Something Has Gotta Change

System

elantan wrote: »

how many kids do you have ?...im thinking the food bill might be able to come down a bit have you tried the os board? they are quite good at getting the figures down for food

Well that is buying all the Tesco value rubbish and reduced food. We have 2 kids.


And as for them cash back sites, I went through one of them for car insurance back in January £90 we are owed havent got a sniff, We only have the basic 1 mix package on Sky anyway so don't watch movies.

No matter what I do, its not going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things, and with the continued rising cost of living its gonna get worse. For all scrimping etc, I am wondering is there actually any point in working, I need something major. I have enrolled to start Open University in September which may help me to get a better job but then I'm not sure about this either as the chances of actually getting a job when I qualify are still slim due to no experience and no one will give any experience

elantan

i spose when you think of it £50 a week to feed 4 isnt really that bad ....i would pop over to the os board anyway see if they can help they usually are good that way .... cash back sites are good but not always i have had a few things not pay out as well and it is dambed annoying but on the whole i have no complaints made well over £1,000 so far from them ....

when your sky contract is up for renewal maybe think about going for the box you pay £20 odd for then get the channels for free not alot of choice but more than five channels

carrottopsuk

Hi

Could you do something about your Sky, broadband, telephone & mobile?

Virgin have offers on at the moment (you may need to check them out to get the best deal)

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/bundles/index.html

carrottopsuk

elantan wrote: »

when your sky contract is up for renewal maybe think about going for the box you pay £20 odd for then get the channels for free not alot of choice but more than five channels

Have to agree with Elantan. We use freeview as we found we weren't watching the extra channels anyway. Haven't really missed them. It may free up some of your cash too.

System

carrottopsuk wrote: »

Hi

Could you do something about your Sky, broadband, telephone & mobile?

Virgin have offers on at the moment (you may need to check them out to get the best deal)

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/bundles/index.html

I sware to god, No matter where you turn there is something, Yes there are some good offers, but not available in my area, I can only get phone, And I already have an offer with BT, IE calls anytime for £15 a month for 1 year which is good as its usually £30. Sky is not a major thing as its only £15, Mobile phones one is a contract and will go when the contract is up. Broadband again will be reduced in September, Infact you can get Sky BB, Telephone and TV for £36 which is good, but again BB not available in my area.

jscalow

I get tv, phone and bb for £20pm thru virgin. I really feel for your situation. I work two jobs, 1 ft and 1 pt + rent out my spare room and life is still a struggle. I get
"jealous" of neighbours etc as well. I wish you all the best, but don't break up, being broke is one thing, being broke and lonely would be far worse .

Keep you spirits up !

System

jscalow wrote: »

I get tv, phone and bb for £20pm thru virgin. I really feel for your situation. I work two jobs, 1 ft and 1 pt + rent out my spare room and life is still a struggle. I get
"jealous" of neighbours etc as well. I wish you all the best, but don't break up, being broke is one thing, being broke and lonely would be far worse .

Keep you spirits up !

With the neighbours its almost like they know something I don't, like they have a secret they are not letting me into, We work and get no where, they have there holidays abroad, even 2 cars, and there is us getting nowhere very fast.

One thing is, over here Credit Unions are very very popular, we haven't got an account but I think we might, I mean not that a holiday is the be all and end all, but If I could save say £200, they will give us £600, just pay it off over the year, I'm pretty sure they do something like that, they have to, there is no other way around it.

Jules

nirelandguy wrote: »

My Pay £800
Partners Pay £340
Tax Credit £400
Child Benefit £125

Total £1665

Out Goings

Rent £400
Childcare £224
Loan £100
Credit Cards £50
Electric £50 - Are you on the pre pay meter with NIE? If so are you on the power shift tariff? I've saved loads by using it.
Sky £15 - Get rid of this when you can and use freeview
Broadband £24.99 - I have just changed from BT broadband and gone to TalkTalk for calls and broadband and am now only paying £20 per month for both.
Telephone £15 - as above
Mobiles £35
Food £200 - See the Old Style board for ideas in cutting costs
Diesel £180
Car Tax £15
Car Insurance £25
Oil Heating £80
Payplan £80
T/credit O/P £60
HB / OP £40
Smoking £20

Total £1613.99

These figures are rough but give a general idea. I have higlighted in bold the ones I could change and will do once contracts are up, but smoking because I smoke imported fags its cheaper to smoke than buy Nicorette patches etc,
Do you have a Tax Credits Exemption Certificate - its automatically given if your gross income for TC is below £15,050? If you do you can get the patches on prescription for free!
If not then getting them on prescription would still be cheaper than buying over the counter and your doc may put a few weeks on at a time if you ask. I used the patches and can vouch for them I'm off the fags about 4 years now. Good Luck.
So thats the situation

Well done on posting the SOA, there are bits and pieces that can be shaved off and it will make a difference believe me. I've listed a few ideas above. Are your rates included with your rent?

Are you on a DMP with Payplan? Taking more credit from anywhere including the credit union would make your DMP void so please think carefully about this.

Jules

Deep_In_Debt

Just reading this thread. As others say, don't get jealous of the neighbours. I live in a nice area and some years back my neighbours at the time appeared to live the "high life". They had nights out, holidays several times a year, and a nice car and not particularly good jobs. And yes, I was jealous! They then had to let their house be re-possessed a couple of years back, so clearly they weren't as well off as people thought.

lynzpower

To be honest with you, you are only paying off 80 per month to payplan.

You have not a huge amount of cutting back to do, and it really does seem as if whatever cutbacks you make, these are likely to be swallowed up by rising costs. I used to do 100 pcm for 2 of us for food shopping, now that it impossible, a loaf of bread was 1.94 in saisburys the other day ( dont worry, didnt buy it!) . Costs are rising all the time, and to be honest, in your shoes, I would seriously consider going bankrupt, or asking Payplan to reduce your payments further.

You have nothing in your budget for savings for say dentist, or Xmas, or anything like that, the basics, so I would say you can no longer afford the DMP.

Good luck x