Help me my life sucks

Malestrom

You can get a 25% discount on council tax if you are living alone. Not sure where in Devon you live but there is some info here under Discounts, Exemptions & Reductions.

You electric bill does seem high, mine is £45 per month for a family of four in a three bedroom house. I also live in Devon and i'm with Powergen Online, which is cheaper again than normal Powergen. Have you checked with Uswitch to see if you're using the cheapest supplier. Key meter's are more expensive so changing would pay dividends.

Who is your car loan with, how long outstanding and what is the interest rate? How much was the original loan for? Have you thought about maybe applying for a credit card with a 0% introductory rate, such as Egg, and using a super balance transfer to pay the loan off. You could request an early settlement figure for the loan to get an idea of the amount outstanding.

Your car is costing you a lot of money - other than rent its your largest outgoing. Is public transport an option? My wife uses the bus and it costs her £42 per month for a travel pass.

How long to go before your student loan is paid off?

EDIT: Spendless beat me to it!

brisck1

Thanks guys 25% discount is great!!

As for the electric bill Im definately going to look into Powergen online if I can get rid of the key meter.

My car loan is with Cahoot which is for £3000 over two years. Im not sure of the interest rate but the end figure will be something like £3700 (sorry my maths is crap).

If I got a credit card with 0% interest rate, how long would it last for? - I currently have paid off 7 months worth of my car loan so i've paid 1085 so far.

As for my student loan, i've been paying it off since I started work after uni 3 years ago. it used to be around £30 until I got a pay rise last year and now it is £51 per month.

I took out a full loan but I cant give an exact figure on how much is was off the top of my head. I wish they could make exceptions for people like me living on the breadline

Milky_Mocha

As far as rent goes, I agree its a lot less hassle not sharing.

Is it possible for you to rent a self-contained portion of a landlord's property? That way you get the privacy you need without sharing facilities and paying much less. Plus you wouldn't have to pay council tax either. Usually utility bills (excluding telephone) are included in the rent too.

brisck1

Yeah that would be ideal but unfortunately property like that around here would be very rare. I regularly check out the estate agents and local newspapers from time to time to check up on better, cheaper flats but dont think I have seen anything similar to your suggestion yet. Closest I've seen are some grotty little bedsits, and in most cases you have to share a bathroom and/or kitchen. Again what worries me is who i'll be sharing sharing these with.

So anyone know of a 0% credit card which last a good while? after that suggestion it got me thinking.

I currently have an interest-free overdraft of around £1000-£1500 (i'll check later) and is available to me until the end of September and at which time goes down to either £1000-£500 until the next year(again, need to check) I ususally dont like using it as its only for emergencies but I think I could use that £1500 and the rest from a 0% credit card to pay off my loan interest free. Havent thought it all through properly yet so there are probably holes in my theory and if you see any or dont think it's a good idea let me know

robnye

brisck1 wrote:

I just look at my wage slip, and at the £400 which comes out each month for student loans, tax NI etc and I just imagine how much better my life would be if I had that bit extra at the end of each month.

oh to only have £400 deducted each month.....

even watching the pennies, you can still have a life...... not as expesnive as others.... but still have fun..... its good to treat yourself.....

mini

Hi

I think you are on the right track at least you are aware of your situation,I agree the people who seemt to be having it all could well be having a lot on credit.

My only other thought at the moment is do you take your own supplies of food & drink to work, there was a legendary thread about a guy making savings ages ago which is mentioned in Martin's book, made small cutbacks & then just kept going, I think things like getting a takeaway from Asda, we do that for about £6 if we go to the real life takeaway it costs about £15, the electricity we use to heat up the meal doesn't cost too much. Would it be possible to socialise with friends & a dvd, bring a bottle & some popcorn event etc, saving doesn't mean staying in & not seeing anyone.

If you apply for the 25% discount with your council tax, you could put that money away as a start to your savings for a holiday/new clothes, sometimes it's more helpful to see yourself saving for something rather than just paying things back, I know I've had to do it that way otherwise it's just too depressing

mini

System

Mini, what a coincidence i asked Andrea about Merrick (thats his name) earlier. However i cant see any posts of his on the new site.

Malestrom

You don't need a 0% card that lasts forever, you just have to take out another 0% card before the current one ends. However, using your overdraft and a single credit card with an interest free period of 6 or 9 months should accomplish the same thing. The only thing I would advise is that you don't borrow against the full amount of your overdraft - leave some spare for emergencies or overspends.

shrek101

My wife and I make quite big savings (isnt as easy for just one though) by shopping at Morriosons and buying a lot of BOGOF we can easily save a tenner a week sometimes more.

Like mini said about taking your own food to work, thats a good tip. Those cans of coke in vending machines, mars bars etc are expensive. Still you cant help is sometiems its too tempting. But you can still treat yourself to confectionary by buying in bulk and making your own sandwiches.

Wish I lived in Devon, I love that county use to holiday there every year until now. Cheap holiday when mother in law lived near Honiton, beautiful county.

Best of luck

loafer_2

25% off for living alone mate Number 1 sort that tax out (so glad I asked about that)

Some monthly insurance carries really high APR's (or fees for paying monthly and some (the 0% ones) do not.