SOA Help

bluekp

Hi Sue,

My mum has a contract mobile phone with Orange, and I managed to get her broadband charges down from £22.50 pcm to under £8 pcm!

I think if you live in the right areas, you can actually get it for free, but unfortunately she doesn't.

Give them a call on 150 from the mobile phone and ask about free broadband for pay monthly customers. I think it may mean being tied to them for 18 months (not sure if that's phone and broadband, or just broadband).

HTH

SueP19

Hi thanks everyone

Changingme, its my next stop, I had estimated £80/week not £105, so am in total shock

Pollycat, thanks for the sympathy re OH and for the good wishes

MrsTine.............when I read what I had put about pocket money it seem so trite of me. You are totally right, she does have a job and works hard, so I guess I will have to bite the bullet and tell her, emotionally having to do that causes more tears than anything else. I am 100% sure she will be totally fine about it and probably tell me off for not stopping her pocket money months ago, cos she's a star

TotallyBroke the WFTC and child benefit will stop next year as she has one more year to go, I think I had better check this though. We do heat our water this way and I have forgotton the timer is broken!!! I know I should have gotten round to getting a new one but I have so much going on. Holiday shouldn't be on there, that was last year cost, part went on CC but all I hear is how life's a piece of c**p if we can't go. I am just trying to find the right words and moment to say "NO" for this year. Hubs rolls his own tobacco. Fantastic idea on the electric thing, if it is the heater then at least I will have proof

jennyo, bless you xxx

lilly81 I have not included my business expenses in the plan................................why!!! difficult one, I thought you would all say "no way can you have that" sorry. I adore my business and it gets called a hobby, everytime I have tried to talk about cutting down the standard reply I get is "Well you have to as well.........with your hobby" So I keep it a secret..............sorry in tears again

Bluekp???? Both hubs mobile and the house broadband is with Orange, will try them, see what they have to say

Thanks doesn't seem enough really XXXX

TotallyBroke

Don't be in tears it's not worth the energy, channel the energy into something more productive.

If the heating timer is broken does that mean you are heating water constantly all day. Check the temperature of the water if you can by not heating it as hot as normal, even a few degrees can make a difference. Pay to get a new timer then work out the best way to heat the water, maybe an hour in the morning will be enough for a sink full to wash and enough to do the washing up, maybe early evening 2 hours maybe enough to have baths.

Ok £135 per month for a rollie is madness, buy filters and papers from 99p shops to cut costs there. That's approx 2 large packs of tobacco a week!!!!! One large pack of tobacco lasts me a month so rolling my own costs me approx £15 per month.

As I said even if over the next couple of months you can break even that will be a bonus.

MrsPorridge

Reading the electricity - 6 months ago we started switching everything off AT THE PLUG SOCKET every time we stopped using it. We do that with the TV/video/freeview box thing - it is only turned on at the socket when we watch then turned off at the socket. We do the same with the computers/modum - turned off at the socket every time we stop using it.

I was amazed that we are now saving £50 per quarter on our electric bill just by doing that.

Pollycat

MrsPorridge wrote: »

Reading the electricity - 6 months ago we started switching everything off AT THE PLUG SOCKET every time we stopped using it. We do that with the TV/video/freeview box thing - it is only turned on at the socket when we watch then turned off at the socket. We do the same with the computers/modum - turned off at the socket every time we stop using it.

I was amazed that we are now saving £50 per quarter on our electric bill just by doing that.

We do that too, MrsPorridge - even the cooker, microwave, kettle and toaster. I don't know how much it saves but at least it SEEMS like I'm saving money.

Sue
Do come back and let us know how things are progressing.

SueP19

Hi Everyone, well I bit the bullet and told daughter it was not good, I did stop short on the details. We have agreed to reduce the PM to £5 which will cover her Kung Fu (she takes brown in Sept, one step away from black-very proud mum)
The biggest surprise was hubby, I mentioned your comments last night and as per usual got the "SO we aren't going on holiday............." At that point I cut him off. Normally I would have become defensive (slightly angry) but this time my words were "I am doing this, if you are with me fine, if not then be prepared for a rocky ride" He then surprised me by admitting that his biggest problem is he van't wait for anything and wants everything yesterday, followed by the fact he does listen to his work colleagues bragging about what they have and that he is wrong on both counts.
I feel hopeful that half my battle is won, now for those card companies

Horace

Well done Sue - a step in the right direction. What your hubby needs to remember is that those same work colleagues who are bragging about having the best holiday or the latest gadget are probably themselves in huge amounts of debt.

There are ways and means of having a cheap holiday at home - treat your home town or wherever as a holiday destination and do the things that are on offer to tourists to the area - it makes you view the area through different eyes.

Good luck.

TotallyBroke

That is fantastic news that both dd and OH are on board the same boat.
So now you need to work out where the cutbacks can really be made. You have already identified the pocket money and you need to address the shopping.
The electric etc will not make a big impact straight away but will eventually as will other things.

Do you have an arrangement to pay £5 off your overdraft each month, if you don't I suggest you work out what is costing you more, the overdraft or the highest costing debt. For me last year it was cheaper for me to use my overdraft to the full to clear off a debt, once that debt had cleared I used my overdraft each month but reduced it by £50, so I was using my max 650 then the next month I used 600 of the overdraft then 550 and so on, I'm now not in the overdraft and have increased the amount of money in my current account by 50 each month.

SueP19

Horace, I have told him that his colleagues are either lieing or have whopping great loans!!! I think from me talking non stop about this board has made him realise its not us, yes we are at fault but there are lots in the same boat
As for hols we holiday in this country at a caravan and camping site, usually in scotland, we spend very little when we get there as we mostly walk, the dog loves it. The problem this year is that the vehicle we tow with needs repairs, so it would the cost of the hol (£200 plus food plus petrol and about £300 repairs) plus car repairs. He did say last night that maybe we should aim for next August!!!

Totallybroke, so right abouth the OD at £5 per month its about 6% interest, so cheaper to leave it as it is.

I have just moved some tax refund money from the current account out to a BS savers account, I know I should have reduced our debts but one of our biggest problems has been having NO emergency fund over the years. If something happened we had to use the cards.

Hubby got paid this morning and I set about using my budget to put aside money for those things like car tax, mot etc. So feeling good
A friend also gave me a voucher for a savings acc with ING, which gives you £25 if you deposit £1 per month................we have called this The Holiday Fund!!!hehe £1 per month gets us on holiday in 50years time................you have to laugh!!!!

Pollycat

SueP
Well done on coming so far in such a short time. :T

I do agree with the comments about what other people spend and how affluent they may appear to be.

You've got quite a few things to concentrate on that will cut your expenditure by a lot, so I hope that holiday is not too far away.