My SOA be gentle please

talana

WOW £8.99 online gaming as main entertainment source
WOW £8.99

You know, if you're online a lot you can make money rather than spend it. Extra income would work wonders in your situation. Sell things on Ebay or whatever.
Stop these temporarily and check out some ideas here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/protect/make-money#webwonga
.

Karmacat

Talana, I agree, and I do a lot of that stuff myself - but from experience, with the best will in the world, it isn't going to touch a £500 shortfall. It might do a lot - 40-50%, which is great, and I think you're also right to suggest stopping the WOW thing, but the overspend is so big that webwong/second job/*and* cutbacks are all needed to get back to breakeven. IMHO, anyway.

Karmacat

I've just been on another thread where Christians Against Poverty ("thats why they do it, not *how*") are being recommended for debt advice. They're also on Martin's approved list of debt counsellors, which makes them very solid. It might be really helpful to talk things over with them.

talana

Karmacat wrote: »

Talana, I agree, and I do a lot of that stuff myself - but from experience, with the best will in the world, it isn't going to touch a £500 shortfall. It might do a lot - 40-50%, which is great, and I think you're also right to suggest stopping the WOW thing, but the overspend is so big that webwong/second job/*and* cutbacks are all needed to get back to breakeven. IMHO, anyway.

Oh I totally agree with all that, I wasn't trying to suggest that just one change is going to be the solution here.
Here's another suggestion which I've just plugged a few numbers in.

savings i have 550 in there

That £550 is actually doing you no good while you simultaneously have crippling debts.
I would advise taking that £550, and adding to it the following:
£20 - stop the lottery
£10 - contribution to that isa
£50 - cut back on the food bill
£18 - stop the WOW payments temporarily
£13 - stop the dentist plan, as fairybird30 suggests
£22 - same with the pet insurance
£32 - defer the gym payment if possible
£35 - take a week off work to sort out your finances? Save the taxi fares
Total - £750

Then maybe ask if you can go interest only on your mortgage for a time. Talk to your lender.
After the very first month of doing that little lot you'll be able to settle your debt with Freemans in full!! And that in turn will free up an extra £88 a month. :T
Compare that to what your ISA in earning you every month (not a lot) and see the difference!

Karmacat

Talana, I like it! Thats genius.

PS I'm off now - I really hope all of this can turn a corner for you, alamaya.

euronorris

I assume you are on a dd plan with wow? If so, you can switch to pay as you go. OK, it works out more expensive per game time, but.....you can then choose when you can afford to play.

It's a small saving I know, but it's a start. For example, you could have a month, 2 months or 3 months off.

tesuhoha

If it was me I would grit my teeth and get on the bus but thats just me. Why don't you phone all the taxi firms in the area and ask them all to quote you a monthly package, a bit like a tender. Ask them for quotes below £200 then take the lowest one. Don't even bother to ask your present taxi to quote he has lost the chance for being inflexible. These are hard times and even taxi drivers can't charge the earth anymore.

PasturesNew

Savings

alamaya wrote: »

Food £200.00 - can easily reduce to £150, saving £50
Sky £39.00 - cancel it, saving £39
GYM £32.00 - cancel it, saving £32
Orange Sa £25.00 - I saw an orange deal of £5/month http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/paymonthly/36-month_plans.html - save £20
Orange St £25.00 - as above, save £20
Lottery £20.00 - pauper tax, stop it, save £20

Total savings =
£50 + £39 + £32 +£20 + £20 +£20 = £181

I haven't commented on items where I have no idea what they mean (eg wow/orthodontist for starters).

Hope that helps .

MickW_3

wow I think means World of Warcraft which is an online subscription game. I've never liked the idea of "paying" just to play online. My wife frequently goes to Big Fish games and plays the games in "trial" mode where you get 60 minutes and then moved onto the next one. You could also try playing games like The Sims on your PC without the subscription as they can be just as addictive

I know a couple of people who also suffer from panic attacks and I know that it can cause major problems with their work. Therapy is a possible avenue to explore as part of a long term solution as breaking the reliance on taxis would not just improve your finances but more importantly your wellbeing. Being in dept puts strains on yourself, your partner and those around you and can easily take over your life to the point that you become physically/emotionally ill.

As for entertainment have you thought of looking for cheap (under £1) DVDs on ebay? I think you still need some entertainment if you don't go out as it's all too easy to just exist rather than live. But that's just my 2ps worth.

fatbelly

You clearly can't afford the contractual payments on these debts and are borrowing more each month to cover them:

Orthadontist £2,900.00
Asda £3,875.86
Overdraft 1 £1,800.00
Overdraft 2 £3,000.00
Loan 1 £7,364.53
Loan 2 £6,752.86
Unsecured £14,410.59
Freemans £938.32

They're unsecured, so non-priority. You need a dmp with CCCS, Payplan (or CAP) where you pay what you can afford.

Martin has details here