Help! Is there anything we can do to get out of this mess?

Moi_63

Ames wrote: »

Benefits................................ 172 is this just child benefit? Have you looked into whether your husband could be eligible for DLA?

Yes, it is family allowance and tax credits. My husband applied for DLA but was rejected.

Gas..................................... 100 ouch your energy costs are high, are you in arrears?

No, it is based on an average over the year. My husband needs the heat on (18 - 20) pretty much constantly during the winter, despite him wrapping up with jumpers etc.

Satellite/Cable TV...................... 23 this is a luxury you can't afford

This and LoveFilm (hence the tenner in entertainment) is our only form of entertainment. We don't go out for meals, drinks or the cinema. If we are really lucky someone will watch the kids for a while and we can go for a walk.

Internet Services....................... 30 this is really high, you can get broadband for less than a tenner now

I've quoted '0' in 'Telephone (land line)' because this includes line rental, all 01 and 02 calls, international calls up to one hour (I have a brother in Australia) and broadband.

Groceries etc. ......................... 480 you should be able to halve this eventually, for now just aim to knock it down by a set amount each month or week. It's a lot healthier and cheaper to cook from scratch. Check out the old style forum on here for tips

240 quid to feed a family of four for a month? I agree that cooking from scratch is cheaper but we both work full time, when I get the chance (usually on a weekend) I do cook from scratch.

Clothing................................ 50 how old are the kids? This is high but I know school uniform can be expensive. Look at buying from ebay and charity shops and car boot sales, and making do with what you've got for a while

The children are 6 and 8. Most of the cost seems to be from coats and shoes throughout the year. We have tried shoes from Tesco etc. and they didn't last long so it wasn't cost effective. We go to Clarks but only when they have sales (as per all of our clothes shopping). Bear in mind that this isn't just for children's school clothing, there is also their out of school clothing, mine and my husbands clothing.

Other child related expenses............ 50 what's this?

Kids clubs. Gymnastics, tennis and football. We pay in blocks so it works out cheaper. I know it sounds a bit extravagant but my daughter has been 'talent spotted' and advised to get coaching for i and ii.

Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 20 what's this? If it's a regular prescription it might be cheaper to get a pre pay cert

I'm on anti-depressants (not surprisingly) and there are x2 dental check-ups a year for each of us. My husband gets his prescriptions for free now which has been a big help. But this could possibly be reduced to 15.00.

Life assurance ......................... 68 this seems really high. With all the insurances make sure you shop around at renewal and get cashback

I agree but it would be really hard to get any other cover out now as this was taken out before my husband's diagnosis. We have been told several times that he is 'uninsurable'.
Half of it is critical illness insurance just for me. But I'm seriously considering dropping this, I did shop around at the time and I got the cheapest deal. But it does seem high.

Other insurance......................... 22 what's this for?

Motor insurance.

Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 50this is high. Only buy for kids, make as much as you can, check out car boots and charity shops, pick up bargain buys throughout the years

It does sound expensive, but I've taken into account nephews and childrens parties which seem to be never ending!

Holiday................................. 50 this is a luxury

Two trips to Edinburgh a year on a train and staying in a Travelodge doesn't seem like a luxury at times. We try to keep costs to a minimum (railcard, Travelodge offers, Tesco Clubcard vouchers etc.).
FWIW we do this because we think it'll be a cheaper option than going abroad (which we haven't done for years) but it rarely seems to work out that way. Perhaps we should drop the idea.

Milk Delivery........................... 12 buy it in with the normal shopping

It makes our lives easier but it is a luxury we can't afford. Consider it scrapped.

Window Cleaning......................... 10 cut this out

Likewise.

School Meals............................ 70 could they take sandwiches?

Possibly. School meals work out at 1.65 a day for each of them.

Phew! Lots to take into account there. Sorry I broke stuff down but I felt some explanation was in order.

Moi_63

WASHER wrote: »

I agree with Ames' comments.

I don't think you can make up the shortfall, but you can make a big difference to outgoings by cutting out non essentials, like school meals etc.

Why don't you set up a DMP yourself, and offer the creditors a token payment, yes it is going to take a long time to repay the debt, but you didn't get into debt overnight either.

BR maybe an option for you, but you have large equity in your home, you may to have sell if you decide to go BR.

Could you sell the house now and repay most of your debts and move into rented, you have almost £60K of equity, that would clear the secured debt and half of the unsecured debt, is this an option you would explore? You could be debt free within a few years this way and then you could look at buying a property again.


WASHER.x.

Thanks Washer.

What advantage would there be in us setting up a DMP ourselves? We have a case number at CCCS and will be contacting them tomorrow night to arrange a telephone meeting. We are also awaiting a reply from CAB regarding our meeting with them.

We would rather not go the route of BR or selling the property. It's a big hump but once the secured loan is paid off in seven years we can assess our situation afresh. It's a lot to pay out a month and it is why we are left with such a shortfall now.

WASHER

No advantage really in setting your own DMP up now especially as you are contacting them tomorrow. Make sure you do though, you need help as soon as possible.

WASHER.x.

Butti

Can you check your loft insulation. If you need additional insulation, which should bring your heating down, ring your sustainability officer / energy officer at the local council and ask them if they are doing a warm zone scheme where they put additional insulation in for you. It usually costs £99 but you may even get it for free given your circumstances.

B

Moi_63

dktreesea wrote: »

You've got quite a lot of equity in your home. Could you maybe increase your mortgage, by, say, around £20,000 and pay off the unsecured debts other than the personal loans and the two credit cards which have a 0% interest rate?

On the expenses front, other than perhaps cutting the window cleaning, holiday fund and entertainment, and maybe reducing the presents fund to £20 a month, by buying cards in bulk, and presetns when the sales are on - the books for £1 from Poundland are sometimes quite good titles)all of which would save £90 a month, and maybe cutting back on your grocery bill (we feed a family of four for around £200 a month) I'm not sure what you could cut.

Your electricity and gas look reasonable. We only have electricity, but it comes to around £220 a month over the year, so £160 a month looks quite good. You could cut cable TV, but put it this way - in our house that wouldn't be an option. For two people with full time jobs, I would imagine that childcare is a necessity.

Hi dktreesea!

We tried to add to the mortgage to settle some unsecured debts, well, we tried to do it for all of them and extend the term but we were refused. I don't know if they took into consideration that it would be used to pay off the unsecured debts or not.

You feed a family of for for 200 a month. I'm impressed. We must be able to reassess our food bills. We don't do M&S or Sainsbury's BTW. It's Asda once a week, every week... unless we are chasing offers.

Moi_63

Butti wrote: »

Can you check your loft insulation. If you need additional insulation, which should bring your heating down, ring your sustainability officer / energy officer at the local council and ask them if they are doing a warm zone scheme where they put additional insulation in for you. It usually costs £99 but you may even get it for free given your circumstances.

B

I 'think' it's okay. I will have to have another look. We got cavity wall insulation a couple of years ago. We have double glazing but every other seal has gone. I understand that it makes no difference to performance though.

Moi_63

WASHER wrote: »

No advantage really in setting your own DMP up now especially as you are contacting them tomorrow. Make sure you do though, you need help as soon as possible.

WASHER.x.

Will do

I just hope we can do something for the next seven years and then I'm hoping we can speed things up after that big loan is paid off.

WASHER

Let us know what they say tomorrow.

Sleep well.

WASHER.x.

Ames

Please, don't add to the mortgage. Given that you've already got a big secured loan I'd guess you've consolidated before and like most of us just run the cards etc back up again. In the long run it really doesn't make sense, and will cost you more.

How long ago was your husband turned down for DLA? Did you get help filling the forms in? It's really difficult to know how to word things and what the questions really mean. For instance, the one about how far you can walk on level ground. That's not including some ways of walking with crutches, and it doesn't include any time walking in pain or discomfort, or if you get out of breath, or if fatigue would come later.

Instead of making international calls could you use skype? From what I understand it's like a phone that goes through your computer and it's free.

Clothing. Do you have an outlet place near you? The 'designer' outlet near me has a Clark's in it. For kids out of school wear then I'm sure they'll be fine in charity/ebay/car boot/freegle stuff, if they're anything like I was at that age they'll only be out the door two minutes before they're so messy you can't tell what they're wearing!

Why are you paying motor insurance separate to car insurance?

Childrens parties, you can pick up loads of good stuff at Poundland. And for adults for that matter, I love getting books from there as they're usually hardback and look really expensive! And I've had good fairly new release cds from there too.

For the food shopping try doing it online. You'll have to pay a few pounds for delivery, but it really stops the impulse buying. Make a list of what you need and stick to it. Batch cooking from scratch really doesn't have to take much time at all, throw a load of stuff into a big slow cooker, and it's ready by evening. If you make twice as much as you need and freeze portions then on another night you just have to defrost them and cook. Bulk out meals with lentils, beans, etc to make them stretch and cut down on the meat. You can get cheap cuts of meat and done in a slow cooker they're lovely. Buy meat from a butcher, it's usually cheaper. Buy big to save money - the huge sacks of pasta are much better value, especially for a family. There's loads of ways to cut down! Also, dropping a brand and trying value stuff, some of it's actually healthier because it doesn't have all the crap put into it to make it taste nice.

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