Not to winge or anything...

tee_pee_2

Have you looked at your BT bill sorry if someone has already suggested it? Do you get internet with that? I am with telewest and if you ring up and threaten to leave they will give you free or 1/2 price rental etc

Badger_Lady

Have you looked at your BT bill sorry if someone has already suggested it? Do you get internet with that? I am with telewest and if you ring up and threaten to leave they will give you free or 1/2 price rental etc

Actually, BT's a funny one - yes, it does include Broadband, but the reason it's so high is because that's their minimum Direct Debit amount. Every couple of years when I move house or switch providers, they send me a cheque for all the credit I've built up (anywhere between £100-200).

But I have had a look on Uswitch now and arranged to go with Primus Freetalk - see how that goes!

tee_pee_2

Badger_Lady wrote:

Actually, BT's a funny one - yes, it does include Broadband, but the reason it's so high is because that's their minimum Direct Debit amount. Every couple of years when I move house or switch providers, they send me a cheque for all the credit I've built up (anywhere between £100-200).

But I have had a look on Uswitch now and arranged to go with Primus Freetalk - see how that goes!

Excellent every little helps

seraphina

I'd think twice about taking advantage of your staff canteen. Although you say it only costs £2.50 for a full three course meal, that's £12.50/week. Combined with your monthly food bill of over £100, this doesn't sound like the most efficient way to feed you and your cat.

You can easily cook a meal for way more than one person for £2.50 and you get to keep the leftovers! Might be worth bringing a packed lunch - I think it would bring your overall food bill down.

Badger_Lady

I'd think twice about taking advantage of your staff canteen. Although you say it only costs £2.50 for a full three course meal, that's £12.50/week. Combined with your monthly food bill of over £100, this doesn't sound like the most efficient way to feed you and your cat.

Don't worry, the monthly food budget includes the canteen food! Otherwise that'd be mad...

Again, you are right - it's just incredibly hard to pass up. I'm rarely at home for more than 30 minutes in the evening, so I would need to make more time (by not seeing my friends so much) to cook and make lunches... and if I had a packed lunch at work, I wouldn't bother having a lunch break - just eat it at my desk.

But you are right, I'm just finding it difficult to accept! It's pretty hard reducing the quality of your lifestyle, even though it's necessary.

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

Hello there Badger...

1. Swap sky for Building & Contents insurance - Quote "I'm rarely at home for more than 30 minutes in the evening" therefore, you don't need Sky movies. Phone them up, cancel sky, and you get to keep the dish & box - still enough channels on to fill in the 30 minutes.

Insurance for B&C is an absolute essential - if you're flat did get involved in a fire etc. then you would be left with the mortgage with no property - not a place to go at all.

2. If you can go without the car - great! THis will certainly save some dosh. IF you cannot do without the car, how do you expect to replace your current car if it were to give up? WOuld you be able to under your current circumstances?
3. Have you considered selling the flat and moving elsewhere (smaller flat, different location etc)? Is this an option to assist you?

Good luck! Hope things go well.

Badger_Lady

Thanks Bloke,

Sky's going tomorrow (monthly cut-off date) thanks to everyone's comments :-)

My current car is very nice - I bought it at a bargain for £600 and could probably sell for £1200, so if I did find it unmanageable I could always just get a cheap old Metro or something... I currently use the car about 3 times a week, for seeing friends (anywhere between 5 and 45 miles), and for doing the shopping (because it's heavy!).

I'm very attatched to my little car though - my sister and I have the same model and I've never seen another one - so it would be gutting .

The flat's about as small as they come (without going studio), and is walking distance to work and town - I could get a cheaper one by going out to a village somewhere, but then the transport costs negate it. I did work out that I could get a nice flat 40 miles away for less than 2/3rds the mortgage, but when you add on transport it would only save me £100 a month and I would be spending 2 hours a day travelling and not being able to go out with friends any more!

My other reason for not selling - because there is only £1000 equity and the estate agent / solicitors fees would be at least £4000, so overall I would be losing out on the whole deal - moving house is expensive itself. If I could make huge savings, fine, but at the moment they are only small savings.

When I'm free to remortgage next year, I'd like to get a 2-bed closer into town (they're cheaper there because there's no parking / gardens) and get a lodger in.

tyllwyd

You come across as a pretty strong-minded person who knows you want, and more than capable of doing what you set your mind to.

Maybe what you need to do now is to step back and look at all the different aspects of your life and decide what your priorities are. If you write down everything, you can look and decide which things are most important to you.

For example, staying in your flat seems to be a big priority. Keeping your car is high on your list. Entertainment ie watching films is important to you - and you're sorting that out. Food - eating in the canteen is middling - maybe cut that down but not give it up completely. Going out is middling - again, maybe cut down but not completely. Paying back your credit card debts - where does that come? Paying back your student loan/parents seems to be low priority for you at the moment - maybe stop worrying about it at the moment, and look at it again in a year's time when you might think about moving or re-mortgaging. Finding additional income - where does that come in your list? Keeping a pet - where is that on your list?

What I am trying to say is that by sorting out your priorities, it might give you the breathing space to concentrate on what is important to you, rather than treating everything as equally important so that it doesn't give you room to make choices. Maybe make a short-term plan for the next six months to stop things slipping away from you, then a longer-term plan to start tackling the debts.