Work harder at work, alot of my stuff has been paid off by taking home more.
2. Run a cheap stter. 3k will make a nice dent in your debt.
3. set goals

Mr Will

13,719 posts

205 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
hornet said:
Mr Will said:
Nothing, but a PS3 doesn't cost you anything if you already have one. The entertainment value you can get out of it can outweigh the benefit from the very small amount of cash you'd get by selling it.
Possibly so, but the games have a cost, which is where I feel excuses start creeping in. Once you've played everything you have to death, the "it's only small" mentality can easily mean you think nothing of £50 here and there for new games. That only needs to happen a few times and you've spent £200 that could have come off high interest debt instead, meaning you've reduced not just the debt but future interest as well.

I guess I'm just irritated by the attitude that only a games console can provide entertainment when there are far cheaper and far more sociable ways of enjoying yourself. Some may mock me, but in the last year in our new house, we've built a nice little circle with some like minded neighbours and have regular board game evenings. Big vat of pasta, veggie curry, stew or what have you, few cheap beverages from Aldi / Lidl and an evening of silliness and being sociable. Far more enjoyable than being shut away staring at a screen all evening IMO.

Added benefit of that is it's spawned a nice sense of community, with things like an informal time bank, borrowing bits and pieces and pooling resources for some bulk shopping. Stuff that neighbours used to do! Doubtless far too communist for PH, but all have positive outcomes.
I've bolded the important part.

Nobody says that a games console is the only way to entertain yourself but it is a very cheap way to do so, especially for the times when you don't feel like being sociable. Options are good, especially when they are free options.

Also, games are no-where near £50 if you shop sensibly. A couple of quid on ebay will buy a game that will last as long as a good book and can be sold on when you are done with it.

I suggest if you look more closely you'll realise that your views are based on nothing more than your own bias.

LucreLout

908 posts

117 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
25 and 15k in debt? Fecking amateur. I owed about that back when it was worth twice what it is now. And I only earned 13k pre-tax.

So, you'll possibly not like this but.... Can you relocate somewhere with higher salaries? I moved to London.

Try to move debt to lower interest rates, and work out what your highest repayment is and focus over payments there.

Sell the car. Buys smaller cheaper one.

Get a second job. Lots of seasonal stuff just now. What are you good at? Can you use your hobbies to bring in money?

Cut costs by taking lunch to work, walking rather than driving, and once the phone contract is up, get rid of it or put it on a sim only pay monthly deal. Stop buying takeaways and coffee.

As soon as your pay off your most expensive debt, put all the money you spent there against the payments on your next most expensive.

It'll take time, took me 3 years, but you'll get there. It sounds crap, and to some extent it is. But sitting here on another boring conference call, debt free and then some, at 40 years old... I'd swap with you in a heartbeat. Youth, and therefore time, are on your side.

Not read the thread but saw someone mentioned ccs or whatever they are now. That person talks sense. Listen to them.

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
Remove all luxuries first and foremost, that includes beer and takeaways and find ways to eat cheaper. after you tackle food expenditure then move down the list, try and keep hold of your car but as a last resort it needs to go if you are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. cost cutting is stty, but not half as stty as getting deeper and deeper into debt.




jonah35

3,940 posts

156 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
Keep as you are, don't spend recklessly, perhaps downgrade your car. No point selling electronics etc.

Simply get a second job. Anything like bar work, pub work, waiter, taxiing or something. You could whip that debt off quickly it's only £15k.

Question is, are you up for it or just lazy?

mikerons88

239 posts

112 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
I have also been in a very similar position and usually you should follow the advice on this thread.

However, I went consulting/contracting, which made it quite easy to pay back the debt. I realize I was fortunate to get the position and it has all worked out, but now it's sorted I am extremely careful with my now salary pay to ensure I do everything I can never to get in that position again, it was so bad. I didn't want to open mail, answer calls etc despite having a reasonable paying wage at the time.

Follow the advise here and you will wonder what on earth all the worrying was all about.

oldcynic

2,166 posts

160 months

Wednesday 3rd December 2014
quotequote all
LucreLout said:
once the phone contract is up, get rid of it or put it on a sim only pay monthly deal.
This too. I'm shocked by what people around me spend on phone contracts.

I'm paying £22.50/month total for 3 phones (SIM only) and a fourth is on PAYG (around £20-30 per year. He doesn't use his phone much). The contract phones are all capped at £10 so no danger of teenagers/wife racking up silly bills - and we get something like 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500GB on each. A colleague is spending more than twice what I do for 1 phone, although to be fair he's got the money and likes shiny things so why not?

hornet

6,333 posts

249 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
Mr Will said:
I suggest if you look more closely you'll realise that your views are based on nothing more than your own bias.
And yours aren't, of course...

Mr Will

13,719 posts

205 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
hornet said:
Mr Will said:
I suggest if you look more closely you'll realise that your views are based on nothing more than your own bias.
And yours aren't, of course...
If you want to level that accusation you'll need to point out a flaw in my logic first.

Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
Ruined your life? Of course not. Some good advice on here.

I don't know what you do for a living but is there any way to increase your income? More hours, different line of work, second job, etc?


TTmonkey

20,911 posts

246 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
Mr Will said:
hornet said:
Mr Will said:
I suggest if you look more closely you'll realise that your views are based on nothing more than your own bias.
And yours aren't, of course...
If you want to level that accusation you'll need to point out a flaw in my logic first.
Guys lets not turn this into an argument. Hornet said something that most are disagreeing with, but it's his opinion and its valid. However, the majority disagree. He himself said that he didn't wan tto derail the thread over it, so lets not.


My advice to the OP is this:

Work out exactly how much you owe. Divide that amount by 50, and you'll get a figure for repaying the debt over 50 months. This is repaying at a rate of 2% (currently) per month and should be your minimum repayment of your debts. this gives you a target of clearing your debt at 50 months, or just over 4 years.

Now the good bit. You've committed to being debt clear in 50 months. Use every trick you can to reduce that time frame. If you can find a way every now and then of paying a few more % of your debts, you are bringing your target date forward, perhaps only a month at a time, perhaps, lets say, if you get a bonus, of 4 or 5 months at a single time.

the biggest mistake most people make s trying to tackle too much of your debt in one go, believing you're going to have to find a way of magically paying off the debt overnight. It takes time, patience and commitment. If you try and do it all in one fell swoop, you risk failure because its just too big a problem. So make it 50 small problems, and try killing them 50 problems off at a rate greater than 1 a month.


This is how a debt repayment plan effectively works. Gives you a realistic and achievable time frame for becoming debt free. Stops you from getting in the mind set that you cant do it. And that light at the end of the tunnel - it gets there, eventually.

What's 4 years when you're young? No time at all. And every time you get the urge to spend some more money, you can say to yourself - actually, this amount could bring my debt clear date 3 months earlier....

TTmonkey

20,911 posts

246 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
Just to add.

I'm 55 months into a 100 month debt repayment plan. I have 7.5 months remaining to being debt clear.

So I can tell you what the brink of suicide looks like.

(not including mortgage, sadly... )

SlowMoped

184 posts

145 months

Friday 5th December 2014
quotequote all
Sell the car and get a Peugeot 106 1.5D because this is probably the cheapest car to run and buy available. I have the 205 1.8D but that is in the higher tax band. When I was clearing myself up after Uni, I got a job as a carer for a disable person on the weekends which paid well as you could work 36 hours in one weekend and sleep still.

Abbott

2,338 posts

202 months

Friday 19th December 2014
quotequote all
OP how is progress? Do you see light at the ed of tunnel?

michael gould

5,691 posts

240 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2014
quotequote all
you could do what i did ....marry a wealthy women .....just a thought smile

and don't be so daft .....you have not ruined your life .......a little short term pain will sort it out.......good luck

Edited by michael gould on Tuesday 23 December 13:37

jamesedwards

207 posts

140 months

Friday 26th December 2014
quotequote all
megaphone said:
Terminator X said:
Don't carry cash around. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to piss money away when you have it to hand vs having to go to the trouble of getting some out of the hole in the wall. O/T whilst the new contact-less cards are convenient they are a recipe for disaster imho as so easy to spend using them.

TX.
I'd say the opposite. Carry cash, budget £100 a week, it is much easier to see it going! When you're down to the last tenner you'll know it's time to stay in and eat beans on toast.
I agree that I spend more on my card than when I have cash in my wallet. £15 on a card is no different to £2; but £15 is two paper monies and £2 isn't.