A new start for Mooloo

~Chameleon~

Hi Mooloo :A

I'm in the same situation as you at moment and have listed my current expenses in red for comparison...

TV License £12.12 £11.95
Water £50.00 £17.00
Old Electric £30.00 nil
Old Gas £30.00 nil
Content Ins £6.56 £4.50
Car Ins £27.47 £11.25
Car Tax £21.66 £14.00
Car Mot £10.00 £10.00
Maint'nce £25.00 £15.00
Fuel £120.00 £20.00
Logs/coal £15.00 (Gas) £24.00
Birthdays £10.00 £5.00
Christmas £10.00 £10.00
Holidays £50.00 nil
Sth Electric £70.00 £46.00
Clothes £7.50 £10.00
Shoes £7.50 £5.00
gardening £5.00 £5.00
sewing £5.00 nil
food £125.00 £225.00
Oxford CT £49.83 nil
Telephone £48.00 £11.50 BT landline
Mobile £30.00 £34.00 (shared contract)
BB internet ?????? £18.00
Total £765.64 £487.20

I think with careful trimming you can certainly get your expenses down, not sure about halving them unless you completely get rid of the car but don't forget you'll be isolated in a rural area without it. How about trading in for a smaller car - less tax, less fuel (stop being a taxi service for everyone!!!) maintenance costs etc.

Also, why is your TV licence slightly higher than mine? How long have you got before the old bills are paid off? Any chance of raising extra funds to clear them by end August (you should get CB/CTC until 1st week of Sept).

Why are you paying for call charges on landline if paying £30 a month on mobile too? If it's PAYG then look into getting contract. I'm with O2 and get 600mins and 600 texts inclusive (plus unlimited data for internet on phone) so share with son as I don't use all that allowance myself. Which reminds me, you haven't listed a broadband charge, or is that included in your telephone charge?

My food bill is also £100 a month more than yours (I need to do something about that!) so take that into consideration when comparing costs

I think you can do it, you seem to be so resourceful and have done fantastically well so far! :A

Also, make sure your son contributes something to the bills from Sept, no matter how little, it all helps!

ETA: Sorry I hadn't refreshed the page and seen all today's posts before sending this so I have ended up repeating some of the advice you've already received

Savvy_Sue - I think the reason Mooloo hasn't bothered listing CTB and HB is because it is all paid out on rent and CT so they cancel each other out and wouldn't make any difference to final income/outgoing totals.

Savvy_sewing

Chameleon, you hit the nail on the head there. I didnt bother listing the council tax and housing as they do cancel each other out.
I think my TV licence is more becuase I had to spread the cost when I got the first one on direct debits. It was higher for the first 6 months. Before I used to pay everything in cash once a year. Car Tax etc is higher becuase of the size of my car.
My Broadband is included in the BT phone bill, and also the cost of having my phone installed here. Which was £120! Even though I was a customer already.
My electric is a guess based on the first month here being £64.60
I am unable to get a contract telephone as I am bankrupt, so they do a credit search that I will not pass.
My call charges are also part of a family pack where I pay £7 a month for the girls etc to ring me, each other, and DS and me to. Which has been a good investment, but one of the girls has decided to change her phone now so that has made the cost of the calls go higher.
My BF and I live apart, and tend to text each other, morning, noon and night, and that takes a £10 text packet. But I do intend to cut that down. I have now got Free evening and weekend calls. So I am going to do my best to try and get hold of him on his house phone in the evenings. Problem with that is the phone is in the hall by the computer and all the kids, so he is very stilted on the phone.
The old bills are as you can see in my signature, MASSIVE, and they will not be cleared until April 2012!!! If I try to get them lowered it will be even longer.
I am trying to ask the twins to contribute towards these payments as the bills are to do with them anyway. But I cannot rely on it.

Savvy_sewing

PS my water board will not lower the rates as this house is not on a meter. The landlord doesnt want me to change it to a meter. (I am only renting for 6 months at the moment.). If I manage to rent longer then perhaps I can talk to him again.
Oxford CT is also actually an overpayement of housing that I have to pay back, and that is also going to be until 2010 I think it was.
They say that the £11.50 a week that I pay is the minimum they will accept.
The electric is what heats the water, and storage heaters, and cooking. There is no gas to the village.
I suppose I will be able to reduce the car cost if I no longer run around for the family. Which I will have to do for my health anyway.

CarolynH

Mooloo wrote: »

The big freezer is on, but hardly anything in it.

A friend of mine uses plastic milk bottles filled with water and frozen to fill up his freezer. Apparently it uses less electricity full.

lolabug_2

Hi

Have you applied to a utility trust fund for help with your old bills? Many of the companies have them and they will often pay off your arrears for you if you are on a low income. If your supplier doesn't have a trust fund, most water companies do and they will pay off other debts besides actual water.You can also check to see if your electric supplier runs any schemes for people with health problems or on certain benefits as you can often get a cheaper supply.

You should write to housing benefit to ask for the overpayment to be reduced due to hardship. You could also apply for a discretionary housing payment which can sometimes help with arrears.

Also you maybe entitled to borrow some money from the social fund (budgeting loan) which will be paid back from your benefit at a fairly low amount. You could then use the money to pay off your various debts and have less to pay out each month.

jha

Have you thaught about joining a credit union mooloo? i find their small loans very useful (i know you need a bit of savings in ther first) - i have used them before to get some money to pay off a massive gas bill. might be of use as an emergency safety net as your income will be reducing.

Savvy_sewing

I had asked NPower way back in Feb i think it was about their payment plans. Got turned down. But I think I will put my budget down on paper and send it to all concerned. The Social Fund Idea may be of help? I will have to ask. But I will still have to pay it all back.!? Think its back to the Citizens Advice for help.? If I can get through to them.
I dont know much about Credit Unions? Not being allowed savings accounts from the Bankruptcy I havent tried to get Credit anywhere.
Definitely have to do some research and ask questions of the powers that be. Not let it ride.
Thanks all.

jha

Here's the link for the credit union mooloo - http://www.northampton.gov.uk/site/scripts/services_info.php?serviceID=486

Errata

TV License £12.12
Water £50.00 £40.73
Old Electric £30.00
Old Gas £30.00
Contents Ins £6.56
Car Ins £27.47
Car Tax £21.66
Car Mot £10.00
Maintenance £25.00
Fuel £120.00
Logs/coal £15.00
Birthdays £10.00
This is where you run out of money - there will be no money to pay for any of the following unless DS can pay you board when he starts his apprenticeship.

Christmas £10.00
Holidays £50.00
Sth Electric £70.00
Clothes £7.50
Shoes £7.50
gardening £5.00
sewing £5.00
food £125.00
Oxford CT £49.83
Telephone £48.00
Mobile £30.00

I think you need to talk to the CAB financial advisor at the earliest possible moment. If, for example, the Oxford CT isn't paid the Council will take action. If it goes as far as Bailiffs calling - your car is at serious risk.

As usual, HTH.

Savvy_Sue

Mooloo wrote: »

They say that the £11.50 a week that I pay is the minimum they will accept.

They say that, but if they had taken you to court (rather than you coming to an arrangement with them) then you would have been expected to give a SOA there, and as your ONLY income is benefits I think that the court would have ordered to pay a heck of a lot less than that. And yes, that means it would take a lot longer to pay back. But if the money is not there, it's not there!

Council tax tends to be more draconian, but even then, if it goes to court there is a LIMIT to what you CAN be ordered to pay when your only income is benefits! But now I'm unclear, was that Council Tax or Housing Benefit? If it's the latter, they are not so draconian, AFAIK. Note what lolabug says below.

lolabug wrote: »

You should write to housing benefit to ask for the overpayment to be reduced due to hardship. You could also apply for a discretionary housing payment which can sometimes help with arrears.

It also occurred to me, is there something like a Society for Distressed Publicans, which can help those who have fallen on hard times? I imagine it's under enormous pressure these days. I wonder if the FLVA knows of such a charity?