My SOA and debt diary

smudgemanc26

Hi and Welcome

A couple of things stand out to me on your SOA which are:

Gas&Elec 98.00 (Scottishpower, moved 12 months ago by uswitch recommendation) This seems rather high have you shopped around see if you can get a better combined deal?

His spends 45.00 Can you reduce these at all?
Her spends 45.00

School Lunches 80.00 This amount is rather high for lunches can these not be packed lunches? Buy things that you can use again in the week but have a variety

Virgin Media 85.00 (BB/TV/phone - incl 24h talk package as OH in during the day) Again this is very expensive can you look for a cheaper deal try sky talk package or freeview maybe?

As someone said before if you are struggling yourself maybe you can hold off for a while with the donations to the church and your sponsor and once you are back straight you can contribute slightly more to make up for it.

Ignatius_A

Shineyhappy wrote: »

Could you apply for a carers allowance?

Not that i'm aware of. The DLA payment covers the higher level mobility and the lower level care component.

Ignatius_A

ifstar wrote: »

Both car insurances look a bit high, when it comes renewal time you could do with shopping about and also use Quidco for money back.

Yup - spotted this. They're already direct line which are usually among the cheapest, but I plan to se Martin's 4 step technique when it comes to renewal. My insurance (the larger) is larger as I have recently changed my car (part of the debt) to get rid of an old unreliable R reg petrol to a 2002 diesel which is saving me £20 a month in fuel

Virgin Media, before phoning them up have a look and see what you can get with Sky/BT work out how much it would be for a year/18months (sometimes the deals run for 18 months) then compare it to Virgin. You will probably find a few hundred quid of a difference so tell the customer services person this and give them the figures and say that the difference is a bit too much to justify even though you are happy with the actual services you get from them. If the person doesn't bite then you can always phone back in 10 mins and speak to someone different. Aim for them to drop your bill by about £20 pm.

Will do. Have had a retentions deal from them before (now expired) should be able to do it again. Might even be able to get them to throw in a V+ box now that sky+ is subscription free:T

I know you don't want to give up on your charity money, but you are spending more than you are bringing in so you need to make some changes you will just continue to get into more debt.

You're not the first to suggest this. I'll look at reducing this a little in the short term. However, I'm as familiar with their financial situation as I am with mine ....

You should check out the snowball calculator on http://www.whatsthecost.co.uk/snowball.aspx as it will help you out. Looking at your SOA, you want to try and pay as much as possible onto the marbles card as it has the highest APR.

Already done - If I can make the payments I listed above then I should be debt free in 60 months

:T

Shineyhappy

Ignatius_A wrote: »

Not that i'm aware of. The DLA payment covers the higher level mobility and the lower level care component.

Try visiting https://www.entitledto.co.uk I think that is the address of the website that lets you work out carers allowances.

Could you wife look at earning a little bit of extra cash through online means? Ie join pigsback and some of the opinion sites like lightspeed/you gov etc? I know it doesnt bring it really serious cash but every little helps and personally I am saving all my cash from these towards Christmas. Could she maybe read through this site and find out some stuff about that type of thing or apply to join AQA?

Even some of the freebies I have had off the freebie board have been worth having.

Ignatius_A

smudgemanc26 wrote: »

Hi and Welcome

A couple of things stand out to me on your SOA which are:

Gas&Elec 98.00 (Scottishpower, moved 12 months ago by uswitch recommendation) This seems rather high have you shopped around see if you can get a better combined deal?

Can certainly look into this. Unfortunately we missed a payment last month (not a bounce - Due to migrating all bills to an account under my sole control) - paying any debt on the account as a bulk payment may be problematic at present

His spends 45.00 Can you reduce these at all?
Her spends 45.00

Not easily. This covers all the little minor expenses, mobile phones, and presents for each other (birthdays/christmas/father's&mother's days) I had to try hard to negotiate this down to 45 with the OH

School Lunches 80.00 This amount is rather high for lunches can these not be packed lunches? Buy things that you can use again in the week but have a variety

Yeah - this may be an overestimate. However, I'm not sure we're organised enough to guarantee to be able to put together a packed lunch every day - or that what we prepared would be as healthy

Virgin Media 85.00 (BB/TV/phone - incl 24h talk package as OH in during the day) Again this is very expensive can you look for a cheaper deal try sky talk package or freeview maybe?

Yup - will look at getting a retentions deal

As someone said before if you are struggling yourself maybe you can hold off for a while with the donations to the church and your sponsor and once you are back straight you can contribute slightly more to make up for it.

I'll look at a reduction of this - but I really can't bring myself to take it down any further than 30

Thanks:T

Shineyhappy

Have a look on the Old Style board for ideas for healthy foods or post asking for ideas for lunches that can be frozen!

My bosses wife makes his sandwhiches on a Sunday then freezes them and he takes out one every morning. Sticks them in a bag with some fruit and other things and it takes him 2 minutes.

Or batch cook soup and stick it in a thermos flask, maybe or left over pasta turned into a pasta salad? I always make my lunch the night before as cba in the mornings. Cous cous salad is another nice idea that is pretty healthy.

Ignatius_A

Shineyhappy wrote: »

Try visiting https://www.entitledto.co.uk I think that is the address of the website that lets you work out carers allowances.

Good thought - did try this a while ago and was told that we *might* be entitled to £10 tax credit - did nothing about it at the time. I will have another look

Could you wife look at earning a little bit of extra cash through online means? Ie join pigsback and some of the opinion sites like lightspeed/you gov etc? I know it doesnt bring it really serious cash but every little helps and personally I am saving all my cash from these towards Christmas. Could she maybe read through this site and find out some stuff about that type of thing or apply to join AQA?

I'm looking to join AQA or 82ask - She doesn't use the Internet often enough for it to be worth applying. Not sure what pigsback is? Have you got a list of opinion sites or a thread link?

Even some of the freebies I have had off the freebie board have been worth having.

Thanks for that :T

Ignatius_A

Shineyhappy wrote: »

Have a look on the Old Style board for ideas for healthy foods or post asking for ideas for lunches that can be frozen!

My bosses wife makes his sandwhiches on a Sunday then freezes them and he takes out one every morning. Sticks them in a bag with some fruit and other things and it takes him 2 minutes.

Or batch cook soup and stick it in a thermos flask, maybe or left over pasta turned into a pasta salad? I always make my lunch the night before as cba in the mornings. Cous cous salad is another nice idea that is pretty healthy.

Thanks, but you're talking to a guy whose range of edible veg includes peas, carrots, and red/green peppers if they're in something. Can't stand garlic - I make my own chili con carne & bolognase so I don't have to put garlic into them. :rolleyes:

DAVETHE_CARDBOARDBOX

I realise the charity thing isnt a lot in total but.....
A little pain now for longer term gain is what its about. Get yourself sorted, on this whole thing, cut all the bills to the minimum, switch on that light bulb thats got a dimmer switch.
When its all resolved, promise yourself and your charity that you will pay more then. Rather than paying a small amount now, keep it, sort yourself, then sort them later with interest added !

Pooky

Regarding the school dinners/lunch box options. Do the kids get a cooked meal at school, do you then cook again for them when they get home? How old are they? What sort of things would they eat for lunch.

It's all a question of organisation, thousands of us manage to make packed lunches each morning - it's really a case of planning.

My 2 DD's (11 and 9) take variations of rolls/pitta/sandwhich/pasta salad (all made the night before and shoved in the fridge. Then they choose a couple of bits of fruit, some nuts/seeds (bought in bulk and decanted into individual plastic pots at the weekend for the coming week. A home made cake/muffin/flapjack helps to fill them up too. Does your wife cook? We spend approx £55 per week on food for the 4 of us and that includes all the lunch box stuff too.

Your budget showed £100 per month for food and clothes - is that right??? I'm guess that's a weekly total so would make another £300 dent into your monthly shortfall.