Not so much of a lightbulbt moment, more a sick feeling in the gut!!

djdymond

hello!

i really do suggest changing to PAYG when the contract is finished. if i had a contract phone id use it without thinking all the time.

the last time i put money on my phone was september 1st, and I only put on a tenner!!! i have about 50p left granted but 10 pounds for 2 months isnt bad!! (i dont make any calls unless its for emergencies and i get alot of free texts everytime i put money on my phone... check out o2, theyre good for deals and things for PAYG customers)

POSSETTE

HI..I WOULD START WITH SEEING IF YOU CAN BALANCE TRANSFER THE STORE CARD TO ONE OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS,OR TRY AND GET A 0% CARD FOR THE LOT.STORE CARDS HAVE A STUPID RATE OF INTEREST,AT LEAST YOUR CARD COULD HAVE LESS.
ALSO TRY https://www.entitledto .co.uk THEY WILL TELL YOU IF YOU ARE ENTITLED TO ANYTHING EXTRA.
BEST WISHES

mrs_bellamy

I agree all hours. I have been going through a rollercoaster of thinking i NEED to pay things off, so paying £300 a month to cards, then finding I CANT actually afford that, so running the balances back up again.

Unfortunately my credit rating is kinda shot to sh*t at the mo. There is no chance in hell of me getting a 0% card to BT to. The halifax interest is 22.53% pa and cap 1 is 2.074% per month??? The storecard is something awful like 29.9%.

On the plus side, I found a sim card at home that I can use when my contract ends. Its PAYG and its FREE!!! So come Dec 12th, my mobile can go down to £10.

mrs b x
p.s. the scissors are getting close to the store card!!!!

Cazzdevil

Sorry if someone's already pointed this out (or if I'm having a "blind and a bat" day), but there's nothing in the SOA for rent/mortgage.
Is this applicable?

tryhard_2

mrs_bellamy wrote:

Phone - £38 -

might be useful to read martin's article on override providers like 1899/18185 - they let you keep your bt line and number, call charges 0 p per min to landlines but have a small connection charge 4p per call for 1899; you can downgrade to bt option1 £11 pm

mrs_bellamy

Hi Cazzdevil. OH pays the mortgage, I pay everything else. Its meant to be a kind of 'equal share'. Although I now work part time, so earn about 1/3 what he does!!

Tryhard - I am having a real 'You're not going to phone a MOBILE from the landline, are you?????' time at the mo. Really trying to cut back. Most calls have been frivilous long winded affairs. they are history here, when we also have 3 mobiles on the go (I only pay for one, and the odd top up for DS).

Failed miserably with the shopping - £107 in ASDA'S (HOW????) but going to OS board for meal plans coz I really have no idea on my own.

I collect 3 months supply of lenses on the 17th, then they are history. Reckon I can live for 6 months of being careful and using them sparingly, so thats a bit.

Bought a friends daughters birthday present from Adams today, with nectar points (double the value), redeemed a birthday voucher in DP for a £5 pair of socks for xmas present for pal, and used £4 BHS vouchers that have been hanging around for 6 months for another little xmas presents. So no money spent!

I am trying to look at it in tiny steps. But what sort of amounts should i be spending on 'stuff'?? I am so used to the 'never,never' attitude I really dont know what is realistic in a DFW world.

whatatwit

Well done so far, from your monster shop and what's in the cupboard/freezer, how many meals can you make.
Do a meal planner for the week and pin it on fridge, then you'll know if need to get something out of freezer in the morning, or what's going in the slowcooker for the day.

mrs_bellamy

if i am careful, about 374 meals, if i cook like normal, 12 and a full bin!!! LOL. Seriously though, actually bought freezer bags and cleaned out a cupboard to find tupperware boxes for freezing stuff. (Must ask OS about defrosting)

Oh, other thing I forgot to put on SOA is the cat. Currently paying off vets, as he broke his leg (guess who was not insured?) currently standing at £800 with another op on Monday to remove the pin(approx £120). I may keep it to sell on Ebay (think I will get a grand for a titanium pin?)

david_hellier

Just working on it now back in 15

david_hellier

Hi and welcome. According to my calculations you have £80.11 per week to spend on anything including food, clothes, kids, etc. I suggest you write this amount in a little note book each Monday and keep a note of what you spend by subtraction. This will stop overspend and put you in immediate control.

I reckon you are suffering from financial imbalance stress; you have no idea where all your partner's money is going and he/she needs to share the burden more. To be fair I think you need to sit down with him/her and show these figures, and explain how difficult it is for you.

Good luck, the figures are as follows:

income weekly monthly
self 933.33
partner
cb 64.00
tc 46.00





total 0.00 1043.33 divide by 4.33
£240.77

£240.77 total weekly income

spend weekly monthly
rent/mortgage 0.00
council tax 111.00
elec 35.00
gas 39.00
water 35.27
secured loans
TV licence 10.99
fines
bb 11.00
phone 38.00
car ins 32.58
petrol 80.00
contents 19.50
mob 35.00
water 35.27
abbey 133.58
halifax cc 30.00
cap one 27.00
dot p 23.00











total 0.00 696.19 divide by 4.33
£160.66

£160.66 total weekly spend

Start= income - spend = £80.11 per week