Need Help Sorting Out Debts etc.

tigtag02

If your gonna swap for sky (which is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY worth it) go throught quidco, I beleive the cash back is £135 atm.

Also all your insurances seem high too, shop around and dont forget quidco.

tigtag
xx

britvic

OK the mobile point is valid, hubby is payg and i am on contract but am tied in till next xmas so cant really do too much their. Tax credits is a big pain, we do qualify but are paying off an overpayment from last year and therefore won't get any money off them till april 2008 which will then be bout 40 a month. My electricity is ridiculous and we are about 150 in debt to them aswell, i have asked them (britishgas) to check my supply as it just doesnt come down no matter how much the monthly payments go up. I dont have central heating tho, so whole house is only heated with a gas fire downstairs and a gas heater upstairs, so in winter we do use electric heaters and our hot water is electric too. Big problemm this month is of course an expensive one, I have done all my xmas shopping but have got prior plans for a few outings this month, tickets for a concert etc so as much as i will try not to spend it will happen. Have got a concert to goto on Wednesday (had tickets since april) and hubby is playing a gig (unpaid) on Saturday so he will spend money there. Sorry for the long post!!!!!

CLAPTON

you need to complete your SOA above... it has to include everything so food, ciggies, socialising, xmas expenses, birthdays, concerts, any travelling expenses.... because at the moment you can't see where you are overspending

doodledo_2

Hi and welcome to the forum

britvic

Have added a few more figures for SOA

All supermarket shopping (food, toiletries, cleaning) £310
Ciggies- £80
Social stuff- £80
Travel- £10
Online game- £10
Prescriptions- £7
Bingo- £10
Washer and dryer insurance- £10

:eek: Cant believe how much i spend. Are all my insurance things worth having?
Have 2 life insurance policies joint and hubbys 13.26 and 11.11. Pet insurance 7 and the washer and dryer at 10.
Again Thanks for help
Brit

tigtag02

:wave: brit

I would ditch the washer & dryer ins and only keep the joint life ins policy.
How many is the £310 for?
Online game could go and social be brought lower

HTH
tigtag

squirrel_pigeon

Depending on what kind of pet you have it may also be worth keeping the pet insurance. Just make sure you have the best deal you can get. Petplan do a good one where you are covered for a lifetime so they can't wriggle out due to 'pre-existing' conditions...

CLAPTON

At the moment, adding up all you spending it looks like this


income 1,647
spending 1,007 excluding unsecured debts
leaving 640 fot debt

and your debts cost you 406

so you have 234 per month un accounted for.
You really need to work out where all the money goes

a. start to keep spending diaries and write down absolutely everything you spend.. you'll be surprised what you find

b. also do some more work on the one-off and annual spends........ so how much do you spend on xmas, birthday presents, trips out, clothes or whatever... with these divide by 12 to get a monthly average and add a line to your budget otherwise you will alos be borrowing to pay for these things.

c. redo the budget bringing everything into one list so you see the complete picture in one place.


unless you know where the money i going its much more difficult to cut down.

britvic

Thanks to everyone for the advice. We are looking through all the bank statements and I am going to look at changing the cable/internet to a cheaper provider. Lots of great help on this site, thanks :T

the_cat

hi britvic

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet.... the dog neutering.
As you are on benefits this could possibly be done for free or token payment at the Blue Cross. Sorry I don't know the details and I might be wrong but definately wotth checking out. HTH