Any Help

MERFE

<p>
Hiya all found the site about a week ago and it is brilliant already got loads of tips and started using cashback sites and got motivated to get on with the ebaying the kids old clothes but feel like i probably could do more to reduce our debts, i'll post our statement of affairs then you clever people can tell me if there is anything i'm doing wrong.Ok here goes:

· Income
· oh wage 1494 (after tax)
· Child benefit 120
· child tax credit 75

· total 1689

· Outgoings
· Rent 550
· Mobiles 20
· Electric 30
· Petrol 175 (this is oh communting can not get train as its too early and too far to ride his bike)
· Food 220 (would like to try to reduce this)
· Virgin, tv,phone and internet 42
· Specsavers 16
· Council tax 100
· Standing order 10 (into DS savings)
· OH barclaycard 35
· Halifax loan 202
· MBNA cc 25
· Halifax credit card 25
· total 1450

· Debts
· Halifax Loan 6.3% 6692 left at 202 per month
· OH Barclaycard 16.9% 420 limit 1000 (he is currently transferring this to a halifax one card for 0% apr)
· MBNA CC 1257.5 limit 2800 0% till May 2008 15.9 thereafter
· Halifax CC 280 limit 1750 5.9%
· Halifax OD 1400 limit 1500 15.9% (in the process of opening a & l account so hopefully gonna be 0% for 12 months)
· Halifax OD 750 18.9%

Total 10799

Any advice gratefully received, thanks
</p>

BlondeHeadOn

Welcome to the site :T you will get loads of great advice here.

Just one comment: your SOA is very hard to read because it is all one paragraph - I couldn't make out where one entry started and ended, so I found it very confusing. Any chance you could edit it to add some line breaks, so that all the entries appear as a list rather than in one lump? Or copy/paste the whole thing into Word and edit it there, then copy/paste it back.

I think you will get more responses if your SOA is easier to read.

MERFE

thanks, i didn't type it out like that, but sorted it now, hopefully thats a bit clearer, opps!

chevalier

MERFE wrote: »

<p>
Hiya all found the site about a week ago and it is brilliant already got loads of tips and started using cashback sites and got motivated to get on with the ebaying the kids old clothes but feel like i probably could do more to reduce our debts, i'll post our statement of affairs then you clever people can tell me if there is anything i'm doing wrong.Ok here goes:

· Income

· oh wage 1494 (after tax)

· Child benefit 120

· child tax credit 75

· total 1689

· Outgoings
· Rent 550

· Mobiles 20

· Electric 30 do you not have gas as well?

· Petrol 175 (this is oh communting can not get train as its too early and too far to ride his bike)Is there anyone he can car share with, or go part way in the car and bike the rest?
· Food 220 (would like to try to reduce this)meal plan, use up what you have in cupboards and freezer. Use the meal plan to shop and only get what you need. Try online shopping and use discount codes to get money off the shop or delivery

· Virgin, tv,phone and internet 42 is this there best deal, phone and ask they may reduce the cost

· Specsavers 16 is this for contacts? If so I gather there are cheaper services on the web.

· Council tax 100 you can opt to pay this over 12 months rather than 10 which would help a bit

· Standing order 10 (into DS savings)can you really afford this now, you could make the savings up when you are debt free.

· OH barclaycard 35
· Halifax loan 202
· MBNA cc 25
· Halifax credit card 25
· total 1450

· Debts
· Halifax Loan 6.3% 6692 left at 202 per month
· OH Barclaycard 16.9% 420 limit 1000 (he is currently transferring this to a halifax one card for 0% apr)when you have transferred this amount and there is a zero balance, might be worth asking if they have any deals for balance transferring on to it.
· MBNA CC 1257.5 limit 2800 0% till May 2008 15.9 thereafter
· Halifax CC 280 limit 1750 5.9%
· Halifax OD 1400 limit 1500 15.9% (in the process of opening a & l account so hopefully gonna be 0% for 12 months)don't forget to do this via www.quidco.com, then you can get some cash back

· Halifax OD 750 18.9%

Total 10799

Any advice gratefully received, thanks
</p>

Can you get a part time job, that fits around your OH'S so that there is no child care cost?
best of luck
chev

MERFE

Thanks for the reply, to answer your questions,
we do not have gas

OH has car shared in the past on the couple of days i think monday is a good day for him so will see if he can try doing it one day a week, don't know if the bike would be an option because once he has done the motorway part he is practicly there but will put it to him (he also gets up at 4am as is so think it'd be hard as would mean getting up even earlier).

I used to meal plan don't know why i stopped will start again once everything is used up (we do have a very full frezzer at the mo).

Have asked oh at weekend to phone virgin to see if they'll reduce it, also thought about getting rid of the tv and land line, mobiles are payg and we hardley use them.

Specsavers is for contacts its 8 pound each per month we both have them, i will look round to see if we can get a better deal.

I do think about cancelling ds savings every month but haven't done it because i felt it unfair as dd had it for a year, was gonna do his for a year too but he got more for his birthday of family so they are about even so think i'll cancel this, going to the bank on thursday will do it then.

Will get oh to find out about any deals on barclaycard when it is at zero balance. Would you transfer money out the Halifax od and reduce the OD limit then and put it on the credit card at 0%?

Did open a&l account from quidco so looking forward to that coming in!

I have tried a couple of part time jobs - even tried a full time one now that was hard work! Unfortunatley the most recent one was moving offices and since alot of my shifts were 2 hours in the evening it didn't make sense with the petrol, i was able to bike or walk when i took the job. And am still looking for something to fit for the hours but I'm starting to lose my confidence especially when i called one the other week and was told over the phone they don't consider people with young children because it just doesn't work! Now I've written off this year and am getting a tax refund for the tax i paid at the beginning of the year when i worked full time only about 200 but still we could do with it.
Thanks for the advice i might just have a quick look at the jobcentre before i apply for the refund you never know although i'm less hopefull now than i used to be.