My "Hard Times" Diary.

Bambywamby

As you all know things are getting financially tougher every day. Ridiculous energy prices, shocking food price hikes, obscene petrol increases and credit been withdrawn left, right and centre are all adding to the burden.

It's a worrying time for most people, my family no exception.
We have a mammoth mortgage of £1019 per month, several credit card debts, car loan, personal loan and little free money...but we have just been managing.


Until today...I have just found out that the home where I work is closing down in two weeks and my boiler has packed...it has been condemned (with no insurance ).

After having a little cry and then getting angry at myself for being in these predictaments (too much spending, staying in a job I knew was unstable, not insuring the boiler etc)I decided to get practical and sort these things out.

To stop myself from collapsing in a stressed out heap of tears everytime I think about it, I have decided to keep a diary on here.
Any tips, ideas and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

My aims (not in any particular order) are:

1) Review our finances and cut back where we can.
2) Get another job.
3) Pay up our credit cards and then tackle the loans.
4) Replace our boiler without more adding more debt to our load.

I will post our SOA shortly.

Thank you for reading all that waffle.

Bam x x

lucielle

Just wanted to say hi and welcome to the boards, we are all happy to help.
L

saver03

Just wanted to say :hello:

I find a diary very helpful as you can get it all out and hopefully feel better.

I look forward to reading your SOA and I am sure you will receive lots of good advice from more experienced people.

Bambywamby

OUR MONTHLY S>O>A.


My family consists of two adults, one teenage son and three labradors.


Incoming:
O/Hs salary £ 1800
Was my salary £ 800
Fam Cred &
Child Benefit £ 80

---

Total £ 2680


Outgoing:
Mortgage £1019 (fixed until May 09)
Council Tax £ 124
Water £ 25
Pet Insurance £ 28 (needed as one of labradors has a medical conditon)
House Insurance £ 26 (obtained through Quidco)
TV Lcense £ 12
ASLEF £24 (Other halfs union)
RSPCA £ 3
Electric & Gas £ 116 (fixed price until 2011)
Car Insur £23 (obtained through Quidco)
Sky £38 (I know,it's gotta go)
Personal Loan £180 (5 years left )
Internet £29 (Live in the East Riding of Yorks and cannot use a different provider
have to use local one...total rip off but not optional.)
Car Loan £214 (4 years left )
Telephone £25 (again cannot use any provider other than local one)
Mobile #1 £25 18 month contract
Mobile #2 £45 12 month contract
Groceries £240
Entertainment £50
Clothing, Dentist, Prescriptions £40
Xmas, birthdays etc £25
Dog Food £30 (can't vary this due to special diet of one dog.)

Credit Card & Catalogue payments:

Cap one - £1222 I pay £100 per month
MBNA One - £2760 I pay £100 per month
MBNA Two - £783 I pay £50 per month
Kays - £1746 I pay £50 per month

Total £2670


Leaves us a tenner a month


However that was before I lost my job, so until I get another job we will be short of
£790 per month, so I need to cut back big style.
Any ideas lovely peeps?

dancingfairy

Hi. Sorry to hear things are so carp for you. However it's great you are so determined to sort things out and you're definitely in the right place.

O.k let's see:
Mortgage £1019 (fixed until May 09)
Council Tax £ 124 can you pay over 12 months?
Water £ 25
Pet Insurance £ 28 (needed as one of labradors has a medical conditon)
House Insurance £ 26 (obtained through Quidco)
TV Lcense £ 12
ASLEF £24 (Other halfs union)
RSPCA £ 3 not sure on this one to be honest. Would say cancel so that would be an extra £3 but um..
Electric & Gas £ 116 (fixed price until 2011)
Car Insur £23 (obtained through Quidco)
Sky £38 (I know,it's gotta go) yep, fraid so
Personal Loan £180 (5 years left )
Internet £29 (Live in the East Riding of Yorks and cannot use a different provider
have to use local one...total rip off but not optional.)
Car Loan £214 (4 years left )
Telephone £25 (again cannot use any provider other than local one)
Mobile #1 £25 18 month contract try haggling?
Mobile #2 £45 12 month contract ditto?
Groceries £240 old style board for advice? sounds good to me but I am so not an expert here - I spend way too much.
Entertainment £50 look for cheap/ free days out?
Clothing, Dentist, Prescriptions £40 can you split this? do you NEED any more clothes for a few months? prescriptions- how many/ how often? - could get pre payment certificate if worth it.
Xmas, birthdays etc £25
Dog Food £30 (can't vary this due to special diet of one dog.)

If all else fails - you could ask to take a mortgage payment holiday until you find another job - obviously this would need to be for a few months. Not sure what the penalties would be - how much extra you would end up paying but worth considering.

Good Luck - hope some of the above has given you some ideas. I'm sure having a diary will keep you motivated.

Bambywamby

THank you folks. x x

dancingfairy: I hadn't thought about a mortgage payment holiday...thanks for the idea. That could tide us over short term. I will have to look into it.

I forgot to add petrol - £40 per month and road tax £25...so things are looking £65 worse off. :mad: Ah well, best to know all the damage up front...can only get better from here.

dancingfairy

It would be pretty hard to do it otherwise - but I have seen the impossible happen on here. The only other way apart from a mortgage holiday for a month or 2 max would be to cut back on everything, do a grocery challenge, sell everything nailed down and charge your son housekeeping as far as I can see. Would only do a mortgage holiday for a short time but check whether this is allowed or not and what the deal is. I wouldn't want you to turn a short term - 1-2 month predicament into a bigger mess by messing with the mortgage unless it's allowed in the terms and conditions. Check it carefully - and double check.

Bambywamby

"sell everything nailed down and charge your son housekeeping as far as I can see. "


I wonder if I could combine the two and sell my son...that would save me a fortune in electricity, food and clothing lol.

elantan

and hair dye you wont have as many grey hairs... or is that me with my son

Verbatim

Sorry to hear about your job going.

How difficult will it be to find another? Is there anything you can do to improve your prospects? have you got any friends or acquaintances who might be a good source of info on likely openings?

I'm impressed by your level headedness and ability to still make a joke! I wish you a ton of good fortune.

WorkingHardDFW

I just wanted to wish you the very best of luck. Seems like you've got yourself organised and its just a matter of getting another job.

From what you've said 'the home you work at is closing' are you being made redundant and if so are you receiving any redundancy payments. Have you worked for your employer for two years or more? If so and you are being made redundant then its worth checking out.

I guess putting all your efforts into getting another job is key to coming out of your situation.

Good luck!