Hit breaking point - Need advice - Help

sidnee

My thoughts:

Groceries - if you do a weekly shop, think about what you spend it on - do yuo need it? Set yourself a limit of say £80 and stick to it, make a comprehensive list of what you need, and live off what's in the cupboard. This is the biggest place you can cut back instantly, so focus on this greatly this week.

Virgin - ring them up, see if they can offer you a reduced package. Threaten to leave if need be!

Phone/Mobile/BB/TV - all comes to £166 a month! You should be able to get the same things for around £100 (taking into account the phone contracts). Also, can you do without satellite?

Car - if you have decided yo need the car, have you thought about changing it? Maybe petrol to diesel? Soimething which is slightly smaller, more economic and doesn't cost as much for Tax/Insurance?

Stick to it, the bills will come down. Of your debts, you need to focus on getting rid of the balance on the Egg card, asap!

mleach26

RAS wrote: »

hi

Also have a look at this http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money

Inthe short-term, your worst cc is the egg card.

if you were to do

1. a store cupboard challenge (see Money Saving Old Style) where you live as long as possible of the contents of the freezer and store cupboard
2. Stick stuff on amazon, do a car boot sale
3. Get that life insurance and slap the cash back against the card

How much of that could you clear in one month?

And do you know if you can over pay on any of the loans?

1.Store cupboard challenge eh? i will have to give this one a try
2.Car boot sale? I have never done one, does it cost to setup a stall?
3.Cashback on life insurance? I didn't know this was possible

I can make extra contibutions to the egg loan, but NOT the barclayloan as this is a fixed repayment plan, barclays are so rigid and inflexible when it comes to repayment

Thanks for the advice

mintymoneysaver

mleach26 wrote: »

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 1810
Partners monthly income after tax....... 500
Benefits................................ 166
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2476

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 0
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 416.88
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 113.48
Electricity............................. 30
Gas..................................... 54
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 32.5
Mobile phone............................ 55
TV Licence.............................. 11.6
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 32.5 Could you go down to a more basic package/ get rid of sports etc)
Internet Services....................... 35 ( So that's £105 for phone/ broadband/ tv?)
Groceries etc. ......................... 480 ( Way too much, how many of you are there??
Clothing................................ 50 You can do without this for a while, although I know children always need new stuff
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 16
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 38
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 360
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 14
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 5
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 15
Haircuts................................ 15
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1868.96

Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 0
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 0
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 0

No Secured Debt

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Barclayloan....................25000.....378.4.....7.9
Barclaycard....................1500......26........12.9
Egg Card.......................900.......15........15.9
Catalogue......................66........22........0 This will be gone in 3 months so you can put it towards something else
Egg loan.......................10000.....182.......9.9
Overdraft......................600.......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........38066.....623.4.....-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,476
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,868.96
Available for debt repayments........... 607.04
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 623.4
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -16.36

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 0
Total Secured debt...................... -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -38,066
Net Assets.............................. -38,066

Just adding my views. You are paying £105 for your Virgin Media package. Get on to them and tell them it's too much. Threaten to leave and get them to put you through to redemptions. We get XL tv with sky sports 1 and 2, phone calls and medium broadband and our bill is never more than £70 a month.
Your groceries bill is way too high, I reckon you could easily knock £100 off that.
Your catalogue bill looks like it's almost gone. Could you possibly apply for a 0% credit card, balance transfer the egg money and Barclaycard to that, and use the £22 from the catalogue once it's finished to go towards that?
It is the loans that are crippling you, but at least if you could get the credit card debt lowere, and then gone you would have more money to play with.
Finally is there any way ( even in the short term) that your wife could up her income? I know how difficult it is when you have young children ,your money goes nowhere and you never have enough time. Could you have a massive e bay / car boot clearout just to get rid of the overdraft?

You've got the right idea, don't consolidate, it doesn't work and think positive!

Merlot

http://www.quidco.com/?search=insurance

Take a look here, this site is highly recommended, before you log in, clear your browsing history and cookies, it will make sure the transaction tracks.

mleach26

Thanks mintymoneysaver, is it hard to get the package down with virgin media? i have heard that they are difficult to get the bill reduced even if you get put through to retentions? would like to here your thought s on this.

I believe we need to reduce the grocery bill also, im gonna try a storecupboard challenge at RAS suggestion.

My OH is trying to get more hours at her work but they are never guarenteed. I am also trying to get som OT at work but everone else in my company seems to be doing the same

Ebay and or car boot seems to be the way to go here, sell all those toys that the kids never use anymore try and raise some cash.

Thanks everyone for all your help and advice

mleach26

sidnee wrote: »

My thoughts:

Groceries - if you do a weekly shop, think about what you spend it on - do yuo need it? Set yourself a limit of say £80 and stick to it, make a comprehensive list of what you need, and live off what's in the cupboard. This is the biggest place you can cut back instantly, so focus on this greatly this week.

Virgin - ring them up, see if they can offer you a reduced package. Threaten to leave if need be!

Phone/Mobile/BB/TV - all comes to £166 a month! You should be able to get the same things for around £100 (taking into account the phone contracts). Also, can you do without satellite?

Car - if you have decided yo need the car, have you thought about changing it? Maybe petrol to diesel? Soimething which is slightly smaller, more economic and doesn't cost as much for Tax/Insurance?

Stick to it, the bills will come down. Of your debts, you need to focus on getting rid of the balance on the Egg card, asap!

sidnee, i have thought about getting another car, but my current one is only worth about £1500 max on a trade in, some would have to stump up some upfront cash from somewhere to swap cars with a diesel, although diesel is more expensive that petrol at the moment, :mad: its driving me mad that i can't just go out and trade in to get another motor!

Looks like im gonna have to have a talk with my OH about the virgin media bill and the mobiles,

Thank you ever so much for your advice

mintymoneysaver

mleach26 wrote: »

Thanks mintymoneysaver, is it hard to get the package down with virgin media? i have heard that they are difficult to get the bill reduced even if you get put through to retentions? would like to here your thought s on this.

I believe we need to reduce the grocery bill also, im gonna try a storecupboard challenge at RAS suggestion.

My OH is trying to get more hours at her work but they are never guarenteed. I am also trying to get som OT at work but everone else in my company seems to be doing the same

Ebay and or car boot seems to be the way to go here, sell all those toys that the kids never use anymore try and raise some cash.

Thanks everyone for all your help and advice

I got £35 knocked off my Virgin bill, it was when they had just changed over from Telewest. It's always worth a try!

dancingfairy

In terms of getting the food budget down. Here are some suggestions
1)a store cupboard challenge
2) meal plan - plan a weeks worth of meals and buy what you need to make these meals. I think it would help to plan at least 1 or 2 cheap days in the week - say beans on toast, jacket potatoes etc.
3) stretch a meal into 2. Ie cook spaghetti bolognese one night and the next night add some more kidney beans,sweetcorn, carrots, cannelini beans (whatever you have in the cupboard basically) and have it with a jacket potato.
4) cook double portions and freeze half for those nights when you really can't be bothered.
5) take sandwiches and packed lunches and drinks snacks to work.
6) stock up on BOGOFS or when things are on offer. - only if they are esential eg toilet roll, shampoo, toothpaste, rice,pasta, tins - anything that will keep that you will defninitely use.
7) look in the reduced section - maybe freeze some bits for a later time or bulk out ready meals with salad, rice etc.
8) make your own meals where possible - eg buy cheap pizza and throw sweetcorn, bacon, mushrooms - whatever on your pizza. Making cakes/biscits if you must have them if you can.

Um well I think that will help you a bit. I've cut down a lot but still a long way to go.
Best of Luck
df

mleach26

dancingfairy wrote: »

In terms of getting the food budget down. Here are some suggestions
1)a store cupboard challenge
2) meal plan - plan a weeks worth of meals and buy what you need to make these meals. I think it would help to plan at least 1 or 2 cheap days in the week - say beans on toast, jacket potatoes etc.
3) stretch a meal into 2. Ie cook spaghetti bolognese one night and the next night add some more kidney beans,sweetcorn, carrots, cannelini beans (whatever you have in the cupboard basically) and have it with a jacket potato.
4) cook double portions and freeze half for those nights when you really can't be bothered.
5) take sandwiches and packed lunches and drinks snacks to work.
6) stock up on BOGOFS or when things are on offer. - only if they are esential eg toilet roll, shampoo, toothpaste, rice,pasta, tins - anything that will keep that you will defninitely use.
7) look in the reduced section - maybe freeze some bits for a later time or bulk out ready meals with salad, rice etc.
8) make your own meals where possible - eg buy cheap pizza and throw sweetcorn, bacon, mushrooms - whatever on your pizza. Making cakes/biscits if you must have them if you can.

Um well I think that will help you a bit. I've cut down a lot but still a long way to go.
Best of Luck
df

:T
Great ideas df, will put these into practice, i feel like i can actually get ahead now and maybe start to actually save some money? it has been suggested to keep a spending diary to see where all the money goes and i realised some time ago i need to stop using the credit cards, but until i start saving i don't know if this will be possible?

PercyPig

Hi there

Just a quick thought re the car. I know you decided you really wanted to keep it but the idea of hire cars or the odd cab that someone suggested was good. At the moment your car probably costs you approx £110 per month to run. I don't have a car either - I would love one - and my family also live the other side of the country. What I do is that whenever I want to visit them, I hire a car. It normally works out around £80 to £100 for 3 days if you book ahead. I have to limit my visits to every 3 or 4 months so this doesn't work out too expensive at all. And an added benefit is that when I do go and visit, I always arrive in style in a brand new car

I know it can be a hassle shopping without a car but have you tried ordering online? I think it is worth the £4 or £5 delivery charge but I know not everyone agrees. I also find it makes me stick to a list rather than impulsively grabbing wine, chocolates and anything else that takes my fancy. The trouble with supermarkets these days is that they stock too much! Before my LBM I went to a supermarket to get some milk and bread and came home with a DAB radio and £50 worth of clothes, doh! :mad:

Take care and good luck.

Percy