Is this the best option!! All comments welcome

chivers1977

Could you become a childminder yourself. That way you are saving the money you would pay her and you could earn money whilst spending time with your child.

nellis10

CLAPTON wrote:

there is no mention of gas and electric....
what is B&C insurance?
is water charge includes in rate in NI?

Just a bit of clarity on behalf of Miss Moneypenny..

NIE is the electric board in northern ireland...we only have one supplier so cannot switch to cheaper suppliers here. Our rates bills do include water charges FOR NOW...they are coming on 2008 I believe as a separate charge...OUCH for us!!:eek:

leni

B&C Insurance I persummed to be Buildings and Contents?

Miss_Moneypenny_6

B&C is Building & Content insurance

Miss_Moneypenny_6

Hi all,


NIE is the one & only electricity company in "Norn Iron", so nothing I can do there,

Sky - going to talk to OH about freeview, phone

joined tiscalli recently so this was for a month & a half, hoping it will £26 from now on,

life insurance going to check this one out straight away

wouldn't want to cancel insurance related to mortgage (OH made redundant 3 times in last 4 yrs & made redundant myself in June).

My aim is to reduce shopping to at least £250 (then further as youngest will be out of nappies in 6mths) mortgage changing to approx £335 in Dec, Alliance & Leicester fixed for 2 years.

Starting a spending diary.

I wish getting rid of one of the cars was an option as I hate paying out my months wages on fuel alone but OH works an hour & a half away, looked into buses he would have to leave at 5:30am & not get to work till 10am (he starts at 8am), he has applied for a few jobs closer to home but has heard nothing yet, not much work where we live (that's why the houses are cheaper than Belfast).

Am going to reduce the xmas savings amount from 1st December, but use the extra money to pay off part of a debt - that would be a good chrissie pressie for me.

OH does extra work fixing computers so we have now agreed that 90% of this money is to pay off debts - 10% for a treat

Thanks to everyone for their advise & I hope you all achieve you debt free dates (and sooner). Any other comments or advise would be greatfully received.

Thanks - feeling much more positive now

EagerLearner

Re: insurances or any new product, if you do switch, use quidco.com so you get great CASHBACK and also make sure you don't just stick with the same providers each year - always lookabout when the year is ending, no mattwe what the product is - someone out there always wants you as a new customer.

For now, visit Quidco and open a Cahoot account - that will give you £25 cashback. Open one for your other half (if he sets up a Quidco account too) and he will get £25 cashback, he can then put odds & sods savings in there. That's £50 for nothing and will help you save - plus many other things Quidco can give you money for like broadband when the time comes, or changing electric etc.

Also join pigsback to help towards the Christmas presents - you convert your points to vouchers and it's easy - there is a dedicated Pigsback board on the Freeboes section.

Re: Christmas - can you buy small presents now on E-bay? These could be bought here and there and not be such a big burden in the Christmas build-up.

The money you do have in savings should really be put towards clearing something off, rather than paying high interest. Maybe the family just has to understand that you need this Christmas, maybe even next Christmas, to sort yourselves out first. This includes the charity donations - £60 a year is what you need for yourselves right now. You can always give money to charity once you're above water.

Good luck - and remember people are being harsh for a reason - it helps you assess things in the cold light of day ;o)

Miss_Moneypenny_6

Hi Eagerlearner & everyone else,

I can now say I have had my lightbulb moment.

Have reassessed, am reducing shopping budget to at most £60 a week, have been checking life in/assurance should be reducing by at least £15 a month, so only about £70 more to save a month for break even. I am sorry to say that, at the minute, I still can't bring myself to stop charity money, am starting to come to terms with the NSPCC (lucklily I don't know anyone who was in need of their services) but my dad died of cancer 2 years ago so it's something I'll have to work on.

I can't wait to tell OH about the day I've had and all the great help.

Thanks again for all the advise & for helping to get to my LIGHTBULB MOMENT.

Thanks

beanielou

Was going to suggest you reduce your Christmas saving but you have said why you are continuing at that amount.
Why dont you try something like Phoenix cards or Osbourne books to just increase your income just a wee bit meantime.
WElcome aboard by the way!