An article in The Guardian reads; "The average UK household will owe close to £10,000 in debts such as personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts by the end of 2016, which is a new high in cash terms, a report has found."
I am in a small bit of debt after my wedding last year. It is the first time I have been in debt (not including the mortgage), I've never spent what I didn't have before! I have also been helping my brother with his finances because he's gotten himself into a dreadful mess. I can tell you what we have planned and hopefully this could help some of you if you are currently in debt.
The first step is taking a deep breath, and finding out how much it is exactly that you owe.
Write down the companies and the amount that you owe them. Find out the interest rates on them.
Look into transferring to a 0% credit card, this won't always be possible depending on how much is owed but it would save a lot of interest being paid. Then cut up your credit cards!
Once they are all on 0% interest, write down the debts in order from the smallest amount to the biggest.
Then start buy throwing as much money as you can at the small debt (keep paying the other ones too, don't default! Make sure you have direct debits set up for the others as this way if you forget or miss it by accident you won't get charged).
When the smallest debt has been paid off, move that payment amount to the next debt on the list. This is called debt snowballing.
Just remember...you aren't alone, there are lots of people in debt and we can support each other and provide tips and encouragement to help along the way.
On another note, we made jammy buns today for snacking which are a firm favourite in this house! xx
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