Sparkerly's SOA

[Deleted User]

Sparkerly wrote: »

:j After taking the first plunge in facing my debts and receiving great advice on here, I plucked up the courage to speak to the gas company and they have agreed to reduce our monthly dd to £79 down from £117. Can't believe how easy it was to do.

Gonna give Sky a try after speaking to OH.

Huge thanks to all :T:T:T

seems like you're getting the hang of it quickly! Well done.

Sparkerly

anh1904 wrote: »

Sky at £63.85 PLUS £55 on phone is very high. We have the all in cable package and pay less than half that amount, so you can categorically reduce this amount. If you get rid of Sport and/or Movies, then you can save most of it.

Your insurances are something that you really need to do some sort of cost benefit analysis on - is the further debt pile they are helping create justified in the eyes of the whole family and what they will ultimately forego in the future when you finally start repaying.

You could argue the same about school fees, Gym, Takeaways .... nearly £1500 in total every month all in, which gives you plenty of room to manoevre, IF you really want to.

Need to do some investigations into telephone/broadband, as we haven't got access to the phone/internet/tv packages on the mainland, but might be able to do some cut backs on this.

Insurances will definately be the thing we should be able to save on, just got to hope my OH brings home the details from his work so I can see what we can cut out.

Gym is definately going - can't justify the cost any longer - especially as its not used much and takeaways are way too high so I will cut back there as well.

Its all stuff that deep down I knew, but was able to justify the expense to myself, but when other people are also suggesting it than you do start to listen and accept the changes we must make.

Thanks:T

WASHER

Are the children not entitled to a state education?

You have 33K worth of debt, and you are paying £700+ per month on school fees along with a huge mortgage and life insurance policies.

Your OH is on an excellent salary, but you seriously need to start living within your means and if I was in your position, I would think about selling the car for a cheaper model, look at a state school (if you entitled to a state education), reduce greatly the insurance policies (all very good to have) if you can afford them and get rid of sky all together (if you are out of contract).

I hope you don't think I'm being harsh, I have had similar debt to you in the past, things have to change, and change sooner rather than later.

anh1904

It isn't about being harsh, it is about facing up to reality.

I would imagine with the salary in the household, significant further borrowing will be readily available, so there is a CHOICE to be made about whether to face up to things now, while in around £20k of debt, or leave it a while and face a significantly higher number when it becomes important enough, within the priorities of your lifestyle, to do so.

Sparkerly

WASHER wrote: »

Are the children not entitled to a state education?

You have 33K worth of debt, and you are paying £700+ per month on school fees along with a huge mortgage and life insurance policies.

Your OH is on an excellent salary, but you seriously need to start living within your means and if I was in your position, I would think about selling the car for a cheaper model, look at a state school (if you entitled to a state education), reduce greatly the insurance policies (all very good to have) if you can afford them and get rid of sky all together (if you are out of contract).

I hope you don't think I'm being harsh, I have had similar debt to you in the past, things have to change, and change sooner rather than later.

I don't think you are being harsh at all. I need to face the truth and sometimes you need others to point out what is staring you in the face.

The kids could go to states school, but with exams coming up I don't want to move them as they are settled and doing really well.

anh1904

When the children are grown up, you will have over £700 per month to service the debt mountain - my guess is, you'd rather have it to help them through university and enjoy mid (later) life.

WASHER

Are your children in the last school year of high school then? If so, I assume you will not have to pay school fees as from September.

the_cat

FWIW I wouldn't change the kids school just now.... like the OP I would concentrate my efforts elsewhere in the budget. There is enough slack to cut back and also the scope for the OP to get a job. It WILL require sacrifice. I would list my priorities..... kids school, mortgage and ESSENTIAL bills would be number 1 (equally). Everything else is up for grabs.Most areas can and should be cut back on. It will not be a pleasant experience after getting used to the luxuries but it is doable and necessary if she is to continue with the private education

Is the GCSE child going on to further ed? Is that private too? What cost implications?

lindens

Takeaways were (are...) an issue in our house, £80 per month on top of shopping budget which on paper looked horrendously high but was only 1 a week. So we sat round and I said I am happy to pay for a taleawy once a month out of my treat money, my OH said so was he and my18 year old DSD said so was she, so that was 3 takewawys covered a month! The other week we go without.
Another good thing if your takeaways were pizzas is "build your own pizza night". Make the bases, one each and then have a load of toppings ready and each family members loads up their own pizza and cooks it. The kids love it!

[Deleted User]

lindens wrote: »

Takeaways were (are...) an issue in our house, £80 per month on top of shopping budget which on paper looked horrendously high but was only 1 a week. So we sat round and I said I am happy to pay for a taleawy once a month out of my treat money, my OH said so was he and my18 year old DSD said so was she, so that was 3 takewawys covered a month! The other week we go without.
Another good thing if your takeaways were pizzas is "build your own pizza night". Make the bases, one each and then have a load of toppings ready and each family members loads up their own pizza and cooks it. The kids love it!

I love the build your own pizza night idea! Think we'll have to do that here.

I do occationally make pizza's but I always use the tesco pizza base mix - if you have an (easy) pizza base recepie it would be very welcome!

D9