Help me my life sucks

dek_3

As far as your electric/gas goes if your not paying off previous bills just ring your supplier and request the pre payment meter/s are removed its nothing to do with the landlord as long as the accounts are not in his or her name,then search for the cheapest provider and pay direct debit.

RussLE

Brisck1

I only hope your friends are as thoughtful and caring towards your situation as the unbelievable respondants that you have been blessed with on this thread.

It has just taken me almost an hour to read through all the correspondences that you have been given.

Personally, I feel privileged to be part of this fantastic community, after reading such heart-warming posts from people (Or should I say "Samaritans") that have gone out of their way to assist you and your issues.

After reading all this advice I find myself struggling to think of something to help you...........but wait.....you seem a smart enough guy....(although doing uni and then struggling to get your head around the 0% credit cards is a bit hard to swallow!!!)....sorry, I digress!

....but wait.....i think i've cracked it.....GET YOURSELF A DECENT WOMEN TO SHARE YOUR LIFE, FLAT, BURDENS, NIGHTS IN & OUT, FOOD ISSUES and all WITH!!!

I hope that helps

Alien8_Hi%

I definately need my car as my work is 10 miles away from where I live (Thought about moving closer but its even more expensive to live in that area) Its possible I could get the train to work instead but im not sure if it would work out cheaper in the end, it something I may look into later.

You are currently paying £221/month for the pleasure of driving to work. Is it worth the hassle? Is a season rail ticket this expensive? Does your employer have a staff travel plan which encourages sustainable travel e.g. subsidised season passes? Would you still need the car if you moved closer to work, is it required for anything else? I doubt that the rent for a similar property within walking/ cycling distance of work would cancel a saving of £221 + insurance if you were to get rid of the car.

If you are unable to move, try using one of the many online car sharing schemes. The following link covers people in the Devon area

http://www.shareacar.com/devon_carshare_index.php

.

Regarding the higher interest loans have you tried any local credit unions. Credit Unions are financial co-operatives owned and controlled by their members. They offer savings and great value loans plus they are local, ethical and know what their members want.
Each Credit Union has a "common bond" which determines who can join it. The common bond may be for people living or working in the same area, people working for the same employer or people who belong to the same association, such as a church or trade union.[/QUOTE]

The maximum interest rate by law is 1% per month (12.68?%AER) on the reducing balance. Normally there is no penalty for early redemption.

For more info on credit unions try the following link, it also has a search engine to find credit unions in your local area.

http://www.abcul.org/page/index.cfm

I found 7.

I hope this is of some help.

indenial_2

Wow! I have just read this discussion thread and am overwhelmed with the responses and advice given. Reading these has deffinatly given me something to think about! As yet another person who can sympathise where you are coming from I thought I would add to it! 1) Have you got anything you can sell on e-bay to make a few quid?? You'll be suprised what people buy and if its a pound in your pocket... There is also vouchers for sale on there..... what a fab idea! How many times are you given a voucher "spend over £20 and get £5 off" you can buy and sell these! 2) A second job is a fab idea - I've always had one as I think it's a great way of making some extra money and meeting new people. Pubs are great, even if it's just a weekend so you don't have to worry about struggling to get up the next day for work. If you earn £10 a night thats £40 a month! Pay off the loan quicker, therefore freeing up your loan money sooner... 3) Any chance of doing some overtime at work?? 4) Did you apply for your 25% single person discount on your council tax? I think you should be able to get this backdated also, so they might end up owing you some money - worth checking! 5) I'm sure on martins money tips e-mail just the other day there was ways of negotiatinig a better deal with your mobile company, an option if they won't let you out of the contract. Brisck1 (and all the others) I think you have all taken a massive step in trying to get out of debt and save money, I take my hat off to you all for your achievements and I hope I find it in me too to make the same big step.

Adrift

I also think your electricity bill is too high. We have a 3 bedroom terraced house with 2 living rooms,there are 2 adults and 1 child. We are almost all electric with electric water heating, storage heaters and electric cooker . We have a gas fire in each living room. Our last quarterly electricity bill was £136 and I thought that was a little steep, the one before that was £100.

As well as looking to switch supplier have you had a long hard look at your usage? For instance, if you leave anything on standby it uses as much power as if it is on. We used to have the immersion heater come on at night, with economy 7, for 2 hours to heat the water and then again in the afternoon for another hour. We stopped having it come on in the afternoon and saved about £20 a month! If we haven't got enough hot water left to wash up with we boil the kettle, it's a heck of a lot cheaper. If you have a water heater is it well insulated? Do you have draughts that need stopping? Are you heating your home to T-shirt wearing temperature or jumper temp? Just cutting down the heat by 1 deg can make a difference. HTH

BWs Adrift

scouselass

Hi brisck1 I wanted to endorse the idea of a spending diary. I'm convinced you will shock yourself if you actually monitor precisely for one week/month exactly how you are spending your cash.

I started budgeting back in 2002 and had all the usual items on my expenditure sheet just like you, but also had an item labelled Miscellaneous for expenses that didn't fit in any other box! I was shocked because my misc spending could vary from £70 pm to £150. Here is an example of my day to day (misc) spending for one month back in 2002:

papers 2.80
magazines 3.80
vitamins 3.88
stamps 4.90
museum 4.00
went for coffee/cake 6.40 (!) with a friend and we had split bill!
taxi 6.00
pamper night ticket/voucher 5.00
sweets/snacks 4.60
car parking 5.80 (for occasional parking using meters for half hour etc)
mcdonalds 8.50 (lunch with kids whilst out shopping, we all do it)
chinese takeaway 8.00 (couldn't be bothered making a meal)
did that again!!! 8.00
book 4.99
birthday cards 5.45
collection work 5.00
butties/drinks/snacks work 17.80
parking ticket 20.00

Total: 124.92

When I originally did my budget, none of these items had been budgeted for. If you look at the list I hadn't really pushed the boat out, but I had to make some serious decisions about these small items, either add them to my budget and make savings elsewhere, cut them out completely, or make some adjustments. I did a combination of all three. For example,

I now never park illegally
instead of meters I look for free parking, even if it means a walk
if there is a work collection I give what I can afford, not a std £5 or £10
I take my own lunch to work
A takeaway is classed as a treat that we have once a month
I buy two papers a week
I get my magazine via the fantastic thread on this site for a quid!
I'm a regular at the library

I know all of this may sound tedious, but this attention to detail becomes compulsive (just check out the regular posters on this site). Also you begin to enjoy cutting back, sounds crackers I know. Over time these shifts in behaviour and spending make a huge difference. This is alongside making sure that everything you pay for is the best deal you can get. And that information is available, for free, at the press of a key on this site.

Back in 2002 I had an overdraft/credit/never had spare cash or took holidays and every Christmas was paid for by credit. Now I dont' have a overdraft/credit, unless its 0% and I have savings and take holidays. All of this achieved by the good advice from this site. You will reap what you sow and it is your time and energy you need to give, and that won't cost you a penny, but the dividends will soon come rolling in. Happy Moneysaving.

brisck1

Thanks for the continuing tips everyone! Im going to take time out over the next few days to get all my expences sorted and using the info found here to hopefully come up with a much better budget (and lifestyle hopefully :P)

Scouselass you are so right, I need to do this as I have many little expences unaccounted for! - cheers all

allycat_3

Hi there
I just got in touch with my mobile company today to see when my contract ends. I am spending £35+ a month which is not helping my budget. I asked them when my contract finishes (july) and told them of my concerns about the bills. They were very helpful and went through my last invoices over the phone with me. They could pinpoint how exactly I am using my phone and suggested a better option. I now have to keep my texts down to 100 a month which will be a bit tricky, but I must be realistic. This is going to put my bill at no more than £22.50 a month including itemised billing. Maybe you could try ringing your company?
good luck
allycat
P.S Bank charges are a killer in your situation... I often found because I was so close to the edge (financially) that I would be charged for missed direct debits by a day or so and of course they charge you right at the end of the month when there is no money in anyway so their charges take you right over!!! It all seems a downward spiral. Now I bank online and make sure I check my balances every morning. Only two days ago I narrowly missed slipping into the red by about ten pence which would have cost me another £30!!. As soon as I saw what was happening I transferred some money over from our joint account. So ten pence saved me £30.
Happy studying, the time you spend on this will be a great investment.

allycat_3

You can bet your friends are up to their eyes in it! Not everyone admits to getting seduced by the image thing - house, car, all the gizmos. Forget about them. You will be way ahead of the game once you've got through this and much happier than you are now.
keep going!
Allycat

gilesashley

you are one lucky !!!!!! to have £60 a month left over,we only have £10,and we dont spend £80 on socializing.count yourself rich mate!!!!

brisck1 wrote:

Yep you are right my rent must seem phenomenol to most people, but it comes from a number of bad factors -1. I live in Devon which is currently something like the 2nd most expensive place to live in the UK (although wages dont reflect this like in London) and also the fact that nobody I know is in a situation where they are willing to share a flat/house with me, so im on my own really, and I dont fancy the idea of flat sharing with a bunch of strangers really.

Ok here a quick, budget of my outgoings:

Income P.C.M

Work: £1037

Outgoings

Rent: £385

Car loan: £155

Mobile Phone: £30

Land line: £30 (includes internet broadband)

Food: £80

Petrol: £56

Car tax: £10

Council Tax £80

Electric £45

Gas £10

Social money £80 (drinks, cinema, etc)

Household(cleaners etc) £15

Contact lenses £10

TV Licence £10

Home insurance £15


TOTAL Left £61

As you can see I have a pretty detailed budget just so I dont overspend each month and with £61 (if im lucky) left a month for emergencies there is no room for luxuries...



I would love to buy rather than rent anytime but in this part of the country, my average mortgage wouldnt even buy me a mobile home!!!