To ask how people afford plumbers or new fridges?

[coldinside]

I need a plumber to look at a drain blockage in my bathroom (have already tried to clear it myself to no avail) and my fridge has broken so needs replaced. But I’m wondering how I can even afford these things. I earn £1979 per month and my bills are as follows:

Mortgage £620.48
Council tax £125
Income protection insurance £17.48
Car tax £16.62
Gas £20
Electricity £40
Broadband £23.99
Mobile phone £10.50
TV licence £29.08
Counselling £100
Petrol £150
Parking £80
Dentist £20
House management fee £20
Car insurance £45
Home insurance £43.25
Credit card £200

This leaves me with a total of £417 per month to feed myself and a dog, to buy clothes, shoes and toiletries. I can’t save any money each month and I have no idea how I will pay for a fridge (£530) and plumber. AIBU?

Sorry if I'm missing the point but surely you don't need to pay £530 for a fridge for one person?

Get a fridge off freecycle?

That seems expensive for a fridge. Have you had a look on ao or even had a scout around for a second hand one - they're often sold for chips when people move home and they don't fit the new kitchen.

I appreciate that you are living on a tight budget though, regardless and it must feel precarious.

Homeserve for your plumbing. You pay a few quid a month and when you have a plumbing/drainage problem they come out and sort it.

How big is this fridge?!

Is the £200 on the credit card to pay off a debt and interest? You can probably do without new clothes and shoes for a few months and feed yourself and your dog for under £50 a week. (I spend less than £30 on food for myself.) And you can get a new fridge for less than £200.

Why is your tv licence so much?

There are a few things you can trim
For starters a fridge even new can be a lot cheaper. Or yy ask around or look on FB as someone local may be getting rid For cheap

Tv licence should be half that

Is the CC a debt you are paying off? How much longer?

Your parking is high but appreciate that may be unavoidable. Can you wfh some if the time to cut petrol?

You could have a few months of super cheap eating to try to save a bit of a buffer. I don't know how much a dog costs to feed, but one person can live on £40 pw esp if happy to be veggie. Put a hold on new clothes and shoes until you've cleared the CC debt or saved a few £££.

Agree tho it sounds tight and must be tough.

My local large charity shop always has fridges in for about £50. They are tested for safety. It can be a problem sourcing transport but some deliver. It's hard and less convenient than just popping into a website for ten minutes but saves a lot in the end.

Get rid of TV licence and you should also be able to reduce home insurance if you shop around? Could prob also save a fiver or so on the phone. It’s not a lot but an extra £50 or so a month could help?

Your bills are pretty reasonable, is skipping counselling for a month an option? Or parking elsewhere to save that bit extra a month?

You can get fridges pretty cheap secondhand, alternatively use a company like AO and pay in instalments

Credit card debt is first one that jumps out.
Others to look at income protection insurance - how at risk is your job/prospects of getting another and when does it kick in, lots not worth paper written on. TV licence is too high. Private counselling is a luxury. Car tax is high, last time I paid it was £20 a year for my car.
If you take out those you’d have £350 a month to save, in only a few months nice pot to pay for fridge etc. In answer to how people do it.

What have you tried for the drain blockage so far?

I know they charge more for the first six months tv licence if you pay monthly - whole things a scam because they don’t give it back when you die. Can you chase them up? Maybe you’re due a refund. I’d get that cancelled and onto subscription services. You must tell tv licensing.

the credit card - can it be switched to a provider that wants less of the balance per month? For example, Lloyds minimum payment is 2.5% of the outstanding balance but virgin is 1.5%

I have a good fridge freezer for £200 but it is boring looking. We sometimes get purchases like that on interest free from very and pay over the year.

your bills don’t look unreasonable tbh. No point selling a reliable car to pay £20 road tax a year instead of a month as it could cost you more in the long run.

respectfully, I’d cut the counselling out and find another way to get that help.

Why is your tv license so much? It’s £174.50/year so should be £14.54/month.

Home insurance is very high… I’m making assumptions but if your mortgage is that low I guess your property isn’t for example £350k+ in value so I think you’re overpaying greatly for that. Mine is half that, have a look on moneysupermarket for a better deal.

Currys offer monthly payment plans for electrical goods. We got a new fridge freezer and washing machine recently, spreading the cost out over 3 years and it’s worked out at less than £30 a month for goods of over £1,000 in value.

They do some pretty decent fridge freezers starting from around £180, could do it on a payment plan for 12 months which works out at about £20 a month with interest.

Food for one person should be no more than £50 a week max, dog food £30-£40 a month depending on size and breed.

Ask on Facebook if anyone local is available to help with the plumbing situation. When I was a single parent and completely broke, I had an electrical fault that I couldn’t afford to fix and it left my living room completely out of action. I put a post on my local Facebook page explaining my situation and how I could pay in instalments etc and a neighbour got their brother in law who is an electrician to fix it. He was wonderful and didn’t mind me splitting the payment over 2 months.

You’ll be ok OP xx

Did you try to clear the clog with a snake? Or y'all might call it an auger? That's probably the first thing a plumber is going to do, and you can buy one pretty inexpensively from Amazon or whatever you have that is equivalent to Home Depot. If you haven't tried that I would do that first before I would call a plumber.

I don't think we should br advising people skip counselling without knowing their mental health situation. The counselling might be whats helping op function and be able to work.

when I needed a new fridge freezer I had no choice but to get it off the catalog and paid it off every month because there just isn’t the spare money for a new anything right now. My second hand washing machine took the knock a few weeks after having it for 4 years I can’t afford a new one so I’m having to use the laundrette and I’m waiting for a dry buddi to be delivered. It is what it is we manage somehow.

Your income appears to be enough for your needs but the debt is creating stress.
It is so much better for your peace of mind to attack debt and build up an emergency pot. I know that sounds obvious but if you’re thinking of spending £500 on a fridge maybe you have been too relaxed about spending in the past.
Moneysaving expert forums on paying off debt are great. Get a cheap fridge. Have a few frugal months. Make it a mission.

im sorry I think a few people are missing the point! You don’t have much disposable income and living solo is bloody hard on a normal wage! Been there in the past and the things I’d do

• tv license seems high is this also a subscription? Swap supermarkets to Tesco and use club cards to get free Disney plus
• home insurance seems high, next time use comparison site
• Mortgage seems high - consider if you can afford it, but for short term consider remortgage over longer term to reduce monthly
• shop second hand. For appliances, clothes etc wherever possible (incl fridge)
• consider if anything you can do to reduce parking
• look on money saving expert to see if any tips, bargains etc
• if you have time look at a side gig, simplest can just be overtime in workplace or selling on vinted, eBay. Even £20 month help start saving
• could you put yourself on nhs waiting list for free cbt counselling or maybe reduce that to £50 by dropping a session a month

Across the board all of these things would likely give you another £100 a month even if you don’t do them all. Help you start having a slush fund for emergencies

I am sorry though! Cost of living is awful at moment on normal wage

I' d go for a second hand fridge. all you need is a friend to help you carry it to the car. it should fit in a medium or estate type car and just needs to be plugged in at the other end.

It sounds like you manage your bills very sensibly. Could you check Freecyle to see if there is a fridge on there too? Can you try to reduce your spend on food slightly (shop in cheaper supermarkets use community larders, reduce waste), may not be possible, but if you could maybe you could save something here and be able to put aside some money. Can you look for a side hustle?

I currently have a perfectly fine working condition fridge/freezer sitting in my living room about to be picked up by the council, if you can arrange pickup by next Thursday from cumbria it's yours, dm me! Also I'd cut out the TV license, but I don't watch live tv or bbc. I also remortgaged recently to save money and its made a huge difference (I'm on a lower wage than you and single) and I also house share (I know this is not ideal especially with pets but I actually prefer it to living alone most of the time). But yes, wages are terrible atm and not in line with cost of living, and supermarkets have a lot to answer for inflating prices of food.

Why are you even paying a TV licence?

Counselling and TV licence, stop both and use that money to save for things like plumbers or new appliances.