Lightbulb Moment

Gemmzie

Maybe a spending diary would help to work out exactly where the other expenses are going?

coxj2901

I've got my first mystery shoppping assignmemt tomorrow at an opticians. I will get £12 plus the £25 refunded for the eye test! I needed my eye's tested anyway so this has fallen nicely!

I wrote my bank a letter about 2 weeks ago stating that I thought the charges I had incurred over the last 6 years were not proportionate to the cost of sending the letters and had a letter back within 3 days stating that they were sorry I felt that way and would look into the matter for me.

How long should I give them before I write back? And what is the next steps in the process? I'm not even sure how many charges I have incurred (Def over £1,000) I didn't really want to spend £10 on requesting bank statements but if I have to then thats fine.

My OH also listed 22 items of clothing on ebay through the week so hopefully that should raise some extra cash.

P.S The magnitude of this has started to hit home! I think the first couple of weeks you get excited and adrenalin carries you through.

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Hi John,

Couple of quick tips.

2 cars is a luxury.

Could you not survive on one, for a while ???

e.g I cycle to work / Mrs Bestthingsinlifearefree has the car.

Spending diary great idea. It will be a real eye opener.

Get your OH really involved in this to e.g as a couple, one plan, one team, supporting each other to reach your family financial goals.

You have made a solid start.

Keep up the good work and maintain this progress.

I wish you well.

fairylights_2

coxj2901 wrote:

the nursery fees (they are for my eldest daughter who is 3 years old and starting pre-school in September) she gets to go from 9-11:15 for free each morning

This bothers me a little - from three they are entitled to five sessions free - that's irrespective of time of day. So you shouldn't have to pay for more than the lunchtime session if it's a normal preschool. If it's one attached to a school, they would charge for the morning session, the afternoon session, and then a bit more for the lunchtime group. I'd double check with them that they're right, because my son does four sessions, two afternoons and one full day, and we get four lots of help with it.

the other thing that niggles is the amount of "spending money" a month. Petrol should be in your budget as a necessary expense, but other odds and ends is where you'll fall down - when you're trying to cut back on your spending, there are no other odds and ends. We've just bought in the sales some new clothes for the kids, but that's it for them for a couple of months, especially for the older one who at nearly four only grows out of his clothes once a year now! I'd also put the gym membership in there. It's nice, but not really a necessity - and at more than £280 a year, the money could be put to better use elsewhere, don't you think?

Good luck!

dave318

John, You need to start the ball rolling properly re. the bank charges. Go to https://www.consumeractiongroup.com for all the info and avice. You need to ask for your full statements from the last 6 years, highlighting the charges you have made. The website above has a pro forma letter which you input your own details and gives you details of time frames, etc. Your letter so far won't actually do anything as it is not any statement of intent to reclaim and they have already fobbed you off.
Martin also has an article on this and has links to useful sites. I have just started this process too, and, after they receive your letter, (and £10 cheque) they have 40 days to send you the details.
Get on the website and do it proprly and officially.

Good Luck

frosty

If your wife starts working,you should be able to apply for extra tax credits for child care.

Holeypockets

hello mate,

Just a couple of quickie ideas.

I know you have only just started shopping online - with tesco. Have you tried Asda. They are cheaper and the quality is just the same. You can use online coupon codes and get money off. there is a thread on here for asda codes. I have saved a lot doing this.

Also, it is possible to get a cheap pair of hair clippers and cut your own hair (depending on hairstyle of course). This saved me a bit too.

Well done for your progress so far.

Emmzi

John,

you're doing really well. I'm sensing you really don't *want* to give up the second car cos you haven't mentioned it again!

It's your biggest 'luxury'. If you sold it you'd be able to pay a huge whack off debt and cut monthly commitments, as well as save running costs.

I would even not nag about sky if you sold it (which is not like me at all)

Is it a status thing for you? (eg if you work in sales often it's all about the motor...) Why do you want to hang on to it?

Feel free not to answer of course

Miss_Penny_Pincher_2

Lots of good advice on here but something that jumped out at me is the high interest that you are paying on some of your loans.

Is it possible to transfer some the loans on which you are paying a higher rate of interest to an unsecured loan with a lower interest rate? For example:

MBNA Unsecured Loan (12.9% APR) of £16,500
Firstplus Secured Loan (10.9%APR) of £26,000
TSB Loan (12.9% APR) of £5,400

Moved to:

Northern Rock Unsecured Loan (6.4% Variable) that you already have or perhaps another lower interest loan? The snowball calculator will show how much could be saved this way.

Also with A&L Premier Direct account they will give you a certain amount of interest free overdraft but they will change this to higher if you send them proof of your overdraft with your old current account. Ideally use the interest free money to pay off the Barclays overdraft to save on interest payments.

Don't want to be a nag but I really think you should get rid of the beamer at least until the loans are much more manageable.

Good luck with everything,

Penny x

coxj2901

I am at odds and ends with the car. It feels so gutting to pay £15k for a car and then sell it for £11k 8 weeks later. However I do realise that it would free up a lot of cash and help reduce some of the debt.

I am going to leave it for a month or so and see how I get on with all of the other things we are doing.

We've just done our second shop online and we spent £47 (This is for a family of four and a dog so I am pretty happy if we can maintain that as a weekly spend)

We've just listed some more items on ebay so I'm hoping that will raise some extra cash.

I have written to the A&L and asked them to increase the overdraft to match the £3,600 with Barclays. That way I can save the account fee plus the £20 interest :T

Bad news is that my mortgage is about to increase from the 1st September :mad: