How can we cut back!?

stephbond89

Bloody hell i see why i never use forums, they are full of people who really dont want to help and just want to make you feel rubbish- or basically accuse you of lying!!!!

The thigns I have said are essential, are essential. Otherwise we wouldnt have them. We had a car on finance for £150 a month until June last year, we couldnt afford it, even though indirance was less and petrol was lower, we asked the company if they could take it back and for us to pay anything they needed once the car was sold. they took it back seeing as we werent able to pay it, and we got a 15 year old banger which barely even runs.

We went from Sky who were charging us almost £80 a month, as we had everything we could on it, plus we bought films every week. We couldnt afford it, we got rid and got a lower tariff with virgin, which is £40 a month with £11 line rental, the rest is usually call charges which we have to make to 0845 numbers, which are cheaper off a landline than mobile and calls which are essential to pay bills etc.

We moved from a £500 pcm flat, which was beautiful but too expensive, to a £405 a month 2 bed terrace- the cheapest we could find and the nearest to work for my husband we could get. (If anyone knows Warrington, they will know Stockton heath, that is the only place closer to my husbands work than where we live, and the houses there are ALOT more expensive).

We cut down our expensive phone bills from £40 a month, mine to £20 a month (but we have extras ontop of that which were non direct debit charge and VAT), and my husbands to £30 (the least it can be now until November). But there always seem to be extras everywhere on them, I have even gone as far as blocking 0845 outgoing calls on both phones so we cant be tempted to phone them.

But that doesnt seem to be getting through to some people :-S

bryanb

stephbond89 wrote: »

His work is part through a town centre, then he goes onto a dual carriageway, and then once off there, the roads are small and windy in the country side until he gets to his office. And as I said it is something we have considered, but he'd have to leave at 3pm to get to work on time, and wouldnt get home until almost 10am, giving him 5 hours between getting home and leaving again, thats not even enough time to get a decent sleep let alone get a shower before work again and have something to eat- also he doesnt want to put his life at risk on dark mornings cycling home- it is something he would do if he had to if the car literally had to go, but it is not somehting he can feasably do without having to change his shift pattern.

Have you thought of a moped instead of the car?

stephbond89

flubdub wrote: »

Although I agree your car is an essential (I have two little ones, and couldnt do without a car) you dont seem to want to change much too be honest, and saying things like your tv etc are essential is silly. That package is ridiclous, as is the car insurance. Cant you speak to virgin? Say you will leave if they dont lower the prices? Granted, you are in a contract, but they will still want you as a customer. Is the mobile broadband used at home?
As someone else said, cant you move nearer work? It would lower petrol, and probably car insurance too.
Have you been on your councils website on its bemefit calcultor to see if you will get Housing benefit when the baby is born? Although on that wage, I doubt it. Also the tax credits website have a tax credits calculator, check it to see what you will get when baby is born, and are you not entitled to working tax now?

Cant move closer to work, the area we live in now is the cheapest around, closer to his work the rent is around £600-£1000pcm. Even though petrol would be less, and car insurance definitely less, it wouldnt make up the difference enough, plus its sucha hassle having to move 4 months before a baby comes. And expensive to move, it cost us £150 for a removal van last time we moved as our car obviousky couldnt carry huge things like sofa and bed. Plus you have to find a bond of equal to rent, which is ok if you paid a large bond where you live now, but we only paid £400 so if our "new" rent was to be £700 we'd need to find £300 for it, plus estate agent costs. And no we cannot get a mortgage, nor would we want to.

We are not entitled to any benefits bar child tax credits when baby comes. I have been on the calculator and we will get a substantial amount as my husband "income" is acually only £1000-£1200 and the rest is untaxable expenses and travel allowance. We will get £6 a week housing benefit, not much at all.

I have tried phoning virgin and telling them I will leave if proces arent less, but I am already on the lowest I can be on, apart from the TV package the rest is the lowest option, the TV package is equivelant as having the 6 packages on Sky (without Movies and sport), so its not a HUGE TV package, but is large, and can be cut down, we dont need HD channels so I will look into cutting that back to the lower tariff.

stephbond89

Well if people maybe stopped going on about "get rid of the car", "get a second job", "get rid of mobile phones on a contract". None of that we can do. Not one of those things is helpful in the slightest. I would hate to see what you said if we were out on the town every week, smoked, and I got my hair done at a salon every month.

I understand people are trying to help, but they are obviously not reading that I am saying at all. I am looking for help in getting extra income maybe from places. not just "get another job", some actual advice in how to go about doing it!!!!

I find forums terribly unhelpful most of the time, but thought I would try this site as my husband was so adamant it was wonderful and the peple were fab, but for me, its been noting but annoying with people telling us our car isnt essential and car insurance mustnt be that much, gosh u must be lying about your tv license...i put it as it is. They are my monthly outgoings, the highest they will ever get, so someimes they're less. But do people not think I have shopped around for car insurance?? We;re with Tesco with no extras, and £500 excess so if our car does die, we wouldnt even bother claiming. A car worth £300 at most, and we pay £125 a month is pathetic I know, but I dont need people telling me that. I came on here to get adice, and once I say "this is essential", then people maybe need to think, ok so what else can she do. Not "GO AND CANCEL THE CONTRACT" :-s

stephbond89

bryanb wrote: »

Have you thought of a moped instead of the car?

good idea actually, insurance is less, tax is less, less to run...may actually look into it!

Just the initial price which is alot, but yes good idea. Will look into it, my husband used to drive a motorbike, so a moped could be a good idea. Then a family rail card for me the baby and him for longer journeys!

Thanks

Lokolo

stephbond89 wrote: »

good idea actually, insurance is less, tax is less, less to run...may actually look into it!

Just the initial price which is alot, but yes good idea. Will look into it, my husband used to drive a motorbike, so a moped could be a good idea. Then a family rail card for me the baby and him for longer journeys!

Thanks

You got your first star. You will be a MSE addict by the end of the week

Mark_In_Hampshire

If you're going to ask people to help you cut back, they're going to look at your list and make suggestions. If you do put your situation in the public arena and ask for advice it's pointless then arguing with other peoples' opinions. They are after all the opinions of complete strangers who did not have to respond to you. IMO, Opinions4U's post is spot on.

If you claim that cable TV, broadband and phone are essentials, people are going to disagree with you. When we had cable TV years ago I'd have said it was essential but when we moved and couldn't get cable, we didn't miss it and wondered why we wasted (opinion) so much money on it before having hundreds of channels when (opinion again) only the BBC makes any new quality content and that's free at point of delivery; you have to pay the TV licence anyway if you have one.

Nobody is suggesting you do the impossible. Even if you can't get out of contracts now, you can prepare to do that when it does become possible and look ahead. However the entire basis of this thread is the definition of essential when looking at what to cut back and not everyone is going to agree.

IHateDida

I know you say no company would want a pregnant worker - but there are many temping companies that hire a worker for just a week for say reception cover - I've been there, done it! They also have no requirements to keep you on so as long so shouldn't mind too much with you being pregnant - if I were you, I would register with as many temping agencies as possible - you never know you might get a weeks work before you get maternity pay?

Also - have you looked in to possibly childminding? Just wondered if you could combine this with becoming a mum? Or how about babysitting now? Or even a paper-round with your husband?

Do you have anything you could get rid of on Ebay?

Other than that I would say survey and opinion sites - although not much - every little helps?

Help_required_5

stephbond89 wrote: »

I am looking for help in getting extra income maybe from places. not just "get another job", some actual advice in how to go about doing it!!!!

I have got an idea, send me your address I will send you a cheque for gracing us with our presence.

[STRIKE]I am sorry if this will sound harsh to you[/STRIKE] actually I am not sorry for saying this, for you everything is either essential or "it's only £10, its not a lot". I am not sure why you are on this forum if you can not take on board all the constructive advice that has come your way?

If you were to call your mobile phone company and tell them that you simply can not afford the bills and will be defaulting, chances are that they will either ask you to reduce your mins and drop the price or if you are lucky let you keep your mins at a lower rate.

I really do not understand why mobile internet is essential for a security man? He is not busy surfing the net when he is suppose to be working is he?

You live in a fantasy world and certainly can not do your numbers. When someone dares to point out the inconsistencies, like i am about to, you think that they are accusing you of lying.

stephbond89 wrote: »

a galon (which costs around £8) will get him around 30 miles (he drives sensibly but all the roads here are small windy roads not motorways), so that gets him to work and home 1 and a half times

If what you said is true then do you know what that means? Petrol cost per shift that your dear husband does costs him £5.33 (that is £8/1.5). That is just Petrol costs. Insurance is costing your husband £5.67 per shift (that is £124.80/22, in case you need further explanation the calculation is based on the monthly insurance cost that you gave on the first page and the fact that your husband works 22 shifts per month). So without even considering road tax, mot etc just petrol and insurance is costing your husband c£11 per shift.

stephbond89 wrote: »

He works 22 shifts a month, and by god they're not short shifts, he works from 5pm to 8am that's 15 hours and he works nights.

stephbond89 wrote: »

he just ended up having to get a lift to work from his boss (which take his hourly rate down by 50p per hour as this is classed as travel allowance on his wages).

Now if he were to get a lift from his boss everytime he goes to work (let me guess your excuse why he can not do this, his boss doesn't work the same shifts as him so he can't do. If I counter it with another suggestion I am sure you will have another great excuse ready) he will lose out on 15 hours X 50p/h = £7.50. He will not have to pay tax and NI on the lost wage so the real cost to him is £5.17 (thats £7.50 less 31% PAYE and NI) so the total save is £5.83 per shift so monthly saving is £128.26 even if you don't include the tax saved he would still save £3.50 per shift so £70 a month plus whatever is saved on mot, repairs etc.

You clearly have not heard of the saying that pennies make a pound... your monthly shortfall is c£100 which means that £10 saved here, £10 saved there may reduce the deficit to £0

I am sure you will accuse me of something or the other and also tell us how harsh the people are on this board but hey it doesn't make a difference to me cause I started typing this message I was well p!ssed off but now I have come to a conclusion that you either live in your own fantasy world or are a troll.

End of rant!

flubdub

Help_required wrote: »

I have got an idea, send me your address I will send you a cheque for gracing us with our presence.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::T:T:T pmsl