My attempt at reducing debt.....

di7868

Hi Red
looks like we crossed posts - im not doing nrt but feeling extremely happy aout not smoking again!!! Thanks for the advice I have looked at it before and it helped then I take it you speak from personal experience??? >>being nosy here<<<!!
I am pretty impressed with my mobile this month really the bills come in at £32 this month. A few months ago it was £180 (a case of being at home on mat leave and too much time on my hands!). My new boyfriend has recently paid for some Vodafone to Vodafone thing where are calls to eash other are free but he pays a fiver a month for that. He works away a lot so spend a lot of time on the phone and use the phone internet to text him pictures of my son. I dont know what I can do about reducing my contract I have reduced it 3 times in 3 months now and if I go any lower on minutes I might pay more in calls?? Plus I renewed my contract with them in December so I have 12 months to go?? Any suggestions though of how to get them to lower my cost would be great. x

di7868

OOO almost forgot the good news too I got a cheque for 10 quid today completly unexpectedly!! It was a dividend on some shares I have got yay!!
Anyway too much typing tonight (can you tell my b/f is away) gonna go watch balls of steel xx

mum2one

di7868 wrote: »

Hi all
I have spent many time reading others SOA's with huge interest in how you are all helping others from the goodness of your lil hearts :j !!!!


Incomings....

Salary 1300.00
WTC 356.00
Child benefit 72.40
Nursery fees 480

Total 2179.96

Outgoings... monthly
Mortgage 489.44 (deal runs out in nov :eek: )
Leasehold maintenance 120.15 (includes gas, elec, water, buildings ins, window cleaning & gardener)
Gas 0 - sorry to ask, but u pay no utility bills?
Elec0
Water 0
Bulding Ins 0
Contents Ins 13.04 - try price comparison and look at cashback site for money back if you change.
Council tax 71.00 for ten months -look at getting it spread over 12 months
Loan 150 (staff loan which is int only until aug as on mat leave)
Credit card 50 (2 cards) - can you not yry and defer them to 0%, if there not already
TV licence 11.65
BT 32.50 - try talk talk, does that include broadband etc - again quidco
Account Fee 7.25 - over a yr £86. r u getting that much of a benefit from the account
Bus Pass 34.00
Petrol 60 -can you use the bus a bit more
Childcare 560 -are you getting the best deal, does ur work do childcare vouchers
Mobile Bill 40 - if your tied into contract, look at what your using ie just use the contract offer, consider getting a pay and go - 02, top up £10 = 300 free texts a month
Food Shopping 100 - take a wonder over to old style board, may get some ireas re food and meneu planning
General Spending 100 - if that extras you need or jsut money that burns a hole in your pocket

Total 1842.03

Diff 337.93+

Debts

• Loan £22700 loan paying int only at mo (6.4%) (£150 will rise to £300 in aug) and am overpaying this at the mo to reduce debt (by between 200 and 500 a month depending on outgoings)

• Credit card £2000 int free £1k on virgin 0% til july 09 & £1k on ulster 0% til august 08

• Mortgage buy scheme £10k to be paid before sept 2016 interest free from sale of house or own funds

What i really want is to see if i can reduce my outgoings by your suggestions - also i am due to leave BT on the 27th May and hope you can give me good suggestions for alternatives ( am looking for a sky or virgin type package)

Thanks all

Hi
Popped a few suggestions, in, you havent included presents, car maintance, car tax, car ins in the list.

Keep a spending diary for a couple of weeks, it could be the odd £1.00 here, odd £5.00 there thats goes too quickly.

What about signing up to a few click sites / survey sites, make a bit extra, could go towards xmas

Youve done the hardest bit, doing the soa, once its on paper, it makes it real. x

Lula-Hula

Hello again,

Glad I caught you at the right moment !

I'm doing well so far, tho to be honest i've never been a huge smoker - 5-10 a day max & did try the Allen Carr method originally but as is obvious by my being on this forum - willpower not one of my strong points !

I found there were certain situations that triggered my smoking & being on the phone was the main one - a throwback to the days of working in sales office & having to deal with dissatisfied customers ! I really needed to reach for something each time the phone rang & for me it was great having the chewing gum. I've always been a bit of a furtive smoker & would never do it while walking down the street, in my car or in the house - hate the smell on my clothes & in my hair. The thing I did find hardest was going to the pub, it just seemed wrong to have a glass in one hand & no smoke in the other. I actually avoided pubs for about 6 months until i was really over the habit.

I havent really enjoyed smoking since I started again & have been meaning to quit for ages, getting very difficult to be furtive with an inquisitive 8 year old around !

You said a family tragedy started you off again & perhaps if I share mine with you it'll help you to stay off them.

3 years ago my mum had an op to remove a tumour from her neck & after months of radiotherapy made a great recovery. Family life got back to normal & although I knew there was a chance the cancer could return she resumed her activities such as painting & going to the gym & being a doting grandma to the extent that it seemed most unlikely.

Last Christmas (2006) she started suffering from back pain & after many trips to doctor in vain, she became unable to even get out of bed without help. She was finally admitted to hospital in March last year where a scan revealed she not only had a huge tumour growing on her spine that was crushing her vertebrae she also had shadows on her kidneys & lungs. She had to have an op to pin her spine or it would have collapsed & crushed her lungs but we were told that this was only a short term measure to improve the quality of what life she had left. No one said how long this would be but she was determined to have the op so that she could come home & enjoy the rest of her life with her family around her. The op was a success but she caught pneumonia & was so weak she ended up in intensive care. 4 weeks after the scan had revealed she had cancer she died, April 23rd last year. The cause of death was recorded as lung cancer.

She was 68 and had never smoke a cigarette in her life.

I was so angry at the injustice of it ( & stressed & miserable of course) I started smoking again the next day & each time I saw that 'smoking kills' label on the packet I would say to myself " & so does not smoking apparently, so what the hell".

One thing I am grateful for is that she never knew I was in such a mess financially so with the anniversary of her death looming I felt I had to do something significant & positive rather than just wallowing. Sorting out my debt problems & quitting smoking seemed like a good way to honour her memory & begin a new chapter in my own life. And although I'm sitting here with mascara smeared tears sliding down my face ( most attractive :rolleyes: ) & only have £35 to last me til next friday; I've paid the rent, council tax, phone bill, £60 more than the minimum payment required on my credit card, done the weeks food shopping, paid Brownies subs for the term & havent smoked for 3 days, a good start I reckon .

Have to go to bed now, so be positive & I'll catch up with you soon

You can do it girl

Lula x

thevinternet

Di....

STOP BINGOING NOW!!!

lol - hope that helped.

You sound like you have an addictive personality babe, so it's time to stop. It's an awful lot of money every month if you start losing more and more.

The only reason we ever go on about bingo here is when you are only playing for free (gala on Thursday nights), or when you are playing with a free bonus that the bingo sites occasionally give out for joining (though they have stopped at the moment). If it's the chat you enjoy, just join a chat room instead that's related to something you're interested in, ie films or music. Or come here and chat on the daily thread!

V xxx

di7868

mum2one wrote: »

Hi
Popped a few suggestions, in, you havent included presents, car maintance, car tax, car ins in the list.

Keep a spending diary for a couple of weeks, it could be the odd £1.00 here, odd £5.00 there thats goes too quickly.

What about signing up to a few click sites / survey sites, make a bit extra, could go towards xmas

Youve done the hardest bit, doing the soa, once its on paper, it makes it real. x

Hi Mum to One
Thanks for all your great suggestions..
No i dont pay any utility bills - the maintenance charge (above utilities covers that)
Contents ins will look at this
CT - My council wont do this
C/Cs - These are the credit cards i have recorded in my debt which are both int free so quite low there
My BT runs out in May and talk talk is what im gonna go for i think and maybe take a virgin/sky package on top for the tv?:cool:
Petrol is necessary as its long distances and i only use the bus to work
The chilcare I only pay 80 a month myself after credits and i am getting the vouchers so this will go down slightly more.
Im really happy with my mobile bill i get loads of minutes and texts for that money and works well for me (partner works away so make loads of calls)
Im a bit confused about the food - do you think thats high?? I thought that was really good as that is a months food for me - my partner when he is staying over and all baby milk and nappies and food plus cleaning stuff? You think i can do it cheaper than that?? I geuniely didnt think i was getting a bad deal here - just goes to show eh what an outside pair of eyes can do. I always meal plan and cook from scratch already.
The 100 is just for whatever i want - its milk when i run out, its cinema when i fancy it, papers, if i fancy shopping etc. I thought this was low too as i am only overpaying my debt not digging myself out of arrears I still want to live life well... I am looking at overpaying my 300 a month and living on that 100.

That does fluctuate vastly though for instance last month i paid 600 off my loan and this month i have 800 spare but then a few 300 months until i get a 4k lump sum to pay off. What Im trying to say i suppose is that if im already snowballing my debt, then i want to enjoy a good quality of life and going out as Im not fighting to stay above water?

I do the survey sites and have made a bit from them Also make a fair bit on ebay monthly. Dont really budget for car ins mot tax or pressents etc as i overpay the loan if say my ins goes out it just means i wont overpay that month same with birthdays etc comes out of my surplus and reduces what i overpay.

Thanks for all your tips hun and i will look into contents insurance ( I have just started quidco as well for my contacts which someone else suggested too - cant wait to see the cash rolling in on that) xx

di7868

Hi Lula Hula

Im a shocking smoker 20 a day :eek: I think anytime triggers it!! Well i have got up this morning smoke free after my big clean last night of chucking out lighters and cleaning the ashtray etc. My lounge smelt lovely and im gonna go shower in a mo to get rid of the last traces of smoke in my hair and then Im out all day to day visiting relatives so will keep me occupied til tonite - when i cant go out to buy any as my sons in bed so fingers crossed it should go really well.

I will share my last experience of quitting to with you.... not very pleasant but feel free to skim read :rotfl:

Quit smoking on NYE lasted til March and was loving it then without going into a long story about my dads past, basically safe to say he is a violent alcoholic. I went over one day and he was drunk and turned on me and i took a big beating. Well i was trying for a baby with my partner and found out shortly after i was pregnant i didnt know how far gone and if that night had affected it. I had sleepin pills after the attack and again didnt know if that had affected the baby. Anyway arranged a midwive visit to check all was well but before that could happen my dad communicated with me in what was a truly vile way and left me a hporrendous message full of stuff about how i should be dead etc etc.. Anyway immediately got hysterical dont know how i drove home but cried for a whole day was violently sick and had a miscarriage the next day.

I still have the note and refer to it from time to timw to remind me off why he has never seen his new grandchild... yeah that wud be the one he didnt kill!!!!!

Anyway seeing as your sharing i thought i would do but im over it now and can even relate it without tears :T . Anyway thats why i started smoking and this is my first serious attempt since that event three/four years ago.

Im sure you have woke up positive this morning so dont want to remind you if you were upset last nite but hey you overpaid your credit card thats a feel good moment right?? Its a very good start and just think how much you would have had to last the week if you had of been smoking so definately brilliant.... here have a hug >>>>>HUGS<<<<<<
xx

di7868

Hey thevinternet

Yeah i know i cancelled the website last nite and havent been bothered by it - i truly think its a boredom issue than a gambling one. That was only the first sort of 6 weeks i had it - dont worry that wasnt a monthly amount :rotfl: . Still couldnt help thinking that it would get rid of more on my loan tbh.
I dont think i will bother with the free site - i still have my one with a free daily scratchcard last nite won 50p didnt spend it so will see what todays scratchie is, build it all up then spend what i got but i cancelled the card on the website so i couldnt use my debit card anyway and i know i have the willpower not to use my credit card at all

Thanks V xx

FFish

Just a suggestion about the bingo: Glad you cancelled it but you obviously like a small risk and have some spare time. Have you thought of entering the free web competitions posted on MSE instead? It might just feel that time and you could win something!

Anyway good luck especially with giving up smoking.

di7868

Hi FFish
No I dont enter these I dont know any awful lot about them can you let me know where to find them??
I do the competitions on tv shows, you know the ones, with the ridiculous call charges! I enter on the web entry thing so it doesnt cost me anything but i cant help these tv shows would never let a web entry win cos it hasnt cost the winner anything :rotfl:
Thanks for your help