Shameful SOA

FallenArcher

There's been some debate about landline/broadband - I'm also under £20 pcm for this, at £18.50 pcm which includes *unlimited* internet and evening and weekend calls - through orange (I get a £5 discount for being a mobile customer - have actually recently changed to sim only for that at £10.50pcm) so there genuinely are bargains out there to be had if you shop around.

Also petrol is high - I know sometimes it can't be helped, but do you really *need* two cars? Could either of you lift share to work, or use public transport? Could make it a lot cheaper. Cycling or walking may also be an option. I currently cycle (or run!) a 7-mile each way commute and it's no bother at all - very good on the bank balance and exercise is built into daily routine. I'd thoroughly recommend it (I only started in July and am already a diehard!) but just isn't an option for OH, I know sometimes it just won't work, but worth looking at. You may even be able to sell one of the cars to generate a bit of dosh to go straight against debts.

Good luck with it all.

HappyMJ

FallenArcher wrote: »

There's been some debate about landline/broadband - I'm also under £20 pcm for this, at £18.50 pcm which includes *unlimited* internet and evening and weekend calls - through orange (I get a £5 discount for being a mobile customer - have actually recently changed to sim only for that at £10.50pcm) so there genuinely are bargains out there to be had if you shop around.

Also petrol is high - I know sometimes it can't be helped, but do you really *need* two cars? Could either of you lift share to work, or use public transport? Could make it a lot cheaper. Cycling or walking may also be an option. I currently cycle (or run!) a 7-mile each way commute and it's no bother at all - very good on the bank balance and exercise is built into daily routine. I'd thoroughly recommend it (I only started in July and am already a diehard!) but just isn't an option for OH, I know sometimes it just won't work, but worth looking at. You may even be able to sell one of the cars to generate a bit of dosh to go straight against debts.

Good luck with it all.

Sorry about the debate...you are really getting it for £23.50 then less your £5 discount which then makes £18.50 but as you say you don't have unlimited calls which for many people with a phone bill like the OP's charged through the Sky account would be essential as paying £4 a month could save much more than the £4. Also, the £10.50 Orange Sim Only is very restrictive especially from someone who is coming down from an unlimited everything plan. It's very likely they will exceed the limits and have a higher bill than they would otherwise have had by paying £37.50 a month and having everything unlimited with no worries about excess bills. Does your plan include insurance? I personally believe a phone worth more than £250 should have some sort of insurance and I would hope the OP's monthly mobile bill includes some sort of insurance.

pennies_from_Heaven

With all this talk about cheap broadband and calls, don't forget that some of us live in areas that aren't covered by certain companies - I for one cannot get Sky boadband as apparently they don't cover our area - BT is the only option for us, so under £20 a month is impossible. Others will be in the same boat.

rising_from_the_ashes

pennies_from_Heaven wrote: »

With all this talk about cheap broadband and calls, don't forget that some of us live in areas that aren't covered by certain companies - I for one cannot get Sky boadband as apparently they don't cover our area - BT is the only option for us, so under £20 a month is impossible. Others will be in the same boat.

Me included - I live in a Market 1 area ..... still worth shopping around and seeing what you can get out of the available suppliers - (you should be able to get +Net in your area if you can get BT)

foxgloves

Good luck to the O/P with all of this. So glad to hear you are going to cancel Sky. We paid for a Virgin Media TV package for a long time, despite significant debts at the time, we were reluctant to cancel as there were channels we liked, not Sports, but things like Sky Arts, etc. Well, we changed to Freeview & neither of us actually miss Virgin Media at all! Now we're debt-free we've added a Lovefilm subscription to our monthly outgoings so we can watch all the films we want without a big Satellite package. You read so much on here of people who simply won't consider cancelling Sky because of this or that, mostly Sports packages, but it's a luxury & compared with paying off debts & getting our finances in a much more secure position, it just doesn't begin to compare. Just cancelling Sky will save you £768 a year....that's a decent overpayment into whichever of your debts has the highest interest. Once you start debt-busting, looking at everything you spend which isn't essential, you really get onto a roll with it, especially as you start to see things coming down.

cats2012

Only one thing to add to what everyone has said - what did you spend all the credit on? can you sell any of it? ebay can be a goldmine for the right stuff.