Can't go on much longer :-(

Poosmate

Do you have to stay with Sky for your TV/broadband/Phone package? I get the XL tv package, broadband and landline from Virgin for £35 pcm. This doesn't include certain sporting event channels or the film channels but there is still and excellent choice of many varied channels.

Good luck with the spending diary, I kept one once and was so amazed at how true the phrase "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" was! Try is and see.

Regards

Poo

Fire_Fox

letmeoutofhere wrote: »

with regard to the sky tv, i know what you mean trust me. i've thought about it but i'm only paying half of what yuo see there as my wife obviously covers half. i can't expect her to pay my half as she would then be effectively paying for my debt and, as she has been through this, i'd find it a bit unfair to ask if you know what i mean.

the groceries works out at about 60-70 a week (which we share, paying alternate weeks) so it can depend on those darn 5 week months between paydays. :-(

seeing it all laid out in front of me like this for the first time, it is easy to see what could be done but when it comes to things that would effect all of us in the house (sky tv), i'd find it terribly difficult to effectively punish my wife and step-daughter for the mess i'm in - does that make sense?

This would make sense if you hadn't already told us that your most recent credit card bill of £1800 was entirely made up of groceries, unexpected bills and running the car. I find it difficult to imagine your wife and stepdaughter have not had the benefit of this particular debt, and hence it's really their debt too.

I would suggest you either cancel the Sky or someone else pays for it, as there is no getting round the fact that you simply cannot afford to contribute to this. It's not a case of your wife and stepdaughter paying for your debt, it's your wife and stepdaughter supporting you to stop increasing your debt.

Freeview has improved greatly in recent years, with new channels coming out every couple of months. Hopefully your stepdaughter will eventually go away to university - she won't be able to afford Sky and will have to get used to living on a budget. This will be a good grounding for her.

theoretica

As well as a spending diary from now on you might find it educational to look through the last few months of statements and chart where your money went. Some will probably be cash spent on unknowns, but you will be able to work out a lot from the statements. This will let you see which bills may reoccur and need to be budgeted for, and what wasn't really worth it!