Hi, newbie (ish) SOA

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi Hun

Firstly...well done hun for doing this:T

can I ask some questions please?

(1)What does the grocery at £125pw cover?
(2)Kitchen appliance cover-what appliances does this cover?
(3)Are you tied into a monthly mobile contract?
(4)What talk talk plan are you on as I pay £8.99 pm and all my calls are free 24/7 and thought this was the dearest plan they did
(5)Is the petrol usage correct?
(6)Is your car insurance due for re-newal soon?

Your utilities seem fine to me, but the water seems a little high-are you on a meter?

Have you contacted any of your creditors explaining your financial situation-they may freeze interest for you and acceot a token payment whilst your sorting out everything..may be worth a try. As you are on IS this should be quite easy. My sister recently contacted 2 creditors and she owed more than you...they accepted £5 and £10 a month.

All the best.

PP
xx

Edinburghlass_2

A TalkTalk plan that costs £8.99 for calls is not free calls 24/7, you are paying £8.99 for those calls. Unless you make a lot of calls every day, every month you are cheaper just having line rental with BT at £11 a month and putting all calls through 1899.

AOL are giving existing customers a better deal at the moment, read this thread... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=221299

Pop over to the Telephone Boards and let us know what the TalkTalk plan is and we can sort out a better solution for you Kaz

twink

well done for posting kaz, if you are on is, is there any chance of a grant from the school towards school uniform, mine are grown up now, but i seem to remember there was something like that here

msmicawber

In addition to Twink's posting, someone posted a useful site on here the other day where you can buy and sell school uniforms - if there's someone else reading this who took a note and didn't then lose it, perhaps they could post it up again. Also, Tesco were running a promotion recently where you could sign up for £25 worth of clothing vouchers just to receive their newsletter - it's worth looking at their site to see if the offer's still open.

Kazonline

Hi everyone - again sorry for my typos in my original SOZ - clapton, I think the difference in my total is because I put weekly instead of 4 weekly for my CHB.
Dorry, I would love to hear any tips you may have on selling on amazon - I've not yet tried and as I have loads of books it'd probably be a good idea - thank you.
I stick with AOL because I've figured my way around it - including parental controls etc. Until recently all their help was free, but I know that they now charge for tech help phone calls - the online live help is still free.
I will also take a look at the link for deals with them later.
I did try to borrow extra on my mortgage earlier this year as my fixed period had come to an end. Most lenders wouldn't even consider me as I was on IS, but thankfully my lenders did offer me a new rate, but wouldn't consider lending me any more.
Interestingly IS are even prepared to pay interest on a higher ammount providing it was used for important improvements (eg my back door that leaks water). However I couldn't find a company to help.
The grocery bill covers everything that I spend on from week to week, food, cleaning stuff (down a lot thanks to OS), treats, meds, etc.
The kitchen appliance cover covers my w/m, cooker, fridge, freezer and t/drier.
I am tied into a monthly mobile contract - but I do have 100 mins and 100 text messages with it, plus my phone is my camera. My thinking is perhaps I ought to use my landline for incoming calls only and drop the talk talk...
I need to look again at my talk talk as having pulled out my bills it doesn't seem to tally with what I foudn on my bank statements (where I got all my figures). I've probably use two mobile bill debits instead of one mobile one landline.
Yep, my car insurance is due renewal fairly soon. I think it's december ish, but the tax and MOT aren't until april ish.
I have received a grant for DS2's unifrom - £72. Eldest will be receivng EMA and has thankfully agreed to pay for his uniform out of that. I feel sickly guilty about it, but I suppose that's what the money is supposed to be for.
The vouchers from Mr T for clothes sound good so I'll go and have a nosey at that.
The Talk talk I'm on is option 3 by the way, and shows on the bill as £11.05, with a discount of £4.26 (don't know what for) and then there's the odd call added as they charge for 0845 numbers.
My Water is supplied by a meter (here before we moved in) and we do shower mostly with v.occasional baths (though DS1 showers for so long I'm sure he could fill a swimming pool!)
Sorry I've not replied all day but when I get stressed I sleep - so I've spent the afternoon unconscious on the sofa.
Thank you again everyone for your input. I'll tackle some more tomorrow when my head is a little clearer.
Cheers all,
Kaz x

AussieLass

Kaz, well done on posting your SOA. I can't really add to anything that's been said as everyone has really good advice. But I was just wondering if you could make your ex pay child maintenance? I wasn't sure what those things are in your income column so if one of them is it, forget my suggestion.

Kazonline

I've managed to get hold of my cc companies today and here are the rates along with the amounts again

Halifax £2145 payments £44pm 16.45%
Egg £5030 payments £104pm 15.9%
HSBC £1285 Payment £38pm 15.9%
AOL £4620 Payment £50 14.9%
Virgin £70 Payment £5 24.9%
Overdraft £1570 15.9%

Obviously the Virgin has to go - in all honesty I thought I'd paid this one off some months ago when I last attempted to tackle my debt. Somehow some was left (probably interest) and I've had my head in the sand over it ever since.
The worst thing about this debt is that I've very little to show for it. Most of it was accumalated by staying in work = more out than in. The only holiday we've had for 6 years has been to my mothers in Cornwall (very cramped - involves camping on decking). The house is in dire need of decor - all furniture is falling apart (I've become excellent at 'make do and mend') I often become agraphobic as I've few clothes that fit it's really embarassing.
My real luxury is my pc & office (furnished whole room nicely for £200 - inc carpets paint and furniture) - only justified because I needed it to work and 3 boys for school work. Also my car - an old Volvo estate that I love dearly (sad I know). At least if we had a 'nice' home I'd feel that we had something to show - yet I don't want to move because the children are so settled here.

Would you believe that as I type this there's been 3 debt adverts in a row??? I'm sure someone is spying on me - it's like that film 'Bruce almighty', lol.
Sorry to waffle, but it's good to get it off my chest.
Kaz x

Penelope_Penguin

AussieLass wrote:

Kaz, well done on posting your SOA. I can't really add to anything that's been said as everyone has really good advice. But I was just wondering if you could make your ex pay child maintenance? I wasn't sure what those things are in your income column so if one of them is it, forget my suggestion.

Hi, Aussie. CSA is the Child Support Agency. It's an ever-more discredited organisation, which encourages/obliges the absent parent to provide for their children. Kaz's ex is paying maintenance this way, if I remember the original post.

Penny. x

Penelope_Penguin

Kaz, hi! I put on the daily thread that if you want more assistance, PM me. I'm back at work on Thursday, so will be able to access info from there.

Best wishes, Penny. x

msmicawber

Hi Kaz,

I'm still looking for ways you could economise and notice you have an old Volvo estate, but that your insurance is £300pa. I pay less than £200pa fully comp. on mine, so would recommend shopping around.

I would also query your income figures. With the benefits that come in 4-weekly, divide by 4, then multiply by 52, then divide by 12 to get a true calendar monthly figure (there's probably a quicker calculation that can be done by someone who isn't as cr*p at maths as me!).

I found it very difficult to deal with creditors by myself - they just kept asking for a settlement or for monthly payments that were more than I earned, let alone had spare - so would recommend a trip to the CAB, who can negotiate freezing the interest and getting monthly repayments that you can meet.