To ask how people afford plumbers or new fridges?

British heart Foundation furniture shops often have fridges and they are in good working order. Also you can congratulate yourself on reusing something rather than buying new. having a tight budget is awful because there isn't any wiggle room. Can you change bank accounts? Sometimes there's a switching bonus so free money basically. Is the cc on 0% and if not can you switch? Your house and car insurance look a bit high, you could try a comparison site. You could try looking at it from the other way round, how much money do you want to have surplus each month and how can you get that?

My Beko dishwasher, FF and hob is fab and six years old. Would recommend.

You’re in a low income and you have £200 credit card debt a month plus £100 counseling. This is where your spare money is going, you can trim other bits off those costs but they will small amounts, this is £300 a month which is huge and why you’re struggling to afford extras. Saying that, you’ve got £400 a month left over to feed one adult and a dog. How often do you need to buy clothes and shoes? You could go a year so the out needing to buy any. Could you try and budget £250 a month for your food and save £150? Get a fridge off freecycle or marketplace, there’s no need at all to buy a new £500 fridge. With just one of you, you don’t even need a big fridge, you could have a small one for now.

OP. What Id do for bigger ticket items is buy on 6 months interest free credit and just pay off monthly. Or 0% credit card for longer and be ruthless about the monthly payments and not putting extra on. Consider second hand. Re tradesmen I try to use people I know whenever possible and they give mates rates.

God No, they’re awful.

What have you tried to unblock the drain??kitchen or bathroom?

You don’t need to spend £500 on a fridge - get a second hand one off Facebook instead.

And the reality is the way people afford things is they either earn more than you or have less debt and fewer outgoings, or they live with a partner.

Income Protection doesn't cover losing your job, its for when you are unable to work due to illness or injury. You don't get UC in those circumstances. Please don't give advice when you don't know what you're talking about.

Don't buy a second hand FF. You'll pay twice over. Beko is a lower budget range, they work well.

Have you tried offering your fridge freezer on FreeCycle or similar?

It seems dreadfully wasteful to send good working items to the tip (or get the council to do so) - whilst there will be plenty of people local to you who desperately need one and can't afford to buy a new (or maybe even a second-hand) one.

IMHO, the tip should be for broken/useless items that are no longer any use to anybody - not for good useful things that the current owner just happens to no longer need or want.

What absolute bullshit. IP pays 65% of your salary until retirement if for some reason you cannot work. DH has just had to have 8months off following surgery and the IP insurance was an absolute godsend. We would have been totally in the shit without it. Making stupid comments like this is dangerous. OP appears to be single as well so if she gets long term sick that will be her only income

If you live in west Bristol/n Somerset/s Gloucestershire I have a small fridge in my garage not being used, will fit in a car. Not got a proper freezer just an icebox but it’s a stop gap for a few months

It definitely is when your income is only just above NMW - OP if you lost your job and went on UC your income would be essentially the same. You don’t mention any dependents so no point having life insurance. Honestly I’d look at ditching the income protection. And the counselling and tv licence. And honestly reconsider the car, if you have any other way of getting to work (appreciate there may not be much choice depending on where you live).

Why is parking so expensive? Can't you park further away and walk the rest?

Do you have home emergency cover on your house insurance? It’s worth checking as a lot of people don’t realise they have it and it covers for things like blocked drains/ leaks.
we pay an extra £4.50 a month on our policy but some it is included.

Well many people don’t have credit card debt,counselling, parking or so much petrol to pay so on the same income they have more wiggle room. I suggest you can go a few months without new clothes and only replace show falling apart that are essential (I haven’t bought shoes for over 2 years, they really aren’t a frequent purchase and clothes can make do) buy toiletries from Lidl, much cheaper

You take out loans.
I'd look for a handy man , not a plumber, or buy a drain snake on amazon.
Fridge/freezer on hire purchase, weekly payment on the drip.
Hum.is interest free for 1 year, you can pay extra monthly.
It's tough.

Go to Currys and buy one on Credit, you can get one for under £200 also

Join a credit union, save regularly. Even £10 a month. You can then take a low interest loan when you have large purchases. Its what I've done for years.

I presume you’re on a dental pl an if you pay £20 per month. How often do you go, and do you have a lot of work done? Ie. Are you getting £240 treatment each year. Two check ups with no treatment would cost less than this.

More your credit card debt to a balance transfer card with no interest.

Start getting into the habit of putting £20 a month away every month for emergencies.

That mortgage is less than my social housing rent was in 2012 when my net salary was £1123.

What's wrong with the £119 or £129 fridges on AO that make it essential to spend nearly 5 times that amount?

To be honest, I'm surprised that gas and electricity is so low.

Yes, didn’t notice that! That seems more like a summertime cost… Would be surprised if you pay £60 a month on average over the year unless you are ok living in an icebox over winter! Or perhaps you live in a small and well insulated flat, and I’m just basing this from my bills!

Do you live alone? If so no need for broadband. Get a 200GB data deal on your mobile and hotspot for your internet. I WFH and do zoom calls, watch videos etc and my mobile contract of £14 pcm covers all of that.

I don't bother with TV license as I don't watch TV live or iPlayer.

How do you know she can’t change her mortgage? People do it all the time! I’ve done it a few times over my life.

As PP said, the TV licence front-loading payment system is a con. They treat it like you 'should' be paying them upfront for a whole year, so they're somehow being 'generous' in giving you 6 months' advance credit. That said, at least after 6 months, it goes down to half of that each month for as long as you keep it.

To be honest, I'm surprised that gas and electricity is so low.

The credit cards and counselling could be anything, as far as strangers on the Internet are concerned.

Is it old debt that you're slowly clearing once and for all, or is it just extra spending each month that you use and then pay off each month? If so, for better clarity and self-awareness, it should be properly categorised in your budget - otherwise it's just like having another category labelled 'miscellaneous', which is no help in trying to budget at £200 a month. £10 or £20, maybe.

Similarly with the counselling: it could be absolutely essential for your mental health or just a nice luxury that makes you feel special and listened-to - or anywhere in between.

2nd hand fridge. We got ours in really good condition for £80 of Facebook Marketplace.