Drowning and need saving 🙃

enthusiasticsaver

RAS said:

Any of the debt charities will run a DMP for free. You need to avoid the fee-charging companies.

Try Stepchange, CAB or National debtline. But be careful as there are some fakename companies who still try to pretend they are one of the charities, despite the supposed clampdown on it.

The charities will however generally suggest that you start paying immediately, with the downside that prolongs your period of damaged credit-worthiness. So sort out you SOA properly, put aside the emergency money and when the defaults happen, start paying.

This is great advice

kimwp

Altior said:

The debt is pressing here obviously, but I feel like reading this, the underlying issue is that you don't have enough income to fund your lifestyle. So, I believe you will either need to do something to significantly improve your income, or modify your lifestyle. Or else, even if the debts are cleared, you may well be back to this position, alas.

I think this is spot on. Is there any way you can increase your income? Increasing your hours or taking on a side hustle or another job. There's a board on here for easy ways to increase income.

I agree with what everyone else has said so far. Some additional points - 

- with six elderly cats and one dog, are you allowing enough in your vet insurance/bills category? (Also, given that money is tight, try not to take on more animals)
- Do you need paid for Spotify or could you get by with the free one? You really need to think what is needed and what is nice to have, given your income. 
- you don't need to pay for excel if you are just using it for monthly budget sheets - I used to use open office, now I use google sheets - both free.
- if you are able, spend some time pruning your photo collection. It's costing you money and digital storage is bad for the environment.

tigerlily91 said:

Oh and as for the mobile phone - that’s just the robbing yearly inflation charges. 

Sep ‘21 - signed up for £60pcm 
Apr ‘22 - went up to £65.70 
Apr ‘23 - I haven’t seen a proper bill yet. I’ve seen £75.01 on an email, but it also said 14.4% which would be £79. When I’m out of contact in September I’ll go sim only for sure. 

I think this is a good example where you might need to rethink how you view your expenses. You are saying it's all down to inflation, but you started with a £60 contract. Over two years £60 a month would cost you £1440 (this doesn't include the effect of inflation). £150 for a refurbed phone and £10 for unlimited mins, texts and 15GB data would cost £390 over the same period.

TheAble

Presumably there's benefit in kind tax to be paid on the car as well if you're using some sort of salary sacrifice arrangement?

Would look at that mobile phone bill as well if out of contract.

Grumpelstiltskin

I have to agree with Kim. You need to sort all your digital expenses out.
You seem to have jumped in with monthly subscriptions for things that are wants not needs.
You just can't afford all of them.

Your petrol expenses, are they just travelling to and from work or do you need to travel around for your job?
If so do you get expenses?

Your daughter is of an age where she can understand finances and the best thing you can do for her future is to show her you have to live within your income even if it means you can't have every thing with bells and whistles.

poppy10_2

You don't need the Microsoft 365 subscription. As an NHS worker you get a free license to install Office on up to five computers. 

EssexHebridean

poppy10_2 said:

You don't need the Microsoft 365 subscription. As an NHS worker you get a free license to install Office on up to five computers. 

I'm glad someone has mentioned this as I had a feeling that there were schemes along this line - an easy saving there! 

I'd make a vote for making a decision to drop paid Spotify and use the free version combined with the music available through Prime, plus the stuff you already own - commit to making that change for a year and then re-evaluate, maybe decide to switch out Prime for the paid version of spotify or change to something different altogether? As others have mentioned though - at the moment your "virtual" spend is high, and isn't leaving anything over for "real life experiences" spending - for school holidays etc. The internet is amazing, and can be a fabulous tool, but it will never be a substitute for noisy, messy, fresh air filled outdoor adventuring. 

tigerlily91

poppy10_2 said:

You don't need the Microsoft 365 subscription. As an NHS worker you get a free license to install Office on up to five computers. 

How do I go about this please? I can’t believe I’ve been paying for the best part of 6 years 🤣

kimwp

https://www.gptechlead.com/2021/10/how-to-set-up-office-365-for-nhs-workers.html?m=1

NeverendingDMP

Sorry to hijack but thanks for the tip kimwp. I paid this last year. Won't need to pay again 😁

Floss

tigerlily91 said:

poppy10_2 said:

You don't need the Microsoft 365 subscription. As an NHS worker you get a free license to install Office on up to five computers. 

How do I go about this please? I can’t believe I’ve been paying for the best part of 6 years 🤣

This is due to finish this month - it was a pandemic agreement.