so upset dont no how we will cope??

[hazzabeanie]

i no this prob not in the right place but no replys in work and finance....

Basically my hours have been dropped and as of july i wont be working my oh earns 24347 a year i earn this year 5000 as ive already worked some months basically we wont be entitled to anything just £10 a week ctc and i have a mortgage another baby due december and lots of bills to pay please help me how do u all survive? im really worried my out goings (bills, cars, mortgage, ground rent, maintenance, council tax etc) is £2275 roughly and my oh brings home 1600 a month and me nothing how do we cope? xxx

 

[Laura2919]

Im sorry your going through this its so not fair. It really isnt. I am really struggling too here, nursery has gone up, same with everything that has vat on it, wages stayed the same, tax credits have been cut.

I dont really have much advice for you but I wanted to say your not alone xxx

 

[GemBaxter]

Could you get rid of one of your cars? Have you checked that you are on the cheapest gas and electricity rates? Have you got any PPI on loans that you could claim back? Mortgage break or remortgage to interest only for a while?

Have you got mobile contracts you can reduce?

xxx

 

[GemBaxter]

What about posting your monthly budget? If you don't want to do it here have a look on MSE. xxx

 

[tina_h75]

Have you done the online benefits calculation or called the helpline ? I think they base it on last years earnings which isn't very helpful as last year I assume you would have been financially stable ! Speak with your mortgage company - some offer a maternity payment holiday where they stop your payments for 6 - 9 months while you are on a reduced income. Alternatively switch your mortgage payments to interest only for a few months to reduce your outgoing ? If you have outgoings for credit cards/unsecured loans etc you could complete an income/expenditure showing your reduced income and most will let you pay £1 a month until you get back on your feet again. How many cars do you run ? If you have 2 then would it be possible to only use one ? Don't worry, companies are a lot more sympathetic these days. take care.

 

[NDH]

First thing to do is make a budget of everything you spend, and try to cut out as much unnecessary things as you can. Things you're on contracts for sometimes you can ask for a suspension - Ie the service is temporarily stopped and resumed later and just extending the length of the contract remaining by however many months you suspended it for.

Just try to cut back in as many areas as possible. Obviously mortgage, tax, electricity, etc are things you won't be able to do anything about but cutting back in some areas might be possible. As a pp said, by cars I would assume you have more than one, is it possible to sell one of them? It would lower your monthly outgoing as well as maybe bring some money in (depending if it's owned outright or a loan and how much is left on the loan vs how much the car is worth).

Were going through a bit of a crisis as well as DH has had no work at all for two weeks now, and for a while before that it was barely enough work to get by and we've got no savings or anything. Lots of belt tightening to do and I hope it doesn't last long for either of us

 

[xolily]

Tax credits usually work out your benefits on last years income but if you phone and explain the circumstances they'll work it out on an estimated income for this year.

When I put OH on my claim my tax credits were cut by £120 a week.. even though he wasn't earning, because of his previous years earnings. I phoned them up and told them he wasn't earning anything and they estimated it for this year xx

 

[hazzabeanie]

ive done that but for some reason even with me not working were only entitled to £10 a week been to citersons advice they were crap and didnt help at all, and ive written a budget as much as poss, 2 cars is because my oh has to drive to work and we live in the middle of nbo where so i ned a car in case of emergancys, his car is a really cheap car tho so not to expensive im just so scared about it all its not like i can even get an evening job tho as my oh dont get home till late each night n theres no one to watch the kids xxxx

 

[amie-leigh]

hun we are struggling as well my OH makes just under 14k and i get £50 a week cleaning the pub in the mornings but it looks like as of 1st july i wont have that job
we have switched to stores own brand items, write a meal plan when shopping and cut out basically all luxuries

 

[20102001]

I thought you said you bring home £5000 a year ... what is that split into months ... ?

I'm in the same situation re: having hours cut.
My 'basic pay' is £411 a month but I normally get £550-£7000
But now I'm not allowed overtime

We'll get through, you have to. People always find a way to cope

We're just going to stop eating so much lol and stopping takeaways.

 

[tina_h75]

hun we are struggling as well my OH makes just under 14k and i get £50 a week cleaning the pub in the mornings but it looks like as of 1st july i wont have that job
we have switched to stores own brand items, write a meal plan when shopping and cut out basically all luxuries

meal planning is a great idea - I do this lots. Get a memo pad/white board up in the kitchen and write out the next 7 - 10 days meals that you have shopped for. I also write what recipe book I got the recipe from as well. This way you can choose from a selection of meals knowing that all the ingredients are there ready. Underneath the list of meals, I write down when I am running low on something so when it comes to do the shopping, I can see exactly what I need so I don't either double up on something or forget to buy it - which can result in another trip to the shops and probably buying things on impulse while you are there.

 

[tina_h75]

also, there are so many great discount sites around you don't really need to pay full price for hardly anything. hotdeals.co.uk. offeroftheday.co.uk, amazon discount finder, frugal living uk, vouchercodes etc. I never buy anything without spending a few minutes online to see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere.

 

[amandad192]

Would your OH ride a motorbike or does he need a car for work?

He'd have to do a CBT which costs about £100 and buy a cheap bike..but his insurance should be much less, tax and MOT are less too.

Is your elec/gas on a key meter or a bill? Call up your fuel company and ask if they do any cheaper tarrifs. (We are on bill and pay £142pm on both fuels on eco7. I have an engineer coming out on monday to switch us to a single rate meter which reduces our bill down to £100pm)

Can you lower your broadband/tv/internet package to a cheaper option or cheaper provider?

I've just ordered out main shop for a fortnight for £60 including cat food (for 4 cats), nappies, toilet roll etc. I shop with asda and always use their price gaurentee. Last shop I got £3.07 which basically means free delivery this shop.

What insurance do you have on the cars? Could you find a cheaper option?

If you have any debts can you lower your repayments?

Make a list of everything you spend monthly and see what you can lower.

 

[hazzabeanie]

hey hun i mean i only got 5000 this year as only have an income for april 11 to june 11 as hours dropped. im so emotional at the mo to as hormones are everywere, just need to tighten up a bit, and pull in the strings when we can etc...... and try n get my oh to do as much o/t as possible. im quite a paranoid person as it is and everything gets to me i guess its a shock going from 1150 a month to 0 not really worrying to much about bills to now worrying!!! i jus want to be finacially stable!! xx