Help - Im sick of being skint!!!

tyllwyd

I agree with other poster who highlighted your payday loan - you've said you are paying back £389 per month on a £300 debt? Could your partner lend you the money to get these people paid off (and are Money shop a similar kind of thing?).

chinatown_2

Mrs_Ryan wrote: »

I will be the first one to admit I spend far too much on my mobile - its not contract, would you believe - but I need to have credit on it at all times (mum and dad both severely disabled, partner also disabled) but I have to admit I need to stop using the credit all the time...

Im guessing you call these 3 people the most or at least you 'must' have credit on your phone for emergencies. Heres what we do. Swap to Vodafone and stay pas as you go. They have a friends and family package that is for 4 people. One person pays just £5 a month (not contract, just out of their top up credit, they are in charge of it they do it or not) and the 4 people enjoy free calls to each other.

I have this with my H, dad and mam. Dad pays the £5 so even if my phones out of credit and Im stuck to call people I know I can always call H, mam or dad for free and they can call each other too.

Its saved us a fortune! And also shuts the call centres up when they ask how much I pay per month as they can get it cheaper...... my top up is less than £5 a month for other calls/texts lol. They soon hang up!

Mrs_Ryan

Hi everyone - thanks for the advice!!

Right - to address some of the points.

1) I am on Vodafone! T-Mobile have already rejected me.... Voda have said I could have a SIM only contract but I had provide copies of a passport and utility bill in my name, neither of which I have so Im stuck with PAYG! I need to stay with Vodafone though as the reception up here is well - variable at best on other networks and Voda and T-Mobile are the only ones that seem to work well.
2) I am on PAYG!
3) Yes - the Pounds till Payday thing is right. I have to pay it back in full - plus interest - each month. I missed it one month when I lost my job and my god - never again.
4) the 30 'groceries' is not lunches at work. I have the odd sandwich - I mean like 1 a month! Because I mainly work late shifts, we have no canteen facilities after 12.30 pm (I work in a tiny community hospital) I always take my own food, which OH pays for. The 30 covers my essential toiletries - mainly deodorant (although a start is I have discovered my local pound shop sells my favourite deodorant - 3 quid in the shops!) and sanitary protection (I use a lot of, I tend to go through a packet every 2 days, and I tend to last usually a week and a half - cheap ones are no good to me, so thats usually about 7 or 8 quid a month - unfortunately I cant do without those or else it might get very messy ) things like soap, toothpaste etc. I know I could cut back on them.. but its just a case of getting them cheaper. I dont pay for any food at all - my OH pays for that. Its quite rare I do buy clothes so the 20 quid is an average - I might spend 60 quid say every 3 months. Im saving for a new pair of work shoes at the mo.... yes, I do have the odd snack but Im hypoglyceamic and terrible at controlling my blood sugar so i only buy something if I really need to when Im out.

Unfortunately a lot of my credit card debt came from when I had to commute by train each day. I used to put my tickets on my credit card as the machines wouldnt take my debit card, and it wasnt safe (or possible a lot of the time - grrr at ticket machines!!) to be using cash. I admit, yes, a fair bit of money goes on luxuries but my credit card debt isnt one of them. Leicester to Nottingham is a long walk

Thank you so much for all your suggestions, everyone. I have already started trying to save money on things (for example, a DVD my partner wanted from Amazon for Christmas) I cashed in my Lightspeed Points for an Amazon voucher and used that, when I got some money back from my bank (I complained about the mess they made of account plus their ridiculous fees, so they gave me back 65 quid!) that went as a payment to my credit card, (it wasnt even due!!!)my partner is giving me 200 quid as an Xmas gift so half is going on my credit card and the other half is going ot pay off one of my Money Shop loans. Also, I have sold some stuff on Amazon, (I have loads of books and CD's I dont use) so thats a bit more cash.

Its not so much the paying off of the pounds till payday loan - I pay it off every month. I just have ot keep extending it. Im hoping that within the next few months, I can pay it off. Again, thanks for your help - will keep you all posted!
Mrs R xx

beanielou

Why sdont you join a local credit union & save for three months and then get a wee loan to pay off the pounds til payday peeps.

Jesthar

Hi Mrs_R,

Still not sure I understand the 'Pounds till Payday' loan - are you saying that because you missed one payment you have to pay the full amount of the original loan plus interest every month?:eek:

If so, how long is this for? How much do you actually owe them/originally borrow? Really confused by this one! :rotfl:

One suggestion for you, there is a monthly challenge on this board called the No Spend Day challenge, where people cnhallenge themselves to not spend money on x number of days in a month (aside from direct debits and regular bills, of course). How about you try your own varient of this called a 'No Mobile Day', in which you challenge yourself to not make a phone call or send more than, say 5 texts on your mobile for x number of days a month? Should do wonders for you phone bill! (I'm on Orange PAYG, and my average monthly spend is about £5 )

Oh, and you REALLY need to find out what the interest rates are on as many of your loans as possible so you can be sure to pay off the higher interest ones first. You also have a few which are relatively low amounts owed (£100, £125), so if you have the chance to clear some of those in full they may be easy first steps, and you'll thne have more money spare to throw at the bigger ones.

~Jes

tyllwyd

This is a bit off-topic and I've never tried them myself, but have you ever tried mooncups? I'm not convinced I would use them when I'm out and about, but they might be good when you are at home? What you describe does sound a bit extreme - can't your gp help you at all?

GirlRacer_2

Hi Mrs R with regards to your mobile. I know with O2 you can buy bundles per month which work out cheaper. i.e. £4.99 per month gives you 600 free texts, they also do talktime bundles. Have a check to see if vodafone do the same, they take the £4.99 out of your top-up so it's not like a contract. That may save you some money per month.

Horace

If you are hyperglycaemic - instead of buying lots of sugary snacks, just carry some glucose tablets with you.

Also, if you are having to buy lots of sanitary pads each month do you not think that you should see a doctor to see if you have a problem? I am not saying that you have one but you might plus you might be able to get some help towards buying them each month.

I think you should cut up your cards and stop spending on them - sell everything that you don't wear, listen to or read. Have you thought of writing to the credit cards and offering a token payment?

I agree with the others that you should perhaps consider joining a credit union.

£70 on mobile calls is extreme - I have two mobiles one for personal use and one for my business one is on a kind of pay monthly scheme (not a contract as such) where I pay by direct debit and the other one (the business one) is a traditional PAYG - both are with Virgin. My expenditure on either phone is never that high - with my business phone I signed up for Bonus minutes which means that if I use my phone for 5 minutes a day I get free minutes. If you have a tendency to chat for hours on it, then here's a wacky suggestion that works - get yourself a timer and set it for 3 mins or 5 mins max and when the buzzer goes end the call.

Mrs_Ryan

Hey everyone

I have polycystic ovarian syndrome which means my periods are very heavy and painful. I have been on just about everything possible for these (Dianette - allergic, Microgynon - allergic, some other thing my doctor prescribed when I had a 5-week period once :eek: even the Mini-Pill, but that didnt work.) Doc is reluctant to prescribe any more Pills as I landed in hospital with one of the allergic reactions - at the minute Im waiting to be referred to see about my ovaries being drilled but Im not holding out much hope. I was on Metformin as well but doc was concerned about some side-effects that I shouldnt be getting so that was stopped as well. Have asked about the possibility of help with 'essential items' but the government, in their wisdom, class these as 'luxury items' (for god's sake!!! its obvious that it's men who make these decisions) so unfortunately I've still got to carry on paying for them :mad:

Horace - thank you for the glucose tablet suggestion. I will get some for myself and give some to my mate to keep for me - Im always having 'wobblies' as I call them :rotfl: when Im out!
Jesthar - its a payday loan. Basically, I have to pay the loan back in full plus interest every month. The no mobile day sounds like a good idea! I can count on the fingers of one hand how many texts I send a month - if I'm at home I use free internet texting, so it owuld be very easy to give up texting all together!!! (I hate it ) Only problem is though I call my mum every day to check she is alright. She has been really unwell with fluid on her lungs lately so it would probably go by the wayside if she was unwell. But i know I should give up checking my Facebook and MySpace on WAP - I think if I gave that up my bill would half for sure!!!
I have Stop the Clock which means after 7.30pm or weekends I can talk for up to an hour to anyone, any network, and only pay 30p. I tend to make the most of this but if Im at work and need ot make an urgent call (like the other week when OH broke down and had no credit on his own phone - luckily it went just as we got into the car park!!!!!!) it ends up costing me a bomb. That and the WAP - which I am going ot make a solemn promise as of now to leave well alone!!!
I think all the interest rates about the same - shocking payday loans!!
Thanks everyone xx

Jesthar

Hi Mrs_R

Ouch about the ovaries - not a nice thing to have. You're right, you can tell the law-makers are men!

Oh yes, definitely give up WAP! No point in paying twice and expensively for what you can already do at home for much less, and Facebook and MySpace aren't going anywhere in the meantime (I don't even HAVE them, or a WAP enabled phone, and the shocked expresion on some people's faces when they find out is extremely amusing to behold!:rotfl: ).

Tell you what, add 'No WAP Use At All' the to the 'No Mobile Day Challenge', but allow yourself one or two calls to your Mum, how about that? Or maybe a an overall talk time limit? So, for a successful day we now have:

- NO WAP use at all
- max 2 calls/15 minutes call time to Mum (set your own limits as needed)
- 5 texts

Bear in mind this is purely a personal goal setting exercise, and you can alter it to suit any change in circumstances. One thing you must do, though, is keep a challenge diary so you can see how you are doing!

Regarding the Payday loan, in your SOA you had:

"Pounds Till Payday.............300.......389......."

indicating the total amount you owe them is £300, but you are paying £389 a month. That is the part which is confusing me, as it would mean you are paying them more per month than you actually owe them overall. Are both those figures correct, because if so I've never encountered anything like it, and the people running those kind of companies should be staked out for the fire ants... :mad: Well, OK, they should be anyway, really!