My Names Stuart And I'm A Debtaholic :-)

brranger

The Sky should go i agree as it isn't an essential, however if i am making so many sacrifices surely i can manage to keep one little luxury to stop me getting disheartened or is that me being weak again

Maybe try Freeview it has loads of good shows on and is only one payment equal to 1 month of Sky I love it. to buy a box is money saving in the long run, plus you'll will find your self on this site alot in the short term so you'll pay Sky for nothing.

good luck
Ranger

Ranger

lil'H

Hey Stu, and welcome!

Regarding the sky, try ringing them say you can't afford it and would like to cancel, they may just reduce it for you. Or howabout a freeview box, or NTL, I get cable, phoneline with unlimited free landline calls day and night, AND broadband for £21 a month from them! You are currently paying £69.50 for these three. Start thinking laterally, do you have stuff you can sell on ebay, even small bits add up.

Pop things like food and clothes etc on here, you need to make your SOA as full as possible, to get control of your finances you need to account for every penny. But don't panic you will be able to get it in control, and making steps like selling your bike show you are prepared to make sacrifices.

Also could you tell us the interest rates on each of your debts, and the limits availible, you'l be amazed how much interest you may be able to save by managing these properly, before you've even paid any extra money off.

Good luck, and well done!

Lil'H

ScrewLooseStu

Hi all.

NTL looks promising, unfortunately i cannot recieve freeview where i am, i actually have a box upstairs but don't get a single channel.

How does NTL work if there is no sattelite dish?

Ebay is something i can definately look at and have had success in the past.

I will post a full breakdown including interest rates soon.

Thanks again.

kevin_M

just looking over you outgoings m8.

once the bike is gone will put your income into the black.

http://www.whatsthecost.com/

That has a nice snowball calc where u can put in the intrest rates etc.

I was around the 22grand mark when i started mate (think it was turn of the year) now my sig says it all. So there is hope. Trust me

I would think about loosing sky for bit i did.

Also if you have a lot of clutter around the house dvds you never watch etc.. Get them stuck on ebay

nidje

Hi Stu and welcome
Have you tried FreeSat, you can get it if you're out of your inital contract period, this link may help you
http://www.bbc.co.uk/digital/tv/tv_nonsubs.shtml
also it would help those more qualified than me if you posted a more complete SOA and the APR's
Good luck, with a bit of effort it can be done
N x

PeachPickle

ScrewLooseStu wrote:

Hi all.

NTL looks promising, unfortunately i cannot recieve freeview where i am, i actually have a box upstairs but don't get a single channel.

How does NTL work if there is no sattelite dish?

Ebay is something i can definately look at and have had success in the past.

I will post a full breakdown including interest rates soon.

Thanks again.

Hi Stu, well done for posting

On the freeview note - I can't receive it normally in my area either. But I bought a booster ariel in Asda for around £15 and get perfect signal on all channels now. I don't miss sky much - it's not unbearable anyway :rotfl:

Brassic

Hi there Stuart,

Well done for making that first big step - it can take a lot to do it but is well worth it!

First thoughts on looking at your first post.

1. Saving 90 quid on motorbike insurance - what will you use instead and how much is that (well done on selling your bike btw - I had to sell my horse and it's heart breaking)

2. What are your food and clothes and emergency etc budgets?

3. Sky - honestly, freeview is fine, took a couple of months to get used to not having loads of rubbish to flick through, but we don't miss it at all now. Plus we supplement it by free dvd trial sign ups. Had 6 months worth so far, I reckon we may get about a years worth of them all in all. Goto http://www.freesatfromsky.com as you can just use all your current equipment and just pay 20 quid for the new card.

4. I definitely wouldn't consolidate - I'd do what I'm doing which is snowball your debts, starting with the highest interest one first. Have a set amount you spend on debts, and when you've paid off your first one, just chuck the surplus money at the next one, and so on until they're all paid off. I have lots to do this with :rotfl:

Anyway, I'm not one of the experts - but they're just my thoughts looking at your first post. I'm sure you'll get loads of great support from everyone and keep us updated on how you're doing.

James240

hiya stuart :hello:

Dont feel weak for posting on her mate, this is a fantastic place and we are all here to help u :beer: once u starting making payments to get ur debt down u will feel heaps better and u will have much better nights sleep

tyllwyd

About consolidation ... before you even consider consolidating the loans, get a current settlement figure and check that against the total if you continue to make the monthly repayments to make sure that there is a sensible saving by repaying early - otherwise there is a danger of paying interest twice on the same money borrowed.

There is quite a nice calculator here http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/04_CREDIT_DEBT/loan_calculator.html

It's not as simple as saying that consolidation is always a bad idea, but a lot of people on this board have consolidated debts, then run up more debts, then consolidated again .... so it is not something to rush into without looking at all the other options and any possible savings first.

oakdale_minx

ScrewLooseStu wrote:

Hi all.

NTL looks promising, unfortunately i cannot recieve freeview where i am, i actually have a box upstairs but don't get a single channel.

How does NTL work if there is no sattelite dish?

NTL or Telewest is Cable TV. It is provided via underground fibre optics and they offer TV, phone and broadband packages. If you have a vaguely wiggly mark along your pavement about a foot wide (or a very wiggly one if it was a fly by night contractor!!!), then you more than likely can get cable! They do a base bundle pack of TV, phone and broadband for a lot less than you are paying for Sky, BT and AOL.

Good luck sorting it all out.