Remortgaging to pay off cards?

jemandscout

Thank you loveGSDs - £180 for shopping is pretty impressive! There's 4 of us, I have included toiletries/nappies/household stuff and we don't use a lot of high-end stuff at all. Maybe I could get that down - one problem is there's only one small supermarket here and it's quite expensive - no own brand nappies and not many own-brand toiletries for example.
We need a house phone as mobile signal really bad here - we have to stand in the garden!! Very annoying as I have lots of unused minutes even on the cheapest plan and still have to use the house phone! Will look at other broadband providers though, that maybe is expensive.

NorthernLas

Do Tescos deliver? I know you would pay for delivery, but then you could do a big shop and use the local for fresh stuff. Also, how much food do you have in your store cupboard - the OS board has lots of information on cheap meals.

eyeopener2

Could you cancel the gym, ballet, toddler group and playgroup until the loan is paid off in March? That lots nearly £100 a month.

bigheadxx

One option you could consider is to remortgage (after June 2011 to avoid ERC) and shorten the length of your mortgage term. This eliminate your debts and increases your disposeable income. You would be offsetting the increased "secured" lending by reducing the term on your mortgage thereby decreasing money spent on interest payments.

jemandscout

Thanks everyone - just lost a long reply, aargh! Tescos don't deliver here sadly! The nearest big supermarket is 50-odd miles - we have sometimes gone there to do a big shop. I guess it's balancing that with the cost of fuel etc.
Re the playgroup etc - I'd be very reluctant to, mainly because we're a bit isolated here really. It would have a very, very big impact on our quality of life. My husband really gets a lot out of the gym too - it actually affects him quite badly if he can't go. Sorry, really not trying to be difficult - I know they look like unneccessary spending, but it's weighing up our situation now with misery if we cancel this stuff!
Good idea about getting everythig from one provider - will put aside my loathing of Sky til I'm rich enough to be fussy!

jemandscout

Yeah, the electic bill is a real burden. I've tried to be really strict and only use things within cheap times (economy 10), though we've let that slide a bit with the shower, which probably costs a fortune actually. Electric central heating is horrendously expensive compared to storage heating though - a huge mistake I've been regretting since I got it put in. We live in a tiny 2 bed terrace would you believe!

jemandscout

bighead, that's a really interesting idea. It's making it til June without going under though... I hate the thought that we'd be incurring lots of extra debt for the sake of not holding out for a few months though.

eyeopener2

That was one of the reasons for me suggesting cutting out the gym etc. it gives your a bit of breathing space and its only for 6 months.

You get to march, pay the loan off, and hopefully you will have started preparations for the remortgage. if you cut your food bills a touch and reorganise your phone etc to a more efficient package you may be able to make it to June.

As it is your overspending and your situation is only going to get worse.

jemandscout

You're right eyeopener, it's a bit startling to see it in black and white that we're spending more than we have coming in. I think the kids' stuff would be the last stuff to go though - ballet is £3 a week, toddlers £6 and they get so much out of them. The playgroup will maybe have to go I guess. I feel so guilty:(

katsu

Change the AA to Autoaid (see Martin's car tab above) at £37 p.a. for you and hubby (you need to be married or it is £37 each I think). Saves you nearly £80 pa.

What can you ebay? Old baby stuff, just old stuff even. Get hunting for clutter you can wave goodbye to.

That elec bill needs to come down - I don't understand your heating but you need some help with it.