Light bulb moment

shoppingobsessed2020

£77.80 claimed back from hmrc and dd cancelled.  Will pay that off a Card when it’s received back into my account.

enthusiasticsaver

OK so it sounds as if you are starting to make some changes and at least sort your finances out.  A conversation with your husband sounds like it should happen asap though. He sounds as if he is a bit complacent and thinks his high earnings will continue indefinitely.  Thousands of threads on here show this is not always the case. 

shoppingobsessed2020

Thanks @enthusiasticsaver im
using this time with him being away as a grace period to see what I can clear ASAP.  I’ve had a conversation via email but he’s not yet where I am thinking his promotion and pay rise when it happens will take care of this mess we are in.

ive got the capital one balance down to £400 so a baby step.  I haven’t yet paid anything to the very account as it’s interest free till August so I made the decision to pay the capital one card first.  

I’ve made a diary with an amended soa so I can keep proper track of where we are.

the only thing I’m contemplating and im
not sure if it’s a good thing or not, although if I’m contemplating doing it it’s probably not a good thing is taking a loan to clear the smaller credit cards and closing them down.  Less interest and a fixed payment that equals all the minimum payments.  However it’s me so it’s probably not the best idea so I’m leaving that for now.

enthusiasticsaver

shoppingobsessed2020 said:

ive got the capital one balance down to £400 so a baby step.  I haven’t yet paid anything to the very account as it’s interest free till August so I made the decision to pay the capital one card first.  

I’ve made a diary with an amended soa so I can keep proper track of where we are.

the only thing I’m contemplating and im
not sure if it’s a good thing or not, although if I’m contemplating doing it it’s probably not a good thing is taking a loan to clear the smaller credit cards and closing them down.  Less interest and a fixed payment that equals all the minimum payments.  However it’s me so it’s probably not the best idea so I’m leaving that for now.

I would advise against the loan as debt consolidation (which is what that is) rarely works in getting debt reduced and paid off.  It usually just delays things as people think moving the cards to  a loan takes away the urgency and the temptation to build the cards back up again then ends up with a  loan and yet more credit card debt particularly with those who are undisciplined with money. 

macman

£960pa on car insurance seems incredibly high: since your contents insurance is very low, I can't think that it's because you live in a high risk area?
If you have gas CH and DHW then your leccy spend should be no more than £30-40 pm-not £60. Time to replace those halogen downlighters with LED perhaps? Do you have a water meter? If not, apply for one now; you cannot lose. 
£1,020pa on Sky? Yikes! Cut back some of those services-you can pause Sky Sports at the moment. Mobiles: sell your expensive smartphones, buy a basic Android handset for £100. As soon as out of minimum term, switch to a SIM only contract: you can get unltd minutes and 2GB data now for as little as a fiver a month.
Consolidating your cards is rarely a good idea. You may pay less monthly, but that's not what matters. What matters is the total cost over the loan period, and consolidating usually just extends the loan period. Just move all you can to interest free and then start paying off the highest rate one first. Rinse and repeat.

[Deleted User]

If one car sits on the drive and is rarely used, then it's a cheap second hand car you want. Not two "new" cars on finance or other debt.

enthusiasticsaver

I can understand you leaving Very until the interest rate kicks in but make sure you pay it by then as Very is usually expensive.  Maybe after Capital One target the small TSB one and then the Next and Debenhams cards which are both pretty expensive. Do not forget to close these afterwards so you are not tempted to  spend on them again. Ideally you want to be left with only 0% debt. You may get offers as some of this debt gets paid off. Make sure you are saving for emergencies as well so you are not tempted to add more debt if something unavoidable happens with the cars or the house. 

shoppingobsessed2020

Like I’ve said I can’t change the cars as they are not in my name. I’m concentrating on the changes I can make.  

Sky is not unreasonable in my opinion.  It’s our landline (needed for alarm system) internet and tv package so yes it does seem high if you look at it as just the tv package but I negotiate every year with them to get the cost down.  We don’t have the sports channels but do have everything else so cost wise I’m happy with that but when we are out of contract we have discussed just using netflix. 

Insurance for the cars is high but I shop around every year and that’s as cheap as I managed to get it last year.  Full comp, reasonable excess (£200) both cars parked on the drive overnight.  However I have had 2 no fault accidents which hasn’t helped the insurance cost.  When I quote without me on the insurance it’s literally half the cost but when I add me on it increases so not much I can do re that.  I’ve had someone go into the side of me when I was reversing onto the drive (they couldn’t see me!  Huge silver car and they were not paying attention, my cctv confirmed they were at fault thankfully) and I’ve had someone hit my parked in a bay car at work.

house insurance I don’t think is bad, 100k of contents insurance with accidental damage plus full rebuild cost on the buildings insurance again with accidental damage cover.  Bought via cash back site so £30 heading my way when it’s tracked.  Cost £140 then £30 cash back, how can I improve on that?  Has names items in it as well like laptops.

I shop around every year for utility bills and we have energy saving light bulbs, a plus rated appliances etc.  However kicker is we have an electric shower so that contributes to the high cost alongside my previous excessive use of the tumble dryer.  I have only used the dryer 3 times in the past week and a half which for us is good going and a huge reduction and I’m trying to get in the habit of setting the washer on timer so I can wash overnight and hang clothes on the line when we get up so when I’m back at work it will be ingrained as habit.  The heating cost will be decreasing as heading into warmer months and we are not in debt on the utility bill so it covers our usage and should be building a credit for the next winter.  The other thing to remember is that every 2 months we then have someone in the house all day every day for approx 2 months so usage will increase so the spend currently is an average.  We are on smart meters so I can track what’s happening in real time.

We have 3 mobiles on contract.  2 are sim only and one is tied into a contract so it’s already been decided that when the contract is up we go sim only on that one.  I don’t have to have the latest phones, im Still using an iPhone 6 that I bought outright when it came out, hubby has the newer phone but when that’s finished he will be sim only and not upgrading.

i have a diary reminder for the payday before the very account starts charging interest so I can pay that off.  I’m expecting this covid lockdown to continue for a good few months so the plan is clear capital one next pay day and then the pay day after that clear very and some of the tsb card.

Drawingaline

If its you making the insurance on the cars high take yourself off one of them?

shoppingobsessed2020

Drawingaline said:

If its you making the insurance on the cars high take yourself off one of them?

Tried that the other year as I hate driving his car.  I ended up having to add myself back onto the policy as his car brakes ended up needing replaced through non use that it cost more than the insurance saving to replace them.  He was away for nearly 5 months though that trip away.  Garage (not a main dealer) said I need to drive it Regularly so I now take my car to work and then swap over to his car for after school activities and clubs and then I alternate on a weekend which car I take to ensure both get used.  I still favour mine but I try to give his a good drive out every other weekend, well before lockdown occurred that’s what I was doing.  When I go back to work I’m a couple of weeks I’ll just alternate daily what car im taking.