Single and in debt.

SunderlandBlackCat

sarahb123 wrote: »

Have nothing to say. Just wanted to be 2000th post.

*thinks*

Lula, to take full advantage of Boots card get your dad to sign up for one as well, as they seem to give better offers and mailed vouchers to people who don't spend much in there, I always used to get mailings until I started taking advantage of the glitches, they never write to me now:rolleyes:

It must be at least a couple of years since I had any mailings from them & I don't spend much there.

I used to have loads on my advantage card as I worked in their head office & you could buy stuff in the on site shop that hadn't sold elsewhwere for stupid amounts like dvd movies for £1.

Lula-Hula

Hey guys,

thanks for all the boots tips & you'll be pleased to know that I've already got a paper card - just waiting for the real one .

I didnt get in there today as by the time I'd paid the council tax, bought car tax, bought food & stuff for DD I had no money left but will try again another time.

I did go into woolies though & reprot that there were no bargains to be had at all other than usual 3 for 2 on carpy plastic toys. I was hoping for wii & ds games at bargainous prices - humph I actually felt a bit sad thinking of all those poor people who are going to lost their jobs.

Never tried 5 live - thought it was just sport stuff, I usually listen to kiss or x during the day / in the car but will have a go at some culture .

I did slip into tk maxx & bought myself some bargainous perfume which I'm hoping someone will want to give me for christmas so I can 'refund' myself

Ossireo

*climbs on soapbox* So much stuff bumbling in myhead and dont have a diary to write it in so hope you dont mind if I blurt it all here!

So, had my NPower bill and they are raising my payments to £198 a month :eek: and £128 of that is for monthly consumption :eek:

Now I am rather miffed at this as you can imagine considering several times over last 18 months I have rung them and said that the amount I am paying (£33) is not going to cover what my bills are growing to each month and each time they told me that they will only review it in November 08 and not to be concerned. Now I actually had the foresight to cancel my DD after Octobers payment as I wanted to see what they were going to increase it to before it goes out.

I am in a position as such that on pre-emptively ringing their collections team (as I havent actually shown as missing a payment yet so they were shocked I would contact them) they refuse to help as I cannot accept their offer of paying off £350 now and monthly payments of £170ish. They are referring me to another team that deals with people 'like me' but that may take several weeks. I was hopingthey would accept payments direct from my Income Support .. but apparantly I have to FAIL all of they repayment offers before they will consider referring (add on even more weeks!) So instead of me making payments NOW I have to wait for god knows how long. Tempted to set up a Standing Order and just pay them X amount while I wait.

Comes onto another idea I had over last few days. My mum is selling her tiny house and applying for over 55 housing with local housing association. However I did wonder about looking for a place to rent that we could share (obviously looking for somewhere big enough to be able to give us a reception room each in effect) however now I am realising that I would probably fail any credit searches by a rental agency, has anyone else had any experience of joint tenancies etc? I had this notion in my head that I could then have a final bill for this place (and also escape my cable contract) and be stating afresh for household outgoings and could possibly arrange repayments via CCCS on the o/s NPower bill as a debtor rather then current supplier as all utilities could be in my mums name.

With any luck I will get this job on Tuesday then that will complicate everything yet again for a few months while I get things rearranged and adjusted etc etc :rolleyes:

Oh for a less complicated monthly juggle! I miss the old working 'money in on end of month, bills all out on 1st of month anything left over a bonus!' I loved the novelty of weekly, fortnightly adn 4 weekly benefit payments when I started, but spend so much time juggling to make sure enough is there for bills on particular dates and no matter how many neat little lists I do, something has to be paid that throws out all my planning!

See I told you guys it was a waffle! Still loads more floating around my head but cant get it all down! btw loved your quotes on the 2nd chance rule ... feel that should be in my signature if I had more room!!! :rotfl:

Lula-Hula

Hi Ossiereo,

first of all :grouphug:

I totally & utterly smpathise with you re the Npower direct debit situation. I feel into a similar trap with another supplier years ago ; I had credit & they wouldnt refund me so put monthly direct debit down to £9 :rolleyes: withing 2 months I was going into debit but would they change the debit ... like hell , so come the end of the year I owe them hundreds :mad: They suggested putting in a prepayment meter & every week some of what I put on the meter would go towards repaying the debt. I know they cost slightly more but no way on earth would I ever go back to the old method of paying. They did offer to reinstall a standard meter if I would kindly give them a £250 deposit :eek: . The sheer audacity of these people is staggering. I personally think prepayment meters should be cheaper as they're not giving any credit at all but hey ho, short of getting my own wind turbine, solar panels etc I'm stuck with paying - one way or another :rolleyes: .

I dont know about the renting business but like you I'm paid wages & tax credits weekly & have learned to budget weekly too. It's taken a while but it is finally all coming together. Hopefully you will sail into the new job & be swept off your feet by a goregesou wealthy man who has loads of brothers all waiting to sweep the rest of us away ....

Take care & think very carefully about the sharing with mum option - would it be beneficial or a hindrance to romantic prospects

Lula xx

Ossireo

OMG I am such a numpty ... I never knew that Tax Credit and Child Benefit can be paid weekly! I get Child Benefit 4 weekly, Tax Credits 4 weekly, Housing Benefit fortnightly and Income Support Weekly!

My life would be easier if it was all weekly

RosaBernicia

Hello all :hello:

*searches for yawning smiley*
Have new money saving tip - agree to loads of meetings at other end of country so spend life on train or with colleagues, thereby severely limiting spending options. (Not saving much of my sanity though, so am off to catch up with thread and collapse in front of TV.)

Was also wondering about joint tenancies and thinking to poke around the site later, will post if I find anything interesting.

Glad your car is better SarahB

Lula-Hula

Ossireo wrote: »

OMG I am such a numpty ... I never knew that Tax Credit and Child Benefit can be paid weekly! I get Child Benefit 4 weekly, Tax Credits 4 weekly, Housing Benefit fortnightly and Income Support Weekly!

My life would be easier if it was all weekly

Not sure about the child benefit - mine is paid 4 weekly into a separate account & serves as my emergency fund but tax credits can be for sure & they can change the payments almost immediately so call them up asap

sarahb123_3

GRRRRRR!

Have just spent 4 bloody hours trying to work out how my ipod works and how to download all the stuff.:mad: What a nightmare, was actually shouting out loud at the computer, lucky I am in the house by myself. It would be a 10 minute job for someone who had a clue what they were doing. I hate being useless at these things.:mad: God knows what damage I have caused to my computer in the process.

Managed to download 3 songs:j

Don't think I will ever remember how to do it again:mad:

Must stop making these angry posts!

*pop*
*pouring noise*
*glug glug glug*
*breathes*

A bit better now.

sarahb123_3

Ossireo wrote: »

*climbs on soapbox* So much stuff bumbling in myhead and dont have a diary to write it in so hope you dont mind if I blurt it all here!

So, had my NPower bill and they are raising my payments to £198 a month :eek: and £128 of that is for monthly consumption :eek:

Now I am rather miffed at this as you can imagine considering several times over last 18 months I have rung them and said that the amount I am paying (£33) is not going to cover what my bills are growing to each month and each time they told me that they will only review it in November 08 and not to be concerned. Now I actually had the foresight to cancel my DD after Octobers payment as I wanted to see what they were going to increase it to before it goes out.

Ossireo, we are here for that very purpose!:D
:eek: £198 per month:eek:

How could they be so stupid as to tell you not to be concerned:mad: When you were trying to get it sorted beforehand Lula is right, their audacity beggars belief. How do the expect someone to just come up with £350! It's so bloody annoying when you are pootling along trying your best and you get completely blindsided by something like this, and I should imagine there are thousands of people in this position. Do they seriously imagine everyone will just hand over the money? Or that they even have it? What sort of a stupid system needs you to fail all their offers first!

Re the joint tenancy, could it not go in your mum's name only? Do you need to be on it? Apologies if this is a stupid question, but if it's the only thing that would affect finding somewhere together it would be a shame if it stopped you.

Good luck with interview, will keep fingers crossed xxx

PinkTwirl

Hi,

That electricity bill sounds awful. Mine went up from £40 to £78 later in the year and I couldn't afford that.