New to this site, but not new to debt!!!

catinthehat1

Well - thanks to this site we recalimed charges from the Woolwich as over the past 6 years they had charges us £1000's we got it all back:j
Now in process of doing the same with credit cards - lloyds have said No, Barclaycard
have offered us £240 - but we have calculated:
Capital one - we owe £439.80 charges to claim £776.12
Lloyds we owe £2047.99 charges to claim £424.70
Barclaycard we owe £4000+ charges to claim £996.71
monument we owe £921.48 charges to claim £919.37
we haven't started on the rest!!!!!
wish us luck!!!!

waggys

Just a thought, but have you started at the bottom of the pay scale or have your local authority awarded you with additional increments for being a mature entrant into teaching and for previous work/life experience?

They may tell you to get an affadavid costing around £100 (this isn't necessary; you just get a letter witnessed by a solicitor for around £5 whereby you give details of your previous work after the age of 21). Dependent on your local authority, I think if you enter teaching at age 35 or over you are entitled to an extra increment and a further point on the main scale if you have worked for 3 years since the age of 21. Phone your local authority (the employer) and enquire.

barnaby-bear

catinthehat1 wrote: »

how we got in to debt - its not something I'm proud of!!!:mad: I have been training to be a teacher for 6 years - needed GCSE's/A levels/degree/PGCE - took over a year to get a permanent job - and YES we lived on credit - i had been promised an inheritance - but it wasn't passed on to me!!! Had foolishly banked on it to clear our debt!! Now really paying for crap purchases :mad:

Good sign - it's a one off expense/investment for which you got something tangible in return (a career with better salary etc)...

Nala

Hi catinthehat, didnt want to read and run so here's my thoughts.

Agree with getting rid of Sky....get a Freeview box instead. Are your children old enough to sit down and understand that there is a debt that needs paying off and the more 'extras' you get rid off the quicker the debt will be paid off? Sorry, but sometimes we just have to be tough with the kidlets.

Your buildings and contents insurance are really high. Are they due for renewal any time soon? if so check out quotes via Quidco.

Oh and good luck with your credit card claims....that will do very nicely to chuck at the debts.

johnedwards64

If you're £16k in debt you simply cannot justify having Sky. £42 a month may not seem like much in relation to the depth of the hole you're in, but you've got to make small cuts everywhere you can because they soon add up.

I'm £10.5k in debt, but that's come down £2k in the last year because I resigned myself to living in a kind of genteel poverty for the foreseeable future and my experience is that the things you think you can't live without or will cause 'a riot' if you get rid of them are far less essential than you think.

Get tough with the kids because it's in their long-term interest for you to reduce your debts, and if they learn something about handling money from the experience of doing without a few so-called 'must-haves' then that's a lesson worth learning!

pink_princess

hi cat in the hat first of all well done for facing your debts and posting on here its a scary step at first but helps brilliantly first piece of advice the grocery bill is huge were a family of 5 and spend 350 a month i really think you d benefit from reading the may grocery challenge thread the advice and recipies on there helped bring our food bill down from 650 every month secondly with the exception of school clothes this budget should be zero til your really in need by looking at your spends your wardrobes must be crammed also step down where your buying clothes tesco and asda are fine til your debts are clear last bit could you post your break down of what your other child expenses are it seems really high
hope you s are feeling better and more focused about sorting things out since you ve posted people really care about helping and its not meant in any other way although its hard to listen at first it does get easier

catinthehat1

the £140 = 2 children school dinners @ £20 per week x 4 = £80
1 child dinner money @ £3per day = £15 per week x 4 = £60
my other son takes packed lunch - so that is included in the monthly food bill!!!!
You are right - we really need to look at the shopping bill. We are going to start shopping online and then we won't be tempted to buy additional things, and sort menus out for the month and when it's gone it's gone!!!

I'm going to phone Next this week to see if they would accept a reduced amount to clear the debt - you never know!!!

catinthehat1

Where do you find the post? I can't get to grips with this site - there just seems to be sooooooooooooooooooo much information, abbreviations etc etc:o

catinthehat1

I think we may start to re-think the school dinner saga - I have to leave home early for work, so getting the children ready is left to my husband, and although I'm worried about over burdening with another job, we could do some of it the evening before!!

10past6

Hi Cat

Take a look here, it's a great room on this site, plenty of advice and loads of moneysaving tips, feel free to join in