Can I Fix This?

racer256

Hi can you get your petrol down? Can you share a llift with someone to reduce costs?

ciarasdreams

racer256 wrote: »

Hi can you get your petrol down? Can you share a llift with someone to reduce costs?

I actually walk to work as much as I can but it is over 2 miles away and drive only when raining. Most of the petrol costs are from my once a month visit to my parents who live almost at the other end of the country from me. My sister has persuaded me to look at trading my car for a diesel model like hers as she says this is far cheaper to run.

lynzpower

if your parents live quite far away, have you thought about visiting them on public transport. Im in london and have visited family all over the UK from £1 each way using megabus, megatrain, and national express (look for the funfares) Petrol is bloody expensive, one good reason why I dont drive!!

is it a one bedroom flat you live in? Or could you get a lodger in?

ciarasdreams

lynzpower wrote: »

if your parents live quite far away, have you thought about visiting them on public transport. Im in london and have visited family all over the UK from £1 each way using megabus, megatrain, and national express (look for the funfares) Petrol is bloody expensive, one good reason why I dont drive!!

is it a one bedroom flat you live in? Or could you get a lodger in?

It is a one bedroom flat as I did not know anyone at all when I moved here but have been making a few friends and so have a few possible housemates for when my lease expires. The main reason I have kept the car which I know will sound really silly to most of you is because I do not want my parents to know exactly what kind of financial mess I am in.

lynzpower

ciarasdreams wrote: »

It is a one bedroom flat as I did not know anyone at all when I moved here but have been making a few friends and so have a few possible housemates for when my lease expires. The main reason I have kept the car which I know will sound really silly to most of you is because I do not want my parents to know exactly what kind of financial mess I am in.

You dont need to tell them if you dont want. You could just say, what with the price of petrol what is it, etc and you only really using it to go and see them, its a false economy

I think they would be proud to see thier daughter taiking responsibility!

ciarasdreams

I have been thinking a lot about what you have said but much as it would be so good to be rid of the expense of having a car I am not sure that I can do this. My car was subject to reposession at the time of my birthday but my I got so upset by this that my sister actually cleared her savings account to cover the outstanding finance. I would really need to see what she thinks before selling it.

chevalier

ciarasdreams wrote: »

My comments are in blue

Monthly Income

My salary - £1,327.00Can you get a second job? There will be lots of businesses interviewing for their christmas temps soon (ie after the bank holiday. One poster even noticed that Boots already have vacancy notices in their windows). This would really boost your income.

Monthly Outgoings

Rent - £450.00 Are you entitled to housing benefit?
Council Tax - £93.00As somebody else has mentioned claim your 25% off. And also ask for it to be back dated. Even if it is only backdated from April will still be a bit. Also you can ask to pay it over 12 months instead of 10, so will bring down the monthly amount still further.
Gas - £35.00 What is your heater thermostat and water heater thermostat set at? The former can be off at the mo of course, but come autumn if you can set it at 20 degrees you will save here. Also if you have to put loads of cold water in the bath to cool down the hot water, then it is set at too high a temperature, so adjust it downwards on the boiler.
Electric - £20.00Do you switch everything off at the wall, not leave things on standby? (Leaving tv on standby uses almost as much electricity as having it on!)
TV License - £11.00
Phone - £15.00
Mobile/Broadband - £35.00
Food - £200Others have mentioned that this is high. Not only meal plan, but you could do an online shop once a month to get essentials. I do this and often find a voucher for free delivery, or extra points. You can look at their BOGOF offers and then plan your meals around them.
Car Insurance - £52.00If you are in a union, have you tried getting your insurance through them as I used to get 30% off by quoting a special union discount code to the insurance company.
Petrol - £100.00
Union Fees - £16.00
Registration Fees - £6.00What are these?
Work Clothes/Shoes - £10.00Have you checked whether you are getting a tax break if you have to buy your own uniform?
Road Tax/MOT - £20.00

NB your petrol, car insurance, and road tax/mot spend takes £172 of your income a month. That is over 10% of your take home? If you SORN your car this would save you the road tax and the petrol. You could also drop to third party fire and theft if it was off road. Would save you a bit there too. So DO YOU REALLY NEED TO DRIVE A CAR?! And how about your parents coming to see you one month too? Would save you some money!

NB2 There is nothing here for water rates, contents insurance, birthday saving, xmas saving, optical/dental/prescription charges. These need to be factored in.

NB3 Just because you have a lease for a certain time, does not mean that you can't leave early. You may just need to find someone the landlord thinks is ok to take the lease over. Then you could move into a shared house maybe, where the overheads may be lower?

£1,327.00 - £1,063.00 = £264 left over per month. I think you should be able to do a DMP with either payplan or CCCS with that left over. But you would have more money to throw at your debt once your council tax rebate comes through, and if you think really seriously about whether you need a car.

Debts

A&L Loan 1 - £17,871.42 0% APR currently with Buchannan Clark and Wells
A&L Loan 2 - £6,912.37 0% APR currently with Capquest
A&L overdraft - £1,007.01 0% APR currently with Legal & Trade
Halifax Loan - £2,186.54 0% APR currently with Legal & Trade
Halifax CC - £3,306.93 0% APR currently with Legal and Trade
Goldfish CC - £5,963.12 0% APR currently with Moorcroft
Debenhams CC -£ 957.19 0% APR currently with Lewis Group

Total - £38,204.58


I am currently trying to negotiate repayment plans with the above companies but none seem to be willing to accept the amounts that I can actually afford to pay them. I really do not know what to do but know that I have to do something as it will not sort itself. I contacted CCCS but they seemed to think that insolvency was the most viable option for me but I reaaly do not want to do that if there is any other way.

Whilst I understand that you may be unhappy about going bankrupt, if you have no house to lose then you might want to look at it. But get advice from payplan or CCCS first. Just because they have said one thing doesn't mean that they won't help you with a DMP if that is what you want.

Best of luck with it all
chev

southernscouser

ciarasdreams wrote: »

Thank you that sounds very useful but on reading his thread it sounds like he is already overwhelmed by all the interest!

You have an email!

Besides your sister would give me earache if I didn't help you out! :rolleyes:

ciarasdreams

I woke up today happy for the first time in ages.

Thank you to everyone for all the moral support and encouragement that was given to me yesterday I really needed it. I now feel totally in control of my life and am going to sort all my debts even if it takes 20 years.

spud30

Awww glad you're OK Ciara.

I'll be around a long time too, so we can support each other