My horrible SOA

Poosmate

Good luck and I hope your OH comes on board soon, it will make a big difference if you are both singing from the same hymn sheet.

I understand what you say about the Sky TV, my main source of entertainment is my tv and internet. I get XL tv package, broadband and telephone for £35 pcm from Virgin.

As I said before, good luck.

Poo

MyopicMoo

Hi,

Thanks again to everyone who has commented. I have looked into alternatives to Sky - we can't get Virgin unfortunately. OH is calling them to see what he can work out.

I have posted off PPI claim letter 1 so the ball is rolling.

Monster pan of mince is cooking ready to be divided into smaller portions.

I had a bit of a shock when I went through my freezer and cupboards - far more there than I thought we had . I made a list (wow, that's a first) and got only what was on it. I should only have to buy milk and coffee for the rest of the month.

I have received an income form from my local council and they want me to take it in with evidence. Any advice?

Katie-Kat-Kins

Ok, so first things first you need to read OH the riot act and get him on board. Show him the level of your debts the defecit you have and the amount your debts are costing you.

With a seriously frugal month or two you could ditch wonga and that would free up some money so that you can set a more realistic budget and start targetting the other debts. This is actually a nice position to be in as you have a short term acheivable goal that will make a big difference.

Ditch the sky, you can use the dish and box to get freesat which gets you all the free to air digital channels including some HD so you needn't be without entertainment! You could be saving £56 a month - that is a big chunk towards a debt.

Try tutoring, I don't understand why you don't have time, you have evenings and weekends like everyone else. My teacher friend used to teach up to a-level during the day, work in a pub two nights a week and have two tutoring sessions a week and still have time to socialise. I'd love to have that sort of opportunity to make extra money but my job doesn't lend itself to extra work. Again think about the difference it could make.

Can your OH get a second income too? Think evening or weekend work or working from home. If not ebay selling or online surveys can help a little.

The more time you spend doing work the less time you have to spend!

Call your mobile providers, if you are outside contract then ask them to move you to PAYG for you and OH, if you are still within contract ask them to reduce the level of the contract to the cheapest possible, these should go down to no more than £20 a month. If OH needs his for work then his work should pay for it, if not he should use the office phones or claim the cost of calls back as expenses. For the mother in law's phone, does she really use a £30 contract to the maximum??? Can you not reduce this? She can still use it for emergencies and incoming calls. Again you could reduce this to PAYG and just put her a tenner on each month.

With the rent, it is always worth asking your landlord if you want to do something that is not allowed under your contract. They might have you tied in for 18 months but might be willing to terminate early if it suits them or if you find a tennant for them. They might not allow subletting but if you explain that you can no longer afford the rent and will otherwise be looking to move on they may be prepared to allow you to get a lodger with their approval. The worst he can do is say no. If he is looking to sell he might be glad if you offer to move out early. Reducing your rent spend would help enormously.

If this is genuinely your lightbulb moment then there are lots of things you can do to hit that debt hard, you just need to be sure both you and OH realise that things can't go on.

hettiecarro

Nothing to add - but the very best of luck with it all. xxx

MyopicMoo

Thanks KatP.
I think OH is gradually coming round, I hope. He is in the process of setting up some commission only consultancy work, although it won't be regular it will being in more money. If he isn't made redundant there is a chance of his commission starting back up again which would also be useful.

I will attack the mobiles tomorrow - hopefully can make some savings there.

I don't have that many evenings and weekends as my marking load is pretty huge - almost all of my classes are KS4 and 5 - and I also have a number of responsibilities which take up additional time. I will keep the tutoring in mind but it will be only in dire need. I get extra pay for running revision sessions (in the spring) and am hoping to get a pay rise and even more responsibility which would make a reasonable increase to my salary.

The landlord is planning to sell but at the moment we haven't had our notice - I'm wary of prompting him to do it before we have the necessary cash to move, which saying we can't afford the rent may well do. Whether we see out our contract (6 months approx) or he gives notice we will be looking for a cheaper place.

MyopicMoo

Back in money saving mode - reduced my mobile tariff to the basic £25 a month - they can't go any lower and my contract runs to March 09, but that is a saving of £11 a month!

I have chased Welcome about £1000 of vanished payments - they will be applied to the accounts and the interest adjusted - have asked for this to be put in writing. So this will bring the totals down a bit.

Am going to make bread later - trying a potato bread recipe.

MyopicMoo

Just checked the pay scales for Sept onwards, annual pay will increase by £774 - I think that would be about an extra £50 a month! It will be even more if I go up a point - £2010, which would be an extra £100 a month (if my rough estimate is right). That would be nice. :j

lisainglasgow

You could easily save that £100 a month extra as a deposit for a new flat. You really need to cut down your food bill, as you already know. The rent though is the biggie for me - that is an awful lot of money. My OH and I earn about the same as you and our rent is £650 pm - more manageable. Do you live in London?

debtmuncher

is there some kind of dream trip/gadget/car that your oh would like? if so get a piccy of it and tell him if the debts are cleared this is what hes getting once you have saved up for it. if hes got a aim then maybe that will spur him on.

good luck! you can do it and whilst along the line you have your down days the great days make up for it!

MyopicMoo

Hi Lisa, that is a good idea! We have a maximum of 6 months to save and a minimum of 2 depending on what the landlord decides to do. We are hoping that the fact the house is now worth about £100K less than he paid may put him off selling at the moment. We live near London - we had been living in London which is why when we moved it didn't seem too awful (ha ha - hindsight is great!).

I will definitely reduce the food bill asap - hopefully I won't have to buy anything else except milk until the end of the month.

Debtmuncher - that is a good idea! Although we have been in debt for so long being debt free would be a huge thing.