To ask how people afford plumbers or new fridges?

If you are paying 43.25 x 12 monthly payments for your house insurance that is 519.00 per year.

We have a 3 bedroomed semi in a Dorset village and our home and contents insurance premium for the next 12 months is 175.85. (This does not include Family Legal Protection or Home Emergency.) We have been with Churchill for years and pay our bill annually for the whole year, not monthly.

If you need a new fridge get it on klarna
but I would go to a British heart foundation charity shop and buy one there.

I think a car is essential in some areas especially for a single woman as they provide more secure transport.

However, I wonder if OP is doing any digging before paying out for insurances, phone, etc etc or just sticking with the old provider?

I'm not hard up, but I always get 3 quotes for house and car insurance each time they need renewal and the difference can be staggering!

It's worth shopping around and for the future always paying annually rather than monthly, which costs more.

Is the parking in the same place each time - for work or something? If it's in a residential area, I don't suppose you could find somebody nearby with a drive that they don't use (look online or even drop a photocopied note through potential letterboxes) with whom you could strike a deal whereby you park on their drive and pay them, say, half as much as you're currently paying?

A nice little extra monthly bonus for them, with no real difference to their lives or inconvenience; and a 50% saving for you every month?!

Looks like your car, petrol, and parking is costing about 400 pounds a month. Possible to use public transport?

About the counselling, there are many self-help books, apps, and YouTube videos available that address many different issues. Maybe you could use those free resources (getting the books from the library)? Without the car and the counselling, you'd immediately be 500 pounds a month better off, and then you could pay down that debt faster. And then you'd be 700 pounds a month better off!

Imagine thinking people should be able to buy things they need? Everyone needs to get used to hand-me-downs so we can ensure the rich can take even bigger a share

So is that £200 to the CC clearing it each month? If so, then buy a (cheaper than £500) fridge on the CC.

On the other hand if that's the minimum payment, or paying off part of the total, can you move that debt? Won't help to get a fridge though - think cheap or second hand.

I do have to agree here. I've had to have counselling over 2 separate periods in my life, I did struggle to afford it, but I did need it and it made a difference

Pet insurance is a problem. Normally you won't need it but you may and vets charge what they like and publish no lists of fees - which I think they should. A pet is a committment but also a companion, a comfort, a friend. If one's friend is ill then one wants to be able to pay for the care - and the vet charities are now very strict on whose animals they will treat e.g. you must be on a benefit like UC etc.
So, on balance, I think insurance for one dog is reasonable.
Not sure what the house management fee is and the mortgage seems very high but assume in London or Home Counties.

Yep, 2nd hand when you're short on cash.
Actually, for most things I'd happily go 2nd hand now - but my husband doesn't understand it.

Unfortunately, if you have absolutely no savings and its something you need desperately, then its credit card (which takes away the 2nd hand option). There's a few refurb sites for appliances.

And going forward, even sticking £25 a month into savings (premium bonds so you need a few days notice to take it out and can't spend it on a whim) will soon add up. Get the transfer set up for pay day, and in 6 months you won't notice it.

Are you due a payrise any time soon? Or if any of your bills go down, stick that exact amount into savings each month on payday.

It sucks OP, that you have to spend more on something because you have less. But there's a way forward.

Our fridge cost a lot less than that, you can get one for around £200. I use Currys and pay monthly if I need to make a major purchase.

Just a thought, many workplaces have welfare schemes. You may at be able to access counselling through that free of charge.

OP your costs for running a car are massive.

My adding up shows £3500 for fuel, road tax, insurance and parking.

Can you trim this in any way?

Do you have an incredibly long journey to work and then pay £20 a week for parking?

I agree, and also have Homeserve. I also have Domestic & General policies on all my appliances; and recently got my defunct dishwasher replaced free.

The mortgage is cheap! Yes, she’s on a low income, but £600 is “high”? Come on, people…

It's 1/3rd of her net income and that's regarded as high.

I assume this is her net income (and that comes to around £23K, so gross will be higher) because otherwise is doesn't make sense looking at her income/outgoings.

One basic issue is her mortgage is high ( 1/3rd of her net monthly income) which is really about the maximum finance experts suggest.

Gosh, some people will find something to criticise no matter how small the outgoings are 🤦‍♀️
The only thing that actually looks high is the house insurance as we pay £21 a month.
To me, OP’s food +cloths+other essentials budget (including the dog) looks really tight.
The mortgage is cheap! Yes, she’s on a low income, but £600 is “high”? Come on, people…
If OP is in good health, I’d suggest picking up a second job, for instance a temporary Christmas one. That’d cover a new fridge-freezer. I wouldn’t go for a second-hand one unless it’s £10–20, as it probably wouldn’t last long. White goods don’t last these days.
Ours are 7 years old and the FF is already acting up. It’ll need replacing soon.
I’ve already started putting some money aside (not a brag), but if it packs in any time soon, we’ll just get a new one on a payment plan from Curry’s.

I've never paid for a fridge. They're always popping up on freecycle.
Being skint is rubbish.

Looking at the list, should pet insurance also be an outgoing?

The problem is, though, that if you're struggling to make ends meet, an annual big cost is just out of the question for many people.

It's not even like you can save up each month for a year to buy lots of things, because you have to buy them now.

I think it's a con for things like insurance, because if I buy a 12-month policy in January, I couldn't possibly claim on the 12th of the cost that I (theoretically) paid for the December element of the cover for the next 11 months. The commitment to pay the agreed sum for the agreed 12 months (with legal action if you don't) should be sufficient. It's not like when you get an entire item to use/enjoy from day 1 and then pay for it over the next 12 months, having legitimately 'borrowed' the later payments from the start.

The worst of all is VED, where you have to pay extra for paying monthly. It's one thing for private companies to deliberately profit from poorer people, but the government doing the same in plain sight is absolutely disgusting - especially as, again, you're only 'using' the tax one month at a time.

I would look on YouTube for help with plumbing fixes before writing your own efforts off. So far we have used it for plumbing advice (most recently for fitting a wall-hung toilet) redecorating advice, roofing advice, furniture fitting advice and tiling advice. Haven’t used a tradie in years, and have picked up some great skills (building, plumbing, decorating)
As pp have said, look for a 2nd hand fridge too - I’ve seen a few at <£150 recently…

I would be very careful about getting a 2nd hand fridge. Our fridge freezer was working fine, as in keeping food cold. But it had malfunctioned and was costing us an extra £180 per month in electricity😱

I agree with this. I'm privileged enough to never have needed it, but I can't imagine too many people without lots of disposable income would be desperate to pay for it, just because it gives them a bit of a buzz.

Plenty of things are wholly unnecessary for most people, but utterly essential for others.

I think life is just really expensive now which sucks. I have fixed no end of plumbing clogs so would highly recommend YouTube. Get the youbend off. Most clogs are there. Screw fix drain unblocker will clear most clogs too.

The problem with Homeserve and the like, is that they offer a really cheap rate for the first year or two, but then it shoots up dramatically.
I know this because I had Homeserve when I was renting (paid for by the landlord) and they were pretty decent, so I looked into taking them on myself when I moved into my own mortgaged house. It was something mad like 50p a month for the first year, but then jumping to something huge in comparison like £20 a month after that. That sort of money was out of the question for me, as I was already on a pretty tight budget after moving, and it was just too much to give to a "might never happen" category.

What I did instead, and what might help OP moving forwards, is to set up a savings "pot" to save little and often towards paying those sorts of bills when they happen. My "pot" is called the "this is shit" account, and I'm able to put about £30 a month (most months, but not all!) into it.