Depressed over (lack of) money!!!

[Rikki]

I'm in a bit of a pickle! Got a few debts - credit cards, overdraft etc - probably amounts to about £5K in total, but I have been trying to pay things off. I am paying about £300 a month to cover these.

Obviously on top of this I've got normal bills - my gas & electric have just gone up and I'm now paying £170 a month for these. All in all, my outgoings each month are about £1900.

I was doing OK, had my wages, tax credits and housing benefit which left me about £100 a week to cover food, petrol and anything else (bearing in mind I have 3 kids, this isn't a lot!).

Well, now my tax credits have gone down by £350 a month (because April-August last year I was working full time, although they did alter my tax credits when I started working part-time so I don't know why it's gone down so much). This year I will be earning about £3K less than last year, but under the new tax credit rules they won't take into account the first £2.5K of any reduction in income, so this will make hardly any difference. And they won't do anything anyway until I start my maternity leave.

Also, work have reduced my hours (I was doing slightly more than contracted for but now they are just giving me my contracted hours until I leave), which has left me £150 a month short in my wages. So in effect I am in total £500 a month worse off.

I know the debts are my own fault, but even by just paying the minimum payments I am going to be struggling to buy food and pay all my bills. I know I will get extra tax credits and CB when the baby is born, but that's 10 weeks away.

I don't see me ever finding a way to pay my debts off now. I have no money to buy things for the baby. I am not entitled to the sure start maternity grant because my youngest child is 9 - and obviously I don't have any baby things left. I did manage to get a few bits on ebay before my money was reduced, but I've no money to buy anything else.

I've looked at all my outgoings and there is nothing I can reduce. This is more of a rant more than anything else, as there isn't really any advice anyone can give me, I don't see a way out of this mess

 

[cupcakekate]

I have no advice to give but just wanted to give you I feel like this sometimes too xx

 

[pandaspot]

Do you qualify for housing/council tax benefit? Check www.entitledto.co.uk

Also you could maybe ring/write to your creditors and see if they will accept lower repayments. Ask for an income and expenditure form. Might be worth visiting cab as well see if they can offer any advice?

 

[Rikki]

Yes, I get CTB and HB already. Just struggling with the drop in income

 

[My_First]

£1900 on outgoings does seem quite high, is there nothing you can cut back on? TV subscription? Mobile phone? Can you change to a better energy tariff? Are they with teh same company? Do you pay by DD? Can you buy value food on things? Save coupons, go for offers? Just a few ideas to help you cut back a bit? If you have a car, can you find your cheapest petrol station (and this can chnage daily)

 

[Laucu]

In know how you feel. It is tough when you are just scraping by every month. Remember that it won't be like this forever.

You may benefit from contacting the CCCS. They will help you set a budget and split your excess between your creditors. As long as you are honest about your budget (eg how much you spend on groceries each month) you will be able to afford everything you need but still pay off as much debt as you can afford.

I can't recommend the CCCS enough, they don't charge a penny and offer a fantastic service.

Good luck x

 

[Pandora11]

What are you plugging in for you energy bills to be so high?! i pay only little more than that a quarter! Look on moneysavingsexperts forum they have really good ideas for savings money and have debt forums. There's a lot of helpful stuff on there

 

[Laucu]

What are you plugging in for you energy bills to be so high?! i pay only little more than that a quarter! Look on moneysavingsexperts forum they have really good ideas for savings money and have debt forums. There's a lot of helpful stuff on there

Agree - my gas and electric are £110 a month and I have my washing machine on every day, sometimes twice a day (with clothes and nappies) and a heated airer that is on pretty much 24/7.

 

[babycrazy1706]

extra money from your OH/Father of baby/children?? Xx

 

[peanut08]

In know how you feel. It is tough when you are just scraping by every month. Remember that it won't be like this forever.

You may benefit from contacting the CCCS. They will help you set a budget and split your excess between your creditors. As long as you are honest about your budget (eg how much you spend on groceries each month) you will be able to afford everything you need but still pay off as much debt as you can afford.

I can't recommend the CCCS enough, they don't charge a penny and offer a fantastic service.

Good luck x

Cannot agree more, cccs are great, why not reduce what your paying for a while untill your income goes up again. I was paying £350 a month on debts but while i was pg they reduced it to £85 a month as new baby on the way and other things needed to be purchased, give them a go nothing to loose xx

 

[frantastic20]

Hello, as the PPs have said, contact CCCS. Their freephone helpline number is 0800 138 1111 or you can go on the website www.cccs.co.uk

Good luck!

 

[fuzzylu]

I was in a similer situation to you as we had managed to build up some debt due to house moving costs and having twins.

I used the advice on moneysavingexpert.

basicly you need to look at all your outgoings and cut it back as much as possible, get rid of sky, reduce mobile contracts, switch gas/electric providers. our biggest spending was our food bills so we are no meal planning and have almost 1/2 our spending each month.

if you can move any of your debts on to 0% cards that will save you some intrest.

we have now managed to pay off most of ours, the rest should be gone by october. i would rather cut back now so that i can give my family more once everything is paid.