Bit stuck for next 4 weeks and bills to pay!

PinkTwirl

Hi

I have just started a new job after leaving my old one and getting a good sized redundancy package, was being bullied at work and the Union negotiated it and I signed a compromise agreement to basically shut me up in the future.

I paid off a big chunk of debt (about £6.5K of debt) and my November bills and I'm now left a bit of money left, not much. However, I get paid on the 20th of December. It will be 6 weeks worth of money so I'll be right for January onwards, but I have no idea what to do with my bills for beginning of December. I paid off so much debt when I got the job as I didn't imagine that I wouldn't be getting paid for 6 weeks and I didn't want to go out and treat myself for getting a new job.

If there is any advice I would really appreciate it.

Money I can get hold of:

150 in bank
80 in purse
160 from dad that he owe me

can get hold of 200 from one credit card, and 500 from another

That would give me 1090 to pay my bills in the first week of December.

My bills are:

Mortgage 647
Electricity 78
Water/Sewage 26
DFS 47
Council Tax 58
Car Insurance 25
Home Insurance 9
Orange 61
Dad's orange phone bill (to cancel account) 15
Virgin 30
TV licence 11
Car Tax 63

Overdraft Interest 36
Halifax 56
Lloyds 105
Abbey 110
Barclaycard 12

Total: 1297

Need petrol also to get to work: over next 3 weeks I think I will need around £200 of petrol.

I was thinking of paying the above highlighted, and cancelling the DD's for the others and making a late payment for the others mid-December. I know I will get a charge.

Can anyone suggest a better way of doing it?

Thanks

MissShoes

Can you ask your new employers for an advance?
Could you call your creitors to explain the situation/change the payment date?
Could you borrow from friends/family til your back on your feet?
Could you get a payday loan as a oneoff (using quidco for moneyback)?
Could you get back some of the money you've paid off (borrow it back)?

Love Miss Shoes xx

Pippilongstocking

Ok wow to paying off so much and hugs - stupid question - can you car share/beg borrow steal lifts or use public transport if its cheaper for a couple weeks? That 200 would come in mightly handy its your short fall - worth an email to collegues and see if you can get a car share going? At this time of year lots of folks appreciate it.

Are you planning on eating? no food listed (cant have you starving)

And with your ulitilies/dd's can you negotiate to pay them on the 20th when you get paid, they might not mind - or shift the dd's for them if you have time til after the 20th? That way they might not charge you - as you are only a wee bit short I would try somehow to pay them

OR can you ask for a months grace/holiday from your mortgage this month and then you will be ok? Not sure how mortgages work as dont have one.

In any case - good luck!!! xx

dancingfairy

You really need to pay council tax and electricity (that electric bill is huge!) - you really need to cut that down - switch supplier and turn everything off where possible (except the fridge/freezer). I know it won't help immeadiately though.
Food - have you got much in the cupboards you can stretch out? head over to MoneySavingOldStyle and they will be able to help you stretch whatever you have in and suggest ways to spend 10/20 pounds or whatever to make as many meals as possible.
Also would get looking through your SOA at some point as some of those bills are truly huge.
Can you not borrow some money off you dad (plus the money he owes you?)
Anything you can sell in the local paper especially if it's something someone could buy as a christmas present for someone - eg cd's/dvd's/toys/games etc?
df

PinkTwirl

Hi,

I have just phoned Orange who told me they could not help me in the billing department.

I have just cancelled my direct debits for those I cannot afford to pay this month and will set them all up again middle of Dec.

Hopefully I will get my Barclaycard through the post in the next week and be able to pay for the bills over the phone using it, and then re-set up the DD's.

It's just the hassle of not getting paid for 6 weeks, I've never experienced this before.

PinkTwirl

Ok, I've got it down to £874.

I'm going to pay:

council tax 58
mortgage 647
DFS 47
Car insurance 25
TV licence 11
Virgin 30
Halifax credit card (don't want to lose the 0%) 56

That leaves 210 for petrol and food.

I can't get a lift from anyone as it is a small office and I'm coming from a completely different direction unfortunately.

I'm going to pay the electricity and water late by the 20th of the month (I'm not living there now, staying with my dad for the meantime). Hopefully my barclaycard will come through and I can pay those bills by the end of next week, it's just taking a while to arrive in the post.

I can't believe how un-understanding these companies are.

My dad is on a pension and hasn't got any money, he might be able to lend me another 50 on top of what he owes me so see me through to payday.

If only I hadn't paid so much debt off!

PinkTwirl

I don't know why my electricity bill is so big. I'm not living there now though so hoping to get some meter readings from my neighbour, 500 miles away. £78 a month for a single person out at work all day is a bit crazy to me!

Burlesque_Babe

PinkTwirl wrote: »

after leaving my old one and getting a good sized redundancy package, was being bullied at work and the Union negotiated it and I signed a compromise agreement to basically shut me up in the future.

Just wanted to say - that is a sentence I could have written word for word 18 months ago as literally the same thing happened to me. I hope you are feeling ok, but if you aren't, it takes time to get your head back together - it took me 7 months before I had the courage to even apply for another job. You will get there though and you'll look back at the bully and realise just how sad their life is to have to do what they did.

I had virtually paid off all my debt when it happened to me and I was able to use a chunk to clear the remainder. Please don't regret paying it off, it is the best thing to do, trust me.

I now really scrape by financially and whilst I have some of the money left it is decreasing each month, but I don't regret clearing all my debts.

PinkTwirl

Hi Burlesque,

Thanks, I really had to leave that job, my body was covered in big red spots, I wasn't sleeping, I was living 3 roads away from my ex, I couldn't make many friends down there, and at work I was getting silent treatment from people or being snapped at by them. I left my job where they had agreed to paid for £10k of accountancy training for me, but I would have had a breakdown. I worked for a big telecomms in the news a lot recently, so can't imagine the training would have been seen through by them anyway, but they refused to move me to an office in Scotland. They wanted me out, no one likes someone who won't put up with bullying.

I have taken a job with a 5 month contract (best I could get right now) but pays the same as last salary. Got 5 months to find something permanent, going to save about £800 a month hopefully so I will have 6 months money to fall back on at the end of it if I haven't got anything. I'm so worried at the moment.

If I'd stayed down there, I'd be drowing in debt even more. I had £1350 bills every month and only £1710 coming in. At least up here I can afford to do some volunteer work and go to the gym. Hopefully I won't be looking at an IVA or some equivalent in a year's time! I'm so worried about what is on the news at the moment, but I suppose if my job was permanent there is always still the chance I could lose it.

:rolleyes:

Pippilongstocking

hiya
can always look at martins how to cut down your petrol expense, tyre check etc not loaded car and drive at <50 then you might eek out that expense by 1/3 (or so the man says!!)

Can you do marvels with your dad's food cupboards and create delights to feed you two on next to nothing for the month? Its amazing the combo's you can come up with and its soup time of year, which costs almost nothing to make - xx goodluck

And can always do the forget to sign the cheque thing (for utilities) by the time they send it back to you and you resend the signed cheque it will be the 20th (when been really tight have done this) its then IN on time, but not able to be processed.

Cancel electric dd until you figure out what on earth is going on - poor you

Pippilongstocking

**hugs** what alot of hassles you have been through - you back in Scotland now?