First Time post on here - felt sick and a loser

peskie_pixie

Just thought i'd check in and see how you're doing.

You've made terrific advances already, especially re: water and also doing the spending diary will really help.

Have you managed to make any inroads into gas/leccy yet? (prob have but couldn't find mention in the thread)

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities

Half the battle is just finding out what's out there and who/where to contact. So at least you're in the right place to benefit from others experiences (just be selective in who you respond to;)

Keep plodding away bit by bit and you'll get there

Broken_hearted

As I said before I would rather stay away.

Anthillmob

weymuffred wrote:

The amount I get is the amount I have put.
There are 3 posters (anthillmob, bugbabe) who are just not nice and will not be missed.
I know that everyone else is only posting so they can help me and my family out of our current debt, and as I have done already but will do again is say thanks.

for cryingout loud ive been trying to help you. gratitude ive given some advice and you have taken everything i suggested as a dig at you. why? if i said 'oooh you scrounging !!!!!!' then fair enough but i havent and i dont think that of you. i am sympathetic to your situation. theres just no please in some people.

southernscouser

weymuffred wrote:

I am not including the dla becuase it is theirs and they have not posted on here, I am not going to involve them as they have enough to cope with.

On a totally different matter to your SOA, make sure this money is being invested wisely. Make full use of ISA allowances etc. It's good practice to start making your money work for you for a change.

Bloke_with_a_simple_life

Hello Wey,

I'm trying to understand a bit more about the situation. Hopefully you can help!

1. Looking at the debts ...

HSBC - 12500 - how much are you having to repay each month on this? Is this a loan, credit card, over draft? If a loan - what is the term of the loan? If a credit card, what is the APR & monthly repayment - and have you stopped spending on it (ie. is it cut up!!)


GE Money - 1800 - Is this a loan, credit card, over draft? If a loan - what is the term of the loan? If a credit card, what is the APR & monthly repayment - and have you stopped spending on it (ie. is it cut up!!)


Aktiv - 3500 - Is this a loan, credit card, over draft? If a loan - what is the term of the loan? If a credit card, what is the APR & monthly repayment - and have you stopped spending on it (ie. is it cut up!!)


Inland Revenue 760 - how is this being repaid? What does it relate to (under payment of tx - or them over paying you something else) Is it my monthly/weekly installments? Or have you not been able to start repayments on this at all? How "pushy"/threatening are the Inland Revenue getting on this?

2. At the moment (even ignoring the debts) there is an over spend of about £500.

Looking at the biggest areas of expenditure cut down,these seem to be:

- Telephone & internet... you may be able to get this cost down to an all inclusive £20 or so.. check Martin's recommendations at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1095003038,99872,

- Sky - Ok ok ... I know this is a subject you may not want to go to - personally if it were me I would cancel this completely and it would save my £55 a month .. but if you feel this is a "Must keep" at least phone SKy and threaten to cancel and see if they come up with a Retention Deal to keep the business (e.g. a lower bill for a few months). In addition, they are starting to offer some sort of free broadband and reduced phone bill tariff (Skytalk??) Start off looking at this http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/broadband/home for some ideas on what sky could offer.

3. House keeping and clothes - this comes in at about £1025 per month - as people are suggesting - a spending diary to understand the "whats, whys, and wherefores" of your spending and most importantly a plan then to cut this expenditure back. Although I hear your feelings about DLA, if you are spending money on the children (e.g. food and clothes) - then I would think it is reasonable to use some of the DLA money to cover this expense too - and help bridge the sizeable gap between the spending and the income.

4. animals/vets - although animals are important, I think you need to consider "can we afford to spend £119 each month on them"? I would consider finding a new owner and home for them (where they can be loved and looked after aswell as you do currently) to help bridge that gap.

5. My feelings on pocket money are similar to point 3 - could a portion of the DLA be given as pockey money to the children - and therefore remove this expenditure of £40 per month? I know your feelings towards the DLA, but is there any scope to change the view on these slightly?

6. Gas & Elec have been covered off I think by other posters - but it may be worthwhile to read another of Martin's articles to see if there is anything else you can do on this. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1103281560,22751,

Good luck with the efforts & I don't mean to cause distress with any of my observations etc. PLease reply back with answers to the questions - as it may help use all to provide some further help back.

THank you.

weymuffred

Not really had chance to be on the pc over the weekend as my neck/back have been killing me. so hopefully will be able to sort out answers to questions tomorrow

jellyhead

welcome back fred, i just thought of you when the postman came. i've had junk mail from sky and i wondered if you're aware of their offers which sound a lot cheaper than your current set-up to me ...

if you have a BT phoneline (i assume you do, isn't that what your AOL thing runs off?) you can get sky talk for £5 a month (£16 including BT line rental). that's for unlimited UK landline calls.

also, sky broadband. the basic 2meg package is free but there's a 2Gb usage allowance and a £40 set-up fee. the 16mb package is £10 per month but there's no max usage and no set-up fee.

i won't comment on which sky TV packages you have as i know nothing about them, we're with NTL.

anyway, i just thought this might save you money. if you read martin's thread about getting better deals from sky and ntl etc. loads of people have been getting the best deals simply by calling sky. i rang NTL last month after reading the thread and they offered me the 3 for £30 deal, for a better deal than my current £40.50 with them.

gettingitsorted

Hi fred
just wondered how your getting on ?

peskie_pixie

:hello:
Glad to see you back, was getting a little worried.

Hope you're feelin better

weymuffred

wher can I find the article on sky deals? we had looked at the packages and were going to cut at least two of them but i would like to read the article first.