Managing Debt + Paying it off

On_my_way

With some smart budgeting and shopping you should be able to eat well and live very comfortably with a £400 per month grocery allowance.

[Deleted User]

phones and sky might seem a bit extravagant, but you got to enjoy a few things in life. Somebody posted a thread recently because he was £4000 in debt because he had to take his cat to the vet. Seemed ridiculous to me but we all have different things that we enjoy. That cat would have been in cat heaven if it was mine, but each to his own.

soutermon

The £60 of travel is for busses to work (£14 a week), unfortunately something I can't do without.

I'm with BT and pay £58 a month for TV, phone and Fibreoptic broadband. The contract only started at the start of the year, so cancelling it would cost me quite a bit. This is a trade off between paying a large lump sum now, or paying less per month (but more in the long run). As things stand, I likely won't manage to pay the cancellation fees.

I'd love to drop our daughters mobile bills down too, but the contract is only 2 months old, and she gets it as a result of completing her daily chores round the house rather than getting pocket money. Cancelling that or getting her new phone taken away from her would send out the wrong message I fear.

For clothes, my wife and I are currently losing weight, and as such are finding clothes are getting too big for us. £50 a month is maybe high, but I'm not sure we'd get away with too much less unfortunately.

I like the look of that giffgaff sim. I shall be looking into that for sure.

I hope this post hasn't come across as too negative, that's not my intention. The suggestions are all very much appreciated!

hollibobs_2

Please don't take this the wrong way...but your daughter is 10 am I right?...

May I ask what wrong message will be sent out so to speak if you have to cancel the contract?.. Will she know of the sim changes?.. She is 10 not 16 ... ( no offence intended) ...

If you want to clear the debts then things must change and to be honest a roof over my head is far more important

hollibobs_2

My girls are 15 and 12 and have in the past until I found giffgaff had payg SIM cards.. They soon learned that when the credit ran out that was it until the month was up.. It taught them about money and made them think twice about texting/ calling all the time ......

The right message is that money doesn't grow on tress and you have to handle it wisely

soutermon

The contract is only 2 months old with Talkmobile and includes the phone she got with it. I agree, she wouldn't notice a change of sim/tariff, but cancelling the contract would surely mean she'd have to give up her phone, which is her most prized possession.

I'd hate to cancel it when she has been working hard at home in order to pay for it.

No offence taken at all

hollibobs_2

It's hard isn't it as we all want the best for our kids...

Can you not ring them and ask to reduce the contract?.. They can only say no...

How long is it for?. 24 months?

soutermon

Yeah, it's a 24 month contract. It's worth trying, but I seriously doubt they would change it this quickly in. I've already had an argument with them about VAT being charged on top of the quoted monthly fee (I'm sure VAT wasn't mentioned, so should be included in the monthly fee, not on top of it, but I've been wrong in the past!).

hollibobs_2

Ahhh yes added vat.... We had that row with t mobile... Hubby was told £39.99 a month but was being charged vat which made the bill around £49.99 ...

Contract now reduced to £24.99 as threatened to leave...

Check your contract as ours just said £39.99 .. No mention of ex vat.. They are crafty ....

hollibobs_2

And he was 5 months into the 24 month contract (forgot to add)