Wanting to be debt free and improve credit ratings.

debrag

LHA that's housing benefit right? does this not cover the full rent?

elaina79

debrag wrote: »

LHA that's housing benefit right? does this not cover the full rent?

No unfortunately it doesn't. My rent is £730 pcm but my LHA allowance based on needing 2 bedrooms is a maximum of £464. This will go up after June though once baby is born then we will need the 3 bedrooms that we have.

justruth - my washing machine has started to make a burning smell when its being used now so its not going to last much longer. Its the 3rd 2nd hand machine that I have had in the last year and half :eek: (i'm just no good with washing machines). In my old house I went a few months without a machine as I had no money, but with my existing back condition it got too much and I was in alot of pain at the end.

As the weather is getting nicer I am going to start to hang my washing out more, and definately in summer once I have the nappies they will be hung outside to dry.

debrag

elaina79 wrote: »

No unfortunately it doesn't. My rent is £730 pcm but my LHA allowance based on needing 2 bedrooms is a maximum of £464. This will go up after June though once baby is born then we will need the 3 bedrooms that we have.

so your paying the full rent or are you getting this £464?

elaina79

debrag wrote: »

so your paying the full rent or are you getting this £464?

I get the £464 now and make up the remainder myself for the rent. It has only been at this rate for the last month as I was working and they took the excess off my allowance.

justruth

elaina79 wrote: »

justruth - my washing machine has started to make a burning smell when its being used now so its not going to last much longer.

Do you get a similar burning smell with other hot water? If so then it could indicate that the problems with your boiler are coming to a head. I understand what your saying, I am sure you thought it all through very carefully.

Did I understand correctly that you get an advance of money before the baby is born with which to buy essentials? If so perhaps this could be used for this purpose?

debrag

elaina79 wrote: »

I get the £464 now and make up the remainder myself for the rent. It has only been at this rate for the last month as I was working and they took the excess off my allowance.

Rent = 730
LHA = 464
Leaving = 266

you have £464 to play with unless I'm mistaken.

oh ignore me lol the LHA is in with the benefits lol

elaina79

justruth - no it just appears to be when the washing machine is on. It has been making the grinding noise for a few weeks and its only after the past few days that my hubby noticed the burning smell.

As for the baby, I do get the health in pregnancy grant as well as the allowance of £500 so this will be used for the remainder of the stiff that we have to buy. We already have the cot, baby monitors, bedding and stair gates. The only big thing left is the pram, most other stuff is the little odds and ends.

debrag - lol yes the 464 is included in the benefits that I had listed. To be honest when I first applied while I was working I expected to be told to get lost. I was suprised then to get half of the rent paid (my rent was slightly lower then).

For some reason today I have had extra tax credits in my account. Working Tax Credits is part of that as well which I hadn't been getting since 2007!! I put in a despute about an overpayment so it might have something to do with that, as I asked them to pay me back what they had taken as I didn't owe them anything.
My fear is that they have mucked my claim up again (as they have done many times before) I hate the Tax Credits System!!!!!!

ms_london

Hi Elaina

I cant really add anything to the great advice you've received so far, but just wanted to say welcome to MSE and well done for posting.

To be honest, working or not, everyone is welcome here and everyone can post an SOA, it's still money coming in vs money going out at the end of the day. Sorry that you thought you might get a bad response because of this.

Sounds like youve had a lot on your plate, and being pregnant at the same time makes it all a lot harder, pop in here whenever you need a chat and a bit of support though.

xx

elaina79

:mad: My washing machine is no more :mad:

I had to bite the bullet yesterday and buy a new one. It was a good price and will be delivered tomorrow so it's not to bad.

Tax credits are being weird and putting very strange amounts into my bank accounts. We got an ammended award stating what we were supposed to be getting then yesterday I had a strange amount of working tax credit go in then today the child tax credit is slightly different to what they said we would be getting. I give up trying to understand them I really do :mad:

On a good news front my hubby and I got and extra £60 each today for our carers aloowance and DLA so thats good. I'm still managing to keep my budget going and have so far still got the money I need to keep my debt payments up to date.:T

justruth

Hi, shame about the washing machine but at least a new one should last you a little longer. Tax credits are a law unto themselves, I don't think even they understand what they are doing 90% of the time!

You look to be doing really well though, how soon do you think you will have the first debt paid off? I celebrate each one and each milestone (but then I do like to celebrate lol)