nifferwilko's SOA

nifferwilko

Hey everyone

This is a mixture of DFW and avoiding a potential horrible mess that sadly I could be heading towards. I’m afraid this may turn into a long description so I apologise in advance.
I currently have a very nice job that pays me well (£1323 per month) and was up for a promotion. I recently bought a house and took out a loan to do up my house on the strength that this promotion was guaranteed. Sadly, they gave my promotion to someone who was facing redundancy. This was fine, however, they’ve now told me that my position is at risk of redundancy and they may have to serve me with notice at the end of this month (but I definately won't have a job with them come November). Ekkk!!!!!
This does not make me a happy bunny. I understand why they want rid (long story) and basically I’m annoyed. If I knew my job was going to be at risk I would never have took out a loan last month for my house!
Anyhow, I now have to look for a new job in one of the economically depressed areas of the country (the north east) and I do not want to default on a single payment ever – I’ll stand on street corners if necessary :rotfl: Basically I’m posting my SOA to see if anyone can make any further cuts to the budget. I’ve managed to get it down to enough so I can take a job paying £16,500 to cover it, and then I’m going to get a pt job to enable me to save. But it’s still very scary (there’s only me to look after me sadly)

Here it is

Expenditure: Total £1065.15

Mortgage: £437.34
Loan Payment - £184.81
Council Tax: £80
Gas: £25
Electricity: £13
Water: £25
House Insurance: £25 (into saving account for next year)
Car Insurance: £17 (not currently driving so no petrol etc)
TV Licence - £12
Landline - £11 (don’t use for calls, only so I can get BB)
Broadband - £15
Mobile Phone - £30
Transport (bus passes) - £100
Food etc - £90

Loan – Nationwide £12,000 @ 7.9% - 84 payments remaining
CC – Natwest £3907 @ 0% until July 2008 (money to clear this in savings account earning interest – take min payment out of this each month)
CC - &More £1000 @ 4.9% LOB – cleared cc from holiday to NYC (last one for a while!) – have money in savings to pay this off

The huge things on there are my mortgage, my loan and my council tax (which is the single persons discounted rate for my band A property can you believe!!). Everything else can be reduced up to a point (I have to eat, but if I have to eat beans on toast to pay my debts, I will)
Any comments will be appreciated. At the moment I’m not sleeping from the stress of this and can’t really concentrate at work today so I’m now in awe of everyone who has to cope with this all the time. I honestly don’t know how you do it.

Jennifer

Lucy1982_2

Hello and welcome!

I have one question (I may have read this wrong) but you have the money for your credit card sat in an account rather than being paid off the card? Surely it would be better to pay this off (even though its interest free) and start increasing the payment on your other card?

Have you checked your energy bills on uswitch to make sure that they are the cheapest?

Good luck on your journey, also have you started applying for other jobs just incase? Better to be prepared you might even come across a job you really want even if you don't lose your current one.

sooziesooz

Hi Jennifer,

Just one thought from me. I use Sky broadband (you need a BT phone line) and paid a £40 outlay but I have no monthly payments at all. You could recoup this in 3 months and get rid of your broadband dd.

Good luck and keep us all posted.

Sooz x

sparklymessygirl

Hi Jennifer,

Would you consider taking on a lodger?


Sparkly

RAS

Hi


Assuming that it is too late to get out of the loan???

Pay off most of the more CC even if it is at 4.9%, unless you are getting more than that in net interst on the savings . Then you have no interest to pay

Lodger, you can make upto about £4,500 without having to pay any income tax, and since you have already got the money to do the place up, at least get some benefit from the investment.

You may be able to get extra furniture from www.freecycle.org, like e-bay but costs nothing, but buy a decent mattress.

pay council tax over 12 months instead of 10 to even it out. If desparate, try to negoitiate interest only on the mortgage for a few months.

If you have garden can you grow some food (even 4 foot square is useful), winter salads for instance (mizuna, corn salad, rocket, kales, swiss chard, beets for leaves). Right now pick balckberries and make Jam for the winter. Or buy cheap vegs and freeze them of make pickle?

Jacks_xxx

:hello: Hiya hon,


LOL at the standing on street corners suggestion! Me and my best friend Claire used to have a saying when things got bad "If all else fails we can always go on the game!"

Let's hope it won't come to that though hon. :rolleyes: (although if you're open minded you could get a PT job "saucy texting"???)

Hmmm...

Is the loan already spent? If not could you tell them you're about to be made redundant and pay back whatever you've got left?

Not driving at the mo? Could you get shot of the car then? (Confused by that one! )

Getting a lodger is a definite maybe.

Personally I'd ditch the mobile. That £30 a month could come in really handy. You can send texts online...

Could you get a P/T job? AQA pays 30p per question you answer for them online, and they were recruiting last time I looked, and if you can't get something more suitable immediately, restaurants, bars and shops are recruiting Christmas staff at the moment.

It might be worthwhile shopping around for a better broadband and phone deal too?

Quidco? Can you change any of your utilities or accounts and get a bit of cashback?

That's all I can think of for now honey, but I'm very impressed that you're trying to pre-empt the crisis rather than waiting until you're stuck in the middle of it, and so I have full confidence that you can sort this out. You come across as a very resourceful person!

When interest rates climbed in the late 80's and early 90's we really struggled to pay our bills and I worked two F/T jobs for about two years. (A shop during the day and a restauraat evenings and weekends. It wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I'm proud that I did it, and that we survived, when so many other people were being repossessed at that time.

(and I think of myself a bit of a lazy moo to be honest, so I'm sure you can do better than me sweetie! )

Love Jacks xxx

nifferwilko

Thanks for all your replies (appropriate buttons pressed). I knew this was a friendly, helpful forum but I didn’t realise how much so.

Lucy1982 – I’m earning 5% interest (after tax) on my money in savings so I’m better off (ever so slightly) doing it this way. I am actively looking and applying for new jobs but I just wanted to see how low I can get my SOA so I know how low a salary I can realistically live off. I’ve looked on Uswitch though (thanks) and my current providers are still the best buy. I will remember to keep checking regularly though

Sooziesooz – I looked at Sky but they don’t have that package available in my area (it’s a piddly little village and we don’t have cable available either!) but I think I’ll recommend that deal to my parents.

Sparklymessygirl & RAS – I have considered a lodger but after doing some maths, the rate that the room would go for in this area offset against the increase in council tax and utility usage is tiny and I’d be better off just turning off the heating for a couple of days. Too bad I didn’t live somewhere desirable!
It is (sadly) too late to get out of the loan (by about 6 days or something) but I’d already spent some of it on a concrete floor so it’s just something I’ll have to deal with. I’m getting 5% (net) on my savings so I’m 0.10% better off. I think I’ll continue with those payments for a couple more then clear it, just because I’ve only had the card 6 months so I want to make it a little longer for my credit record (as I’m not losing money). No garden (back yard) but I am in allotment country! I never considered that so I’m going to find out how much the council charges a year (my colleague thinks it’s about £12 which seems really cheap!)

Jacks – I looked at saucy texting (tee hee) but I think that’s not really for me – bit too shy. I keep attempting to catch AQA recruiting! I agree, £30 for my mobile is a tad too much, but it’s a special deal with the operator (my mam works there) and I get gallons of free minutes to all my rich friends who live in London. But, it is a luxury so I think I’ll maybe review the plan I’m on and see if I can at least reduce it to £20.
I’m definitely going to get a p/t xmas job as I love working in the shops at Christmas. Mum thinks I’m potty but I just can’t get enough of those stressed shoppers and endless Christmas songs!!
Ooohhhh, and I love Quidco. I couldn’t live without my daily clicks now. I am quite savvy luckily and got £50 for my home insurance and £100 for my car. Whooooo quidco! (another MSE find – I love this site)
The car – although I can’t drive I’m supposed to be learning (more money!) but it was a hand me down from my mam so it’s only worth around £400. My sister drives it and pays for half of the insurance etc (she can’t pay it all as she’s a poor student) and it’s really good fuel consumption (£30 = 360 miles) so it’s worth hanging on to it for when I can drive.

Thanks for those tips. It’s given me some things to look at. Before I discovered MSE I probably would have ignored it all, so I thank the site for educating me. I think everyone should be forced to use this place! And I think I’m a little less stressed now. So thank you