Help me cut back ?!

johanne

I need a little bit of help from you wonderful guys... to advise how to cut back my expenditures to avoid me getting into more debt - not to pay off my debts so much as the usual threads are.

i have amounted approx £1000 in credit card debt over the last 3 months since leaving home. :eek: This was all stuff for my house as it was completely unfurnished so i was starting from scratch. I know it doesnt seem much compared to others but to me it is.

All of this debt is on a 0% interest on purchases for 12 months sainsburys bank card (thanks to martins advice :money: ) This 0% period will run out in July then it goes to 15.9% APR if memory serves me right but i will hopefully be able to swap it to a new 0% card then. Im also trying not to spend on it at all anymore too.

The problem i am facing is a virtually definate large wage decrease due to losing my high paid job sometime over the next 2-3 months. I am living on very little at the moment anyway and have extremely high rent to pay alone. I really cant consider a house-share because i suffer anxiety and health problems and i couldnt cope living with someone i didnt know because of this I am embarrassed to say aswell that i am friendless (yes really! ) except for my (recently become) ex-boyfriend so living together as house-mates is not an option and i dont have anyone else i can ask to live with me.

I AM looking for cheaper accomodation but due to capital of culture 2008 house and rental prices have shot up in Liverpool and im lucky to be paying what i am now :eek:

Anyway here goes...my monthly outgoings are as follows:

Rent: £425
Council Tax: £80 (including 25% single person discount)
Water rates: £20.56
Gas: £20 (prepayment meter - not allowed to change)
Electric: £20 (prepayment meter - not allowed to change)
Phone package £12
TV £5.50 (has been £3.50 up to now but it going up next month)
Internet £14.00
Phone calls £10.00 (varies but i want to keep it to this at max)
Mobile phone £15 (need to top up this amount min to get all my package benefits)
Shopping: £80 (includes food, household items, toiletries and anything else i might need - is basically housekeeping)
Credit Card repayments £30
Savings £40

TOTAL EXPENDITURE : £772.06

Now straight away i know i could cut out my TV package but its my only little luxury as i dont have a social life, i also dont have a TV aerial so getting normal TV is impossible without paying out for an aerial to be fitted anyway. .

Internet- is dial up telewest (only one i could get).. in Dec i should be able to change to broadband thoughwhich may be cheaper if they still have their £9.99 a month or something similar offer on.

Phone calls- i know is a problem area.. last bill was £12 for one month.. thinking of looking at my next bill (probably higher again :eek: ) and seeing when i make the calls. If majority are all evening calls i might change to the better price plan which is £18 line rental and free evening and weekend calls + mobile call discount (whereas now i just get weekend + discount on mobiles for £12 ) or using my mobile a bit more when possible until all my free minutes are used up.

Mobile package - i have a good deal on this.. i have a genie PAYG sim and my £15 a month gets me:

300 free texts
1/2 price calls and texts to my 3 most used numbers
25% off all calls to other network mobiles
150 free "anyone" off peak minutes
£10.01 calling credit
10% back every 3 months on whatever i top up

(i also top up at boots or tesco when they had the offer on. To get my points too )

Shopping/Housekeeping This pays for EVERYTHING that isnt specifically mentioned above. I have recently done a huge shop online (using £10 off £50 spend code from this site) for my store cupboard basics and bought all value range where possible and have at least 2-3 months worth of my "basics" regarding bought every week tins/packets etc and about 6-8 months worth of pasta etc! :rotfl: :rotfl: So my actual food shop will be only fresh items and bits to stock up freezer so should be able to cut food spend to a minimum .. buying in bulk with my mum for toilet rolls etc.. to cut the cost And have a cupboard full of cleaning items/vingear/bicarb/lemon now.

Apart from my savings and mentioned above i cant see where i can cut back. Oh and btw the savings are going into a high interest savings account so when the month before my 0% on my cc ends i can pay off all or a large sum of that but in the meantime its aquiring interest in my savings account :money:

At the moment my NET pay is approx £870 so i can easily cover my bills and pay some extra off the credit card... but im facing the prospect of a pay decrease to possibly minimum wage which would be approx £572.12 net pay which obviously i cant afford to even pay my bills on! So i need to find what the minimum i can live on is..... so i can work out what i need to be earning minimum regarding my new job/s

I know the biggest thing to tackle is the rent

Can anyone help?

brummiebabe

Hi

From reading your outgoings - I can't really see any way you can cut back!

How about looking at increasing your income? If you're going to lose a high paid job, why not start looking for something else now! Even something part-time is going to boost your income!!!!;)

Don't know if that is a possibility for you, but it seems you've done everything else you can do, unless anyone else has any ideas????

BEST OF LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

black-saturn

Are you living on your own? If so £80 a month on housekeeping is a bit high. I spend £40 every 6 weeks on food, drinks, cleaning products and general housekeeping and I have got 2 children!! See if you can cut that down by cooking things from scratch how they do on the old style money savings board.

Ember999

johanne wrote:

I need a little bit of help from you wonderful guys... to advise how to cut back my expenditures to avoid me getting into more debt - not to pay off my debts so much as the usual threads are.

i have amounted approx £1000 in credit card debt over the last 3 months since leaving home. :eek: This was all stuff for my house as it was completely unfurnished so i was starting from scratch. I know it doesnt seem much compared to others but to me it is.

All of this debt is on a 0% interest on purchases for 12 months sainsburys bank card (thanks to martins advice :money: ) This 0% period will run out in July then it goes to 15.9% APR if memory serves me right but i will hopefully be able to swap it to a new 0% card then. Im also trying not to spend on it at all anymore too.

The problem i am facing is a virtually definate large wage decrease due to losing my high paid job sometime over the next 2-3 months. I am living on very little at the moment anyway and have extremely high rent to pay alone. I really cant consider a house-share because i suffer anxiety and health problems and i couldnt cope living with someone i didnt know because of this I am embarrassed to say aswell that i am friendless (yes really! ) except for my (recently become) ex-boyfriend so living together as house-mates is not an option and i dont have anyone else i can ask to live with me.

I AM looking for cheaper accomodation but due to capital of culture 2008 house and rental prices have shot up in Liverpool and im lucky to be paying what i am now :eek:

Anyway here goes...my monthly outgoings are as follows:

Rent: £425
Council Tax: £80 (including 25% single person discount)
Water rates: £20.56
Gas: £20 (prepayment meter - not allowed to change)
Electric: £20 (prepayment meter - not allowed to change)
Phone package £12
TV £5.50 (has been £3.50 up to now but it going up next month)
Internet £14.00
Phone calls £10.00 (varies but i want to keep it to this at max)
Mobile phone £15 (need to top up this amount min to get all my package benefits)
Shopping: £80 (includes food, household items, toiletries and anything else i might need - is basically housekeeping)
Credit Card repayments £30
Savings £40

TOTAL EXPENDITURE : £772.06

Now straight away i know i could cut out my TV package but its my only little luxury as i dont have a social life, i also dont have a TV aerial so getting normal TV is impossible without paying out for an aerial to be fitted anyway. .

Internet- is dial up telewest (only one i could get).. in Dec i should be able to change to broadband thoughwhich may be cheaper if they still have their £9.99 a month or something similar offer on.

Phone calls- i know is a problem area.. last bill was £12 for one month.. thinking of looking at my next bill (probably higher again :eek: ) and seeing when i make the calls. If majority are all evening calls i might change to the better price plan which is £18 line rental and free evening and weekend calls + mobile call discount (whereas now i just get weekend + discount on mobiles for £12 ) or using my mobile a bit more when possible until all my free minutes are used up.

Mobile package - i have a good deal on this.. i have a genie PAYG sim and my £15 a month gets me:

300 free texts
1/2 price calls and texts to my 3 most used numbers
25% off all calls to other network mobiles
150 free "anyone" off peak minutes
£10.01 calling credit
10% back every 3 months on whatever i top up

(i also top up at boots or tesco when they had the offer on. To get my points too )

Shopping/Housekeeping This pays for EVERYTHING that isnt specifically mentioned above. I have recently done a huge shop online (using £10 off £50 spend code from this site) for my store cupboard basics and bought all value range where possible and have at least 2-3 months worth of my "basics" regarding bought every week tins/packets etc and about 6-8 months worth of pasta etc! :rotfl: :rotfl: So my actual food shop will be only fresh items and bits to stock up freezer so should be able to cut food spend to a minimum .. buying in bulk with my mum for toilet rolls etc.. to cut the cost And have a cupboard full of cleaning items/vingear/bicarb/lemon now.

Apart from my savings and mentioned above i cant see where i can cut back. Oh and btw the savings are going into a high interest savings account so when the month before my 0% on my cc ends i can pay off all or a large sum of that but in the meantime its aquiring interest in my savings account :money:

At the moment my NET pay is approx £870 so i can easily cover my bills and pay some extra off the credit card... but im facing the prospect of a pay decrease to possibly minimum wage which would be approx £572.12 net pay which obviously i cant afford to even pay my bills on! So i need to find what the minimum i can live on is..... so i can work out what i need to be earning minimum regarding my new job/s

I know the biggest thing to tackle is the rent

Can anyone help?

HI Hon,

When your pay is cut you will be able to apply for a rent rebate. All tenants of Government housing or Private rentals are able to apply. Contact your local Council Offices and request a 'rent rebate' form to have ready to fill in. It takes about 6-8 weeks to come through and you can have your rent rebate sent via a cheque direct to you rather than your landlord.

Hope this helps,

Ember xx

emma_b_4

£40 every SIX weeks wow thats amazing..how do you do that? i probably spend £30 a week for twop people! i shop on the markets for fruit veg, cheese, eggs, etc and i cook most things from scratch, we take packed lunches. i would love to hear how you spend so liitle as thats one of our bigest weekly outgoing, but hey you need food i spose!

OP, what tarrif are you on? is it o2? if so you could get the £10 a mth top up and you would get 300free texts, the £15 gives you 100free mins too but couldnt you make calls from your landline thru talktalk or something? we have weekend and after 6pm free so we ring people then. and i dont use 0870 anymore thans to https://www.saynoto0870.com

i have got bband thru ntl for £9.99 per mth. telewest do it for £14.99 and you get FREE digital TV, the freeview i think which channels do you watch? most r on there the main 1s anyway i think.

have you got anything you could sell on ebay?! old clothes shoes etc? im thinking of doing it myself over the next few weeks as i am a bit of a shopholic (i hear u all gasp!!) and have too many handbags and shoes( dont tell my other half i said that!!)
Ive recently given up a £18k a yr job to be fulltime studentnurse on £5k a yr so im trying to make cutbacks too.

i dont know what else to suggest except maybe you could start going to some clubs or something to meet people, i dont have many friends either, i have hijjacked most of my fiancees! im meeting more and more people every day now tho at uni and its doing my confidence the world of good, also the people are from all types of backgrounds and its reassuring to know that im not the only skint one.

good luck xxx

Spendless

May I ask who you are ringing/texting if you don't have any friends. Do you really need your mobile? I don't use one. There's probably been couple of times one would have been handy, but I used call-box instead.

funky-footprints

as Emmab wrote, her confidence has been boosted by going to new clubs etc, maybe you then could get an evening bar job ? ? that would bring in the friends and more money ? Is there absolutely no way you could consider a house share with maybe just one other person? by looking through free-ads etc ? could your ex-boyfriend help you out by finding you a new place. goodluck.

emma_b_4

i used to spend £30 p mth on o2 contract now im on payg £10 per mth and it last me about 6weeks! 300 free texts and the rest for calls. it really is good.

emma_b_4

im sure you could find a like minded person if you looked thru some ads for flatshare, how old ru, could you go back to your parents while you look?
you will look at life difrently if you get a bit of a social life, i think i was just lazy and stuck in my ways, also got a mortgage when i was 19 so could never really a4d to treat myself by going out. now even if its just £10 down at weatherspoons with OH we go out, gets us out and about, ive met up with so many old friends out in the old haunts!! my confidence has grown lots, which is good as im going to be a nurse and no1 wants a shy childrens nurse!

black-saturn

emma_b wrote:

£40 every SIX weeks wow thats amazing..how do you do that? i probably spend £30 a week for twop people! i shop on the markets for fruit veg, cheese, eggs, etc and i cook most things from scratch, we take packed lunches. i would love to hear how you spend so liitle as thats one of our bigest weekly outgoing, but hey you need food i spose!

To be honest I never knew I was spending so little on food until I started coming on this site. When I saw other peoples food bills I thought they must be eating smoked salmon and truffles all the time!! I do most of my shopping in Iceland. I buy nearly all BOGOF stuff from there and I buy all my ingredients for making food from scratch from there. I tend to stick to traditional English food when I make things from scratch as I think you get better value for money then. We have either toast or porridege for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and then a meal with pudding for tea most days. I make all my own biscuits, bread, ice cream, yogurt, cakes etc etc. If I need any top up shopping I get it from Tescos. The reason I don't use Tescos for my main shop is that they don't do as many BOGOF's as Iceland do and they also don't deliver. I hardly ever shop at Somerfield unless they have a good offer on, but then I just get that and nothing else. I thought this kind of shopping was the norm for everyone. Bet it makes me sound like a right bighead now :A

black-saturn

emma_b wrote:

£40 every SIX weeks wow thats amazing..how do you do that? i probably spend £30 a week for twop people! i shop on the markets for fruit veg, cheese, eggs, etc and i cook most things from scratch, we take packed lunches. i would love to hear how you spend so liitle as thats one of our bigest weekly outgoing, but hey you need food i spose!

To be honest I never knew I was spending so little on food until I started coming on this site. When I saw other peoples food bills I thought they must be eating smoked salmon and truffles all the time!! I do most of my shopping in Iceland. I buy nearly all BOGOF stuff from there and I buy all my ingredients for making food from scratch from there. I tend to stick to traditional English food when I make things from scratch as I think you get better value for money then. We have either toast or porridege for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and then a meal with pudding for tea most days. I make all my own biscuits, bread, ice cream, yogurt, cakes etc etc. If I need any top up shopping I get it from Tescos. The reason I don't use Tescos for my main shop is that they don't do as many BOGOF's as Iceland do and they also don't deliver. I hardly ever shop at Somerfield unless they have a good offer on, but then I just get that and nothing else. I thought this kind of shopping was the norm for everyone. Bet it makes me sound like a right bighead now :A