Expert Advice Needed...!

CharliesAngel

So far this month:

• I have been refused a Nationwide Current Account Debit Card as I’m a liability! Unfortunately due to my spending habits I am not willing to operate an account without a debit card – I’m likely to take out far too much cash and blow it on un necessary items (magazines, chocolate, coke) instead of buying what I need
• I have been charged by Nationwide for late payment on my Credit Card this month due to my payment being stuck in the post. They are unwilling to refund this (£24) so have hastily phoned up and ordered a direct debit form!
• Had car repairs of £275; new brakes, discs, tyres, tracking, MOT, service, front lightbulb (£5.67!!!) and sparks. I do budget for car stuff but I wasn’t prepared for this much!!!
• Had to pay £56.41 to Vodafone to end my contract for the rest of the year due to me ‘not using my phone correctly’ i.e not being on a high enough tariff to make them money.

So… after all that, your advice in saving more money to compensate for the above would be fab!

I’m registered on Pigsback, Quidco, Survey Reward, Light Speed, Greasy Palm, Test and Vote… plan meals, have store cupboard ones twice a week… prefer to watch the footie on a Saturday instead of going to Meadowhall…

SOA:

Month
In1108

Out Mortgage 311.85 Fixed rate to January 2010
C/tax 62 Paying over 12 months, single occupancy discount
Water 14.12 Meter would prove more expensive
Car Ins 26.27 Ends January - will find better quote.
Home Ins 34.82 New house (v. old), no previous buildings insurance held
TV Licence 11.05
Gas & Elec 74 On debt collection with powergen due to house move. Not sure why.
Cable/landline 23

Loan 142.1 Fixed
Lloyds Card 20 Min
Nationwide Card 85 Min
MBNA 40 Min
Simply Be 125

Petrol 60 Cannot get to work/parents without my car
Food 51
Clothes 10
Car fund 10
Presents 2 Everyone knows I'm poor!

Leaves a grand total of 5.79!

CA xx

CLAPTON

a. You need to work out a realistic budget showing what you actually spend and not just the obvious things...

so you put down 10 for car ..but that doesn't even pay the car tax and MOT let alone RAC or any provision of new tyre/exhaust etc.
you say you spend 50 on food ..are you really sure thats very low.
never any takeaways, work lunches, no socialising, nothing ever spent on the property, appliances ?

b. to help you start keeping a spending diary and write down everything you spend without exception. also work out all the annual or one offs

c. are your debts increasing (showing you are spending more than you earn) or decreasing?

d. Can you increase your income... let a room? overtime, part time job?

e. Until you have reworked your budget its not really posssible to see if you can actually afford to live without either increasing your income or cutting your outgoings.

CharliesAngel

Thank you for your post..

• Can't afford more than 10 a month to the car... anything other than car tax has to go on credit.
• Food/clothes/car fund/presents is my budget! I often stick to this. Anything under i put towards debts.
• Breakdown cover is free with my bank account.
• Very sure about the food amount - and yes that's per month. No take aways, no work lunches, no socialising.
• I keep a spending diary had no spend days other than the above.
• Second job isn't an option as I'm also a carer to a family member, and can't let a room until they've been replastered, decorated and furnished.

Storm

As the Simply Be balance is about £700 why are you paying off £125 a month towards this? This is about 18% of the balance Is this the 'spare' that you're snowballing?

You need to increase the car savings each month so that it does actually cover the basics such as tax, mot test plus a bit for repairs. I put £100 a month into a car fund which includes my insurance, although as that's now going down I'll probably reduce it to £80 once it's gone through its MOT next week (if it's not too much)

Phone up Powergen & find out what the deal is with the gas & electricity - you're missing out on the opportunity to switch whilst it's with debt collection, so find out what you owe & when you'll be free to do a comparison.

As for being refused a debit card - draw out your weekly amount in cash, but then only take out a small amount with you. Be strict about not drawing out anymore until the following week, even if it means eating bizarre concoctions from the cupboards!

CharliesAngel

Storm wrote: »

As the Simply Be balance is about £700 why are you paying off £125 a month towards this? This is about 18% of the balance Is this the 'spare' that you're snowballing?

You need to increase the car savings each month so that it does actually cover the basics such as tax, mot test plus a bit for repairs. I put £100 a month into a car fund which includes my insurance, although as that's now going down I'll probably reduce it to £80 once it's gone through its MOT next week (if it's not too much)

Phone up Powergen & find out what the deal is with the gas & electricity - you're missing out on the opportunity to switch whilst it's with debt collection, so find out what you owe & when you'll be free to do a comparison.

As for being refused a debit card - draw out your weekly amount in cash, but then only take out a small amount with you. Be strict about not drawing out anymore until the following week, even if it means eating bizarre concoctions from the cupboards!

Thanks for your reply Storm... i'm having a bad day!

Simply Be - yep trying to get rid of it as it's 21.9% needed washing machine, bed, wardrobe, iron etc. for new house.

Only had the car a year, only been passed that long too so at least now I'm prepared for what lies ahead! Will try to put more than a tenner in when I've sorted the simply be episode.

Powergen - oooh they make me mad. Called them four times now and they won't reduce it. I should only be paying 43 a month, worked it out with readings. Tried cancelling the direct debit and only paying for what I was using plus 10%. They wouldn't have that either.

I'm afraid i'm not that restrained... I'd be back at that cash machine within the week! I keep receipts in my diary instead, constant reminder of what I've bought and that i shouldn't be spending!

Suppose it's just one of those months... it's got to get harder before it gets better right?!

CA x

smudgemanc26

Hiya

I can fully sympathise with you having to pay everything on your own its a bloody dear do and every penny that you earn seems to be going towards paying something off or paying a bill and there doesnt seem much for yourself. I know its hard but try not to feel so down about it. A couple of things im trying to do are:

• Buying cleaning products & toiletries from the cheap shops instead of the supermarket
• Buying food ingredients that i can use again to make another meal out of and taking left overs for lunch at work
• Joined quidco and changed my house insurance over to save me money
• Shop around if you can for cheaper bills (although im in the same boat got a debit amount so cant change until ive paid this off :mad: )
• Cancelling and not paying out for any luxury items i dont need. Had to give up my sky not happy about it but im sure i can live without it for a while.
• Im going to have another clear out and see if i can make any money selling things on ebay.

Just a few ideas and remember you can always pop on here for advice and support or just a chat whenever it all gets you down x

smudgemanc26

ooooh just another thought are there any charges you can see about claiming back - it might be worth a try

Teacher2301

Hiya there,

Just read through the posts - lots of good advice there and if I can add a few of my own. House insurance - you should be able to do better than this and try and get contents plus buildings with the same company - though not always cheaper if you live in an at-risk area (to flooding etc) - try Norwich Union - they seem to be a good deal. You need to work out what your contents will be once you've bought all the goods you want (could try second hand places or freecycle.com) - don't pay for £75,000 worth of contents cover if you only have £30,000 worth (inc. carpets, white goods, electrical and all personal belongings - list and declare any really expesive things eg. jewelery etc). Yous hsould be able to half this cost if you're on your own.
Can you balance transfer your Simple Be debt to a o% deal?
My favourite - check your tax situation - i got up to £1500 in tax refunds about 5 years ago - use your P60's and phone up your local tax office and check to see if you've paid too much income tax - some people do and never know about it - you can reclaim up to 5 years and 10 months ago. Worth doing if you've swapped jobs through a tax year.

Hope these help - i have other idea's but these are for making some money from credit cards and if you say you're too tempted to spend then they are probably not a good idea!!!

Good luck!

CharliesAngel

Thanks Smudgemanc26... glad to know I'm not the only one who has to pay for everything on their tod!

Think I've sold everything I possibly can on ebay lol... even down to some left over laminate boards from the previous owner... why you'd want those I'll never know. Each to their own.

I've claimed back a couple of excess overdraft charges but in the past I've been a good girl and stayed in the black.. god knows how I did it, seems like a lifetime ago... will try to get nationwide credit ones back but I know they're tough cookies to crack - have my mortgage with them.

Will have to follow your advice on the cleaning items - aldi? I used to be a sucker for those plug in expensive smelly things..

Oh, and just started temping so that's screwed up the monthly direct debits... financial suicide but couldn't stay in the job I was in.

The fact it's pouring it down outside doesn't help... i'm a right old grumpy bug*er today.

CA

CharliesAngel

Teacher2301 wrote: »

Hiya there,

Just read through the posts - lots of good advice there and if I can add a few of my own. House insurance - you should be able to do better than this and try and get contents plus buildings with the same company - though not always cheaper if you live in an at-risk area (to flooding etc) - try Norwich Union - they seem to be a good deal. You need to work out what your contents will be once you've bought all the goods you want (could try second hand places or freecycle.com) - don't pay for £75,000 worth of contents cover if you only have £30,000 worth (inc. carpets, white goods, electrical and all personal belongings - list and declare any really expesive things eg. jewelery etc). Yous hsould be able to half this cost if you're on your own.
Can you balance transfer your Simple Be debt to a o% deal?
My favourite - check your tax situation - i got up to £1500 in tax refunds about 5 years ago - use your P60's and phone up your local tax office and check to see if you've paid too much income tax - some people do and never know about it - you can reclaim up to 5 years and 10 months ago. Worth doing if you've swapped jobs through a tax year.

Hope these help - i have other idea's but these are for making some money from credit cards and if you say you're too tempted to spend then they are probably not a good idea!!!

Good luck!

Thank you!

I've been turned down for credit recently - I think it was due to having too much available, so have rung around decreasing limits so doubt I can get another 0% deal...

House was liable to subsidence and is within 300 yards of a mineshaft. No local movement for 150 years but house insurance still reflects this! Property is structurally sound.. Contents is 6.11 a month for min 35k worth of cover... I've nowhere near that much so it's enough for now... will definitely look at new quotes more thoroughly this time! ty

I'm now praying the tax man does me a good deed!!! will dig out my P60's... I've swapped jobs in the last two years and recently gone to temp work...

lol @ the tempting credit card money making scheme... I tried and as you can tell failed miserably!

CA

CharliesAngel

Powergen outstanding - 285.67. Unwilling to lower payments of 74 a month until I've paid this off.
'We could let you reduce your payments if you made a lump sump payment of £285.67' - errr yes.

CA