Help and advice needed! My debt!

Boltonbwfc

the_cat wrote: »

Hi and welcome
Have added a few pointers to get you started.

Outgoings Amount Monthly

Mortgage £ 938.00
Rent £ 0.00
Council Tax £ 105.00 OVER 10 MONTHS OR 12? 10 Months
Electricity £ 87.0 THIS IS HUGE! DOES IT INCLUDE ARREARS? Does not include arrears (I have questioned this on many occasions)
Gas £ 64.00 Ditto (same as above)
Heating Oil £ 0.00
Water Rates £ 39.00 Again, 10 months or 12? 10 months
Telephone £ 25.00
Mobile Phone £ 30.00 Are you tied to a contract? Go PAYG or reduce if poss (tied until next May)
TV Licence £ 11.00
Satellite TV £ 0.00
Internet £ 5.00
Buildings Insurance £ 36.00 Seems a lot to me (This is building and contents insurance)
Contents Insurance £ 0.00 Not something I would risk going without (as above)
Life Insurance £ 50.00 Ouch! Is this the cheapest you can get? (scottish Widows)
Groceries £ 350.00 This can def be reduced by at least £100 per month
Look on Old Style Board for some ideas to (Thanks I will look)
Clothing £ 80.00 Every month? Thats nearly £1K per year. Needs
cutting back I'm afraid (I am sure I can cut this down)
Petrol £ 50.00
Car Tax £ 0.00 Needs to be included as you have to have this (aunties mobility allowance pays for it)
Car Insurance £ 32.00 Cheapest you can get? Bought thru Quidco? (Tesco)
Car MOT £ 4.00
Car Maintenance £ 30.00
Car Parking £ 0.00
Other Travel £ 0.00
Childminder/Nursery £ 0.00
Medical/Dental Expenses £ 20.00 Do you get full value out of this? (Just actually this morn between this got a NHS new dentist)
Pets Insurance/Vets Bills £ 20.00 Cheapest? (Petplan and cheapest)
Birthdays/Christmas £ 20.00
Holidays £ 0.00
Entertainment £ 20.00
Children’s expenses £ 60.00 What is this for? (Bus fares to school over a month)
Haircuts £ 5.00
Contingency fund £ 30.00
DMP £60.00
Secured Loan £400.00
Other HP commitments £60.00

Income
£2920.00 (2 adults and child benefit inc) Are you both working? Any poss of extra income? 2nd jobs/ ebaying/ overtime etc Both working, I will get a 3K rise in Salary next April and also OH will) (Stated the Ebay stuff especially for Xmas) (Could also do Out of Hours work)

Thank You

BWFC

Thanks Cat! Really apprciate your advice and I feel much better already :rotfl:

In_Search_Of_Me

hi there & welcome. Big hugs for you. The first bit of sorting can be hard as so much brain activity trying to sort things etc! Do you have anythng you could sell on ebay? Start doing surveys etc & see where you can maximise income. Personally I wouldnt get rid of life insurance - if one of you were to die that would leave the other in a VERY vulnerable financial position at a very difficult time. Check pet insurance but make sure that you get one that covers life of pet as some cancel on renewal if the pet gets a lifelong illness like diabetes. I have petplan insurance whch is more expensive than others but I know that the cats will be covered so its worth it! Also wouldnt cancel the pension but thats just me. Can either of you get more work somehow? Try anything - AQA, stacking shelves at tesco, whatever you can to make more dosh! You can save a bomb by savvy shopping & menu planning. Well done though on your efforts so far! Feel free to ask questions, people can help from a variety of perspectives!

the_cat

Glad to see you're feeling more positive!

If I were you, I would first off get C Tax and W Rates changed to 12 monthly from next year. If yours works like mine the free months are coming up soon(feb/mar I think). If you cannot manage to pay off the gas/elec before then use the free months to enable you to switch supplier. Before that though I would do some research into the tariff you are on, maybe query whether your meter is ok etc. Try asking for help on the Gas/Elec board as I'm sure I have seen cases where people have been wrongly put on tariffs and overcharged loads.
Use a comparison site and see what it reckons the company you are with would be charging the average person in a house your size, if you see what I mean. Of course it may be that you have a huge house and paying fairly but without the details it jumps out as really expensive.

tyllwyd

Sorry for confusing you about the 'gap' - the other posters explained it perfectly! What happens to that £289 that isn't accounted for elsewhere - if you are going to make cut backs to find extra money to pay off debts, that spare money (if it exists!) is an obvious candidate.

About your pension - don't make any hasty decisions. Remember that the money going into your pension isn't taxed, so you won't get as much back in your pocket as you might think. Another factor is what type of scheme it is, and what contributions your employer makes. Definitely ask for advice on the Pensions board before doing anything, but I would bet that they will advise you to stay in if you possibly can.

Boltonbwfc

Just joined Quidco and had a quote for Mortgage life insurance for me and the other half! An amazing £32.69 a month! Half the amount I am paying now! Plus £80 cash back! Any suggestions for cheap car and buildings/contents insurance?

Tyll its a government pension and I pay about £114 a month for it.

hi cat! I live in a semi detached 3 bedroomed property and have spoken to them about my meter. They said I should do a test over a week. The average they say is about gas is 7kilowatts a day. I am inspired to do this now and was unaware that there was different tariffs for different houses, etc. I thought it was all one level tariff Anyone know the average for electric per day I will try the sites you have mentioned.

I am already saving money :rotfl:

My OH is calling me Victor Meldrew because I keep going on to her and the kids about saving money, we can't buy that, etc. I do feel I am a grump but my intentions are for the right reasons.

The debt spiralled out of control about a year and half year ago when we decided to have an extension built instead of moving. The price to build the damn thing as quadruppelled over the period and I have used a loan, and 2 credit cards to pay for the building of it and other general stuff which I NOW know I should not of done. It's crippled us financially and the bloody thing ain't finished yet!!! As well as trying to live! My DMP is for about 30K now and I cannot believe that I allowed myself to be blinded by it all!

mrsspendalot

Well done on the life insurance!

I used lloyds tsb for my contents insurance - £120 cashback and swiftcover.com for my car insurance - £45 cashback.

In_Search_Of_Me

Local g'ment pension is one of the best and you can only opt out once - ie stop once & go back in but if you opt out after that you cant go back in IYKWIM - I wouldnt cancel it. Just keep making savings and see if you can make dosh esewhere...

the_cat

Re house/car insurances:

What I always do is use 2 different comparison websites first to get the names of the cheapest quotes, then print them off and trawl thru quidco factoring in any cashback offers before buying.
This year I used Prudential for house (£260 for year less £100 cashback) and for cars used Zurich for one (£260 for year less £120 cashback - plus £50 MandS vouchers details found from insurance board on here) and Prudential for the other (£186 for year less £100 cashback).

Offers change all the time though, so these may not still be offering the same

Boltonbwfc

Hi All

Got a cheaper home insurance with Nat West but no one seems to be able to match the Tesco car insurance at present. I have saved about £12 a month on the home insurance. Thats nearly £43 saved today by just coming on here. Thanks a million everybody.

I am going to sort the C Tax and water out now! :j

raq

also agree on the food side.

5 of us here, including sma baby food and nappies and I spend £70.00 a week, believe me we do eat well. Just I now go shopping and really think what I DO need for the week.