Poor progress

anh1904

Had a bad few years, but had my second lightbulb moment in January this year. Hopefully this one will last. Have a well paid job, but 4 kids, 4 cats, an ex-wife and 4 bedrooms, so life is expensive.

Tackled so far:
Mobile bills, Virgin media, Gas and Electric.

To tackle:
Endowment policy
Life insurances
Buildings and contents
Food and household products bill (currently really not good at about £900pcm which includes any nights out - I sense a spend diary is a must to move forward properly)
Secondary income stream

I will tackle the low hanging fruit, and then re-post an up to date statement of affairs to see where the extra's can come from.

I tried to claim for mis-selling before, but had a letter admitting that while the policy had been mis-sold, because it was returning more than a building society account, they were not in a position to offer any compensation. Does that sound about right?

Back here for the motivation necessary to stick with it as it nearly got totally out of hand around the turn of the year. Here for the long haul this time.

powerwin

What are you going to action next then?

Rgds

anh1904

Letter sent to endowment asking for surrender value.
I suspect it will be very little, since I took out a loan on the policy a few years back as I then believed it would grow faster than the loan - pah!

I have a letter from them admitting the policy was mis-sold, but not offering any compensation (will look it up, but letter says something about it outperforming a saving policy with a building society I think), so when the surrender value comes, I will use that to see it can leverage any goodwill payment.

Next it will be on to the insurances, which at £75 per month for life and B&C, seems a little higher than might be necessary.

anh1904

Endowment surrender sent off. Alas pennies rather than pounds, but will save £40 per month of premium, and no good throwing good money after bad.

Next, Buildings and Contents, which I am paying a ridiculous £40 per month for ... 4 bed house, worth about 200k, terraced, nothing outrageous in terms of possessions ... mission tonight will be to see what I can actually reduce this to, and get my head around the cashback sites, which I have (through nothing more than idleness) never got round to using.
Challenge is to get it to half its current price or less.

keza

sounds like u made a good start so far. good luck with the rest!

gargrave50

I love lists:smileyhea. You seem really focused and its good to know what it next on the agenda. How did you get on with your insurance - hope you went through a cashback site after finding out who is cheapest.:D

anh1904

Following ther steps on the front page for getting the best insurance deal, looks like £250 will be achievable, for more appropriate cover, and that's over £200 annual saving - alas, no cashback with AXA (:-() Policy renerwal is in September, so tonight's task is to phone existing cover to ensure no automatic renewal.

Life cover ought to be easily cheaper than the £35 we currently pay, so that's next.

New Bank account (£100 target) after that (First Direct or Halifax for their £5 per month)

Ebay a load of stuff form the shed, which will then be donated to the local tip if it doesn't sell. Got loads of boxed new spares for my previous car would you believe - clearly have a value, though whether they will sell ...hmm now there's the question.

angelicmary85

You've tackled 3 things so far...A little progress is better than no progress!