Am I in the right place? Had my meltdown moment.

CH27

Do you not get Child Benefit & Child Tax Credits?

Your mobile costs are very high. Can you reduce tariffs? Swap to Pay as you go?

Take packed lunches.

Flowerbomb_2

Thanks all for your comments / advice.

Tixy wrote: »

Get that no claims proof off straight away as you say. will do

Water rates............................. 0 do you not have this? or is it with council tax in scotland?it's with our council tax.
Other travel............................ 150 what is this? is it the cheapest way of buying? eg is it a season ticket and if not would it be cheaper? This is my travel expenses which I pay daily. My weekly zonecard would be almost #30 but it would be #95 to buy it four weekly which I've never been able to afford. The other money is the taxi back from the supermarket (I don't drive) with the shopping. My husband works stupid hours and I hate relying on him to ferry me about. I know this is a potential area for saving but it's changing mindset. What's the thoughts on internet shopping instead?
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0 ? is this right? Hmmmm, I should really put a cost in there. We gave up expensive haircuts and highlights about a year ago and now I do my own but I do go to salon services for dye etc every six months so the cost should be about #3 per month. What I have missed off the list is my SAO which I wouldn't / couldn't give up is my make up. I'm back to basics now (nivea, vaseline, no17, rimmel) for the most part but there are a few pricey things that I can't really do without - would estimate it about #20 per month

Hire Purchase (HP) debt ...... 16000....(322)......14.9 is this £16k on the £8k car? or was £16k the original amount? I'm not sure I have these figures right, the 8k was a total guesstimate and the #16k was the total cost of the debt at purchase including interest. Those probably need to be clarified with my husband tonight.
Total secured & HP debts...... 138000....-.........-
Student Loan...................6000......90........0 is this oldstyle or newstyle? Oldstyle. I don't earn enough to pay them back yet but idiot again I've not deferred and have left it far too long to do so now. It's all a bit of a mess tbh. Was thinking about writing to them / seeing if CAB could help me with them?

RAS wrote: »

A few thoughts above.

Electricity............................. 100 - this is very high. Start by reading the meter. Are you in credit? If not, we need to llok at how to reduce this I've readjusted this on the second sheet. From this month actual payments should be #125 all in. There are also #1200 arrears which I am mortified about
Gas..................................... 100 - ditto as above
Telephone (land line)................... 60 - this should be about £12? Reduce you calls I have landline, broadband and cable as a package from virgin that costs #100 approx per month. Part of this is a loyalty reduction of #37 but I gather I'm still being fleeced. On the occasions I've called them to get one element taken out they say that they'll no longer offer me the discount and it ends up more expensive! I'm not really sure what to do. I NEVER use my landline, we watch most of our TV online, it's only the kids who watch the actual tv
Mobile phone............................ 100 - this is massive how many? - we have two iphones (sorry looking for a rolling eye smilie but can't find it. We can't reduce the package and my contract has 11 months left and Mr Flowerbombs has 18 months left. Both were 24 month contracts. Neither of them are insured so we can't even dealbreak. Was my first thought this morning.
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 20 - get rid of this and go freeview
Internet Services....................... 20 - get a phone/internet deal and reduce this As above re tv/internet/phone - are best deals all separate?
Groceries etc. ......................... 250 - OK
Clothing................................ 60 - this is high My kids are 6 and 8 and for the last few months have been growing out their school clothes, shoes and jackets at an alarming rate. I held off replacing things for so long thinking that it was near the end of term and they'd get away with it but eventually had to bite the bullet. I've a lot of clothes from the older one put away for the wee one but they wee one is a big lanky noodle and so far nothing has fit him either. Will try to reduce this. What I save through summer hols will go towards their new term clothes too.
Other child related expenses............ 60 - what is this? It's an estimate for scouts and footy training #2.50 each per child per week and school fundraising, day trips, days out with friends.
Buildings insurance..................... 20 - this could be cheaper combined with conbtents? #40 is both combined - will look for better deal
Contents insurance...................... 20
Life assurance ......................... 45 - this is high. What are you gettting? my husband deals with this. As far as I know it pays off mortgage in event of death and additional lump sum? I think... will look into better deal
Other insurance......................... 21 - what is this?had a fault with an out of warranty washing machine so took out emergency cover at #17. Am tied to this for 5 more months. Also covered the tumble dryer at a later date but I can ditch this anytime
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 25
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 100 - this is very high - given your debts you need to pare this to the bone - say £20 - for a few months yeah I think I knew that. Will be veeerrrrry hard!
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 25 - how much is in here? Chuff all, it was a nod to the maximum we could probably put away.


Unsecured Debts
Scottish Power.................1200......200.......0 - this is the priority I agree

Littlewoods....................1000......250...... .0


Check the catalogue APRs? I'm sure Littlewoods charges extra in the purchase price and has no APR, their Very and Additions brands charge interest. They keep offering me reduced monthly payments for taking on an interest rate.

CH27 wrote: »

Do you not get Child Benefit & Child Tax Credits?

Take packed lunches.

I get child benefit but I've lumped that in with my salary. We also get #60 tax credit annually which I've again put with salary. Where we would benefit from tax credits is if we used childcare but thankfully we have good grandparents!

I think packed lunches are the way forward. And an immediate ban on fizzy juice!

Flowerbomb_2

I've just had a chat with Scottish Power. I paid #50 today and will pay another #250 on Tuesday (payday) to nudge down a chunk of the arrrears. From there they can put me onto a #208 monthly DD for the next 12 months, not starting til May which clears the remaining arrears, covers the monthly repayment AND covers my boiler AND is capped so that if prices rise I don't take the hit but if they go down my rates go down with them. This is a good thing isn't it? I'm not tied in yet, I've to set it up on Tuesday when I pay the #250. God, even just doing that I can breath a bit better.

Another re-adjustment of the SOA needed then?

cassidy0111

Flowerbomb wrote: »

I've just had a chat with Scottish Power. I paid #50 today and will pay another #250 on Tuesday (payday) to nudge down a chunk of the arrrears. From there they can put me onto a #208 monthly DD for the next 12 months, not starting til May which clears the remaining arrears, covers the monthly repayment AND covers my boiler AND is capped so that if prices rise I don't take the hit but if they go down my rates go down with them. This is a good thing isn't it? I'm not tied in yet, I've to set it up on Tuesday when I pay the #250. God, even just doing that I can breath a bit better.

Another re-adjustment of the SOA needed then?

That is good news on the Scottish Power front. It is only Day 1 and you have already made a massive dent in your debt issue.

It may be worth using the snowball calculator on your existing credit/store cards. This will let you tackle them most efficiently.

Flowerbomb_2

cassidy0111 wrote: »

That is good news on the Scottish Power front. It is only Day 1 and you have already made a massive dent in your debt issue.

Thanks! I'm glad that's one thing sorted but I'm trying to keep in mind that this isn't a quick fix and I still need to get to the root of our !!!!less attitude with money.

It may be worth using the snowball calculator on your existing credit/store cards. This will let you tackle them most efficiently.

Have just googled it. So does that help you prioritise debt in terms of cost and priority level (ie council tax vs student loan) type thing?

cassidy0111

Yes it helps to prioritise debts on credit/store cards/loans etc. Council Tax should always be a priority debt.

Student Loans are often at low interest so it may be better to talk to them about paying the minimum payments/deferring payments while you tackle your more costly debts. Littlewoods will no doubt be a high APR.

clemmatis

I have landline, broadband and tv from Virgin. 10mb broadband, Medium, Medium landline, TVXL. It's about £42 a month. That's for their most expensive TV package (but not with any "extras" like Sky Movies), their cheapest landline 'phone and broadband.

What's your exact package?

Svenena

I have TV, broadband and a phone line with Virgin for just under £30 all in, so you should be able to get that down from £100! Have a look on their website to see how much the basic package is now, and then tell them you want that.

Flowerbomb_2

clemmatis wrote: »

I have landline, broadband and tv from Virgin. 10mb broadband, Medium, Medium landline, TVXL. It's about £42 a month. That's for their most expensive TV package (but not with any "extras" like Sky Movies), their cheapest landline 'phone and broadband.

What's your exact package?

Svenena wrote: »

I have TV, broadband and a phone line with Virgin for just under £30 all in, so you should be able to get that down from £100! Have a look on their website to see how much the basic package is now, and then tell them you want that.

Seriously?! We have the medium broadband, the talk for free at night time landline and good tv but no movies. I'm off to call them RIGHT NOW!!!

Like I say though, I NEVER use my landline and barely watch tv except from on-line!

cassidy0111

Tell them you are leaving to go to Sky as the deal is better. See what they offer you.