Looking for advice please

Wednesday

Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for all of your suggestions - I'll try to quickly clarify the things that you've raised.

Toucan is not broadband - it's line rental, plus all calls, plus dial-up. I've never been able to afford broadband and I don't really consider it necessary when I have internet access at work.

I know that I don't need life insurance so I don't have any - Pinnacle is mortgage protection cover for accident, sickness and unemployment.

CILIP is the professional body for librarians - I need to pay my subs to charter - which I'm in the process of doing - but I do get tax relief on this. I am also waiting for the results of a job re-evaluation, and actively looking for a new post that will pay more than my current £16,216pa. Welcome to the public sector, everyone

Factors are a Scottish thing - I live in a communal close and the £25 covers my buildings insurance and any communal maintenance charges. It's not optional, I'm afraid.

As regards food, I'm very healthy! Vegetarian, fruit & veg from local small shops, and a big shop for big stuff every 2-3 months or so. I will have a look at the board that was suggested though.

A lodger is out of the question unless they're happy sleeping on my couch. It's a one bedroom flat. As for the building work, well the reason I managed to buy a flat on a single salary is because the bedroom and kitchen are in one room - it was a miracle that I got my mortgage because of this. Definitely not a vanity project. I do see this work as essential at some point, if only because I have been sleeping in a windowless space twice the size of a double bed since I bought the place. The kitchen needs to be moved is all - I'm not getting a new one.

I already sell DVDs and CDs on Amazon. I do receive the single person discount for council tax. I paid off my student loans for 5 years before I went back to Uni, so they are a lot less than they could have been. I had considered the CCCS route, but I'm really reluctant to have any defaults registered against me. I am on the electoral roll, and got a credit report last week, which doesn't have any adverse information other than the amount of my debt!

I will however, cancel Oxfam, and put the ISA savings on hold for a while. I'm really grateful for everyone's comments, and think that asking for my interest rates to be lowered will be my first option. Thanks again.

Wednesday

Update

It's been a while since I posted, but thought I'd update for those who submitted their kind advice. In November, I was able to remortgage my flat (it had appreciated by £10k in a year) and greatly reduce my credit card debt as well as paying for the internal renovations which have been completed recently. I'm altogether much happier and would like to say thanks again to those who offered constructive help

Sea78

Thanks for coming and updating us!
So glad you're feeling more positive
Sea xxx

angelavdavis

Wednesday wrote: »

Update

It's been a while since I posted, but thought I'd update for those who submitted their kind advice. In November, I was able to remortgage my flat (it had appreciated by £10k in a year) and greatly reduce my credit card debt as well as paying for the internal renovations which have been completed recently. I'm altogether much happier and would like to say thanks again to those who offered constructive help

Glad to hear the advice worked for you. I wondered though - did you find a better paid job??

Wednesday

Hi, no I didn't. I do earn £2k more now than I did when I placed the OP. The truth is that my salary is typical for my profession in an area where jobs in this field are hard to come by. I still have a lot of work to do in reducing my credit debts further, but at least they're manageable now:j

RAS

Hi

You might want to ferret out chevalier's excellent posts on mystery shopping and on-lie surveys. Little ways of getting another few quids worth into the budget thaty release a bit more towards the debts.