Budgetting On Benefit

Sunnydoo

Hi everyone

Not sure if this is the correct board-i'm a long time lurker but new member so please bear with me!

Can anyone give me advice about making ends meet whilst on benefit please-

I finished work at the start of September to do a part time college course & i am getting Income Support as i am a single parent(one DD age 6)

I get the £56.20 personal allowance & £35 Children's Tax Credit as i'm currently paying back on overpayment.

My mortgage is £223 & won't be paid by DWP until June

I have applied for help from the Learning Support Fund which i'm currently waiting to hear about

I do Ebay,Avon,Online surveys,card making & Mystery Shopping for extra income but still seem to be going more & more overdrawn-my credit cards are fine but my overdraft is hovering around the £1500 mark(limit is £2000)

I have already taken on lots of great ideas posted on here but can't think of anything else i can do to especially since Ebay & Avon sales tail off for a month or 2 after Xmas

Sorry this is so long & thanks in advance

mah_jong

Hi... welcome to OS

To be honest there is no difference in budgetting on benifits as to living on low income. You need to keep with in your allowence.

There will be lots of suggestions to follow, but I think the fist and most important thing to do is list all your out goings and your inome.

A diary listing your day to day purchases is also a great way of understanding where the odds and ends get spent (it all adds up).

Look at your cupboards/freezer great tips here o n living out of thier contents!!!

Mah.... you will it here!!!

ben500

Hi one of the easiest and fastest methods is to utilise money off coupons when you shop, do you use them already? do you make a concerted effort to gather them, if used wisely you can cut your grocery outgoings to next to nothing! Are you aware of the tesco misprice thread? view it here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=92216&page=1&pp=10

It's long but the first few pages will give you an idea how to apply it and you can skip to the end to find current deals.

These will allow you to free some of your budget for other purposes.

Sunnydoo

Thanks.

I do use money off coupons when i can-i am known as the bargain queen among my friends!

I do a lot of my shopping at Aldi & the market but the coupons do come in useful when i go to Asda

The Tesco misprice thread confuses me to be honest

Will def write down exactly what i spend-craft supplies & pound shops are my downfall

Will also try to use what i have already instead of just buying more.

DD is the problem as she has a very limited menu.Have been following the fussy eaters threads so will persevere with giving her new (cheaper!) foods

squeaky

Hiya,

We have quite a number of threads on managing the household type budget on Old Style so I'll post links for those below here - but you cover quite a bit of ground in your set of questions and I'm wondering if the thread might not be better placed on a more finance based board. I'll have a chat and see which one we think is best. In the meantime you might like to browse these links...

Budget:
[post=516019] - being organised[/post]
[post=586580] - Budget - starting up[/post]
[post=345615] - Cooking for one[/post]
[post=415566] - Day to Day budgeting - your tips please![/post]
[post=45666] - For Xmas[/post]
[post=557691] - Help a single saver[/post]
[post=53634] - How did older people manage without credit cards?[/post]
[post=522845] - How Do You Keep a Record?[/post]
[post=608295] - How much shopping budget for...[/post]
[post=449898] - I stumbled, then there was an avalanche![/post]
[post=445547] - Ideas/tips young people on limited budget[/post]
[post=509671] - Living within your means[/post]
[post=370121] - MoneySavingExpert Budget Spreadsheet[/post]
[post=356477] - New to budgeting[/post]
[post=357876] - Save to spend[/post]
[post=10903] - Save up the easy way[/post]
[post=381751] - The three purse system[/post]
[post=531637] - Tiny budget, meal plans?[/post]
[post=431634] - Want to start money saving but where to start?[/post]

Sunnydoo

Thanks Squeaky-wasn't sure if the post belonged on a finance site or not but you Old Sylers seem the friendliest so thought i'd start with you guys!

The links look great but can't get them to work-when i click on them it comes up with an error saying showthread html can't be found-have i done something wrong?

skylight

Squeaky - I cant get any of those links to work!

Am I doing something wrong too???

squeaky

Hang on I'll edit back into it...

Fran

Sunnydoo wrote:

Can anyone give me advice about making ends meet whilst on benefit please-

I finished work at the start of September to do a part time college course & i am getting Income Support as i am a single parent(one DD age 6).....................


I do Ebay,Avon,Online surveys,card making & Mystery Shopping for extra income but still seem to be going more & more overdrawn-my credit cards are fine but my overdraft is hovering around the £1500 mark(limit is £2000)

If you are getting regular income from work like this it should be declared to Income Support, or you could get done for benefit fraud which is a criminal offence. Selling the odd personal item on ebay would be ok but on the benefits board it has been said that the DWP are watching ebay. With so many forms of income it is likely that you have (average) weekly income of over the £20 that you are allowed to earn as a single parent on IS without it affecting your benefits. Also you will have to look into how other forms of grant etc. that you receive affect your benefits. There's no easy solution unfortunately while on IS. Have you asked about or are you receiving Council Tax Benefit? You should get the full amount while on IS.

There have been threads on the Benefits board about budgeting before, the only one I can find at the moment is Advice on Benefits, Housing & Moneysaving. It would be nice to have another fresh thread on there again though, perhaps you could start one?

Regarding your debts and other issues surrounding your change of circumstances it would be a good idea to visit Citizens Advice bureau to check how different things affect your entitlement to benefits and to check that you are getting all the benefits you are entitled to. They can also check that your debts are being dealt with in the best way.

Edit - have also found Saving money on Benefits, Tax Credits and Low Income.

squeaky

OK try them now. Sorry.

squeaky

Given the size of your overdraft and your need to reduce it I think the debt free wnnabee board would be a good one for you, lots of advice and support, so I'll move you across there shortly.

Good luck.