Let's fix this situation

BeckyS

EssexHebridean wrote: »

OK - this is not so bad. Look at it this way - if you could save £100 across all your monthly expenses, plus what the mobile is going down by, you could potentially have that hideous APR Cap1 cleared in 4 months, or thereabouts. Personally, if it were me, I'd then throw everything at the rent arrears the following month and get that gone. You then have in the region of £300 plus a month to throw at the other debt with interest being charged....

My last couple of Utility Bills were to estimates. I've put in cors today and asked for a revised bill. Based on what I looked at today I could save around £18/month but I'll wait to have figures based on firms before I actually initiate the change.

Yeah the phone is just phone and broadband. Once BT have fixed my line I'll look into changing that as well.

Clothing... I don't actually buy clothing very often. But sometimes it's needed especially since I'm also losing weight (11lbs so far!). That was me optimistically working out what I project I'll need to spend as I start drowning in my current clothes. I can't go to work with my trousers falling down and I have the sewing skills of an extremely undextrous slug. Other than that shoes are the big issue. I tend to buy cheapies from shoezone but (woe!) they fall apart after a few months.

Holiday... truthfully I have probably grossly overestimated what I spend on holidays. My holidays consist of me going to visit friends in Scotland - one of whom pays for my train tickets. My only holiday spends tend to be on shortbread for work colleagues. I have no Earthly idea where I pulled £20/month from. I always feel a bit like I'm sponging but they don't seem to mind.

Groceries - I filled the freezer today and got enough cat food for nearly a month. The food for me should be enough for a month. I spent about £35 (I need to start tracking better) and some of that was stuff I wouldn't usually buy but needed on this occassion. I'll need perishables like milk and bread and I might need to top up the frozen veg (I only have a small freezer). So sub £100 looks doable. :j

Home insurance - That's not a bad idea.

Washing Machine rental - I'd love to find a cheaper place but do many people even rent out washing machines? I got the rental when the launderette near where I live closed (I'd been using it since my old washer stopped working). I couldn't afford a new washing machine and sadly I still can't. The rental may cost a ton but it's a ton in small bites. A new washer is one of the first things I'm saving up for when I'm debt free.

The rent arrears payment can't come down sadly - it's the minimum they'll take. On the upside it'll be clear after the December rent free weeks (since tenancy agreement insists you pay in full in those weeks if in arrears). I agree about the Cap1 - I could clear it more quickly but as I mentioned I live in fear of the fact I literally couldn't survive more than a week without pay at the moment. It makes me shaky inside just thinking about it. The thought of going perm shouldn't fill me with financial dread.

On the upside I've started working through the money makeover and I do think I can save £100/month if not more.

BeckyS

Now I'm really worried. I just called BT to try and get my phoneline sorted out (I have no dial tone and my nroadband keeps fritzing) so I can move without the new company immediately having me moaning) . After a number of tests they say they'll send an engineer but if the problem is within my home wiring or the boundary of my property they'll add £129.99 to my phonebill. (And appaently Openeach charrge this so even if I shifted first I would still get charged) :eek:

I can't afford that and it seems completely unfair if the problem isn't my fault. (Even if the damage is outside it's probably the Housing Association's fault when they painted the outside - I have no control over it). I feel like crying because I just know they are going to charge me.

Becky

BeckyS

*Nurses coffee and waves sleepily at the board*

Morning all,

Just getting ready for work. Bad night's sleep but what can you do?

I'm a bit calmer about the possible BT fee today. I've done most of the tests in the video on their site and a friend is bringing over a phone so I can check it's not the phone this evening (Though why a faulty phone would make broadband fritz is beyond me).

In the unlikely event it is I'll cancel the appointment. If it isn't I might still have to pay if it's the outside wiring within what they deem my property but I can't fix that, so I'll have to grit my teeth. Hopefully when the new utility bill comes in it'll be in credit and once I switch the credit will pay the BT charge if it happens.

Won't be an NSD today or tomorrow. Today I need to get milk this evening as I just put the last in my coffee. Tomorrow I buy my bus ticket for the week (not buying today as I can't amend the starrt date to tomorrow). I'll aim for one on Wednesday.

Becka

EssexHebridean

I really wouldn't worry too much about the BT thing - I think this is just a standard warning they have to give and if you've done all the tests then it's not likely to be inside. Last time we had to call them out they were completely mystified until they came and looked - and established that while we were on holiday one of their engineers had done some work down the "hole in the road" outside, and somewhere along the line had given our phone line to someone else... We got some compensation out of that one! :rotfl:

If it's on the outside of the building and was damaged during works being carried out then claim any cost back from the Housing Association.

Milk is definitely an essential that makes a loss of NSD acceptable, I'd say!

BeckyS

Good evening, Diary!

Today I spent 67p. I think that qualifies as an LSD :-D

Co-op energy emailed me with a PDF of my new bill so I can see it immediately which is nice. And I'm £178 in credit which is supercool.

Unfortunately it also reminded why I love my current supplier. The excellent customer service. I really don't want to switch but I do need to save money. The cheapest tariff they have would save me £139.51/year. The cheapest that I found on Cheap energy club would save me £231/year but it's with one of the big six (bleh). I know have to bite the bullet and switch because I need every penny I can muster, but meh.

To cheer myself up about this I've set myself an ambitious target. I want to shave £240 (roughly 25%) off the monthly expenses before debt in my current SOA by working through the money makeover (or the bits that apply to me). It might take me more than one month to achieve but I think it's doable.

Going to look into getting a water meter. My only queries are 1. would the Housing Association let me have one (there's a form because they class it as an alteration) and 2. Do I share my water supply with my upstairs neighbours? (I think I might).

If I can't have one I'll have to ask for an assessed charge but even that should help. (Can I have one if it's my landlord refusing to let me have one?)

It occured to me earlier that one debt I haven't mentioned yet (and I should have, sorry) is £1000 to a friend who's really helped me out this year. So far he's not nagging (or even asking politely) for me to start paying it back but I don't know that he can wait two years for everything else to be cleared.

Sorry if this post is a bit all over the place. Thinking outloud.

BeckyS

Addendum to above:

I did bite the bullet and start the switch process. Projected monthly costs are £45/month. So that's £23 towards my £240 target. £217 to go.

Poppy3008

You should only be paying for what they deem water use in your flat would be. I have just had a sub water meter in stalled as we were on a shared meter with the farm our house is on - it's cost about £350 to install just so you know! But ours might be an exception due to circumstance as I thought usually it's free to install.
Do check with housing association as they may not mind.
Looks like you are sorting your budget out well though.

EssexHebridean

One thing at a time on the water meter - get permission from the housing association first of all - if they say yes, you can move onto finding out about getting it installed. If they say no then you can enquire about getting an assessed bill but I've no idea whether that's a circumstance in which they would do that, or not. If you look into getting a meter installed the water company should send someone out to survey the job first - they can sometimes install there and then, other times they need to come back.

Our water supply gives every impression of being a communal main that runs up through the building, but in fact it's not - ours branches off, then it runs up, so our use could be tracked separately.

Thinking out loud is good - it's one of the things these diaries are great for!

BeckyS

Good evening,

Today I spent £20.09 for a week's bus pass and a tub of paracetamol (because I had the headache from hell this morning).

BT come tomorrow so hopefully landline will be fixed and I can get on with transferring the phone/broadband.

So far on the Money Makeover list I've:

1. Set in motion changing my supplier.
2. Checked my Council Tax band (it was correct *sighs*)
3. Done a bit of looking on my broadband while waiting for phoneline to be fixed.

On the other hand I've crossed off the childcare (no kids), boiler cover (housing assoc fix boiler when it goes), digital tv (I have freeview), international calls (I never call abroad) and DDs (I did that months ago).


Things to do rest of this week and the weekend:

1. [STRIKE]Make Wednesday and Thursday no spend days.[/STRIKE]
2. [STRIKE]Poke the mobile bill and see if I can't get it down even more than I have.[/STRIKE]
3. [STRIKE]Email to neighbourhood officer to see if I can have a water meter fitted.[/STRIKE]
4. Try and find my contents insurance docs so I can check my renewal dates.
5. [STRIKE]Initiate broadband shift assuming the phoneline is fixed.[/STRIKE]
6. Go through cupboards and freezer and see exactly what ingredients I have in stock.

That should keep me busy.

BeckyS

Another Addendum:

Okay so I decided to be optimistic that all will be fixed tomorrow (I'm doomed) and start the broadband transfer today. Mainly because today is the last day for that sweet Plusnet offer.

I had to pay a month in advance and I really need a new router as my current one is oldish (until the phoneline went out I thought that was the problem) so I selected for that. So I need to add £24.98 to today's spend. Definately not a low spend day but we're moving forward towards much lower monthly expenses in the long run. :j