I Left You and Now I'm In A Mess

Raspberry_Queen

With regards to your inherited jewellery, some auctioneers offer free valuation days. Also, you might be just about in time to get them off to a pre-Christmas auction, plus stuff tends to sell for more in auctions in affluent areas.

ETA - then you could use the money pay off the debt with the 20% APR

kirtsypoos

Hi Naomi, I've just come across this thread and I wanted to give you an idea about sky - I cancelled and got the normal 50% off, then 60% off offers but I waited for it to turn off completely and went on the live chat the next day and said I wanted 75% off TV package and £100 account credit which they gave me with no argument.
I was only without sky overnight and it was back on by the time I got home from work in the evening. It's definitely worth a try to get the bill down

tlc678910

Hi,
Just an alternative point of view on the cars. In my opinion the saving of getting rid of one of your cars isn't worth it in the context of your income and debt and the consequence of your husband having to bike home in the dark in Dec/Jan or having to take your kids back out to collect him.

I would suggest you call a stop to the building work at the earliest opportunity. Can you get by with what is there I.e. when the shell is watertight and you have what you need e.g. you have a functioning (but perhaps not finished) kitchen / bathroom. E.g. a cheap bathroom suite off the shelf and cheap tiles in the wet areas, leaving the lights as pendant fittings with a lamp shade and if you're want light fittings they can be added later. Paint the rooms yourselves.

You might feel like you have come so far and owe so much you may as well go the whole hog but your husbands mental health and your own stress and wellbeing can start to improve when you stem the fast flow of money out.

Although you say you will be paying off debt for 8 years, if this is the consequence of redundancy and extending, and you are comfortable you can now get back to living within your means and paying it down, that timescale sounds OK to me. I'm guessing as you have extended you are happy to stay where you are and that is a nice position to be in - knowing you won't have the expense and upheavel of moving.

I agree if you can find a job with less commuting time and cost your finances and quality of life should be better.

Good luck
Tlc

Naomim

Sorry I haven't been back in touch.

We have sacked the builders as they told us it was safe to move back in. We knew the kitchen wasn't finished and they'd have to work round us. Well, there were live electrical wires hanging out the bedroom and hall walls, a dodgy chipboard balustrade and they seem to have forgotten the kitchen extension needs power so there's one plug socket! They even cut the wires to the phone line. The roof isn't finished, they didn't buy enough tiles so I had to phone round and buy some and go and get them back to my house. We are now in the process of deciding to try and take him to court. Not one room is finished and not all materials are even on site despite paying for them. I have written to the builder giving him 14 days to provide receipts for the materials, then we'll go further. I've been in such a state. We've had 3 electricians in, one is a close family friend and one is DH's cousin. They have all said we will probably need to re-wire.

The dog had his MRI. Apparently he doesn't have what they were looking for but something else that is rare and mysterious. He needs an operation, the words unusual and intricate have propped up. It's a £4k operation. I have spoken to my vets but what he has needs specialist treatment. So I've been crying over the dog as I can't afford to get him fixed.

When I got paid this month I had £20 of the overdraft left... I did get a £750 bonus but obviously that's just been eaten up.

On the positives, we got Sky reduced by £30 a month. MrM did it before I got to see the post on here I have asked work for more hours. My boss is away now until 9th January so I won't know until after then.

MrM wanted a takeaway the other night, I was very good and didn't let him as I'd bought a few pizza's in Aldi's.

I called the Council Tax people too. They explained it would mean removing my property from the list then it would have to be re-valued to be put back on and I would probably go up a band. I'm in band D and already pay £167 a month so don't want to pay any more so I think I'm not going to pursue that and be happy with the one month rebate I got.

I also applied for a new credit card NUBA 0% interest for 41 months. I did notice though as it's MBNA, they have reduced the credit limit on my original MBNA card. I've transferred a chunk of my Barclaycard balance but forgot I can't transfer MBNA balances so I still have £2,222 on 20.9% interest. I'm hoping I'll now be able to transfer that to the Barclaycard in the new year.

And now I'm off the legal eagles board to ask a question about my builders. :money:

On_my_way

Hi

Just a few thoughts about how you could get some money together from stuff you already have. You might be able to get £1,000 just by having a clear out.

A few things I have done recently when I really needed money post-wedding:

* Sell any Gold that you don't want/need/isn't sentimental. I got £45 from the Money Shop for a thin 9ct gold chain
* Recycle old mobile phones - Mazuma paid £80 for my old phone
* Gather up computer games and consoles if you have any and don't use them - you might have a few hundred worth

Good luck. You can do this. I know your OH has depression but my ex had depression and he nearly bankrupted me with his overspending and using depression as his reason for me to buy him things. I am not saying it's the same but it was very hard.

enthusiasticsaver

Why are you paying for sky when you are not even living in the house?

EssexHebridean

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

Why are you paying for sky when you are not even living in the house?

Because they were under the impression from the builder that they were imminently going to be in a position to move back, I suspect. Sadly now they will almost certainly be tied to a new 12 month contract.

EssexHebridean

So sorry to hear of your position both with the builders AND the dog Naomim. Is it worth contacting the Blue Cross to see if there is any help they can offer do you think? I take it that there is no insurance, or that what was in place is refusing to pay out?

JWPopps

Oh gosh, all of this sounds so stressful - I am sorry you've found yourself in this position. It looks like people have been giving you lots of really helpful tips and advice - it might not seem like it now but sometimes just facing up to the situation is a huge step forwards, and you've done that with gusto!

Good luck on the builder front, I hope you get things sorted there very quickly. My only similar experience was with a builder who was very reluctant to give me any kind of receipt for the work he'd done, but I just told him I wasn't handing over the cash until he did so, so I got one in the end, Luckily he'd done a good job but if he hadn't...

Oh, also - well done on the takeaway rejection! That's one of my biggest vices, so I know how easy it is to give in!!

Naomim

Hello All and Happy New Year!

So I didn't really post over Christmas as that alone was stressful enough.

However over Christmas, the new roof leaked water all over the new kitchen. SKY broke down, MrM had a terrible migraines and I've probably cried enough to conserve enough water for the next year.

I think I'm going to shuffle this off over to the debt free diaries section now. I have some great advice and will continue working towards getting everything sorted out this year.

Thank you all! :beer:

Naomi