My SOA - KATCHAMBERS

leni

haven't read all the replies but...

We have the £21 a month sky package which has all the sky "tv" channels - which I also couldn't do without!

We then also have Blockbuster unlimited free rentals which is £14.99 a month, basically you go online and submit a list of films you'd like, they send you free, you watch them and send them back, theirs no limit to how long you keep them, and you can send them back one at a time and then they send you another off your list. We get about 10+DVD's a month, saying us £20 odd pound in rental but lots more if you add up what cinema would be! We also bought a popcorn maker - the corn is 65p a bag and gets you easily 10 big mixing bowls of popcorn.

Also, have a look on the freebies board, theirs often free tickets posted for previews of films http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=285619

i.e. in Milton Keynes at the moment you could go see...
Little Children at ODEON on Monday 30th Oct

leni

re insurances, have you registered with quidco? You can get cashback for changing your suppliers on not just car insurance, H&Contents Insurance, but also utility suppliers etc

I'm about to get £100 cash back paid next week for taking out my car insurance through prudential, the policy only cost £240 (I'm 25) and I'm getting £100 cashback from it, so in effect this years insurance will have cost me £140

livinginhope

black-saturn wrote:

If the house burnt down they could claim on the buildings insurance for that. Contents insurance is what I was talking about.

BS,the buildings insurance won't pay for the contents of a house in the event of a disaster.Anything that isn't literally nailed down comes under contents,I found this out the hard way when our house burnt down last year,hence the debt,we only had 20k contents cover,enough you would think,but becaused of the way insurance companies work,we were VERY underinsured,we had to up our contents to 80k,at least now we are covered.
To anyone thinking of cancelling their insurance DON'T,you will end up like me 58 years of paying back a very cruel debt.

leni

livinginhope wrote:

BS,the buildings insurance won't pay for the contents of a house in the event of a disaster.Anything that isn't literally nailed down comes under contents,I found this out the hard way when our house burnt down last year,hence the debt,we only had 20k contents cover,enough you would think,but becaused of the way insurance companies work,we were VERY underinsured,we had to up our contents to 80k,at least now we are covered.
To anyone thinking of cancelling their insurance DON'T,you will end up like me 58 years of paying back a very cruel debt.

wow,:eek: when we first bought our house and took the H&C through our mortgage provider they set our contents at £5k:eek: we went to a different company and upt it to £20k, but from what your saybing, maybe it still needs to be higher!

lynzpower

leni wrote:

haven't read all the replies but...

We have the £21 a month sky package which has all the sky "tv" channels - which I also couldn't do without!

We then also have Blockbuster unlimited free rentals which is £14.99 a month, basically you go online and submit a list of films you'd like, they send you free, you watch them and send them back, theirs no limit to how long you keep them, and you can send them back one at a time and then they send you another off your list. We get about 10+DVD's a month, saying us £20 odd pound in rental but lots more if you add up what cinema would be! We also bought a popcorn maker - the corn is 65p a bag and gets you easily 10 big mixing bowls of popcorn.

Also, have a look on the freebies board, theirs often free tickets posted for previews of films http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=285619

i.e. in Milton Keynes at the moment you could go see...
Little Children at ODEON on Monday 30th Oct

Brilliant plan- we went to see Borat in leicester square the other day, the day BEFORE the official launch!! seefilmfirst is who we get emails from but there are loads of different companies that do them .

katchambers

livinginhope wrote:

Hi Kat,I don't want to sound harsh here,but I don't think your lightbulb is fully lit I never claimed I have had my lightbulb moment, I am just asking for advice.
You do not NEED sky+ or cinema membership,these are luxuries not essentials,you talk yourself into thinking you need them,but you don't,a freeview box is about £25 and is adequate.Think how much fun you could have with DH when there's nothing to watch - I never said that I needed these, but I want them, they are our treats and you need some good things to get through all the depressing debt stuff otherwise what's the point?
£900/year on birthdays/christmas/holidays is rather a lot,you can cut that right down at least half. - I am def going to reduce this.
£50 clothes budget is a lot,we budget £10/month and there's 4 of us. I am going to reduce this
What is the £70 entertainment ,you say you don't go out,so what's this?various random, my husband plays tennis and has to pay for courts occassionally, eating out, celebrating birthdays, dance class, weight watchers fees, swimming etc.
You said that you took out a loan for FIL as his car was lost in an accident,wasn't it insured? They didn't catch the person who wrote his car off
What worries me is the almost obsession with vouchers etc,you have to spend money to get these vouchers,money you don't have,start shopping in Lidl or Aldi and your shopping budget will drop dramatically. I have been collecting vouchers for a long time, before I realised we were debt and I do actually collect most vouchers without spending any money.
Do you need 2 cars?I know hubby travels a long way,but what about you? if you could free up a grand or 2 by down sizing your cars then they ARE expensive cars. We have been considering downgrading but what do you think about getting an older car, do you think the extra maintenance will eventually outweigh the extra £1k I will get by downgrading? not sure still thinking about that one.
Just been playing on my mind,but what possesed you to spend 6k on a hot tub do you regret it now? I certainly do!
Sorry if this has come across a bit harsh,I am in no position to judge you,just want to understand your situation It's ok, I do feel like a little girl getting told off but I know you are just trying to help, the problem is that I am still quite young and am quite selfish at times, not with people but selfish in the things I want, and this budgeting and cutting back thing is really difficult for me, it is totally new and will take a lot of getting used to.

Thank you for your advice. I hope you don't think I am just making excuses, just trying to comment on your comments so that you can understand my situation.

kat

lynzpower

Kat

the more I think about you and your debt, the more I firmly believe that you NEED to take this much more seriously than you already are. I implore you to have a really good think about your spending habits. Ive had a look back over your recent posts and everything is about spending money, be it the gym, wanting a tradmill, wanting a dvd recorder, wanting this and that.

I think you simply have to face this head on, and be realistic. You owe 80 odd thousand pounds. I would start selling the benefit compacts and give your mates the boxes of chocs only. The holiday for you & your hubby for your Xmas present, face facts hun, you cannot afford it.

wishing you all the luck going, and do come back and let us know you are OK.

katchambers

livinginhope wrote:

katchambers wrote:

Buildings/contents insurance = £12
Sorry to off topic,but is this enough? I don't agree to get rid of this,it's essential,but as you pay so little just wondering if you have adequate cover?

Hi it is so cheap because I got £100 cashback from quidco, thereby reducing the premium from £250 a year to £150 a year. So yes we do have adequate cover thank you for pointing it out though.

Kat x

livinginhope

leni wrote:

wow,:eek: when we first bought our house and took the H&C through our mortgage provider they set our contents at £5k:eek: we went to a different company and upt it to £20k, but from what your saybing, maybe it still needs to be higher!

The problem is Leni,we had to rent a house,half comes from contents half buildings,£750/month for 6 months,we had to find the £2000 deposit and rent upfront,again half half.
It isn't a case of how much to replace everything in a home,they clean stuff that isn't totally beyond repair,this is often more expensive than replacement,our cleaning bill was £14700,this is from contents,then they have removal costs to take everything away,then return anything that has been cleaned,that was £3800.
We were told by the loss adjuster to just put in the receipts and he will sort it,we actually only got £4600 back at the end.
When we had moved back in the insurance company told us to up our contents to 80k,so that we would not be in the situation again.

lynzpower

kat

You do not NEED sky+ or cinema membership,these are luxuries not essentials,you talk yourself into thinking you need them,but you don't,a freeview box is about £25 and is adequate.Think how much fun you could have with DH when there's nothing to watch - I never said that I needed these, but I want them, they are our treats and you need some good things to get through all the depressing debt stuff otherwise what's the point?

hun you have missed the point. Its these things which ARE GIVING YOU the depressing debt stuff, you are/have been spending well beyond your means.