Help Help Help (and please be nice....!)

RAS

The trouble is that you have not used the MSE format for the SOAs, so we cannot see the value of the debts or the APRs. I am going to guess that the Argos card is the most expensive and the barclay card could be.
Pay the £250 off the debt with the highest APR

The snowball at www.whatsthecost.com allows you to see the impact.

Anything around the house that you can flog to make brass to hit the next highest debt (APR-wise)?

kelzbelz_04

Hey!

Thats starange - i got them straight from the budget planner!

Oddly enough these are the 2 cheapest!

Argos is 0% for 12 months (although we dont have much on it)
Nationwide is 0%.
Barclaycard is 6.7% APR, but has hardly any on.
The Lloyds Loan is 7.4%.
The car is 10% (grrrrrrrrr):mad:

I have to give us some credit actually - I know all debt is bad, but we only ever go with products with a good rate!
I despise paying interest on anything at all!!!!!!!!

Firewalker

Is this only your partner's income and expenses? What is your situation? It may turn out that all your combined debts could be paid if you do a combined SOA/budget.

Firewalker

shazzer22

I agree about the contact lenses, mine are £16 and i think thats too expensive and i'm looking to change! Good luck, don't get too downhearted by it, you're in the right place!

Lurker1972

Its only a small suggestion, but where do you get your prescription cat food?
Our kitty is kidney disease diet & we originally were getting her food from the vet was about £20 for 2.5 kilo bag.....by ordering online we get 5kilo for £30 - we mostly order from pet-supermarket & go via quidco for cashback too.
It does take a bit longer to arrive so have to be a bit more organised about when to order so she doesnt go hungry (as if) but it has saved us money

kelzbelz_04

:j

Your advice is so appreciated it!

Me and the OH just sat for like ...2 hours looking at our combined SOA to see where we could begin to make changes following all your fab advice.

These are the main things we have come up with to start with....
1. Packed lunch everyday - NEVER bought!
2. Get rid of the OVERDRAFT FIRST!
3.£150 MAX food bill between us.
4. Buy lenses online and cancel current opticians.
5. Do his self assessment tax return ourselves! (will take some doing but we reckon we can do it!!!)
6. Change our sky subscription to something cheaper, or threaten to leave and hope they reduce the payments!

Believe it or not these small changes will save us just over £2500 in 12 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :j:T

On top of that, the OH is going to look at trading his car in, and getting another cheaper car! And then looking to compare petrol to diesel to see if savings can be had there! So thats a bit more that we could save!

Thanks again moneysavers - you're a star bunch and I am finally going to get a nice relaxing nights sleep!!!!!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx :beer:

elaine12022

I love the difference between your first & last post - go girl:j

I just thought I'd let you know you still get loads of channels if you cancel Sky - & you don't need to buy a freesat card. So unless there's a particular channel/group of channels you like you might be able to save a bit that way.( you can get all the 'normal channels' and more). It is slightly different to freeview.

Also don't know if you've got any good fairly cheap charity shops near you, they can be a good place if you need new clothes (most of my clothes are second hand).

sueh6

So glad you've decided to do this 'together'!

I was only thinking last night that in another 12 months you'll also have even more money in your pockets due to HMRC being paid off which agin you can throw at your debts.

Well done on the change of direction and good luck for the future

pleasedelete

It is now much harder to get cheap contact lenses on line (or at least daily disposables). I have done this for 7 years but my oh and daughter have boots. They get a free eye test and a discount on glasses (and a few boots points) Mine used to me much cheaper (I use 3 suppliers dependent on price) but they have all gone up recently so much that I hardly pay less than oh and if I needed glasses that year it would be more.

So check it is really cheaper.

kelzbelz_04

Thanks pleasedelete....

I have had a look, my OH is on a weird type of toric lens! He pays £23 p/m from his current optician.

The same lenses are available for £13 p/m if he buys 3 packs at a time, or for £10 p/m if he buys 6 packs at a time!

Hurrah! :j