Am i being too drastic??

dion987

I am a 21 year old single mother of 2. Living on £30 a week. After bills and debt payments, this is all i am left with.
I get £650 a month.
Pay out all my bills, my credit card, loan and overdrafts off.
I'm finding it difficult living off the £30 a week, which has to cover food, toiletries, travel etc. I do go without sometimes or live off 8p noodles on a skint week.
Christmas this year is going to be very basic.
Have ordered from studio catalogue, and have a park account to take the strain off next year (£200 of vouchers-£4.44 a week i think)
Is it better to live like this (will probo be until june when overdrafts cleared at £80 a month, which means an extra £20 pounds a week)
Or lower what im paying just to make life a bit more comfortable?

Im a bit torn, because my kids deserve a better life than we can afford at the moment, so scrimp for the short term, or be in debt for the long term?

MyLastFiver

Your self-discipline is admirable but you shouldn;t have to go without food. Post your Statement of Affairs and we'll look at your options. FIll in this form and post the results: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

savingholmes

Hi welcome to the boards, it takes a lot of guts to make your first post - I know it did me.

it would help if you posted a full SOA statement of affairs at makesenseofcards website and then reformat it and post on the mse website ie here. Then we can see whether you are spending money in the right areas and whether there is any room to cut back. It may be that you are not getting all the benefits you are entitled to - you can check that out at the entitledto website....

I wouldn't be buying things through park after what went wrong with farepak... personally. I don't think living off 8p noodles everyday is particularly a good idea... occasionally it would be okay - we do that my kids love them... Look at the old style board for some other ideas that are healthier... I think you need to make sure that you eat a well-balanced diet.

Off to bed now - so I'll check on any replies tomorrow....

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

Have you checked your getting all your entitled to, are yu a single mum, in my experience you shoud be getting much more check out entitled to website or ask you local CAB
Regards
MLSL

RAS

Hi

The idea is that you live and then you pay off your debts.

Please stop using those extortionately expensive catalogues and vouchers. if humanly possible send the vouchers back and talk to you local credit union.
If you are in this situation, you should not be taking out extra credit as you are already having trouble paying you existing debts.

For stuff, toys for Christmas, clothes for you and the kids, furniture, white goods. bedding, curtains and electirc goods, please join www.freecycle.org - it is like e-bay but you get the goods for free. If you have someone who can pick up the heavy stff for you, you can get just about anything.

Also have a look at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints.aspx and then head over to the freebies, comps and Money Seving Old Style forums as well.