My options are bleak advice please

mariagti

Sorry this comment wont be helpful, but you just sound so much like my OH! You mentioned you buy your fuel from Shell...which is one of the most expensive! Do you fill up with expensive Super unleaded by any chance?!

4littleone

re the credit cards, if you can't get a 0% transfer then you need to be overpaying the cards you already have.

Sit down and work out how much you have each month to overpay the debt.
I reckon, (from a quick look at your soa) that you could put another £75 a month towards your cards.
So, i would use that £75 per month to over pay the card with the highest interest rate first. Once that is clear you would then use all of the available spare cash to pay off the remaining card.
Make sure you cut up the credit card once it is paid off. Don't run it back up again.

So for example.

Card 1 is £55 per month min
Card 2 is £85 per month min

Card 2 has the highest interest rate so you pay £85 + £75 = £160 per month off card 2 whilst paying the min of £55 per month off card 1

When Card 2 is clear you now pay £55 + £160 = £215 off Card 1 until that is clear.

jaydeeuk1

Get rid of the GF. Sorted.

scaredy_cat

mariagti wrote: »

Sorry this comment wont be helpful, but you just sound so much like my OH! You mentioned you buy your fuel from Shell...which is one of the most expensive! Do you fill up with expensive Super unleaded by any chance?!

In my area, Shell has actually been cheaper (standard unleaded) than Tescos! and i seem to be getting more miles from it as well!

JohnD76

You have been given lots of good advice already, but here is my 2 pence...

Have you thought about LPG conversion for the car if you can't stand to part with it?

255/35/18's are very large for a 330ci! This place is good for tyres though:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html

I wouldn't bother with Optimax etc, it is not worth the additional cost, even if you do notice a difference is it worth the extra money currently?

Make sure the Climate control is turned off too since this will add to your MPG.

You should be able to get cheaper insurance, try the comparison sites, and direct line, swift cover, elephant, bell direct, admiral etc..

As for going out, try using somewhere like Top table, sparingly of course, since they tend to have loads of deals for restuarants. Or even better, cook a romantic meal for two at home, which will be somewhat cheaper.

If you have to stick with contacts try these guys:

http://www.postoptics.co.uk/

You are lucky in that:

1. You are still young so have plenty of time and earning potential to sort this out and

2. You are aware that it is a problem and are doing something about.


Good luck fella,

John.

Rik178m

Shell has actually been the cheapest around up here! Like scaredy cat I also see better MPG. Tesco has just dropped they're prices so they're favourite for now.

Jay - Haha I've been very tempted to do that!

As for the cards I like 4little's Idea and plan to do that. Whats an LOB?

JohnD - Its a sport so big tyres. It cost a fair bit for the conversion. I don't use optimax just regular unleaded. I hate climate control it gives me a headache.
I am roughly 8 months through my insurance and cannot afford to buy the whole years worth at once.
On a good point I might be car sharing soonish - 1 of the lads might start on the same !!!! as me and he only lives round the corner. Fingers crossed.

Thanks all

Horace

An LOB is a Life of Balance Transfer card.

Sign up to get Martin's moneysaving email each week - he lists the best of everything on there and if you look to the right of this chat >>>>> there are some offers e.g. Pizza Express 2 for 1 and other meal deals.

Jesthar

Hi Rik, and welcome to MSE!

Much of the good advice has already been given, but just thought I'd chip in on the driving side. In particular, petrol - as you and someone else have already noted, cheapest is not always best value for money, as I discovered with my first car (an onld F Reg Ford Escort 1.3 Popular, if anyone is really interested... ).

Anyway, when I first had it, my mum had got me a BP reward card, so I always used to use BP. Work at the time was a 40 mile round trip, so I was keeping a careful eye on my petrol figures, and was getting about 350 miles a tank.

Then one day, I needed petrol and was nowhere near a BP, so had to get Esso. To my shock, I got 400 miles out of that tank of fuel! Thinking I may have overfilled or something else had caused a one-off, I went back to BP, but 350 miles was all I got. So I tred another tank of Esso, then another. 400 miles, both times. So I stayed switched! I also tried Shell, which got me about 380 miles a tank, and the supermarket petrols, which were all around 350 miles.

I now have a different car, but the same principle applies - except this car prefers Shell petrol, with Esso a reasonable second and BP still third, though not by quite so much! I haven't tried supermarket petrol, and I don't really intend to, as this car is modern and supermarket petrols don't tend to clean/protect the engines as well - and I want it to last!

So, my advice would be try a few different petrols, and if the one which gets you the most milage isn't too much more expensive, paying a couple of pence more a litre would save more money than having to buy an extra couple of litres of cheaper petrol to go the same distance.

Hope that makes sense, and that the car sharing comes through!

~Jes

Deep_In_Debt

I did see an article somewhere (can't remember where!) about someone getting more miles out of Esso or Shell petrol than supermarket petrol. I tried this out and it seems to be true (I only have a Vauxhall Corsa SXI) but I do get more miles to the gallon when I fill up at my local Shell although my local Tesco supermarket is nearer to me and cheaper but I don't need to fill up so regularly if I go to Shell.