Is anyone else just stuck in debt and fed up?

But she'd really notice the difference as she currently has little disposable income - it would be a significant extra amount for little noticeable change in lifestyle.

Or if she saved it for a year, she'd have savings of around £450 including interest. Enough to replace something like a washing machine or pay for a holiday without worrying. Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.

I am on a similar income to you, but mortgage more and goes up next month!. CT is more too. I run a car too.

I DO get child benefit for son and tiny UC amount. No debt /credit cards!

Your bills are all low (fuel, CT and mortgage) .
You need to get rid of the non essentials (sorry)

@Bjorkdidit I guess so but then again OP doesn’t seem to have an extravagant life. And I really don’t think £36 is massive in the scheme of things.

£23 less for a mobile and reducing but not necessarily cancelling streaming services - downgrade Netflix and use the free version of youtube will add up to around £40 extra in her pocket every month and there might be other savings too, which all add up to a noticeable amount of extra disposable income. We only ever pay for one streaming service at a time and the lack of a contract means that you can chop and change as often as you like.

I don’t think that this is going to make much of a difference financially and will hugely decrease OPs enjoyment of her life.

Gym and youtube/ netflix is literally only £36…

Even adding in council tax that still should be around £700 a month left - is it that the second job is a bit ad hoc? If it's regular I'm not sure why it's struggle as that's a fair bit for food/transport/clothes/toiletries etc on your own -

Have a good look at your statement and see where the 'bits' are going ? Do you smoke, nights out, coffees etc ??

Yeah the vet plan is a total rip off - mine also offers fekn reiki for my cats! You can flea/worm treatment them yourself every month. They don’t need their claws done - just a good scratch post (mine prefer a scratch mat). Mine hardly ever go out despite me throwing them out into the garden so I don’t bother with vaccinations - and I only flea treat over the summer months when the little beggars will go outside - they are 8 years old and never had any bother. My pet insurance is £15 a month for both of them (doesn’t cover dental) but as PPs have said - anything terribly debilitating or pain causing, I’d get them PTS rather than have them
live with a poor quality of life.

Go to the Netflix with ads and free YouTube.

But you are doing well living on your own with not a brilliant wage so don’t be too hard on yourself.

Oh and I forgot to ask the MN classic suggestion could you take in ironing 😜

Sounds like you’re doing alright to me OP. Doesn’t seem like you have any extravagances.

As a long term plan would you want a partner as clearly another income would help massively.

Could you look to develop your career into something more lucrative? I know this is not an overnight thing but some form of long term plan would be good.

Same here the past three years between 2 dogs we have spent close to 10k. we forgo certain things to pay for it and also sold some valuables we had. ours were old when we got them so no insurance covers them but they are so loved and still going strong. before that never had ti spend so much on pets in nearly 20 years

Re: boiler cover. We have home repair included with our home insurance so that if there is an issue, they come out to it (also includes electrics, drains etc). Works out at about 30.00 per year. Might be worth considering if you're worried about a breakdown and then just pay for a service each year.

how I’ve reduced my debt:

have a list of all direct debits/ standing orders and what I need cash for throughout the month.
every pay day I transfer that amount into a different account, anything left over I transfer straight into my credit card.
then I use my credit card for all card purchases. Every month I end up paying off more and more of that credit card this way.

remove Apple Pay (or the equivalent).
I’ve gone from £4K in debt to currently £1.6k

The boiler cover and the pet plan I would cancel and just put the equivalent away every month. Are you paying for you tube and netflix with no adds? You could probably half that.

Do you have your single person discount on your council tax?

Shop around for your broadband

2000 minus all your bills and council tax plus say 200 on food = 640 left over each month which isn't too bad. Definitely cancel boiler cover, you tube & add free netflix. Once you're out of debt and have 300 spare I'd put that straight into savings for unexpected costs.

@Silvers11 my boiler cover gives £1000 towards a new boiler if they can't repair mine

Most boilers are fine to repair for at least twice as long as that. Unless you've been listening to a scammer Worcester installer

I would set up an account with monzo or chase and have pocket accounts

if you cancel the boiler cover - then put the £31.50 into a pocket account by standing order on pay day, named boiler account and let it build up each month in 5 years you'll have enough money to pay for a new boiler. I'd also have pocket accounts for house insurance and building cover, again by standing order on payday. I have about 10 pocket accounts to cover my bills that are annual bills - then I don't have large expenses through the months but its all spread out over the year and I just dip into that account when that item/bill needs paying.

I also have a travel pocket - for bus fare and Ubers - I put in the amount on pay day and use that for transport through the month

You may be fortunate and never need pet insurance but my cat was hit by a car and lost a leg. There was no way I’d euthanise an otherwise healthy young cat. Fortunately I’d taken out pet insurance the month before. My £5 premium covered a £2000 vet bill.

Yes, it is. I replaced mine at 10 years.

@Catsarekings123 The thing about the boiler is that boiler cover won't pay for the cost of replacing it when it finally does need to be replaced. I pay about £60 a year to have ours serviced, but it is only 7 years old and has a 10 year warranty. My plumber though is a local, single trader and I have an excellent relationship with him. He's totally reliable. Not sure that I would have cancelled the cover on a 10 year old boiler if I didn't have a plumber who I know will come out quickly if I have a problem.

I live alone. To give a rundown:
Mortgage- £440, boiler cover- £31.50, gas- £35, electric- £35, water not yet been billed as moved in last few months, ongoing orthodontic treatment- £54, petplan and insurance- £43, phone contract and handset- £32, gym- £14, YouTube/netflix- £22, wifi- £24, £300 on clearing debt atm across x2 credit cards and one loan.
Student loan- £30, then it's food, public transport etc.

£100 service cost
£100 council tax
£440 mortgage
£31.50 Boiler cover
£35 electric
£35 gas
£35 water
£54 Orthodentist
£43 pet cover
£32 phone and contract
£14 gym
£22 netfkix/youtube
£24 wifi
£300 debt
£30 student loan

total £1295.5

your basic salary will be £28000 which is £1973.45 after tax

leaves you with £677.95

your additional £300 I guess will be taxed at basic rate, leaves you with £225

So a total of £902.95 left to spend

Is it worth while putting this money away and drawing £200 per week to live on for food and transport?

You have a mortgage! You are doing the right thing! Lots of people are in the same financial position, only they rent and you will own a property. How many bedrooms? Move a lodger in? Depending on where you live, you can get a Mon-Fri lodger? I used to do it ages ago, I mean, I used to rent Mon-Fri when I had to work in a particular city up North. I would cancel Pet Plan - never helped us when the dog needed real treatment - yours is £500+ pa. We don't have pets now, but our neighbours do, they don't have insurance and if they need any treatment, they go to an animal charity and they help them.

You mention phone and handset as one bill? Are you paying for a landline? Or is handset meaning your mobile phone itself?

We have the boiler cover and have British Gas out a few times a year. All parts and labour are included. We wouldn’t be without it and our combo boiler is around 13 years old. It’s an insurane. It gives peace of mind knowing if it goes wrong they sort it without any extra costs takes away the uncertainty of an unexpected bill. It’s the only appliance cover I do have though. Maybe have a shop around at the next renewal to see if you can get it a bit cheaper.
An alternative to the boiler cover on the other hand though is save what you are paying out into a separate savings pot that you use just for boiler emergencies. You can pay for your annual service out of it and hopefully any repairs that may need doing further down the line. Personally I wouldn’t cancel just because a few people have never had it. You don’t know their financial circumstances and they won’t be the same as yours. Have a back up plan if you do cancel though.
I also have cat insurance. We used it several times for my previous cat and it meant we didn’t have to make any heartbreaking decisions due to financial reasons.
Insurance is expensive and can be a rip off especially if you don’t need it but it’s there as a reassurance if the worse does happen. It would be amazing to live in a world where it isn’t needed as you could afford to pay for everything replacing / fixing!

There's cheaper boiler cover - if you have home insurance, they often have cheap bolt on emergency cover than covers the boiler. You need to look at the small print too - most do not offer replacement if they can't fix the boiler if over a certain age.

We cancelled our boiler cover as well and just have a list of recommended people in case the situation arises. We also cancelled our pet insurance for our car because anything that he ever needed done wasn't covered so it was pointless. I personally would cancel YouTube and Netflix and get someone to load a fire stick, usually it's only 40ish pound for a years subscription and you can watch hundreds of series and movies! Also maybe look at how it would work having a phone with unlimited internet, hotspotting form your phone would mean you could cancel your WiFi. As for if a situation arises with the boiler or cat, keep the credit card for emergencies like that only once it's paid off! You sound like you're doing well op don't be so hard on yourself x