Our SOA

lincs1205

Thanks tabitha kitten, today I have switched us on to a cheaper tariff with npower reducing our monthly direct debit from £101 to £85 , I've also balance transferred £4750 from my barclaycard which had an interest rate of 18.9% to my bank of Scotland card which is 0% for the next 6 months hopefully I'll be able to switch the remaining balance on that to a card with longer 0% interest rate on it. I now have a balance of £436 left on my barclaycard. I have also closed down a halifax card that I had which I had previously applied for but not used. I have also set up Internet banking with both bank of Scotland and barclays.

consultant31

A water meter should definitely bring that monthly water charge down a lot.

When you brush your teeth, do you leave the tap running from beginning to end? If you wet the brush, turn off the tap, brush your teeth for however long you wish then turn on the tap to wash the brush, swill the sink etc and you could easily have saved a couple of gallons of water (a precious resource we shouldn't be wasting anyway).

When you wash your cups/dishes, fill a bowl, don't just leave the tap running while you rinse things. Use the water in the bowl to water your plants afterwards......the washing up liquid helps to kill aphids

Once you become aware of your 'wasteful' ways with water, you can apply a similar principle to your electricity usage - boiling just enough water for the job you need to do, not a kettle full for just one cuppa for instance.

I get great satisfaction from being what the utility companies call 'a low usage customer'. I'm a bit of a tight wad and proud of it :rotfl:

lincs1205

Consultant 31 - great ideas thankyou. I've already started to become more conscious of how much and what I'm using. Part of the problem particularly at night is when at night Dh has a shower then I have a bath.

asparagus1968

Hey, chin up. you've seen the problem and are making strides to tackle it. you have done well just Starting this thread and looking into your accounts, so, please don't get too down.Rome wasn't built in a day, these debts weren't made in a day, slow and sure you will get this solved. Is your OH on board with the budgeting? it is much harder if you both aren't following the plans.
Are you claiming tax relief on your RCN contributions by the way (and uniform allowance too)?


By the time you go on holiday you will already be in a better state than you are today, so enjoy it, stick to not spending anything that is included in the all inclusive and come back ready to debt-bust!

lincs1205

Hi asparagus1968, many thanks for your reply. Hubby is on board with it probably more so sometimes than I am, he is a lot better than he was when we first met. With regards to the RCN and NMC that is on my to do list, also going to look if I can claim back on DH uniform costs as he wears a uniform at the supermarket. I don't wear a uniform anymore as I work on a certain phone line which sounds dodgy but it's not I promise. I am feeling much more positive now than I did at the beginning of the week i'm going to redo our soa to reflect what I've done so far.

lincs1205

Evening all, have just posted another soa if anyone would like to pop and have a look at it. Thankyou