Can anybody help us???

icklejulez

Income every 4 weeks:
OH 1088
Mine 600
Child benefit 112
TAx credit 280

Total: 2080


OH Expenditure:

Bill amount
Halifax Loan 221.71
life ins(norwich union)20.23
tv licence 10.99
Sophie Nursery 260
Northern Rock 358.51

electric 30.49
o2 35
council tax 96
sky 18
gas 30.5
AOL 15.99
Petrol one pm 200
water 32.38
car ins 43.72
tesco loan168.6
ring 22.11
bt 25


Total: 1592.23

My Expenditure:
Food & Nappies 200
Fags 60
Mobile 15
Baby Milk 30
Dinner Money 20
train fare 60
Soph savings to CTF 10
Ben savings to CTF 10
rockwell Debt Company 41
nspcc 2

Total: £464.80

Total Expenditure = £2057.03

Can anyone see ways to get out of this??? This is also the minimum we can spend on food at the mo, ideally it should be 50% or 100% larger. Also if we have any Bdays or clothes to buy etc we are in a mess and starting to pay payments late. We should be moving house in order to be close to work and save on petrol and train fare and also I can work more hours but untill we even get an offer on ours we could be here for months.

Emmzi

Welcome, some questions for you. It doesn't look like you're living that extravagently though...
there are 2 ways to do it, get costs down or income up...

costs
- where is rent/ mortgage? is that northern rock?
- do you get childcare vouchers through your employer to get the tax benefit?
- you can't afford any savings for the kids at the moment, I think they have to go - can you do that?
- smoking has to go (sorry) - see doctor for nicotine replacement therapy on prescription
- £50 a month on mobiles is a lot. Do you really NEED aS OPPOSED TO want this, can you get PAYG for emergency use only?
- nspcc - you can't afford this right now.
- sky - you can't afford it, how long until you can cancel?
rockwell debt compnay - sounds a little dodgy, what is this?

income

can either of you get overtime?
lodger?
do paid babysitting in the evenings

Annie_Fanny

icklejulez wrote:

Income every 4 weeks:
OH 1088 (Gross or net?)
Mine 600
Child benefit 112
TAx credit 280

Total: 2080


OH Expenditure:

Bill amount
Halifax Loan 221.71 (How long is the term? APR? Amount taken out?)
life ins(norwich union)20.23
tv licence 10.99
Sophie Nursery 260
Northern Rock 358.51 (What's this? Questions as above.)

electric 30.49
o2 35 (Whose is this? Do you really need it as there is a mobile below?)
council tax 96
sky 18 (Get rid and get a freeview box.)
gas 30.5
AOL 15.99
Petrol one pm 200
water 32.38
car ins 43.72
tesco loan168.6 (How long is the term? APR? Amount taken out?)
ring 22.11 (?)
bt 25


Total: 1592.23

My Expenditure:
Food & Nappies 200
Fags 60 (Quit pronto! Money up in flames!)
Mobile 15
Baby Milk 30
Dinner Money 20 (Who is this for?)
train fare 60
Soph savings to CTF 10 (Stop! I know it's hard but you will effectively be out of pocket by doing this. You can start again once you are out of debt. How much have you saved?)
Ben savings to CTF 10
rockwell Debt Company 41 (Who the heck are they?)
nspcc 2 (Stop!)

Total: £464.80

Total Expenditure = £2057.03

Can anyone see ways to get out of this??? This is also the minimum we can spend on food at the mo, ideally it should be 50% or 100% larger. Also if we have any Bdays or clothes to buy etc we are in a mess and starting to pay payments late. We should be moving house in order to be close to work and save on petrol and train fare and also I can work more hours but untill we even get an offer on ours we could be here for months.

Can you tell us all amounts/APRs/terms on your debts please?

Thanks

Annie

icklejulez

Thanks for all your help, I'll work my way down your questions:

NR is my mortgage. No tie in as were planning on moving so fees are slightly higher than they should be.
No childcare vouchers through employer, I did volunteer the information to them but GM is a witch!
Yes I can stop the savings for kids, I will get on to this.
My OH smokes, he has tried to quit twice and really gets stressed which could affect his job as it is customer facing and he is after promotion.
Mobiles are stuck in a contract I have one in case Im out with kids and OH has one so he can phone me from work on his breaks as we dont see much of each other, so the free minutes are usefull.
Nspcc I will look into cancelling.
Sky has 4 months remaining on contract, we did cancel but they caught my OH on a bad day when he was missing sky sports and offered him the full sports package for £18 and he couldnt resist!!!
Rockwell took over my Barclays overdraft on around 2.5k 2 years ago. I was paying £20 a week originally but I doubled it when Id paid another debt off. I think 2 months ago they offerd me a chance to pay it off for £1200 instead of £1800. Im certain there is no interest.

Witch of a GM is trying to make budgt so insists on no overtime dispite no staff. We already work 6 days a week though. We own a small 2 bed new build house and have a toddler and a 9 month ols so space is a nightmare no chance of a lodger and finally having 2 small kids would make babysitting impossible, mine dont sleep.


Income is ???Net??? After tax!

Off quick figures Halifax loan is 7 years at 5.4% for £15k
Tesco loan is 5 years at similar rate for £10k

Ring is paying off my engagement ring over 3 years, final payment in Feb 07.
Dinner money for OH and I at £1 a meal(decent meal) from work as we work nights so we are not at home at meal time. It is subsidised by work.

Child savings are around £150 for 2 year old and £70 for youngest. They are locked in though so cannot be accessed. I will however cancel these.

Thanks for all your time etc. Without my OH present I cannot guarentee the figures on loans etc but they were really good rates so Im confident they couldn't really be improved.

Emmzi

One thing I would say is, with debt going to Rockwell, you have defaults on your credit file anyway. So I don't know if you have much to lose looking at an IVA or DMP via Payplan or CCCS or similar, if you are struggling.

Are you familiar with these options, and how do you feel about them?

Smashing

Rail fares - have you looked into whether getting a railcard or weekly/monthly ticket would work out cheaper?

My OH smokes, he has tried to quit twice and really gets stressed which could affect his job as it is customer facing and he is after promotion.

Many smokers think that cigarettes help them to calm down. This is because of nicotine cravings that occur between cigarettes. Withdrawal from the drug makes you feel worse, and your good mood is restored when the craving is satisfied with another cigarette.

Smoking increases stress levels due to the constant need to top up nicotine levels. Your anxiety may also be increased if you are worrying about giving up. Scientific studies show that anxiety levels actually go down once you quit, because your mood is no longer dependent on a drug.

Many people feel irritable and stressed when they quit smoking, but it is important to remember this is a sign of the body repairing itself from the effects of nicotine. If you are finding the cravings difficult to resist, the NHS offers a range of Stop Smoking services to help you quit.

The support you need is available from a range of locally based services that are provided for free by the NHS. Depending on what suits you, the Stop Smoking campaign runs one-to-one and group sessions to help you through the process of quitting.

The first couple of weeks are spent planning and preparing to give up before you actually quit. Specially trained advisers will tell you about the treatments available to beat the cravings, such as nicotine patches and gum. They will also help you to get this medication on prescription.

You can find your local NHS Stop Smoking service by calling 0800 169 0 169.

(from NHS direct)

icklejulez

Emmzi wrote:

One thing I would say is, with debt going to Rockwell, you have defaults on your credit file anyway. So I don't know if you have much to lose looking at an IVA or DMP via Payplan or CCCS or similar, if you are struggling.

Are you familiar with these options, and how do you feel about them?

I have heard about them but not sure what this would mean? Would it affect my credit history further as the default was from 2001? Im hoping it will dissapear off my file next year. I am after a new mortgage soon so Im hoping that I will be ok.

icklejulez

Smashing wrote:

Rail fares - have you looked into whether getting a railcard or weekly/monthly ticket would work out cheaper?



Many smokers think that cigarettes help them to calm down. This is because of nicotine cravings that occur between cigarettes. Withdrawal from the drug makes you feel worse, and your good mood is restored when the craving is satisfied with another cigarette.

Smoking increases stress levels due to the constant need to top up nicotine levels. Your anxiety may also be increased if you are worrying about giving up. Scientific studies show that anxiety levels actually go down once you quit, because your mood is no longer dependent on a drug.

Many people feel irritable and stressed when they quit smoking, but it is important to remember this is a sign of the body repairing itself from the effects of nicotine. If you are finding the cravings difficult to resist, the NHS offers a range of Stop Smoking services to help you quit.

The support you need is available from a range of locally based services that are provided for free by the NHS. Depending on what suits you, the Stop Smoking campaign runs one-to-one and group sessions to help you through the process of quitting.

The first couple of weeks are spent planning and preparing to give up before you actually quit. Specially trained advisers will tell you about the treatments available to beat the cravings, such as nicotine patches and gum. They will also help you to get this medication on prescription.

You can find your local NHS Stop Smoking service by calling 0800 169 0 169.

(from NHS direct)

I can tell him and tell him but it's no good coming from me if his heart isn't in it too. Ive asked him to quit for our children before but failed both times. His mum would kill him if she knew he smoked and with the eledst starting to speak more and more you'd think he'd be panicking but he isn't. I'll show him these threads but he's been smoking for 15years.

Jessiepig

Forgive me but how does his mum not know he smokes. As a previous smoker (non smoker for 15 years) I can smell smoke instantly.
Smokers think they can disguise it well by smoking outside or spraying perfume but it only makes it worse.
I think his mum must know

icklejulez

Jessiepig wrote:

Forgive me but how does his mum not know he smokes. As a previous smoker (non smoker for 15 years) I can smell smoke instantly.
Smokers think they can disguise it well by smoking outside or spraying perfume but it only makes it worse.
I think his mum must know

You'd of thought so but she is very outspoken and am sure would of confronted him. She smokes herself but he still wont tell her. If he knows he's going to see her he wont smoke for a few hours before. He even travelled 24hours on a plane journey lst year with her without having one the whole way. He is very crafty in hiding everything. Im sure his step father knows but everyone is frightened of his mum.

Jessiepig

If she smokes herself surely she cannot have a go at him.
However back to the cost, it is hard to give up unless you really want to but maybe he could try to cut down as much as possible and start reducing the cost that way.