SOA - Please could someone advise me on paying back this debt

wants.to.be.debt.free

DS4215 wrote: »

How far is the journey to work? - could you invest (or get free from Freecycle) in a bike and get the exercise benefit and save another £24 per month?

Can you do any work in the evening from home? - not sure what you do but you might be able to find something home based - even £5 a day would pay off the two smallest debts in a few months... Perhaps take a look at odesk or Peopleperhour and see if there is anything you can do...

Thanks for the advise, i will certainly check out freecycle and people perhour and odesk

Many Thanks

antonia1

Hiya - have you checked you are getting everything you are entitled to? Check out this website to make sure.

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

wants.to.be.debt.free

lemonpopsicle wrote: »

You ought to check whether you can get school uniform vouchers through your local council. We get nearly £100 a year. Your son isn't paying for the school bus is he?
Plus, I don't want to pry but do you not get financial help from his dad?

Not in this area of lancashire, they cut school uniform grants and yes this is the first year they took away free bus journeys, so i have got to pay £8 per week

wants.to.be.debt.free

wants.to.be.debt.free wrote: »

Not in this area of lancashire, they cut school uniform grants and yes this is the first year they took away free bus journeys, so i have got to pay £8 per week

No his doesn't pay anything as he is on benefits

wants.to.be.debt.free

Domino9 wrote: »

Hi, I have made suggestions above, I don't think that there is one thing that you are particularly over spending on, perhaps utilities (but this will depend on usage and probably geographical area too, so maybe not overspending here by too much). But I do think that you can shave a little off several things to make up the short hall.

Having said this, if you are only going to be paying the minimums towards all of your debts, and you are unable to shift any to lower interest debt, or you are not expecting an increase in income anytime soon, then I would seriously consider talking to one of the debt charities about all your options (free, impartial, non-judgmental, knowledgeable). If you put all of your debts in the the snowball calculator [at the bottom of the page that you filled your SOA in], you will get a debt free date for if you were to continue the current payments at their current rates.

Generally most people find that cutting back on everything is doable in the short term, but is unsustainable in the long term. If just one unexpected bill cropped up, without any savings you would most likely have to reach for more credit? Please seriously consider talking to one of the charities.

HTH

D9

Thanks for the advise - i will go over the SOA and get the DFD also i will get in touch with debt free charity

Many thanks for your help

TotallyBroke

Ok I think I understand now... sorry it took a while to sink in

wants.to.be.debt.free

asparagus1968 wrote: »

i feel for you!
there is me and my boy in a two bed here-gas and electric £50 per month via direct debit,so maybe you could look at using less?
tv/internet-this could be reduced by £5-£10 a month.
use quidco and/or topcashback for the comparison sites to look into making sure you have the best deals.

i'm not an expert,but apparantly if you look at the snowball calculator (among the stickies with the SOA) and input the debts and interest rates it shows you how pay thm off in the best order to reduce how much interest you pay.i think this is your main problem,so have a look?

suppose you have done the obvious-ebay/music magpie etc?
was ot home improvements/gadgets etc or day to day living that brought on the debt?

good luck,i know its hard.:)

Many thanks for the reply,

I have sold quite a bit on ebay and paid off capital one cc, When i moved back to lancashire they wouldnt let me have gas/elec on direct debit. (i have always paid by direct debit in the past) so the price is extortionate.

Once i have been on phone and internet for 1 year i will go with a diff company.

Im going to look SOA again so thanks for all you tips and thanks for understanding