SOA - please help me someone

GEEGEE8

Got to agree, £30 a week is plenty of money to eat properly on.. pasta, bread etc..

**Patty**

Woody, have you tried ringing/contacting any of your CC providers to see if they can offer you any deals or balance transfers? Some will even for current cardholders (Done it myself with barclaycard).....You could then shift all the card debt to one card which may lower your repayments.....but you would need to work out first if it would lower it significantly enough to pay it all/majority off within the time frame.

Can i also ask what car you drive? You've said you are 25 and that seems a helluva lot to pay for insurance but would i be right in thinking that your premium is weighted due to your car being used for business purposes?

Lastly.....you are only 25. You still have 40 years to plan buying a house & everything else a grown-up is supposed to do.

Even if you decide BR is for you.......you will still have another 34 years to live your life

I bought a house at 26. Lost it in a divorce at 32. Re-married at 36 and bought another house with my (ex-bankrupt) current husband at 43. The light at the end of the tunnel may be dim.......but thats what you get with those energy saving bulbs

woody24

No, I need to loose weight anyway. The fact i have no money has just accelerated me doing it because its a ketogenic diet so i cant eat anything or drink anything else at all - it's controlled by my doctor and pharmacy so im happy that it's not very unhealthy, it's not solely milkshake - just mainly, but it's all pre-packaged food.
thats a seperate issue though i think - and £30 a week for ALL my food and drink isnt expensive - i cant shop much cheaper than that and be able to loose weight on the likes of pasta and beans on toast.

jennikitten wrote: »

'i wish it was that simple, i certainly wouldnt be here crying about going BR if it was :-( trust me, i do EVERYTHING to avoid spending money. to the point where i have just gone on a total food replacement diet which costs £30 a week and i cant eat anything except these milkshakes or drink water. yes i do need to loose a couple of stone anyway but it seemed to be the absolutely cheapest way i could eat and still be healthy (its pharmacy controlled) because i cant eat any other foods or drink anything except water, so the only thing literally i spend is £30 per week.'

So are you saying you aren't eating actual food but doing a meal replacement plan for £30/week - not for medical reasons, but of your own choice? Food replacement milkshakes aren't healthy at all - they're really bad for you, particularly in the long term. Aside from the fact that doing a weekly shop with your partner & splitting costs is going to work out far less per meal...for £30/week you can buy everything fresh and organic!

woody24

**Patty** wrote: »

Woody, have you tried ringing/contacting any of your CC providers to see if they can offer you any deals or balance transfers? Some will even for current cardholders (Done it myself with barclaycard).....You could then shift all the card debt to one card which may lower your repayments.....but you would need to work out first if it would lower it significantly enough to pay it all/majority off within the time frame. yes iv called them all and tried and none of them will reduce my interest or allow me to shift debt at all - in fact barlcaycard wrote to me yesterday saying they had upped my interest rate! despite the fact i havent actually made any late payments.

Can i also ask what car you drive? You've said you are 25 and that seems a helluva lot to pay for insurance but would i be right in thinking that your premium is weighted due to your car being used for business purposes? yes i do have business insurance which is compulsory for me to have in order to claim my business mileage back - it's just an old T reg astra - nothing special!

Lastly.....you are only 25. You still have 40 years to plan buying a house & everything else a grown-up is supposed to do. i know, its just hard watching my friends around me grow up and move on and they are all on less money than me! lol and im sat here struggling on a 32k salary! it's ridiculous

Even if you decide BR is for you.......you will still have another 34 years to live your life

I bought a house at 26. Lost it in a divorce at 32. Re-married at 36 and bought another house with my (ex-bankrupt) current husband at 43. The light at the end of the tunnel may be dim.......but thats what you get with those energy saving bulbs

haha thanks :-) xx

woody24

if i did choose BR, how do they do a payment order thingy cos i will have disposable money if im not in this debt so i assume they wont just let me go scot free and keep my disposable income - what percentage of my disposable money will they want as the payment order and for how long?

Katie-Kat-Kins

woody24 wrote: »

1080 ... minus £250 to get to the work that pays me that money to pay the debts and then minus £700 for rent and bill payments ... and i guess i better have some money to eat

i appreciate your help and advice and commetns so much but i feel torn apart by all these comments thinking maybe theres more i should be doing than coming on here to cry for help but i just cant think of anything more i can do without tearing my whole life apart.

But that is what I mean, there are people on this forum who make a really tiny amount of money go absolutely miles. There might be some expenses that you can't reduce, but there are many that with creative thinking you can reduce, or you can find other ways to pay for them.

I'm not having a go, and I'm going to stop posting in a minute but I've read some really inspirational threads on here in the past. A lady on O/S who fed a family of four on £5 for a week (or something like that), threads where people manage to make money at all kinds of things to pay off their debts, threads where they cut their outgoings really drastically, threads where they negotiate with their creditors to get better deals etc.

Have a hunt around and see what you can find.

It would be worth both you and your partner at least putting word out to a couple of agencies that you would be interested in any job opportunities. Even if you can't get much of a payrise, better benefits and reduced travel would make a difference.

I would take a second weekend job if you can find one, you will work out a way to see your family around the job and getting your finances sorted will make such a difference to your life it will be worth a few months of working at the weekend. Afterall if you took a bar job on a saturday night you could still see your family during the day!

Do try talking to your phone provider etc about downgrading, they might refuse at first, but explain you are in financial difficulties and want to downgrade because you are worried about defaulting, often if you ask a few times and ask to speak to a supervisor there is scope for a reduced contract.

Anyway I'm going to leave it here, I don't want you to think I'm getting at you.

Good Luck

jennikitten

woody24 wrote: »

No, I need to loose weight anyway. The fact i have no money has just accelerated me doing it because its a ketogenic diet so i cant eat anything or drink anything else at all - it's controlled by my doctor and pharmacy so im happy that it's not very unhealthy, it's not solely milkshake - just mainly, but it's all pre-packaged food.
thats a seperate issue though i think - and £30 a week for ALL my food and drink isnt expensive - i cant shop much cheaper than that and be able to loose weight on the likes of pasta and beans on toast.

£30 is the same as what I spend, and I buy fresh, all-organic fruit, veg and chicken, a carton of Tropicana or Coppella juice, as well as frozen yoghurt, and wholemeal bread (plus brown rice, wholewheat pasta and a few premade sauces when I need to) - all from Sainsbury's. I use vouchers occasionally but not very often.

I'm not sure why you can't get below that by buying own-brand/value-brand equivalents unless you're spending lots on alcohol. If you take advantage of good deals and buy in bulk when you can, you should be able to get it a lot lower. Particularly if you can batch cook or slow cook meals to freeze. There are people on here feeding a family of 4 on £30 a week.

HappyMJ

woody24 wrote: »

if i did choose BR, how do they do a payment order thingy cos i will have disposable money if im not in this debt so i assume they wont just let me go scot free and keep my disposable income - what percentage of my disposable money will they want as the payment order and for how long?

Most of it that's why you need to get your SOA as accurate as possible.

woody24

My family live 200 miles away - thats my whole worry about getting a weekend job.

In terms of trying to get help reducing costs and options in teh last week i have spoken to

barclaycard, capital one, british gas, virgin tv and broadband, orange mobile, barclays bank ... no one will do anythnig at this moment in time ... and even in 6 months when virgin adn orange might do something, we are tlaking about a saving of £15 a month between them

i know ur not getting at me at all, and im sorry if i come across defensive as i know you are trying to help - it's just so hard explaining everything i have done to try and sort this problem and anyone that knows me just knows i do everything i can to protect my pride which is why i havent spoken to any family members or friends about BR and why i just came here.

thanks for all your advice and help, it really is appreciated :-)

Katie-Kat-Kins wrote: »

But that is what I mean, there are people on this forum who make a really tiny amount of money go absolutely miles. There might be some expenses that you can't reduce, but there are many that with creative thinking you can reduce, or you can find other ways to pay for them.

I'm not having a go, and I'm going to stop posting in a minute but I've read some really inspirational threads on here in the past. A lady on O/S who fed a family of four on £5 for a week (or something like that), threads where people manage to make money at all kinds of things to pay off their debts, threads where they cut their outgoings really drastically, threads where they negotiate with their creditors to get better deals etc.

Have a hunt around and see what you can find.

It would be worth both you and your partner at least putting word out to a couple of agencies that you would be interested in any job opportunities. Even if you can't get much of a payrise, better benefits and reduced travel would make a difference.

I would take a second weekend job if you can find one, you will work out a way to see your family around the job and getting your finances sorted will make such a difference to your life it will be worth a few months of working at the weekend. Afterall if you took a bar job on a saturday night you could still see your family during the day!

Do try talking to your phone provider etc about downgrading, they might refuse at first, but explain you are in financial difficulties and want to downgrade because you are worried about defaulting, often if you ask a few times and ask to speak to a supervisor there is scope for a reduced contract.

Anyway I'm going to leave it here, I don't want you to think I'm getting at you.

Good Luck

confused76

woody24 wrote: »

if i did choose BR, how do they do a payment order thingy cos i will have disposable money if im not in this debt so i assume they wont just let me go scot free and keep my disposable income - what percentage of my disposable money will they want as the payment order and for how long?

hi there

i think they now take all of it above a £20 surplus after reasonable expenses for a 36 months period...so you really need to make sure br is the right option for you. i would speak to one of the free debt charities again and read as much as you can on these boards

good luck