£30 til payday again and sick with worry!

katsu

Just for comparison incase it helps you.... we spend around £45pcm on gas and electric, for 2 adults (both out at work) in a slightly chilly house with no TV! You should be able to reduce your spend - if you don't want to switch how about looking at the website of your current provider and entering your usage to see if they have a better tariff you could move on to? See if you can borrow an OWL meter from your local library and start looking at whether your bills are accurate or estimated as your spend on G&E is quite high for just 2 adults. Are you turning things off when you leave the room, using low energy light bulbs, not heating water by switching on the immersion etc?

I also agree that a freeview box will help you cut the satellite costs and suggest you buy rolling tobacco if you need to keep smoking.

I think the prescription pre payment cert is one of the most transformational suggestions you've been given. Please follow the links or ask the chemist about it asap.

katsu

oooh - windows. Line your curtains. Pin fleece blankets or extra fabric to the inside of the curtain and when you can afford it get thermal curtain linings, they are ace.

Look for gaps and block them. Hang a thick curtain over the front door. Go to charity shops and look for cheap thick curtains (you can even use the curtain hooks to hang them inside your current curtains so they don't show).

postie_bear

Hi well done with your SAO so far, you have a big open chimney in the lounge.

You live in a rural area the same as i do, its winter, heating costs a fortune yet in a rural area you will have lots of dead trees. Use the wood in the fire place and you have free fuel.

If you ask round family and friends who have trees or who will look out for wood for you it will soon mount up, i cam home the other nightto find a big stack of wood in my front lawn where one of the neighbours kindly donated it to me.

I have saved loads on my fuel the last couple of year. there is nothing better then a nice open fire.


Petrol may be cheap but how many miles to the gallon are you getting? it may be better to change to a more fuel efficient car.

hope this is ok

PB

Sakina

Oh my gosh, thank you so much all of you for these fantastic ideas! I feel v stupid having never actually thought about fleece/lined curtains over the windows, I have blinds over them but doesn't do much for the heat, I will work on that tomorrow as I at least have a few spare duvet covers and I think doubled up I can make some thick insulating curtains. BTW, the rest of the windows are double glazed, it's just one wall of the lounge is french doors and badly needs replacing!

We would love to have an open fire and originally our lounge fire was open, it still looks like it is but previous owners had gas plumbed in and so it's now a gas fire. We looked at converting it back as the original hearth is in place and still have the old fixtures in the garage but got to get it done properly due to the gas connection. I think we will make it a priority though as we have a plentiful supply of free firewood available.

Clothes - I get most of my clothes 99p on ebay or charity shops I also do a lot of sewing and mending. For my wedding recently I got a gorgeous dress for 99p - 2 sizes too small for my bridesmaid - made a corset back and did the alterations myself. Exact same dress was available in the wedding shop for £250. Neither of us spends much on clothing!

bouncydog1

OH has just finished insulating loft of our bungalow which is big! We used the B & Q insulation, extra wide and he cut it down to insulate between the joists. Then put a cross layer over the top of the whole lot. The difference is amazing - can't wait to see how much we have saved on the oil bill!

Best thing is that we went and bought the rollls a few at a time from our local B & Q where it was on offer (saving 70%). Cost of insulation is easily going to pay for itself in saved heating costs in a very short time I would hope!

There are lots of websites showing you how to do this work, which is easy - you will only need a saw to cut the rolls - depending on the space between your joists you may get away with using pre cut short rolls for laying in between them and then buy the wider stuff for the crosslayer. If you live in a house rather than a bungalow it won't even cost a huge amount - you would be able to pay this out of your enormous grocery bill!

Just be aware that if you have downlighters set into the bedroom ceilings you will need to take additional measures as the insulation can't be laid directly over them, but again you can find out all about this on the web.

Good luck with sorting everything out - you sound as if you have got out of your depth and your depression has escalated everything. Remember tiny steps lead to a gigantic leap!

Londonboy_3

Some great advice on here:

My own view is that step one is stop smoking - you will be richer and healthier. 2 weeks of hell as you withdraw but the benefits are huge. That one action would balance your books even without any adjustment to the other spend.

One car looks like a good one - I would sell it and pay down the loan, spend £2k or so of the proceeds on a cheap diesel Corsa, Fiesta, Clio, C3 etc. Looks like no kids so you don't need a big car with back seats.

On groceries I echo all comments about meal planning - myself and my partner both work full time in demanding jobs with a long commute from rural herts to Canary Wharf in London (plus have a daughter) yet we still eat home cooked food every evening - just a case of planning ahead. We found getting a vegetable box delivered every week brought our grocery shopping right down (as you base your meals on the veg in it) so have done this for 6 years now. It especially makes sense when you have a long ish drive to the shops to get things delivered.

On the utilities - you could well be heating rooms you rarely use. Turn off the heating in spare bedrooms etc, use electric blanket on your sofa and bed (if you are TV watchers of an evening) and you'll be toasty warm without needing the heating on very much.

The good news is that your issues are easily solved with some simple actions and certainly once this tight month is out of the way I can see no reason why money worries would further worsen your illness.

Esqulax

Groceries - Never shop hungry. Have a sandwich or a snack before you go to the supermarket. Its stops impulse buying!

Smoking - People have suggested giving up, which is cool and would be the best option. If all the stress makes you really not able to, maybe think of growing your own? Its perfectly legal once you don't sell it and you can grow as much as you like! http://www.tobaccoseed.co.uk/ (Takes a while though!)

Soph86_2

Hi, and welcome :-)

Keep your chin up, it's only money at the end of the day - you have a good wage coming in, and can afford your repayments, you just need to cut back a little and you can clear your debts in no time.

I don't really have anything more to add, but to echo what everyone has said so far. You have a SOA that you can shave masses off, you just have to really want to do it. I would do one small thing at a time though and cut back gradually - you can't do it all at once. You need to shave at least £110 off in the first month though, so sit down and do a proper budget. Take enough money out to last you for a week at a time, and split that money into different purses for each part of your budget. I have one for groceries, one for hairdressers etc, and one for my entertainment spends (about £5 a week these days, but oh well!).

I have no idea of the reasons for your depression, nor am I medically trained, but my thoughts are that if you put all your efforts into sorting out your budget and spend time cooking from scratch, and visiting these forums for moral support, you may even find you start to feel better. At the very least your money worries won't be helping, and getting a budget and a plan t get out of debt will at least take this off your mind.

I'd agree with the prescripions too - you're spending an awful lot on OTC drugs, and if you ask your doctor he will prescribe you the ones you need. If he won't prescribe them, you don't need them - they will even precribe paracetamol if you ask - tell your doctor you have a pre-payment certificate and he is more likely to prescribe you everything you need. If he says no, try a little persuasion.

Keep a spending diary. I never had any more left at the end of the month despite my best efforts to account for everything. I was suprised how much that 20p newspaper, chocolate bars and other little <£1 spends adds up to over the month when you actually look at it. I guarantee that one months spending diary will make you want to cut back!!

Other than that, keep your head up, it shouldn't take long to become debt free......you just need to want to do it!

Best Wishes,
Soph