Up sh*t creak without a paddle. Advice needed.

melissa'smoney

hi all.

Didn't really want to post on here but i have to.

I'm really struggling at the moment and am getting deeper into debt. I took a job i really love 2 years ago and left a better paid (lots of unsocial hours) (im a nurse) so took a £300pm pay drop.
It's been gradually buliding up but i'm basically living off my credit card. My overdraft is £1000 and 10 days after pay day i'm up to this limit and then having to live off my credit card. I'm then getting charged for being over my overdraft as DD fail etc so every month i'm paying £75-£150 in charges for very little sums of money that have failed!!! :mad:

I have 2 credit cards. One with £1300 on and the other £5000.

On the upshot i had a car crash last year and have finally recieved compensation for this...£4800. I have recalimed all my bank charges and am just waiting on the A&L as this is currently on hold but they owe me £2000 (hopefully i'll get it)

I"m not really living, i'm just exsisting. I don't have the money to go out, i'm not buying expensive items (i used to buy loads of stuff) i'm basically just getting by, well i'm not as i'm not really living.

I'm single and really doing what a couple would do. I've just reduced my mortgage to interest only but it hasn't really helped. My bills inc mort are £900, i get £1200pm. I have the lowest of everything and am pretty good at getting good deals, pretty MSE savvy! :money:
I should really get a lodger but i really don't want one. Did all the living with people stuff at uni and hated it but i don't know what other choices i really have.
I should also work some agency shifts at weekends but i'm so tired by Fridays i havent got much left, also have a dog and feel its unfair to leave her all week and then at the weekend.

I've just had a letter from bailiffs for an unpaid parking fine i was hoping was going to go away but it never does! £108 and i just havent got it!!!

I was going to pay the 5k CC off with my compensation money but i feel some of that should go on my overdraft as i'm loosing so much money in charges for going over it. How would you use the £4800??

What do people suggest??? I really need all your help

I'm really fed up!

Thank you in advance

(Land_of)_Maz

Hi there, please put up a SOA so we can all see clearly what's what... and then some magic fairy MSE'ers will be along to help you work something out!

Well done on posting, that's the first step and honestly you will be glad you did!

My advice for what it's worth would be to clear the overdraft and start next payday with a zero balance, see if you could live the month from a totally clean slate, sharing the rest of the compensation payment to reduce the debts.... but wait for the others, see what they think....

Oh an pay the parking fine now, out of the compensation payment, it isn't worth the stress. That's a no brainer.

M
x

C32AMG

As above, do a detailed SOA along with a list of your debts, who they are with, how much left, min monthly payments and interest rates.

Without seeing your SOA or having a detailed idea of what you owe, I would say put 1000 into your current account or so, 2500 off the big card and 1300 to pay of the other card in full.

You should pay the parking fine as it won't go away. If you paid it when it first came it would only have been 30 pounds!

melissa'smoney

I really appreciate this guys...SOA...this is per month

I've just turned 30 and this is the worst off iv'e even been!!!

Mortgage: £388 interest only (3.99 fixed until 02/09 (£600 repayment) (£70 of tthe £388 is a lan repayment i consolidated onto my mortgage to pay off CC and i've done it again!)
Council Tax: £69 (inc single 25% discount)
Water: £26
TV licence £11.61
Gym membership: £22.99
Virgin Media: (phone, tv, braodband, V+) £40
Car insurance: £31.82
O2 mobile: £35 (tied in until March 08)
Home Insurance: £35
Gas+Electric: £55 (£30 gas £25 elec) dual fual British Gas
Life Insurance: £5
Current CC min payments: £200 (£100 on each)

Total = £919.60
Earn = £1200
Leaves me =£280.40 for the whole month!!

Spends per week:
Petrol: £20
Dog walker: £8
Cat food:£5
Food shopping £60 (yes this is far too high and i think i have a problem in this area)
Going out/coffees/magazines £20
Clothes/Assessories £20 (this isn't regular weekly spending)
Window cleaner: £2.50 (alternate weeks)

(will add more when i think of them)

Annual Payements:
Dog Insurance: £180
MOT:
Car tax:
Leashold: £1.50


Credit Cards:

Tesco £1360 min payment £80
MBNA £5000 Min payment £95pm



xx

C32AMG

melissa'smoney wrote: »

I really appreciate this guys...SOA...this is per month

I've just turned 30 and this is the worst off iv'e even been!!!

Mortgage: £388 interest only (3.99 fixed until )02/09
Council Tax: £69 (inc single 25% discount)
Water: £26 This is a lot for one person, are you metered? I pay 32 for three people on a meter - not 'cost cutting', either! If you are not on a meter, apply for one.
TV licence £11.61
Virgin Media: (phone, tv, braodband, V+) £40
Car insurance: £31.82
O2 mobile: £35 (tied in until March 08) Make sure you get out of this as soon as you can.
Home Insurance: £35 Buildings & contents? Have you shopped around? It seems fairly expensive to me (assuming you have a small property as per your mortgage)
Gas+Electric: £55 (£30 gas £25 elec) dual fual British Gas Look at switching, for three people I pay 30-35 per month dual-fuel with Atlantic.
Life Insurance: £5
Current CC min payments: £200 (£100 on each)

Total = £896.61
Earn = £1200
Leaves me =£303.39 for the whole month!!

Spends per week:
Petrol: £20
Dog walker: £8 Can you really not walk the dog yourself?
Cat food:£5
Food shopping £60 (yes this is far too high and i think i have a problem in this area) Yes, it is too high!
Going out/coffees/magazines £20 You can cut this down. My girlfriend was terrible at this, but really.. magazines are a waste of money!
Clothes/Assessories £20 (this isn't regular weekly spending) That would mean 80 a month, surely you can cut this down - even if only to 50 or so?
Window cleaner: £2.50 (alternate weeks) Whats wrong with cleaning the windows yourself? Would save 10 a month!

(will add more when i think of them)

Annual Payements:
Dog Insurance: £180
MOT: 50 per year. Budget for servicing too?
Car tax: How much is this, 115?
Leashold: £1.50 Ground rent?


Credit Cards:

Tesco £1360 min payment £80
MBNA £5000 Min payment £95pm



xx

From your 4,800 compensation I would do the following:-

Pay off ALL of your tesco card (Then cut it up!)
Pay off your overdraft (assuming this is 1000 as per your original post)
Pay off 2400 of your MBNA card
Pay the 100 pound parking fine!

This'll mean your minimum payment on your MBNA will be about 50-60 and you won't have a min payment for Tesco. Also, your Overdraft should be a bit better.

Then try to cut down on the expenses as I've outlined above to lower your monthly costs, and try to live on 'cash' (ie your bank account) rather than on credit cards.

Penny-Pincher!!

melissa'smoney wrote: »

I really appreciate this guys...SOA...this is per month

I've just turned 30 and this is the worst off iv'e even been!!!

Mortgage: £388 interest only (3.99 fixed until 02/09 (£600 repayment) (£70 of tthe £388 is a lan repayment i consolidated onto my mortgage to pay off CC and i've done it again!)
Council Tax: £69 (inc single 25% discount)
Water: £26
TV licence £11.61
Gym membership: £22.99-Do you use this?
Virgin Media: (phone, tv, braodband, V+) £40-Cheaper package & Freeview
Car insurance: £31.82-Shop around when due
O2 mobile: £35 (tied in until March 08)-Can you reduce the package?
Home Insurance: £35-Per Month? Shop around
Gas+Electric: £55 (£30 gas £25 elec) dual fual British Gas
Life Insurance: £5
Current CC min payments: £200 (£100 on each)

Total = £919.60
Earn = £1200
Leaves me =£280.40 for the whole month!!

Spends per week:
Petrol: £20-Can you walk, take the bus or car share with someone?
Dog walker: £8-Can you not walk the dog yourself?
Cat food:£5-Cheaper brands?
Food shopping £60 (yes this is far too high and i think i have a problem in this area)-this MUST be cut down! Mealplan and buy only what you need.
Going out/coffees/magazines £20-This must be cut down-you can not afford it
Clothes/Assessories £20 (this isn't regular weekly spending)-Im sure you have enough clothes:D
Window cleaner: £2.50 (alternate weeks)-do yourself or cut down to monthly?

Hairdressing?
Cartax?

Annual Payements:
Dog Insurance: £180-Can you get cheaper? Do you need it?
MOT:
Car tax:
Leashold: £1.50?


Credit Cards:

Tesco £1360 min payment £80
MBNA £5000 Min payment £95pm

A lodger does sound like the best alternative or what about a teaching student? They normally stay for around 3-6 months at a time and you dont provide anything apart from a room etc and they buy their own food. Where we are you get £90pw for this.

HTH

PP
xx

melissa'smoney

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

melissa'smoney wrote: »

I really appreciate this guys...SOA...this is per month

I've just turned 30 and this is the worst off iv'e even been!!!

Mortgage: £388 interest only (3.99 fixed until 02/09 (£600 repayment) (£70 of tthe £388 is a lan repayment i consolidated onto my mortgage to pay off CC and i've done it again!)
Council Tax: £69 (inc single 25% discount)
Water: £26 Looked into a meter & they say this is the cheapest for me??
TV licence £11.61
Gym membership: £22.99-Do you use this? [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Not as much as i should but i'm tied into 12month contract[/COLOR]
Virgin Media: (phone, tv, braodband, V+) £40-Cheaper package & Freeview 12 month contract
Car insurance: £31.82-Shop around when due i do shop around, i'm good at this, just swapped from tesco and this is the cheapest
[/COLOR]O2 mobile: £35 (tied in until March 08)-Can you reduce the package? [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]contracted[/COLOR]
Home Insurance: £35-Per Month? Shop around Buildings and contects yes, and unlimited, but i'm sure i can get it cheaper
Gas+Electric: £55 (£30 gas £25 elec) dual fual British Gas just swapped from NPower where i was paying £75, price compared, shopped around https://www.moneysupermarket etc and it's the cheapest
[/COLOR]Life Insurance: £5
Current CC min payments: £200 (£100 on each)

Total = £919.60
Earn = £1200
Leaves me =£280.40 for the whole month!!

Spends per week:
Petrol: £20-Can you walk, take the bus or car share with someone? i'm a school nurse and the car for meetings, visits etc
Dog walker: £8-Can you not walk the dog yourself? i do walk her myself, just that shes on her own all week so i have the D.W on a wednesday to break her week up
Cat food:£5-Cheaper brands?Morrisons own label, cheapest there is and i buy BOGOF etcs and use www.madaboutbargains to see where offers are!
[/COLOR]Food shopping £60 (yes this is far too high and i think i have a problem in this area)-this MUST be cut down! Mealplan and buy only what you need.i know this is too high
Going out/coffees/magazines £20-This must be cut down-you can not afford it
Clothes/Assessories £20 (this isn't regular weekly spending)-Im sure you have enough clothes:D [COLOR="rgb(153, 50, 204)"]agree![/COLOR]
Window cleaner: £2.50 (alternate weeks)-do yourself or cut down to monthly? I'm going to cancel this

Hairdressing? don't shout £79 every 8 weeks, this is my only indulgance, i dont smoke or drink


Annual Payements:
Dog Insurance: £180-Can you get cheaper? Do you need it? unfortunatley need it, ongoing health problems, i did choose 'no excess' policy though so i dont pay anything for treatment
MOT:
Car tax:
Leashold: £1.50 ground rent yearly


Credit Cards:

Tesco £1360 min payment £80
MBNA £5000 Min payment £95pm

A lodger does sound like the best alternative or what about a teaching student? They normally stay for around 3-6 months at a time and you dont provide anything apart from a room etc and they buy their own food. Where we are you get £90pw for this.

Do you know where i could look into this??

thank you xxx

HTH

PP
xx

belfastgirl23

Depending where you live, you could think about getting a weekdays only lodger (monday to friday) so you'd still have time to yourself at weekends? If you're working all week then it might not impact on your life as much as you'd think. And the income would be largely tax-free. And depending who you get they might be willing to do a bit of the dog walking too?

Also if you love your mags I've just realised that tesco clubcard vouchers can be used to buy subscriptions, a good way to get them for free.

Good luck!

melissa'smoney

I've rung Yorkshire water re a water meter (use most of the MSe pages) and they said i wouldn't be better off...i'm a single person in a 3 bedroomed, big terrace. I did wonder if they were fobbing me off to get me to pay higher....?? I'll try them again

C32AMG wrote: »

From your 4,800 compensation I would do the following:-

Pay off ALL of your tesco card (Then cut it up!)
Pay off your overdraft (assuming this is 1000 as per your original post)
Pay off 2400 of your MBNA card
Pay the 100 pound parking fine!

This'll mean your minimum payment on your MBNA will be about 50-60 and you won't have a min payment for Tesco. Also, your Overdraft should be a bit better.

Then try to cut down on the expenses as I've outlined above to lower your monthly costs, and try to live on 'cash' (ie your bank account) rather than on credit cards.

Thanks for this, i agree with where you've placed the money....xxx

misspoppy

Hi

A tip about the water company, of course they will say its the cheapest option for you they will loose money if you switch! I saved 2/3 of my annual bill by switching when I owned a house, its worth pursuing.

I have to say I didn't really like taking in a lodger when I did it but actually I enjoyed the company and I also had a dog so it was nice that she had company at times when I wasn't there. It would certainly get you back on track. You could ask around friends and family or put a notice in the paper and interview people.

melissa'smoney

misspoppy wrote: »

Hi

A tip about the water company, of course they will say its the cheapest option for you they will loose money if you switch! I saved 2/3 of my annual bill by switching when I owned a house, its worth pursuing.

I have to say I didn't really like taking in a lodger when I did it but actually I enjoyed the company and I also had a dog so it was nice that she had company at times when I wasn't there. It would certainly get you back on track. You could ask around friends and family or put a notice in the paper and interview people.

I will def ring water company.

I know a lodger is the sensible idea just hate the thought. And it's not just them, its if they have friends round, family, partners, conquests!!? :eek:

Just done a check on https://www.uswitch.com and it says i can save £194 pa witha metre so ive pressed order one! Bloody chuffs on the phone wouldnt let me change!

x