Help! Don't want to consolidate again.

judi24

Teenagers are 13 and 14. 2 girls. They fight like cat and dog!

Gemmzie

In regards to phone, definitely stick to your guns in that what they spend on phone etc they pay.

Know how you feel about water rates, I live in Cornwall :rolleyes:

southernscouser

I don't know much (actually very little) about mortgages but I was told by an independant mortgage advisor that the One Account is more for people who have a healthy bank balance. Having it while being in debt wouldn't be the best bet I would imagine! :think:

Post over on the Mortgage board and they will be able to help you better!

judi24

OK I started a spending dairy on monday as suggested. BUT it does not bode well. I made a packed lunch for work, and in my panic to get children out to various childminders (oh was on early shift) i left it on the kitchen counter! Nipped into TESCO at lunch time. I bought a cheese and bean wraps reduced from 2pounds to 1 pound (i have no pound sign on my keyboard). It cost me 60 pounds in total!! I did by loads of bogof stuff but it was completely unplanned spending.
My second problem came on Wed. I changed to Southern electric for gas and elec. 6 month ago. My bills were estimated at 30 pound a month each. In the six months since the switch my acounts are 481 and 571 in debit and they want to increase the satnding orders to 161 and 169. I have phoned them and they are allowing me to spread the cost of paying the arrears over 18 months reducing these a bit.
On a positive note I finnaly got round to applying for my student reduction in council tax so that will help to pay the gas and the elec and I contacted the CSA again about trying to get child support from my ex. I have had nothing for 10 years. He has been a student so did not have to pay anything apparently. It will probably take another 10 years to get anything through the CSA and the kids will have left home by the time I do!!
We have been away camping this weekend. It was meant to be a cheap weekend but probably cost us about 200 by yje time we paid for site fees, fuel, food and attraction entrances. It cost us anothe 200 cos my OH lost his glasses!!!
It did give us time to talk about the way forward with our debt problems. He has agreed that consolidation is not the way to go, and has agreed that we need to work hard and together to get rid of our debt. We want to buy a caravan and I have said I will not even consider it till we are debt free.
My one last bit of frivolous spending till we are debt free was to buy a money box. It is a hippy VW camper van just to remind us of our goal!!!

CLAPTON

well you've made a start although not maybe the one you hoped for.

for food/supermarket shopping...make a weekly meal plan and hence make a shopping list. only buy from the list with no impulse buys.

have been actually checked the elect/gas meter readings to see whether the figures are correct? If they are correct or anyway high, think about how you can reduce them for next time...reduce the time the central heating and hot water is on...say reduce by an hour in the morning and the same in the evening and see if anyone notices.

200 for a pair of glasses? what about two for one at specsavers... i paid 150 for two reasonable looking pairs of varifocal lens glasses (one clear and one tinted).

you need to add a line in your budget for weekends/holidays.
and a line for 'unexpected' emergencies like losing pairs of glasses

judi24

I do normally do a shopping list, but I often impulse buy aswell especially if I take any of the kids with me. I have tried internet shopping but I often got substitutes or short dated items which meant I had to do extra shopping during the week. I might try it again.
I checked the gas meter when I phoned Southern electric and they adjusted our usage accordingly, but I know we need to radically reduce out energy consumption. Our hot water is on a combi boiler and the heating hasn't been on for several months. The electricity though is a concern cos they estimate our elec usage is about 80 pounds a month which is very high. I will have to work on that.
I'm guessing about the glasses. He does use specsavers but one of the kids broke his second pair a while ago, so now he's using his contact lenses until he gets a new pair.

Anyway tomorrow is a new day and a new week. I will start a spending diary again.

judi24

Week 2 -
I went to asda today to do my weeks shop. Things were bad, i even had to borrow a slice of bread from my mum for the baby's dinner. I was determined not to go into a shop without planning the weeks meals and writing a list.
I managed to get my full weeks shop for 78 pound which to some may seem alot. But when you consider my shopping has been getting more expensive with it regularly costing 140, i feel quite pleased.
My OH and I started again with the spending diary. But I paid for the shopping while he paid for the diesel. He says he's doing better than me cos he only spent 20 pounds to my 78. I told him to starve for the week and I won't use his car!

On a more serious note - I have been accepted for a Capital One CC with 18 month 0% on balance transfers. What I wan't to know is should I try to pay off our HSBC 29.5% interest laon with my asda CC at 14.9% then transfer that onto the 0% card along with as many other CC balances as possible or only transfer CC balanced onto the new card and try and save to pay the loan off faster?

I'm also a little worried about taking more credit to pay what we owe, but this site seems to recommend it.

I have also got to say that this site is very adictive! I have spent many an hour reading pages and pages of threads when I should be studying!

jonesMUFCforever

If you spend many hours reading on here then you can't be spending elswhere - So I say carry on!

CLAPTON

for advice about moving debt between loans/cc etc you need to post the precise details.
for loans you need to post the current settlement figure (ask the credit company and get it in writing) also the current monthly payment and number of months still to pay....also the credit limits on the cards and there APRs..both special rate and when the promotion rate finsishes.
Also you refer to your HSBC loan but according to your original post you dont have a HSBC loan.

judi24

Sorry its an HFC loan at 29.5% and I do need to get exact figures for this. I think its around 1700 now with 29 months left to pay but these are not exact. I'll try to get figures soon and post exact amounts. The ASDA CC has a balance of 500 pounds and a credit limit of 5000 with an APR of 14.9%
All the other CC are not on a promotional rate and APRs are 14.9 except the MIINT its 15.9%
All the CC's except the ASDA card is in my OH's name but we consider the debt ours rather than his.