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Shaving £££'s off bills...it all helps!
ASingleParent
Posts: 32 Forumite
New to the forum, am a single parent of two who is struggling to juggle all the balls, work, home, bills etc etc.
I've just took a total head out of the sand look at my finances and have woken up and taken stock. I am in debt to the tune of £7000, three credit cards and one store card. However I've taken note of the snowballing method I've seen on here and I believe that is the way to go. I was offered a consolidation loan from my bank but this seems only a way of digging a bigger hole, it may work for some but personally I prefer the idea of paying it off bit by bit.
That takes me to the 'shaving £££'s' in the thread title. I systematically over the last couple of days, went through my direct debits and household bills and expenses with a couple of nice results.
1 - Rang water company to see if I could reduce the amount I pay each month (£60). While checking my account I asked if they could check my tarrif, they asked if I was on any tax credits (I am) and they said in that case I am entitled to a cheaper tafiff....I told them I've been paying the standard for three years I've been in my house! They promptly backdated the reduction...but only for a year as they said that's all they could do, that brings my monthly bill down to £45 a month.
2 - Sky subscription - Rang them and told them I may switch provider as my monthly cost is too high (Broadband, Phone and Phone) £43...was higher last year but got a reduction then. By downgrading and losing a few channels I don't really watch anyway and being stubborn I got the monthly bill down to £31....they took my broadband down to £1.99 for a year.
3 - Rang bank to discuss the credit card situation, while they said they couldn't reduce the interest they did agree to refund £30 in overdraft fees as a goodwill gesture as I hadn't originally been made aware of the difference between arranged and arranged OD's...money appeared in my account today.
4 - Switched Energy company, that's pending but should save me about £200 a year.
5 - Switched car insurance companies, Churchill to Octagon, £320 in one fell swoop.
Sorry for the essay! but wanted to share my 'little victories'...life is hard but it helps to feel a bit more in control...here's to shaving £££'s
I've just took a total head out of the sand look at my finances and have woken up and taken stock. I am in debt to the tune of £7000, three credit cards and one store card. However I've taken note of the snowballing method I've seen on here and I believe that is the way to go. I was offered a consolidation loan from my bank but this seems only a way of digging a bigger hole, it may work for some but personally I prefer the idea of paying it off bit by bit.
That takes me to the 'shaving £££'s' in the thread title. I systematically over the last couple of days, went through my direct debits and household bills and expenses with a couple of nice results.
1 - Rang water company to see if I could reduce the amount I pay each month (£60). While checking my account I asked if they could check my tarrif, they asked if I was on any tax credits (I am) and they said in that case I am entitled to a cheaper tafiff....I told them I've been paying the standard for three years I've been in my house! They promptly backdated the reduction...but only for a year as they said that's all they could do, that brings my monthly bill down to £45 a month.
2 - Sky subscription - Rang them and told them I may switch provider as my monthly cost is too high (Broadband, Phone and Phone) £43...was higher last year but got a reduction then. By downgrading and losing a few channels I don't really watch anyway and being stubborn I got the monthly bill down to £31....they took my broadband down to £1.99 for a year.
3 - Rang bank to discuss the credit card situation, while they said they couldn't reduce the interest they did agree to refund £30 in overdraft fees as a goodwill gesture as I hadn't originally been made aware of the difference between arranged and arranged OD's...money appeared in my account today.
4 - Switched Energy company, that's pending but should save me about £200 a year.
5 - Switched car insurance companies, Churchill to Octagon, £320 in one fell swoop.
Sorry for the essay! but wanted to share my 'little victories'...life is hard but it helps to feel a bit more in control...here's to shaving £££'s
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Comments
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Way to go u! Doesn't it feel great as well! Oh & by the way I totally agree with the consolidation loan thing, we did that twice and managed to spend it and run the debts up again before we had our LBM so well done for not going there!Started DMP Oct 2012 debtfree date 1st March 2020
Starting debt £72481
Current debt £47600. 33% paid off!!!:T:rotfl::rotfl::j
Moved from £70's to £60's, bye bye £50's and hello £40's!
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Well done!!!
Amazing what you can do when you put your foot down
My husband done the loan consolidation - went drastically wrong!
Keep it up, you`ll be debtfree before you know it!DebtFree FEB 2010!Slight blip in 2013 - Debtfree Aug 2014 :j
Savings £132/£1000.0 -
How much more could you have saved, if you had dumped Pay TV completely?0
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ASingleParent wrote: »Sorry for the essay! but wanted to share my 'little victories'...life is hard but it helps to feel a bit more in control...here's to shaving £££'s
Welcome all the little victories add up to make the big victories.
Good decision on refusing the consolidation loan. I took one and ended up back at square one. Good luck on your debt free journeyTotal debt March 2014: £11,194. Now £4,198.
0% CC1: [STRIKE]£2,240[/STRIKE] £0. 0% CC2: [STRIKE]£1,934[/STRIKE] £0.
0% CC3: £0 0% CC4: £4,198.
12.9% Loan: [STRIKE]£3,000[/STRIKE] £0
14.9% HP: [STRIKE]£1,103[/STRIKE] £00 -
Well done, that's a good start. :money:
If you systematically put those savings each time to the credit card with the highest interest rate in overpayments, the snowball will re-calculate your debt free date and you can gain satisfaction from seeing that date come forward.
After this remember not to drop your monthly payments as the total owed drops; keep up with what you can afford at this point and the debt free date will come forward even faster.Debt Free 🍾 since 6.8.13 £31,997Saving for 🎄 🎁 2025 £568/£730 77%6 mth 🆘 fund £6kMortgage offset fund £24.7k/£38.4k 64.3%It turns out the answer to my problems wasn’t at the bottom of this tub of ice-cream, 🍨 but the important thing is that I tried...0 -
NHS_worker_bee wrote: »Good decision on refusing the consolidation loan. I took one and ended up back at square one.
Me too, but I did it twice.
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Welcome to the MSE forum
Feels good taking those first positive steps.
Light bulb moments! we are all here to help on your journey. Just want you to know you have joined the club on our bills, home and working lives.
You are not alone.
Agree with Bedsit Bob and dump the tv.
We have Virgin and M-tv = same as free view, M - phone and XL .broadband.The secret to success is making very small, yet constant changes.:)0 -
brilliaqnt start, well done, good luck on your DFW journey:)LIVE SIMPLY * GIVE MORE * EXPECT LESS * BE THANKFUL0
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Bedsit_Bob wrote: »How much more could you have saved, if you had dumped Pay TV completely?
I do like to have a landline so getting that and the broadband together with the TV in one package is convenient....cheaper than having them all separately.
Will look into it though.
Thanks for the welcome and encouragement all 0 -
That's not what I meant ASP.
How much would you save, if you kept the phone and broadband, but dumped the TV part?0
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