Desperate For Help, My SOA

Miss_Skint

Dumb_Blonde wrote: »

In fact my two year old son now races me to the door when to post arrives - its such a ritual - wherever we are in the house the minute we hear the letterbox flap open and the big 'Crash' on the wooden floor we sprint for it - sometimes I have to wrestle him for it ....... just a few hours to go now ;-))

I think I need to get a life

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Thanks for making me smile. I will definetly look into this so thanks for your suggestion.

Miss_Skint

tine wrote: »

At the moment I think it's not really feasible to reduce your outgoing massively so that means increasing your income.
You can get a lodger.
Get a second job.
Find a better paid job.
Sell stuff until you are at a point where your income matches your outgoings.
None of these are easy options, but if you were to implement one or more the easier it would be.
I think instead of using the debt charities estimates for dentist, socialising, clothes etc etc etc then do a spending diary so that we have a true picture of your spenditure.
Good luck

Thanks for your advice Tine. I have been keeping a spending diary for the last few weeks but it's too early to get a true picture for everything yet. I'm getting there though and I'm writing every thing down religously.

Miss_Skint

poodlehorse wrote: »

I think if you are in debit by that every month then radical action does need to be taken so I would definitely get rid of the car if by your own admission you can manage without it even for a little while.
I don't really understand the whole Hull comms thing but does this mean you HAVE to take theirs? Ok crikey I wouldn't like that. Again I think maybe the internet has to go and use the one at the local library for free. I would find that hard to do but needs must. Do you need a landline and a mobile? I know a lot of people work with just their mobile. Personally I prefer to have a landline and would happily give up my mobile but each to their own.
Clothing - unless you NEED it then I think this should be put on hold.
Holidays/leisure - well I wouldn't be going on holiday in your position so what does the leisure bit cover?
Groceries isn't bad but with a menu plan and a few tips from the OS board that can be cut down
Xmas and birthdays - Be brutal about who you give gifts to and freebies are a good idea but also the gift of time if you can ie make up vouchers for things you can do for friends and family eg babysitting, carwashing, lawnmowing, take their kids out to the park for the day. Things that won't cost you anything other than an evening in or a Saturday afternoon - although if you get a second job(which would be brill) then your time might be too precious too. I do think the lodger idea is a goer though, but I am not sure the best way of going about it.

Hi Poodlehorse

I was lead to believe that we could only use Kingston Comms in Hull but I have just done a search via Uswitch for other providers and it's showing me different options for my area so I will need to look into this further.

My leisure, clothing and holiday spends aren't a true reflection, they are actually recommended figures taken from another site for SOAs. I have been buying my clothes from charity shops and as far a leisure goes ....I rarely leave my house unless I'm going out to work.

I will take all your other suggestions on board, so thank you.

Miss_Skint

auntie_brenda wrote: »

Not the best person to advise on cc transfers I'm afraid.

Re letting a room - how about advertising at work? or (appreciate it's getting a bit late) get in touch with uni - maybe a mature student looking for a room in a home rather than student digs? Or visiting lecturer or foreign student?

Have you thought about asking your mortgage co for a mortgage break, or could you go onto interest only for a few months? If you explain the sitaution & say you'll be remortgaging Jan & would like to stay loyal to them they may help out.

Good luck!

Auntie Brenda

Advertising a room to let at work is quite a good idea and I will definitely consider it. I first pictured putting a notice on the board in the office and everyone knowing my business but there is another way. We have access to an electronic community board that is shared with all of our other local offices and where I could remain anomynous.

I'm not entirely satisfied with my current mortgage provider. I know all money lenders are out to make a profit but I don't really trust this company so will probably change in January but thanks for your ideas.

Miss_Skint

RAS wrote: »

Hi again

I apprreciate that getting rid of the car, taking a lodger etc seem a bit horrid, but what you need a a short term blitz to really get things under control,. In a year or, you might well be able to get another car, or not replace the lodger, for a while or ever depending on the siuation.

it is about thinking, need to get those CCs out of the way and get 3 months emergency money and then I can re-budget and have more for myself.

If you do it now, that is an option, if you do not, you may have to sell up, pay up the CCs and see what sort of penalties are on the loan.

PS, if you had more income (part-time or lodger), then you could make more than minimum payments and once that is happening, you might get a better CC deal somewhere, which would help.

RAS you are so right and I have told myself this, I just need to firmly fix it in my head, act on it and stop trying to cling on to things. Thanks again.

Miss_Skint

joeblack066 wrote: »

I regularly had lodgers in the days when I had a spare room, and it was always fine! Made some good friends, had some interesting experiences too (including the Chinese dissident who vanished into the night!! He did leave a month's rent on the table tho!!He used to do Chinese cooking for me and mine, was great!). There are plenty of upsides having a lodger, as well as the down, not least of all because of the £££ it generates! Just be sure to draw up a list of rules before you start looking for your lodger, whether that can have a partner over , who does what etc, and you'll be fine!

:rotfl: :rotfl: I wonder what happened to your Chinese lodger.

How did you get your lodgers? I'm a bit worried in case I got some dodgy character. I'd actually feel a little more reassured getting someone via work.

Adrasteia01

A word of advice.. if you do let out the room, make sure the person who's letting from you signs a contract to say they'll forfeit their deposit if they damage the house, and that they're responsible for a share of the bills (and all of their phone calls)!

We had a guy letting off us about 5 yrs ago from South Africa. My husband and I went out to Australia to get married, and while we were away he ran up 2000 euro worth of phone calls then took off out of the country. As the phone bill was in my husband's name he was responsible for it. We came back from our honeymoon to find him gone, and bill after bill from the phone company. We had just flown back from Singapore and we couldn't sleep - I just sat there going through bills and crying.

The guy also hadn't signed a contract with us (it was just verbal) so there was nothing legal we could do. The police also told us it was a civil matter.

That's not to say it would happen to you, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

Miss_Skint

Adrasteia01 wrote: »

A word of advice.. if you do let out the room, make sure the person who's letting from you signs a contract to say they'll forfeit their deposit if they damage the house, and that they're responsible for a share of the bills (and all of their phone calls)!

We had a guy letting off us about 5 yrs ago from South Africa. My husband and I went out to Australia to get married, and while we were away he ran up 2000 euro worth of phone calls then took off out of the country. As the phone bill was in my husband's name he was responsible for it. We came back from our honeymoon to find him gone, and bill after bill from the phone company. We had just flown back from Singapore and we couldn't sleep - I just sat there going through bills and crying.

The guy also hadn't signed a contract with us (it was just verbal) so there was nothing legal we could do. The police also told us it was a civil matter.

That's not to say it would happen to you, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.

That must have been awful for you Adrasteia. I'll never understand why there are so many people around that just don't seem to have a conscience. If I do go for a lodger I will definetly draw up some kind of agreement. Thanks for that advice.

debt_doctor

considering you have a house to protect, I think an IVA may be appropriate for you ( dont normally reccomend them) Dont sell your self short on your essentials ( housekeeping should be £150 pm, BBA fiquires ) A debt management plan is another option, but carries risks as it is not legally binding. If you do either, dont go to the vultures, use paylan ( www.payplan.com )

Creditors will be looking for a better return than bankruptcy, in your case, after insolvency service fees etc, they would probably share £10,000.

You ve done really well so far, now get some 1 to 1 proffessional advice from cab, cccs or national debt line.

Good luck !

sarah0404

debt_doctor wrote: »

considering you have a house to protect, I think an IVA may be appropriate for you ( dont normally reccomend them) Dont sell your self short on your essentials ( housekeeping should be £150 pm, BBA fiquires ) A debt management plan is another option, but carries risks as it is not legally binding. If you do either, dont go to the vultures, use paylan ( www.payplan.com )

Creditors will be looking for a better return than bankruptcy, in your case, after insolvency service fees etc, they would probably share £10,000.

You ve done really well so far, now get some 1 to 1 proffessional advice from cab, cccs or national debt line.

Good luck !

I agree. An IVA (or Trust Deed if you are in Scotland) is something to seriously consider. Like you our income was less than our outgoings. I made an extremely tight SOA, with £50 a week for food for a large family, no budget for clothing, no budget for dentist, no budget for Christmas and holidays, no money put aside for emergencies. But really, you can't live like that. What happens if you do need dental treatment? You have to put it on the credit card you've been working so hard to pay off. It's not as if you are wasting £100 a month on a gym membership or £60 on sky TV or anything like that. Theres just not much you can cut back on. I know DMPs, IVAs and bankrupcy all sound scary, but they might be the best way forward. Come and have a read on the bankrupcy board. Its not as scary as it sounds! Good luck!!!