When Did I Upset Karma Gods So Much- HELP

masueuk

The two credit card rates ... well both cards are stopped now. CCCS told me to call them to warn we were in the sewage so that are both stopped but interest is continuing and will do until November at earliest. On the income side I may be returning to work soon if we can get my employer to find something I am able to do now. Not yet able to say how much that would be for though.

The home phone is also the business phone, so although the costs are here ... they are mostly business related. We have a new business, just over a year old so it is still fragile financially, as it is improving all the time, more of these costs are switching to the business, when we can.

Pet insurance, my dog is 11 years old and frankly one of the few things which stop me walking into the sea. He has quite a few health problems some of which have incurred bills costing several thousand, so cant now get cover for them with anyone else. Doesnt matter that I have saved them money by looking after him so well. The big dogs cost £1 a day in food each. The eating out, coffee etc were all from the Budget planner, I felt I had to put something in, but to be honest we dont really go out much at the best of times. Equally, I havent had time to save food bills to see what is actually being spent so it was a rough estimate of £100 which is also way over. The pet costs are for hydrotherapy for my 11 year old... I know most people will think it is purely a luxury item but it has kept him pain free pretty much for 11 years, so if he isnt getting this he will almost certainly shorten his life by needing painkillers, the vet agrees with me on that. Please do not think I am some silly wooly headed person about this. I have done more research on pain control and treatment of hip dysplasia than plenty vets have. If you had a child with disability you would understand. My dog is loved no less.

Just tried switching food brands for the dogs.... even they left the room the smell was so bad. Euuugh.. over the years I have tried about all of the food brands and this one they, and anyone with a sense of smell, are happy with.

Will look at ebay again for kids clothes..... my nearly step daughter lives with her mother who buys her whatever she wants..... at 7 she got full sky for her own room !! but personally I have no problem buying them off ebay,,, so will go there next time.

The clothes for us budget,,, not sure where that one came from.... certainly not my wardrobe... this summer consisted of three new t shirts on a buy two get one free for £12 I think... maybe it should have been £4.67 OH is quite proud of his charity shop jackets.. got a lovely Austin Reed sports jacket for a tenner two years ago.

I am keeping a note of what is being spent now on everything, so should have a better picture by my CCCS meeting in early September.

I am sorry if I sound defensive... I know everyone is helping.... I guess its just being at the "how could I have done this to myself" stage so feel like everyone is going to attack me for it. SORRY.

Got to go list things on ebay now:T thank heavens for people who want to buy our rubbish... especially the overseas ones :j all those lovely postal charges

MrsTinks

masueuk wrote:

Income
Salary £1070pm
Incapacity ben: 347pm Sorry to pry here... what are the chances of returning to work? I am assuming this is for you as your SOA indicates the work vehicle is your partners?
total 1417

Expenditure £2943.22 made up of

Mortgage / Rent £310.00 varies depending on borrowing total, as at £65k
Buildings & Contents Insurance £41.97 legal and general Use a cashback site like Quidco and then uswitch
Council Tax £105.00
Water Rates / Meter £20.97
Electricity Bill £55.00 Dual energy until Oct 2007
Home Phone Bill £50.15 ntl ASKED THEM TO REDUCE THEY SAID NOOO Whyyyyy?
Internet Bill £9.99 ntl
Mobile Phone Bill(s) £70.89 mostly business related calls vodafone Is this your own business? Partners business or emplyed? If employed then this is reclaimable, if self employed then this needs to be in your business accounts and NOT your private accounts.
garage £35.93 needed for work car and storage This again should be either reclaimable or in the business accounts (this should be reclaimable against Tax!)
Mortgage Payment Insurance £40.32 Shop around, is this the bes deal?
Mortgage Term Assurance £64.06 Ditto
Pet Insurance £49.95 Ditto and use quidco - I got about £18 back when I moved my pet insurance
Gas & Plumbing Cover £7.31
Other Insurance £17.44 loan insurance for northern rock Ditto
Food & Household Shopping £433.00 Ouch! Check the OS board, menu plan and cut back!!!! There are only 2 of us and we eat well for about £100-150 a month. I could lower it but we enjoy our food and wine...
Eating Out £15.00 Gotta go
Coffee / Sandwiches Out £5.00 Ditto
Pet Food £75.00 3 dogs, two big ones I have a dog and two cats. Unless one has a special dietary requirement then this is WAY out of proportion. Friends of mine feed two english mastiffs and they do not cost this much. Find alternative feed, maybe tripe?
Drinks for Home £10.00 Gotta go
Other Eats, Drinks & Smokes £20.00 Gotta go no smokes though, both of us quit 3 years ago.
Car Maintainence £10.00
Car Insurance £73.76 Class 2 for work car plus old car of mine Can this be lowered? Also remember if selfemplyed you should eb able to claim back some of the running costs of the vehicle and wear and tear against your tax bill. Use quidco for cashback!Car Tax £18.33
Parking £5.00
Petrol / Diesel / Gas £125.00 mostly work running
Personal Loan Repayments £537.34
Credit Card Repayments £110.00 does not include MBNA which OH pays from business.
Other Loan Repayments £30.00
Children's Travel £150.00 OH daughters live 70 plus miles away but that isnt happening just now... not a saving we welcome though Is this usually pretrol or train/bus etc?
Hobbies £0.00
Pet Costs £52.00 Huh? Is this toys for the dogs? Mine is spoilt with a knuckle bone from pets at home each week at about £1...
Big Days Out £0.00
Book / Music / Films / Games £0.00
Cinema / Theatre Trips £12.00 Gotta go
TV Licence £11.00
Cost of Christmas £33.33 Lower
Cost of Winter Holiday £25.00 week in UK Gotta go
Cost of Summer Holiday £25.00 week in UK Gotta go
Cost of Birthdays £20.00 Get on to pigsback and quidco and all the survey places you can find... use the vouchers from there for pressies
New Clothes £41.67 Lower it
New Childrens Clothes £17.00 Ebay and charity shops
Work Clothes £20.00
Your Courses £20.00 What are these for? Can they go?
Regular Charity Donations £0
Newspapers / Magazines £2.80 Gotta go
Dentistry £3.33
Haircuts £4.16 Gotta go check with local hairdressers if they need models for trainees to practise on
Optical Bills £4.17
Complimentary Therapies £23.00 Sports Physio for OH who has real problems with joints Will this be ongoing? I went to a physio for some time too but this IS availble on the NHS, just takes time.

I have listed everything I can think of on there but you need to do it. We can tell you till the proverbial cows come home, only you can do it.
The fact your OH's ex has now stopped access to his daughter is a problem. Regardless of what happens then unless you can all work this out by talking and being nice etc then the court costs and solicitors fees can be astronomical. My father fought for years to get access to my half sister with no luck. Close friends have spent 10's of thousands of pounds on solicitors and going to and from court because the mother of his child is a cantancarous hag... Work as hard as you can on working this out outside of court if you can.

MrsTinks

Sorry I was writing my post whilst you posted again so ignore the stuff you have already answered When I feel a bit better I'll come back and see if I can come up with anything else

mrs_mug_2

Its blinking hard coming on here and opening up your personal expenses to everyone, isnt' it? I found I felt very defensive when people commented on what should go. I thought about it for a few hours and came on an said sorry for being pathetic and in the end felt better for posting my SOA.

I know exactly how you feel about your dogs. I'm an animal lover - always had cats, dogs and horses. And all of them have lived to old age and the vets bills that go with it. And I know I couldn't get rid of my animals or the bills, no matter how much I was struggling to pay for them. Big ((hug))

It is amazing what you can manage to sell too, I've made over £100 this week alone and I thought I'd sold everything. It does become addictive though - I think my husband is worried what is going to be listed next.

Good luck with it all, it will all work out ok in the end.

Little_Miss_Winner

Hi and welcome,

While i realise just how difficult it is to come on here and bare your "soul" to all, there are so many things you can get rid of on your soa. Pls bear in mind theses are only my opinions, and this is what i would do;-

Mortgage Term Assurance £64.06 - Is your mortgage a repayment? if so, ditch this! You already have ppi so don't think this is needed?
Gas & Plumbing Cover £7.31 - Bye, have you really ever used this?
Other Insurance £17.44 loan insurance - Again, get rid, you don't need this.
Food & Household Shopping £433.00 - are there only 2? If so reduce to £200, and stick to it.
Eating Out £15.00
Coffee / Sandwiches Out £5.00 - Another £20 saved!
Cinema / Theatre Trips £12.00 - You can't afford the cinema.
Other Eats, Drinks & Smokes £20.00 - ??
Cost of Winter Holiday £25.00 week in UK
Cost of Summer Holiday £25.00 week in UK - You can't afford to holiday -sorry
New Clothes £41.67
New Childrens Clothes £17.00
Work Clothes £20.00 - These 3 will have to stop for now.

THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE MONEY IS EARN MORE, AND/OR SPEND LESS - THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO DO IT.

By slashing the above, there is already an instant saving of £490. That's nearly £6,000 a year, think what you could pay off every year with that?

I'm sorry if my posts offends you, but unless you a get a hold off the reigns now, you may find yourself in further trouble months,years down the line. This needs urgent tackling now.

New clothes, coffees, cinema etc.... all don't give you a restful nights sleep as you are experiencing at the moment, ditch the lot, and work hard at paying it off. I won't kid you and tell you it will be easy it won't.
A lot of otheres on these boards have managed/are managing to do it, and feel a great sense of pride in paying back their debts. Can you do it to??

Hugs
pot
x

patwa_2

I would ditch themagazines, you could share amongst neighbours/colleagues. You can also get news on the radio, as well as gossip etc. Think about getting a hair cutter. You can cut each other's hair, the trimmer is about £20 so a saving there of £28 a year. Dito for the dentist (unless that's for insurance or something and you really need it).

Definitely look at the food bill. Do you have a clubcard/similar? You can use the vouchers as cash (article on this website) and also coupons off the net to save money.

Not sure about this but maybe you could look into getting an all-in-one cover for your mortgage as that's £100 a month just there in your protection plan.

i would get rid of your protection plans for credit cards. Your creditors know you're in trouble, and this is just adding more to the pile.

NTL said you couldn't downgrade? Look into switching if you can. Sorry to sound disheartening but this isn't going to go away anytime soon, and sometimes it's cheaper in the long run to pay any cancellation charges and switch provider to someone who's cheaper. Look at your calls, if you're on a pay-as-you-go tariff, look into getting an all-calls package where you cn get inclusive calls. Ditto for the mobile, if you can get a contract that is cheaper, if you're out of contract you should be able to get 500+ mins per month on a cashback plan at £35 or less per month.

I fully agree with the above poster's comment on clothes. From your figures, assuming they're all monthly figures, that's close to £500 a year on clothes. Look at local charity shops as well. There's nothing wrong with good quality second hand clothes, as long as you wash them and they're in good repair, offputting as this may sound.

Sorry if a lot of this sounds obvious, or if you've already covered it.

Cheers and take care. Remember every road has an ending, every night is followed by a dawn, and every cloud has a silver lining.

Hussein.