Struggling to decide

whatatwit

If you find that recipe for the crumbly fudge, pass it on will you...I even got a sugar thermometer to try it out.

Get your self a curtain or something over the back door.
My front door and inner don't fit very well, from outside, you can see when the light is on in the hall by the light shining underneath.

Catch up in the morning....night night.

D&DD

Hi Kaz re the back door over on old style they had a thread about draught excluders some were made without having to sew too if thats any help?
Some energy firms do free energy saving bulbs if you are on certain benefits too (check out the benefit board for this).
I have 4 boys(including dad :rolleyes: ) to feed and they eat me out of house and home too but do check out some of the recipes on old style,many can be made for pennies and things like suet puds and sponge puddings fill them up nicely

Kazonline

Ok, well I'm going to put up with the door as it is (keeping warm will help me burn up a few extra calories).
New dilema - if I go onto the DMP and my credit is shot in June '08 my fixed rate mortage expires and at the current interest rate my payments will jump up by £45 and I won't be able to renegotiate (will I?). That will also mean that I won't be able to make my DMP payments (which also relies on my receiving student funding which comes to an end in August, but I was hoping to do another course in September and maybe find a job within my earning allowance)
Oh, what a mess! I think that should be my new ID.
If only I could find somewhere cheaper to live - but as we all know, the process of selling and moving eats into any equity that's released. I'm in a pickle.

livinginhope

hi kaz,we are on a DMP,so our credit rating is shot to bits now,but,our fixed rate ran out last month and we negotiated a very good rate with our mortgage company,we told them we were on a DMP,but they said it doesn't matter as they have already lent the money and won't do a credit check.We were offered the same rate as anyone else,but we knocked them down a notch,so don't worry.
LIH

lynzpower

HI ya Kaz

ALG - £1500pa £125
IS - £58 pw £251.33
CB - £164 4weekly £177.66
CTC -£108 pw £468
Maint £10 pw £43.33
are you entitled to council tax benefit or a contribution to housing benefit? Have you checked?

£1065.32
Expenses (1 adult, 3 children ages 8 - 16)

Mortgage £110
Ground rent £38pa £3.17
TV licence £10.67
Water £28
Elec £52 ( these are really high. As you are on tax credits you can get free energy saving LBs, look on https://www.est.org.uk, and of course swap suppliers)
Gas £72 (as above)

there were grants available to people on a low income if your home is "unsafe". Im not too sure if they are still available and in what form, but I would call the est and ask iof they know any fund that could cover your rewiring?

Build & Cont insurance £25 (have you checked this is the cheapest?)
Life insurance £23 ( adn this?)
Motor ins £23.33 ( must you drive if your not working?)
Road tax £15 ( as above?)
AA £ 7.50 ( as above)
Appliance ins (5 items £13 (think I might need this now as my grill stopped working today!) Ok claim now, but you might want to check if you can get a contents cover that includes this)

The following are the figures recomended by CCCS for living expenses etc

Groceries £392 ( this is high, whether they recommnend this or not, it doesnt have to be spent- I reckon theres a 150 saving here alone)
Clothing/footwear etc £ 35
School trips/activities £15
Telephone/net/mobile £60 ( must you have all these? my phone costs 11 a month, internet 17), mobile payg? saving there 35pcm at least)
Dentist/optician £13
Fuel & parking £80 ( again the car, needed?)
Vehicle spares & service £10
Hairdressing £5
Pet food/expense £12
Entertainment/hobbies £10
Sundries/Emergencies £20

£1034.67

£1065.32 - £1034.67= £30.65

Aol CC £4610, pay £58pm
Egg CC £4869 pay £100pm
Halifax £2126 pay £43pm
HSBC £1432 pay £43pm
Virgin £58 pay £5pm
O/D £1310
( what APRs are all thiese?Hows your credit rating?)

The other thing Id do is approach any charity you can find. Your local library and social service dept should have a book with lists of charities. Many charities welcome members of the public approaching them to give money away. I have written plenty of "begging letters" on behalf of clients and happy to help with these. I think this is the biggest "untapped" potential. getting a hundred quid from here and there would really help too. Do try this.
There are plenty of charities like the "bakers guild of britain" or "needlewomans guild" that even if you are tenously linked ie your mum used to be a baker means you could access cash pots. Im going to have a dig around when I have more time ( prob tomorrow) and see whats around in terms of charity paymentds. One of my mates works in this area and she says they cant give it away.

If youve ever been a member of a trade union its worth a quick phone call to find put if you are entitled to anything from their hardship funds. Im a current member of one and recently got a few hundred quid out of mine, kept the wolf from the door for a few weeks.

if you can batter down your grocery shopping to 50 a week over the long term then voila you have 200 to clear debt every month from that alone.

If you have a good enough credit rating obviously get your blaances transferred. Clearning that virgin card will look good, as you will have a settled balance which will lok good to new potential lenders. Do you have stuff to sell to make this money or have you exhusted your selling capacity?

Kazonline

Hi Lynzpower - thank you for taking so much time to post.
Re the car - it is very much needed. My children attend school out of our catchment area (long story) and it certainly isn't a walkable route, nor is it on a bus route. Changing schools isn't an option because eldest is in 6th form and has great potential and to be honest they've had a lot of unsettling experiences in their lives and I don't want to add to them if there's any way around it.
House insurance - I have to admit I haven't searched this one thoroughly again for two years.
Mobile - my contract is for 18mnths, I'd been doing party plan for 2 years when I took it out and had intended continuing. Once the contract is up I will turn to PAYG, in the meantime will call and see if I can get a better rate.
I do get Council tax benefit so I didn't list my council tax.
I also get help with my mortgage which is why I only pay £110 per month (didn't list rest of mortgage payment in expenses so didn't list the income as directly offset)
Great tip re rewiring, I will call them tomorrow and see what they can suggest, plus shop around for utility company (only it seems that gas and ele bill are now in arrears, although payments up to date).
Appliance cover - Grill is now working so I'll probably cancel this, only kept it going because the washing machine is threatning to break down again. What's the betting it will half hour after I cancel !
Again, thank you Lynzpower. Although I've still not quite made my mind up as to which is the best decision to make, at least now I'm managing to keep my head out of the sand and am working on finding the answer.
With regards to the food - £50 a week sounds quite a challenge with 3 growing boys (one over 6 foot). I know that many do it, but while I'm sure I could find more ways of cutting back I think there is only so low you can go before nutrition is compromised. While I can't give my children a lot of things I'd like to I do my very best to feed them in the healthiest way I can. I'd sooner have to give up and sell our home before I compromised that. I'm not saying that it isn't possible to feed a family healthy & nutritious food at that level, but it's not something I could be sure of achieving without a lot of practice first (but I will work on it )
My credit rating - excellent, but just got refused an Asda card on the grounds that I'm a student
The interest rates are between 14.9% (most of the cards & I think the O/D) and 16.4% (halifax). They were all about to go up to 20+ % but I got them back down. I need to call them again and see what I can 'negotiate' - but not sure that it'll do much good.
Thanks again,
Kaz x

mophead

Hi Kazoline, sorry if somebody has already asked this, but has you asked CCCs or the CAB what your creditors can do with regards to your house are your debts all unsecured??

Do you have a lot of equity in your home?

Claire.

Kazonline

My debts (bar mortgage) are unsecured. CCCS say that the worst that could happen by going onto a DMP is that the companies apply for a charging order - which would be fine by me. If I then defaulted on what the courts say I have to pay then I'd have to sell the house.
There is quite a bit of equity in the house, but there is no way of my releasing it without selling and moving into rented (which would be an absolute last resort)
Kaz x

gallygirl

Hi Kaz. I like your attitude!
Definitely check out house insurance - go on a site like https://www.moneysupermarket.com to get quotes, then look on quidco for cash back. Tip - do it separately and get 2 lots of cash back - have just done mum's on this with Lloyds, 2 x £120 tracked, total cost of insurance £140... about time they gave her something back as she had current account with 01% interest and around 2k balance for years:mad: .

Check out with council re energy saving & insulation. Don't suppose you're with Swansea Council.......
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10965. I managed to get free draught exclusion a few years ago, although was only getting tiny amount of WFTC.

Good luck :T :T

whatatwit

Hi Kazonline, it looks like you are getting your head around all of your outgoings.
Do you have a Lidl nearby, when the fruit and veg are half price, they are great value and will help to fill up your hungry mob.
Stardrops is great for cleaning, instead of all those specialist cleaners we are brainwashed into buying.
Have you started keeping a spending diary to keep track of all those precious pennies.