Need some advice please

homer_j_3

Have you tried consolidating or trying to transfer your credit cards onto 0% rates? I am sure a joint personal loan willl be cheaper than paying all the above debts. This will maintain your credit record too rather than having payment plans recorded against you.

I have roughly worked out that you pay about £480p/m for a debt less than 10k. If you were to take a loan out then I am sure you could get this down to under £200 p/m.

You would have one debt in one place and an extra 280 per month to live on. if you reduce your overdraft and cancel your credit cards to avoid building the debt back up then your finances should be a lot easier to manage and you willl be paying a lot less interest - 5-7% apr hopefully rather than 15%.

Looking at your existing bills.

Telephone - look at what calls you make can you get on a package that allows you to make the majority of these calls for free (like free evening and weekends etc)

Contact lenses, they seem very expensive, can you get them cheaper elsewhere - places like asda online do them now. I pay £15 per month for mine (monthly disposables) from spec savers.

Car - is there a need for 2 cars, I know you have children etc but is there a way you can live with just one car?

Shopping, have you tried doing this online, I find that if we write down the exact things we need and do it online, we do not get tempted by the "special offers" and we seem to spend about 30% less than we do in store. The cost of delivery will pay for itself, but you can often find money off vouchers on these forums so you wont end up paying that. Not having children myself I cant imagine what it willl be like having them being tempted by all the stuff in store either. This willl benefit petrol costs too..

Utility bills, have a look at uswitch website and see if you are with the cheapest suppliers.

I cant say that this willl completely iradicate the lack of income to pay your outgoings but I would try this before trying to get a payment plan in place and having this on your credit record.

hope this helps.

ms_london

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Bestthingsinlifearefree

HI Chops,

Just had a quick look at the list.

OH ciggies need to go. Whats more important families financial security ie £70 per month can feed / clothe the 2 year old or having a ciggie.

Like you are having a light bulb moment now with the family finances your OH needs to have a light bulb moment with the ciggies. He needs to builld motivation / support and then quit smoking. ( I smoked for 10 years by the way and have stopped for 2 now)

Gym needs to go. You cannot afford it.Yep you can find another hobby or exericse for free jogging,go to the park with OH throw a frisby around. Once you have your finances under control, the gym can come back.

Thats over £100 saved already.

You need to throw your cash at the most expensive debts first. What rate is the kays catologue ??? Pay of the highest interest rate debts first.

Can you apply or transfer the credit card debts to a card with a lower rate.

You need to get your OH committed to this project. Get him to read this thread /forum.

As one team you 2 can do this.

Good Luck !!

chops05

I have already shopped around for best deals on insurance so what I am paying now are the cheapest.

Car tax and insurance is for two cars which we do need as we both work. I am considering giving up work and selling my car but then we will only have one income.

Phone is home phone and is through BT.

Can't get any cheap deals on contact lenses as I need specialist ones that can only be ordered through my optician.

There is no way OH will give up ciggies - he has already changed to rollups as a compromise.

I'm not able to cancel the gym as I am in a contract for a year plus I'm not going to give up on the only hobby I have. We dont go out in the evenings, we certainly don't go out for meals or spend any money on other things so I feel this is the one thing I need to have for my sanity. I also need to go the the gym as I am training for a couple of big charity runs later in the year.

Like I said in a previous post £250 per month is more than what we normally spend and we could get it down to £150-£200 per month.

I have tried getting 0% balance transfer but was refused so I feel my access to credit has now run out!

jesster_2

chops05 wrote:

There is no way OH will give up ciggies - he has already changed to rollups as a compromise.

Try telling your OH that his kid will grow up convinced he's going to die - and soon. Kids are surrounded by ads and educational campaigns saying that smoking kills you... When I was little the anti-smoking campaigns weren't even as strong or as prolific as they are now, and I was TERRIFIED my mum was going to die.

As it happens, she didn't. But the only thing that stopped her was a heart attack about 5 years ago. Never lit another one. And when I told her how I'd felt when I was younger she was absolutely devastated.

Sorry to sound heavy, but I feel quite strongly about this one!!

homer_j_3

This board is for support so I am sure that you will get plenty of it whatever you decide to do.

I would maybe speak to your bank re consolodation loans as you have a history with them.

They may not even look at your credit file, just say yes on the basis of they can see how much you currently pay etc.

Re contacts, have you spoken to the bigger opticians because I am sure if you have a prescription you can get contacts from any of them. Just because they arent advertised on the websites doesnt mean they are not available.

Gym membership - I agree that if it is the only hobby that you have and you can pull back in all the other areas then you should keep this going. In the same token your husbands compromise may be worth accepting if that is his only enjoyment in life as such.

On the basis of what you have said so far, you could easily do the following:

Call Bank to see if there is anything they can do.
Call a national chain of opticians with your prescription details
Open up an account with an online supermarket and write a list of shopping you could survive on without being to harsh and see if you save money (you dont have to buy it - you can empty trolley)
Speak to BT customer services and see if there is a call plan that would save you money.

This may take you an hour or so but you will at least satisfy yourself that you have been productive in trying to do something.

chops05

Try telling your OH that his kid will grow up convinced he's going to die - and soon. Kids are surrounded by ads and educational campaigns saying that smoking kills you...

Our daughter is not yet 2 so I don't think this is really an issue at the moment.

jesster_2

Ah soz, didn't see her age! That's true! But then, if you can't give up when you really need to financially, will you when she's 3 or 4? We used to flush mum's down the loo - she was VERY impressed - NOT!

I think you can probably make some savings on your food shopping. Planning your meals for the week and only buying what you need sounds too simple, but makes a real difference. I've halved my bill. I think homer_j's suggestion of trying out a sample online shop is a good one, though you may want to carry on shopping in person for fruit and veg as you want to be able to check before you buy.

chops05

thanks to everyone who has posted! You have really helped with your advice

I'm going to sit down tonight when my daughter is in bed and work it all out! CCCS are going to email me some info hopefully tonight so looks like I'll have my thinking cap on tonight!!! lol

ms_london

Yet another person that comes here for advice, and when we give it "justifies" her current spending. If you continue to carry on spending as you have been you are going to end up in more debt, it's as simple as that!!

People have made some good suggestions - why do you have to dismiss everything?