My SOA

philnicandamy

TYL you have nothing to be ashamed about or indeed need to explain your circumstances.....

HockeyDuo8083

Hi! Well done on posting your SOA in can be quite scary putting it all down in black and white for all to see.

What caught my eye was the £400 grocery bill. Have a pop over to the Old Style board where you can get tips on cutting this back. Do you cook from scratch and buy reduced food where possible? Maybe shopping in Aldi or Lidl if there is one close to you?

Is the £80 on clothes essential items? Can you sell stuff on eBay/Amazon/MusicMagpie or maybe a car boot to get a little extra cash? Freecycle is also great for getting stuff as it's free!

Hope this helps, good luck and keep posting as there is lots of support available:A

Sorry I don't know anything about BR procedure; just wanted to swing a little support your way

thatsyourlot

Hi,

Many thanks for your reply to my thread!!

The £400 for groceries includes ALL of the family shopping (ie) Meals for the family - pet food - my son now has packed luch for school rather in the school canteen - it includes all the cleaning & toiletries too.

With the clothes allowance, it was cccs that told me to put this down & to be fair, with a growing son (hes almost 13) at the mo he has gone up a shoe size in 8 weeks, so thats school shoes from clarks (he has to have them from there because of his extra wide feet, plus we tried getting cheaper shoes & they just didnt last) plus there are his non school shoes too.

He has always been in larger clothes than his age states, so I have found it cheaper to get him "small mens" clothing rather than pay a premium for "large/extra large boys, the only down side is that some of the clothes are a bit "too old" for him, he is only nearly 13 after all & doesnt want to dress like his grandad (my sons words not mine)

I have sold all I can on Greedbay but found I was spending more on selling fees & final value fees, than I made, plus there is all the p&p on top of that.

Car boot was done a few weeks ago so nothing left to sell now.

I did try the "own brand" family shopping experience, some of them have been a hit (so I keep to these each week) but the majority of items didnt go down very well & I found it "false economy" as they are lingering in the cupboard half eaten, o no point in buying them again.

I really have tried everything I can think of but there is just no way I can think of any more, so this is the reason for my bankruptcy.

It has been a VERY VERY steep learning curve & one from which I am so ashamed of & have learnt my lesson from. I was hoping that perhaps I could enter an IVA, as I am more than willing to pay back all that I owe, however many years it may take me but it was cccs that advised I apply for bankruptcy... A very sad day for me indeed