How Do I go about fixing this?!?!

Donury236

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Even £120 seems high.

Given you list oil, I'm guessing the heating is oil fired, so what on earth are you running on electricity, that uses £120 worth, per month?

Also, from what you have said about work and child care, it looks like the house is empty all day, during the week, which makes the £120pm for electricity seem incredibly high.

I have queried this to!! In our flat before it was £80...same appliances. Unfortunately the wiring is approx 30-40 years old and we cannot use energy saving bulbs in the fittings as the last about 4-6 months then POP. And obv...cant afford to get the wiring sorted. catch 22

We do run a tumble dryer though - but that is because if we don't we need the heating on to dry the clothes and it still takes a day to dry stuff. We do have a washing line I use in good weather though.

Just checked and right now its like 12p a day standing charge and 11.44p a KWHR. This will go to 26p a day Standing charge and 13pkwhr at the end of august.

[Deleted User]

Just a thought.

What would happen to your benefits, if you quit work?

moxter

Donury236 wrote: »

We do run a tumble dryer though - but that is because if we don't we need the heating on to dry the clothes and it still takes a day to dry stuff. We do have a washing line I use in good weather though.

Tumble driers cost a fortune to run. You don't need the heating on to dry clothes except in the depths of winter unless your house has a big damp problem, in which case you probably need to use the heating more anyway. Yes clothes take a day to dry, sometimes more! Yes there are times when I wake up in the morning without any pants and give them a quick blast in the tumble dryer but other than that it's to be avoided.

As for the other things. There's a clear differentiation between your cheapest and most expensive debts. Get rid of Vertbaudet this month as that'll be out of your hair, then look at the others and pay minimum on all of them except Very which is your highest priority by a long way. It might even be worth loading up some spending on credit cards if you have any balance left, and throwing the extra at the Very debt.

Alternatively, while you've looked at getting a consolidation loan to cover everything, why not apply again for one just to cover Very? A £4k consolidation loan at an APR of 20% (say) would put you in a better position from a debt snowballing point of view if you were to pay off Very immediately. Pros and cons of taking on extra debt obviously. It might well not be the right move.

How long until the kids are in school?

Those utility bills are exorbitant. Your petrol costs seem pretty high as well, anything that can be done to cut those?

Ultimately, even without the childcare and with a couple of young kids to look after, and even with hefty debt, your joint income is reasonable so with some clever money management, a bit of belt tightening and some time, you should be able to work it out. Target getting rid of the worst debts (the top 3) completely by April 2015.

Top priority (other than keeping your family fed and watered, obviously!) is keeping your house secure.

pleasedelete

hi. The companies that you owe- very, vertbaudet, h&m, studio. They are all 'luxury items' by that I mean optional spending- clothes, gifts etc

Have you stopped spending any money on these accounts as that need to be a staring point. You have £25 for clothing but you must have been spending a lot more than that before.

So making sure that you don't use any of these accounts must be key.

Donury236

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Just a thought.

What would happen to your benefits, if you quit work?

Child benefit we would still receive. No tax credits though obviously as those are for childcare.

Donury236

pleasedelete wrote: »

hi. The companies that you owe- very, vertbaudet, h&m, studio. They are all 'luxury items' by that I mean optional spending- clothes, gifts etc

Have you stopped spending any money on these accounts as that need to be a staring point. You have £25 for clothing but you must have been spending a lot more than that before.

So making sure that you don't use any of these accounts must be key.

Yes, I have put a stop to using them. I have when needed used them if they have a sale on and its something we are needing to get for DD and it worked out cheaper than asda/tesco etc, like school stuff. But then I would add on the extra spent on top of the repayment. I feel really bad for OH as he goes to work in clothes with holes in - thank fully he is in a small business and keeps a suit for meeting clients. I'm pushing it as still in clothes I got when I was 2 stone lighter so you can imagine I look a sexy beast at work! lol

Donury236

moxter wrote: »

Tumble driers cost a fortune to run. You don't need the heating on to dry clothes except in the depths of winter unless your house has a big damp problem, in which case you probably need to use the heating more anyway. Yes clothes take a day to dry, sometimes more! Yes there are times when I wake up in the morning without any pants and give them a quick blast in the tumble dryer but other than that it's to be avoided.

We do unfortunately, place is 113years old. I think the floor is possibly the original one that came with the house and it needs replaced due to damp and some rot - how ad they cannot say without ripping up app the laminate. the house is large down stairs but we have 1 small north facing window. We did when we first moved in dry stuff on racks as tumble got crushed when moving. In december it took 3 days with heating on 2 hours in morning and 3 at night . I put stuff over radiators but we got mould round the window and id rather pay more for tumbling than have mould.
When its nice out though I will put the laundry out at night and hope its dry by the time i get home the next evening - only been stung a few times and had to rewash the clothes - which I guess would negate the fact I didnt use the tumble.

moxter wrote: »

As for the other things. There's a clear differentiation between your cheapest and most expensive debts. Get rid of Vertbaudet this month as that'll be out of your hair, then look at the others and pay minimum on all of them except Very which is your highest priority by a long way. It might even be worth loading up some spending on credit cards if you have any balance left, and throwing the extra at the Very debt.

Alternatively, while you've looked at getting a consolidation loan to cover everything, why not apply again for one just to cover Very? A £4k consolidation loan at an APR of 20% (say) would put you in a better position from a debt snowballing point of view if you were to pay off Very immediately. Pros and cons of taking on extra debt obviously. It might well not be the right move.

How long until the kids are in school?

child 1 goes next tuesday, child 2 will be in 4 years.

moxter wrote: »

Those utility bills are exorbitant. Your petrol costs seem pretty high as well, anything that can be done to cut those?

Ultimately, even without the childcare and with a couple of young kids to look after, and even with hefty debt, your joint income is reasonable so with some clever money management, a bit of belt tightening and some time, you should be able to work it out. Target getting rid of the worst debts (the top 3) completely by April 2015.

Top priority (other than keeping your family fed and watered, obviously!) is keeping your house secure.

Fuel cost is based on our derf scenic dong 50mpg.I have an approx 60 mile round commute a day - to drop off OH then go to my work. We live rurally, not REALLY rural...10 miles from nearest town, 4 to nearest other village. I did estimate the costs higher than I think they are, it might be nearer £160.

I am sitting down OH tonight and explaining it all to him. I confess that the majority are my debts. OH does work offshore now and again, so gets about £200 a day, but I honestly feel that I am a cheeky bint for asking him to help, as its not HIS mess, even though we are a family.

ViolaLass

Donury236 wrote: »

I am sitting down OH tonight and explaining it all to him. I confess that the majority are my debts. OH does work offshore now and again, so gets about £200 a day, but I honestly feel that I am a cheeky bint for asking him to help, as its not HIS mess, even though we are a family.

You were buying stuff for the family/paying family bills/drying family clothes so how is it not his problem too?

Donury236

ViolaLass wrote: »

You were buying stuff for the family/paying family bills/drying family clothes so how is it not his problem too?

Yes, I know .

pleasedelete

Donury236 wrote: »

Yes, I have put a stop to using them. I have when needed used them if they have a sale on and its something we are needing to get for DD and it worked out cheaper than asda/tesco etc, like school stuff. But then I would add on the extra spent on top of the repayment. I feel really bad for OH as he goes to work in clothes with holes in - thank fully he is in a small business and keeps a suit for meeting clients. I'm pushing it as still in clothes I got when I was 2 stone lighter so you can imagine I look a sexy beast at work! lol

I think of it this way. If you owe money any bargain costs the original price plus the cost of your highest rate of interest (that you are paying on other items as you could use the dress money to pay off debt)

So dress for child bought in sale for next year £10. Interest for 12 months 39.7%. Cost of dress actually £13.97 IF you pay it back in 1 year but of you don't pay it back for 2 years the cost of the dress is £19.52 and if you dont pay it back for 3 years (or still have any debt after 3 years) £27.26

Not such a bargain now?

If you are not in debt then a bargain may be a bargain. If you are in debt any bargain needs to be considered as how much it will have actually cost by the time that you use it.