I've had my LBM...Help...!

CreditMonkey

Ok here it is......

BOS...........£6210
Mint...........£1700
Cap 1.........£500
AMEX.........£5600
EGG...........£3600
M&S...........£1400
IF..............£2500
Clyesdale.....£500
Barclays......£6000
Additions.....£565
Next...........£650
Barclaycard.£2100
GE.............£3000
Studio........£170
Vertbaudet..£38

total...£34533...ouch...!

We are about to start a DMP with CCCS paying them £317pm to cover this.

We have a mortgage with abbey £83k and a secured loan of £39k with paragon which includes a £10k cash back in 2011....(Conned into that one but its all signed i'm afraid.)

Are expenses are:
talktalk(phone+broadband)........£39.27
sky.......................................£21
02..(on contract till april)..........£25
Petplan...(2 cats 1 dog)............£45.69
car ins..(inc breakdown)............£45
home ins................................£34
response 24............................£20
Life ins..................................£12.20
council tax.............................£90.37
gas+elec...............................£52
water...................................£41
tv licence..............................£11.40
health cash plan....................£15
mortgage..............................£600
Loan....................................£460
DMP.....................................£317

Total...................................£1828.93

Incoming:
Mr Monkey.........£1156.99
Mrs Monkey.......£1269.62
Child money.......£162

Total...............£2588.61

leaving £759.68 pm for food, petrol etc.

We have an expensive to run mondeo estate which has been abused and not worth much but we will sell this for a smaller cheaper car and the pet insurance looks very expensive, although the vets bills are unlimited....any advice on good policy that doesn't leave you open to expensive bills.....?
I am a photographer and have a brand new company car but am looking at trying to change my job so i can book weddings at the weekends bringing in much welcome money although new job would mean need 2nd car (and have to buy own camera gear) as longish distance to new job if i change. Any advice on how much tax i actually pay for having a company car please....£19,500 salary and i pay for personal fuel....?

Not proud to be in this situation but very pleased to have had LBM and to have drawn battles lines with our debt. Any advice on the above greatfully recieved.
:T

Floss

CreditMonkey wrote: »

talktalk(phone+broadband)........£39.27
sky.......................................£21
02..(on contract till april)..........£25 drop down to a cheaper tariff
Petplan...(2 cats 1 dog)............£45.69 check out other policies - Asda?
car ins..(inc breakdown)............£45 use Tesco deals to get your breakdown, shop around for insurance when due & use Quidco for cashback
home ins................................£34 shop around for insurance when due & use Quidco for cashback
response 24............................£20 What is this?
Life ins..................................£12.20
council tax.............................£90.37 Do you pay over 10 or 12m?
gas+elec...............................£52 is this the cheapest?
water...................................£41 Do you pay over 10 or 12m? Are you on a meter??
tv licence..............................£11.40
health cash plan....................£15 Do you really need this?
mortgage..............................£600
Loan....................................£460
DMP.....................................£317

Total...................................£1828.93

Incoming:
Mr Monkey.........£1156.99
Mrs Monkey.......£1269.62
Child money.......£162

Total...............£2588.61

leaving £759.68 pm for food, petrol etc.

OK, what about birthday / Christmas presents? Clothes?

Make a list of what you have in your cupboards & freezer & fridge, then plan as many meals as possible using whats on the list. Then do an online shop for anything you NEED for the month - washing powder, toilet roll etc. Get into the habit of menu planning. And head over to the Old Style board for more tips on cutting your housekeeping.

Well done for taking the first step and welcome! :wave:

Love Floss x

Numpty_Monkey

:hello:
just wanted to say hello

and I'm with TalkTalk phone/broadband (free evening weekend calls) i got my first proper bill a few weeks ago it was £18.01, have you checked all the packages and calling circles options if you call abroad or mobile numbers alot? and go for for e-billing saves another £1.

and welcome from a fellow monkey:rotfl:

yellowmonkey

Hi

Well done on your LBM.

Nice to see some more 'Monkeys' on the forum.

Good luck

ym

bringmeshoes

floss, i work for o2 and you can not move to a lower tariff until 9 months into upgrade and then you can only move to the next lowest tariff not the actual lowest tariff that o2 offer

buxtonrabbitgreen

I too have talk talk broadband and phone calls including international for £23 per month. Woulod it be cheaper to have your broadband and phone with sky?

In_Search_Of_Me

A word of caution on changing/chancelling pet insurance...I cancelled mine & one of my cats got ill (kidneys packed up) £500 later she had to be put down, mainly because I just could not afford to go on like that for months. I swapped from petplan for M&S due to apparently same cover & cheaper premiums but they put the premium up after year one so have returned to pet plan as they seem to have the best level of cover BUT if your pet has pre-existing medical conditions they will be excluded on a new policy but if you continue to pay the petplan premium they will be covered. I rue the day I changed mine...It may be worth you ringing & checking whether you can get cheaper - sometimes if you ring & say you're stuggling with the premium (it does seem high) they may reduce it. I have a higher excess I think so pay slightly less & have a multipet discount.
Overall you seem to have a fair bit left at the end of the month on paper and it may be worth doing a spending diary to see where the money is actually going. spendingdiary.com have an online one that does pretty graphs! Hope that helps!

CreditMonkey

Ok I'm gonna act on as much of this as i can. i.e the health cash plan can go because they takin all the cash and giving me no health...! Seen the orange deal for phone and broadband £25pm but hopefully talktalk match it so not have to swap. The 02 mobile was £35pm but OH has managed to drop the insurance and some minutes and texts to bring down to £25 and when contract ends we go else where. Thought about water meter cause we not use much but not sure cause we got two kids 3yrs and 1yrs and not sure if work out to expensive when they get little older...any advice on this.....?

:T

upbeat_2

Sorry for using your thread for my question. Im new to the site and cant see where I create my own question. Buts its relevant in that there was a response from a pet owner about cancelling their policy. Im umming and arrhing about cancelling my cat insurance as every time I take him to the vet its never covered on the policy. Is there a policy that covers general dental polish and scrape yearly. I see policies that cover dental only if its caused by accident and not disease. Vet fees are extortionately high and make it impossible to care for your pet properly if on low income.

CreditMonkey

Hi upbeat

My insurance is with petplan and it seems to be pretty much the bench mark cause its got all the bells and whistles....hence its expensive. The main difference i have spotted between the highstreet names is two things.......
1) a specific illness is covered for a certain amount(say £4000) and when that figure is exceeded you have to stump the rest if the illness continues.
2) Or unlimited cover of vets bills etc for the life of the pet and the illness.

Number 2 is what i have on petplan but considering talking to directline as i have all my other policies with them for a long time now and seing if they will do a policy with unlimited cover for cheaper than petplan. I would personally avoid any un-heard of companies offering insurance. Insurance companies will not insure a pet for any existing condition so might affect your ability to change company depending on the condition.