Overdraft help

La_escocesa · 16 November 2017 at 1:01PM

Definitely worth seeing if you can shift some of it to the interest-free overdraft and move your salary payments away from that bank like EH suggested.

I understand about the car - I imagine that means it probably costs a bit more in petrol than £50 pm?

The SOA you've posted assumes no overdraft charges so if that was the case you would have £76 leftover (allowance for car insurance too...) every month without any other cutbacks. Just need to start putting the money away for all the monthly expenses you mentioned, e.g. if you want to take the kids camping in July and it costs £120 you'll need to save £15 for the next 8 salary payments, if the car's MOT is in 6 months and you have nothing saved you'll need to double the saving until then etc... At the moment though, this isn't possible without other cutbacks on everything else, as each month you are spending more than you earn. You sound up for the challenge though so hopefully you can get the ends to meet.

EssexHebridean · 16 November 2017 at 1:03PM

OK - the electricity thing.

Your heating is with storage heaters?
You're on an economy 7 tariff I take it? Dual rates for day/night on your meter?
Do you fully understand how the storage heaters and the E7 stuff works? If not then do some research - but basically the heaters should fill up overnight and let the heat out during the day - check on the ones you have to make sure you're setting them right and get into the habit of checking the weather a few days ahead so you can adjust them if needed.
A heater centrally in the building is often very effective at heating throughout - currently we have our front room and hallway running - both at about the halfway setting, and with the output set to release later in the day. We only turn our bedroom heater on when it gets REALLY cold, and the spare room one really doesn't get used at all but we leave the door open to make sure heat circulates.
Cooking with electricity can be REALLY expensive - especially the oven.
- If you're boiling water (say for veg or pasta) then boil the right amount in the kettle and then transfer to a pan that's already hot as this works out cheaper.
- Microwaving is often cheaper than putting the oven on.
- If you do heat the oven try to put several things in at once.
- If you can acquire one of the little halogen type ovens from freegle or freecycle (might be worth actually putting a wanted request on there) then those often work out well for people.
- We have a combination microwave and that's a great way of doing jacket potatoes - far nicer than just microwaved ones. Again might be gettable FOC.

Another thing it might be worth asking for on freecycle is one of the energy monitors that clips onto the wires coming out of the meter. That's a great way of starting to learn what uses power and when.

Remember with a night rate anything you can use while the power is on the cheap rate will cost you a fraction of the daytime cost for the same thing. This is the reason why the storage heaters (which are relatively power-hungry) use the overnight rate to charge. If you're using an immersion heater then make sure that is set to heat overnight too - but make sure the thermostat works OK before trusting it if you've not been running it that way - it should automatically switch off when the water reaches temperature.

Dobbibill · 16 November 2017 at 2:01PM

Lots of good advice already as usual.

The only thing I would add is when doing a quote for Contents Insurance, check TopCashBack and Quidco for cashback - I've been able to insure my 3 bed home for a net cost of £81 (works out less than £7 pm) using such sites.

If your bank charges are due to the new Lloyds/Halifax/BOS structure change then give them a ring. Some forum users have said they have been offered discounted charges for a 3 or 6 month period to give them some leeway.

Looking at a second account elsewhere for your wages to be paid into is definitely a good idea - don't abandon the overdraft account completely though as it may spook the bank and they may call in the overdraft immediately. Think about keeping it as a bills account adding extra to pay down the overdraft where possible.
This will keep the bank off your case as they will see a turnover.
If you can be disciplined enough to leave the money in the account all month and shuffle your bills to the end of the month, therefore reducing the daily costs of the charges as your bills money will be in the account longer.

Add the maximum monthly cost of the overdraft to your SOA to give you a more accurate figure. £6.50 per day x 31 days is £201.50

Don't wait until your out of contract with your mobile provider, asking for a reduction costs you nothing and you may gain sooner. It definitely doesn't hurt to ask.

Try your local college for haircuts - they are always alot cheaper as students do it, but these students are always very well supervised. It will be a fraction of the price.

Finally, check you are on the cheapest tariff with your electricity. Do a comparison with cheap energy club or uswitch. Maybe even pop over to the Energy board with any checking questions when comparing - there are some very knowledgeable people who will break down any jargon or misunderstandings for you.

js2017 · 16 November 2017 at 3:25PM

Thanks EssexHebridean - This is my first place with storage heaters and it is a bit confusing. I googled how to use but I think I have a very basic model, just input and output, no timer or anything.

Thanks very much for the tips, I've only very recently turned the heating on, you say you keep the spare room open, I keep my childrens room door shut with the heating off when they're not round, is this not the best way?

js2017 · 16 November 2017 at 3:28PM

La escocesa, it can vary slightly but it's actually 50pm more or less. It's a diesel and dirt cheap on long journeys!

I thought I'd been making good progress, and I think I would have continued to do so if the overdraft charges stayed the same but this daily 6.50 is a real kicker. So glad I posted though because I wouldn't have considered getting a new bank account. Just hope I can with credit!

js2017 · 16 November 2017 at 3:33PM

Dobbibill I hadn't thought of using top cash back for contents! I'll look into this on the 1st!

Yes, bank charges are due to the new structure on overdraft! I have a meeting with the bank at the end of next week (frustratingly far away) but they did refund me two weeks charges to see me until I can work out long term plan in the branch!

EssexHebridean · 16 November 2017 at 4:05PM

js2017 wrote: »

Thanks EssexHebridean - This is my first place with storage heaters and it is a bit confusing. I googled how to use but I think I have a very basic model, just input and output, no timer or anything.

Thanks very much for the tips, I've only very recently turned the heating on, you say you keep the spare room open, I keep my childrens room door shut with the heating off when they're not round, is this not the best way?

Ahh yes they are a bit tricky to get your head around! Ours are just the basic model too - they don't need a timer - the "output" control sets how the heat is released. Have a read of THIS for a bit of basic advice on how they work and how to set them. Personally I'd not keep turning the ones in the childrens rooms off - turn them right down to the lowest setting when the children aren't there, then remember to turn back up again the night BEFORE the kids are back with you if it feels chillier than you'd like. Then the morning the kids have left - turn back down again. The problem with turning them off is that the first night they're back on the blocks have to heat from stone cold so they a) use more power and b) don't heat as efficiently.

To double check that your storage heaters are charging up on the cheap (night) rate electric, turn then ALL on during the daytime, turn the input setting to full, and then go and take a look at your meter - if the little red light on the meter is flashing constantly or on steadily then Houston, we have a problem! Depending on the type of meter you have (ours is a digital screen one) you might physically hear the feed click from day rate to night if you're up at the right time - ours is currently midnight > 7am at the cheap rate.

Check your electricity tariff to make sure that it is an E7 tariff - and remember to submit BOTH readings when you read your meter.

EssexHebridean · 16 November 2017 at 4:08PM

js2017 wrote: »

La escocesa, it can vary slightly but it's actually 50pm more or less. It's a diesel and dirt cheap on long journeys!

I thought I'd been making good progress, and I think I would have continued to do so if the overdraft charges stayed the same but this daily 6.50 is a real kicker. So glad I posted though because I wouldn't have considered getting a new bank account. Just hope I can with credit!

If it's a diesel then that makes getting it serviced even more vital I'm afraid! Particularly if it has a DPF fitted (Diesel Particulate Filter) - and if it has one of those you also need to make sure you do a regular motorway run where you get get it to regeneration speed - check the details on your own car to find out what's involved but mine needs 5 minutes at 2,500 revs steady every now and again. On a car of the sort of age is sounds like yours is, a DPF failing could potentially be curtains for the car, so you need to b e aware of this one!

fatbelly · 16 November 2017 at 8:49PM

Definitely checkout your cheapest tariff for electricity. Ebico released a new tariff with free nightime electricity on Economy 7 this week. But it's not necessarily the cheapest and there are some hoops to jump through - you will need to check. I use Energyhelpline as my goto site.

If Bulb turn out cheapest (or near) they are doing £100 cashback if you use an existing customer referral and there are plenty on the referral board!

In any case if you have Economy7, you should use it to the max. I run dehumidifiers, washing machine and dishwasher on delay switches so they come on at night. And mine doesn't switch to day rate till 8 a.m, by which time I've done all the breakfast stuff and used the electric shower.

I had a quick look at your soa and it looks not too bad - nothing much for me to add. And as someone who generally runs cars worth 3-7k, I can't criticise your mode of transport unless you are a keen mse/petrolhead and want to get involved on the bangernomics thread. I did ditch diesels a few years back though when dpfs started getting installed everywhere

js2017 · 17 November 2017 at 10:48AM

Thanks so much for the advice EssexHebridean, I was feeling pretty hopeless when I posted. I'll come back once I've been to the bank.

Overdraft help

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