Advice needed... we're finished :-(

Entrepreneur_en_faillite

jcr16 wrote:

that is huge amount u spent last year. what on earth did u buy ?

Most of it was spent on !!!!!! to be honest. We bought presents for everyone, minimum spend per present was £20.

My God do I regret it now!

Looking forward to a family Christmas, and the biggest bonus - no need to go shopping!

Spendless

Bestthingsinlifearefree wrote:

christmas presents for parents / work colleagues / parties don't bother or do something for free e.g spend time with them. Explain to them you are in debt and can't afford it. They will respect you for your honesty.

How old is baby does she or he need any christmas presents ???




.

I agree with this. If you don't feel like admitting to colleagues that you currently have a problem, invent an excuse, lack of babysitter for eg.You can just get baby something small, or take a look at the festive fiver thread for each other.

eta-Just noticed-This is my 3,000th post :beer:

Entrepreneur_en_faillite

Way to go spendless - 3,000 postings congrats

syfodyas

Okay - trying to answer all of your questions..


If I downgrade sky to min package I am forced to then pay £10 a month for the sky plus box, which pretty much brings it back up to the price we are currently paying.
Both my partner and I have mobiles with good price plans with free any time any network mins so even though we spend money paying line rental - it works out cheaper than if we solely relied on landline. We hardly spend money outside of the line rental.

As for xmas pressies.. I bought my mum dad and brother a joint present, a £65 sky plus installation - that covers all of them. My other brother who lives outside of the family home will get something small (circa £15) and The baby (2yrs) something small also.
I dont buy presents for my friends only my parents and immediate family - this is because they have done so much for me, even helped out with money/clothes/mortgage etc, I feel I need to at least get them something. £65, I can live with.
Council Tax arrears occurred because we are being charged an extortionate amount for a small 2 bedroom flat. The council wont budge on this. The previous year went into arrears when they froze the account accessing whether we were entitled to council tax benefit. They took 6 months to get round to it, decided we didn’t qualify and demanded all money up front. We fell behind. Also this year we have fell behind, late payments etc… led to a summons and an expensive repayment plan. My main problem was that I was not considering council tax as a priority debt. Stupid I know..

Cant really work extra hours in the job I have apart from the NYE thing which I WILL take up. My other half is actually expecting so that counts her out.#
The new years eve work pay will cover the additional expense of december. We are going to my parents for xmas day so no expense on food etc.. we only have each of our work dos and a do with our friends this december. We never go crazy, just spend on food really and keep it local, i am not the type of person who can tell his friends he is in debt.. just the way I am not so much the way they are.. I have told my parents about my difficulty though.. although I have 13 year old brother who lives with them demanding video games for xmas which I simply cannot afford...

johannamse

This ...

syfodyas wrote:

If I downgrade sky to min package I am forced to then pay £10 a month for the sky plus box, which pretty much brings it back up to the price we are currently paying.

does not really answer this...

xela_17 wrote:

Sorry, but that isn't true. I downgraded my sky plus yesterday. If you take the basic package (i.e. two of the new "mixes") that is £15. Add on the £10 for sky plus, that is £25. Immediately that's £14 saved per month.

Go for it - save yourself £14 per month! Remember, EVERY SINGLE PENNY MATTERS.

Spendless

syfodyas wrote:

As for xmas pressies.. I bought my mum dad and brother a joint present, a £65 sky plus installation - that covers all of them. My other brother who lives outside of the family home will get something small (circa £15) and The baby (2yrs) something small also.
I dont buy presents for my friends only my parents and immediate family - this is because they have done so much for me, even helped out with money/clothes/mortgage etc, I feel I need to at least get them something. £65, I can live with.
Council Tax arrears occurred because we are being charged an extortionate amount for a small 2 bedroom flat. The council wont budge on this. The previous year went into arrears when they froze the account accessing whether we were entitled to council tax benefit. They took 6 months to get round to it, decided we didn’t qualify and demanded all money up front. We fell behind. Also this year we have fell behind, late payments etc… led to a summons and an expensive repayment plan. My main problem was that I was not considering council tax as a priority debt. Stupid I know..

Cant really work extra hours in the job I have apart from the NYE thing which I WILL take up. My other half is actually expecting so that counts her out.#
The new years eve work pay will cover the additional expense of december. We are going to my parents for xmas day so no expense on food etc.. we only have each of our work dos and a do with our friends this december. We never go crazy, just spend on food really and keep it local, i am not the type of person who can tell his friends he is in debt.. just the way I am not so much the way they are.. I have told my parents about my difficulty though.. although I have 13 year old brother who lives with them demanding video games for xmas which I simply cannot afford...

AFAIK- council tax the price is what it is, though I'm sure someone else will say if it's otherwise. On a net income of £2,000 a month (your 1st post) I'm surprised you even thought you'd qualify for help, let alone not pay it whilst you got told this but what's done is done.

As your OH is pregnant, you're either going to be living on less income or paying 2 lots of nursery fees. When's your 2 year old 3? You will get non-means tested funding term after 3rd birthday as I mentioned previously.

The news eve pay could go to settling some of your bills instead of going out 3 times. You could just cut down to the one you both go on with friends, instead of a works do each also. You don't have to tell people the reason why, you could just give an excuse.

You could look at the festive fivers thread I suggested, instead of spending £15 on your brother-that's another £10 towards settling your bills. I have a 2year old myself. Mine does really not know the difference between a £2 doll and a £40 baby annabel.

You say you've had the lightbulb moment, well done, but the next step is to start clearing some of these debts.

syfodyas

Spendless wrote:

AFAIK- council tax the price is what it is, though I'm sure someone else will say if it's otherwise. On a net income of £2,000 a month (your 1st post) I'm surprised you even thought you'd qualify for help, let alone not pay it whilst you got told this but what's done is done.

no, when we applied for council tax benefit, my partner was not working but at home with the baby. She did not then have afull time job and so was not paid any maternity leave. I also was not then in full time work but was temping. The council tax arrears stem from that period of time.

Spendless

syfodyas wrote:

Spendless wrote:

AFAIK- council tax the price is what it is, though I'm sure someone else will say if it's otherwise. On a net income of £2,000 a month (your 1st post) I'm surprised you even thought you'd qualify for help, let alone not pay it whilst you got told this but what's done is done.

no, when we applied for council tax benefit, my partner was not working but at home with the baby. She did not then have afull time job and so was not paid any maternity leave. I also was not then in full time work but was temping. The council tax arrears stem from that period of time.

Unfortunately this is also too late, but you don't ness have to have a full time job to get maternity pay.For eg I got MA (maternity allowance) instead of SMP cos I'd worked for 26 weeks out of the 66 before baby was due earning at least £30 a week. Has your OH looked into any maternity pay she may be eligible for this time? Do you claim tax credits? Do you know to inform them when new baby is born cos there is an extra baby element of tax credits (an additional £545p.a) paid until baby is 1.

syfodyas

she IS eligable for maternity pay this time round as since the first child was born she found a full time job, which she is working in now.
I think we get some tax credit..

Entrepreneur_en_faillite

syfodyas wrote:

.. £39 on sky, again under contract and if we downgrade we are liable to pay £10 extra for sky plus which makes it the same anyway, .

Hi Syfodyas, have a look at this....

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1132313772,58146,#haggle

(It might be my pc, but the above link seems to take an absolute age to open, but be patient it is worth it!)