Created a disaster - please help

strugglingparent

SeaBreeze wrote: »

Hi Singleparent, when I was on income support I claimed council tax benefit, is that possible where you live?

Hi Seabreeze,

Unfortunately I have looked into this before I dont qualify for any housing or council tax benefit. Nor any clothing grants, free school meals or the like. I live in Scotland, if anyone knows of anything else all your help is much appreciated and comforting too

SeaBreeze

Sorry strugglingparent I got your name wrong!

kissjenn

You can probably claim for help with prescriptions, dental and optician costs.

Every P1 to P3 child will get free school meals from next August. Worth checking the school to see of your daughter's school is currently on the scheme. Also worth a chat with the janitor / school office as they usuually have lots of unclaimed uniform items like sweatshirts that no one claims throughout the year.

WTC may be enough of a criteria to get help with a uniform, ask the local council what their income threshold is (same with school meals if you do have to pay).

Council Tax seems huge on £135 for a £450 rent. Does it include arrears?
You are immediately entitle to a 25% discount as a single person and you can ask them to be allowed to pay over 12 months rather than 10.

Phone, satellite, landline and internet. All items where you can threaten to leave the company and get reduced tariffs or go elsewhere. If you want to pay the debt quickly you may want to get rid of some - do you need mobile and landline?

Best option is the ex route. Self employed partners are notorious at getting CSA reduced to nothing, amazing how many (not all) work a 60 hour week for £2.75! You will have to be ready to fight your corner with the CSA on that one.

Re the loan, not sure how you loaning him the money and him paying it back then you both using it ALL as your JOINT Christmas fund works. He still owes haldf by that reckoning. Honestly feel you need a tough conversation.

And as for the gf - point out he now has two little girls to support, your little princess came first and needs fed, clothed, housed and looked after. You could enquire if gf will be giving up school to look after your daughter when she has to move in with daddy due to your housing crisis brought about by him not paying. Doing it in front of the teen should get best response :rotfl:

tallyhoh

kissjenn wrote: »

And as for the gf - point out he now has two little girls to support, your little princess came first and needs fed, clothed, housed and looked after. You could enquire if gf will be giving up school to look after your daughter when she has to move in with daddy due to your housing crisis brought about by him not paying. Doing it in front of the teen should get best response :rotfl:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Nice one!

BeautyandtheBeast_3

Hi there - welsome and big hugs.

why dont you qualify for free school meals? there is a def change in your circumstances now so speak to the councill and see if you can get that reversed? may work or maynot.
also there is additional childcare costs - when is this for - i was thinking if it was or before and after school - your child can actually go to school early and have breakfast club and after school for homework club - there are loads of activities on before and after school - ask your school in ept - that maybe helpful to both you and your child. xxx

strugglingparent

Hi guys,

Well I got the rent sorted - thank goodness! :j

Now ive made it my mission to clear this debt and get on with it!! Im goin to do everything I can to become debt free this year and stop letting money get under my skin!!

Thank you so much for all your kind comments and advice!xxx

moo2moo

Drop into school now and see if you can catch the caretaker or someone else in. If they're anything like me I have 8 bin bags full of unlabelled school uniform collected from various cloakrooms and classrooms to rehome or dispose of before the start of term.

Charity shops also have lots of uniform as do Tesco and Asda. You really won't need much, especially if you are only doing half days to start with. Buy the absolute minimum you need as it'll all be reduced to half price or less in the middle of September. You can also purchase uniform via E-bay for very little, made even cheaper if you're close enough to collect rather than paying postage.

Have you considred talking to your bank about an overdraft or a very small loan to get you out of the hell hole that is payday loans. Your credit rating might be shot but if you can prove that you've been making the repayments to payday you might find them to be a lot more helpful than you expect. You've nothing to lose by asking.