It's all such a mess and I don't know where to turn

Scarlett.1974

dsljfreeman wrote: »

Thats brilliant news Scarlett, well done :T

Just read your diary and I think you're doing really well.

I use Quidco, I think it's brill, did you know you can earn cashback by signing up to do surveys, I've earnt £7.64 from doing this, I even earnt £1.45 for requesting a Whiskas pack :rotfl:

Will be dropping by to catch up on all your progress t'moro xx

The surveys sound very interesting, could you tell me any more or point me in the right direction please

Anniebooklover - thank you :T I'm going to check that out this morning re the boiler Only H is on benefits though (invalidity/sickness benefit), I'm working - would that make any difference to do you? Do we both have to be on benefits to qualify?

Just been to Asda this morning for a few bits I forgot in the on-line shop last Friday (does anyone else do this or is it just me? ). Anyway, for the first time ever I think I actually looked at the prices As per someone's excellent tip (sorry I forget who) I bought 4 items from the own brand label that I would normally have gone straight to the 'branded' items instead, immediately saving <scans receipt> approx. £6.00. God, it really does show doesn't it, every little bit adds up and every penny really does help - I mean, that £6.00 is enough for bread and milk for the week at least (we do go through a LOT of bread and milk here, and yes, I bought own brand bread for the first time )

Hope everyone else is having a happy Monday

Alan1973

Hello Scarlett

Nice to see the progress you're making :T . You certainly can save a lot of money on the weekly shop from buying own brands - on basic items some own brands can be several times cheaper.

I had an idea, don't know if it will interest you but thought I'd share it anyway :rotfl: . If you want to earn an extra few quid, have you considered maybe one of Betterware / Avon / Ann Summers? Might be worth a look anyway.

Al

black-saturn

OK heres my four penneth:

Mortgage - £527
First plus loan - £476 (secured on the house )
Council tax - £90
Gas services (maintenence plan, we really need this as our boiler breaks down frequently) - £14 Shop around and see if anywhere offers it cheaper
Gas - £45 This is high. Cut down by cooking several meals all at once and reheating them, putting on a jumper instead of the heating
Electric - £34 This is also high. Turn things off standby, only watch TV when something good is on. Limit your time on the computer.
Water - £40 This is high too. Measure out water for drinks, take showers instead of baths, only put washing machine on when full.
Life Insurance - £60 Could you cash this in and then restart it when things get better? That would save you £60 a month plus you would have the lump sum.
House insurance (contents & buildings) - £36 Do you need this?
TV Licence - £11
Sky - £55 (am trying to convince H to reduce this to a lesser package) You already know the answer here
Internet - £10
HFC (sofa) - £49
BT phone - £17
My mobile - £30 Do you all need mobiles?
H mobile - £25
Daughter mobile - £15
Pet insurance - £7Do you need this?
Food - £400 (I am working to try and reduce this to £300 of less) You need to reduce this to £100 per month which could easily be done by cooking things from scratch, eating no convenience foods or not eating out.
H payplan payment - £100
H car payment - £135
H maintenance payment - £20 (supposed to be £175, but his ex-wife is kindly accepting reduced payments at the moment) Is she going to want back payment when your on your feet again?
NSPCC payment - £2 I know it's not much but you can live without this.
Inland revenue (for overpaid tax credits) - £10 (approx. £1200 still to pay)
Tesco loan - £125 (£5000 outstanding, only took out in July, over 5 years)
Next directory - £130 (£1600 outstanding)
Llloyds CC - £120 (£6000 outstanding)
Virgin CC - £90 (£3000 outstanding)
Egg CC - £30 (£1100 outstanding)
Barclaycard - £15 (£500 outstanding)
Additions - £15 (£170 outstanding)
Freemans - £40 (£130 outstanding)
Overdraft interest - £56 (£4000 OD)

Total: £2829

You could try telephoning everyone you have credit with and explaining the situation. I did this when I was in debt and they gave me a bit of leeway and reduced the monthly payments. if your honest about having difficulties with them they will try to do more to help you.

Could you get a new boiler or help with heating through Warm Front?

Go round your whole house and collect together things like DVDs you never watch anymore, CDs you never listen to, books you never read, clothes you no longer wear, electric gadgets you no longer use etc etc and sell them all on ebay. You will be amazed at how much you will get and you might even be able to pay off one of your creditors with the money. Do this on a regular basis.

Scarlett.1974

Alan1973 wrote: »

Hello Scarlett

Nice to see the progress you're making :T . You certainly can save a lot of money on the weekly shop from buying own brands - on basic items some own brands can be several times cheaper.

I had an idea, don't know if it will interest you but thought I'd share it anyway :rotfl: . If you want to earn an extra few quid, have you considered maybe one of Betterware / Avon / Ann Summers? Might be worth a look anyway.

Al

That's a good idea Al :T Am going to look into Avon I think, I have plenty of friends and family I could con, er..... convince into spending with me, am going to look at the Avon website now

I have this morning applied for the Warm Front grant, so fingers crossed for me DFWers

At last, hurrah hurrah, my Nat West paperwork for my new bank account has just arrived :T , so will sign and send that back this afternoon and then I can really get things moving in the changing of utilities, insurances etc.....

Ebay is going very well, I've made £50.00 in the last 2 days

Black Saturn - thank you for your reply, I shall try to answer all of your points now

Re the gas, electric and gas services - I'm shopping around for all of those and will be moving (via quidco ) as soon as new bank account is set up.

We're not on a meter with the water, but I noticed on the paperwork that we only pay the bill over 8 months, so am going to see if we can pay over 12 months next time (little bit of good news, the Nov 1st payment is the last one until next April )

The life insurance has no cash-in value unfortunately It's a decreasing term life assurance basically to cover the mortgage should either of us die. But that's on my list of things to do to see if I can get it any cheaper.

House insurance - yes, we have to have buildings (it's part of our mortgage contract) and I wouldn't feel happy without any sort of contents cover, but good news I've managed to find the same cover with Admiral for £14.79 a month

Pet Insurance - I know it seems like a luxury but really it isn't. Should anything happen to our cat we simply would have no way of paying the vets bills without it

H's maintnence payment - no, she won't be wanting back pay. For all her faults (and they're too numerous to go into here :rotfl: ) she's quite reasonable really, thank goodness.

Have already cancelled Sky and NSPCC

Er... think that's everything. Thank you for your advice, it's very much appreciated :T

Scarlett.1974

Have just applied to be an Avon Rep

Alan1973

Let us know how the Avon thing goes Scarlett.

Al

Alan1973

Alan1973 wrote: »

Let us know how the Avon thing goes Scarlett.

Al

I guess we both posted at the same time :rotfl:

Scarlett.1974

Alan1973 wrote: »

I guess we both posted at the same time :rotfl:

I think we must have :rotfl:

It was really quick and easy and they'll be phoning me very soon apparently

dsljfreeman

Hey Scarlett, go to www.quidco.com, it should bring up the list of merchants, click on the tab that says amount and it should sort them from highest first, I went through the list and signed up for anything which didn't involve me giving card details.

Let me know how you get on!

Good luck with the Avon thing, I think they do lovely things, esp Xmas xx

Scarlett.1974

dsljfreeman wrote: »

Hey Scarlett, go to www.quidco.com, it should bring up the list of merchants, click on the tab that says amount and it should sort them from highest first, I went through the list and signed up for anything which didn't involve me giving card details.

Let me know how you get on!

Good luck with the Avon thing, I think they do lovely things, esp Xmas xx

Hiya :hello:

I think I might be having a "thick" moment Is that for the surveys? I can't see them

Stupidly yours,
Scarlett xx

Oooooh yes, I hadn't even made the xmas connection. A good time to do it I think. I shall pester all the mums on the school playground :rotfl: