in a never ending spiral of debt and at my wits end help me pls!!

tealady

Hi. I would also look at the snowballer to see which debt to clear 1st and keep a spending diary. It is amazing how quickly the odd bar of choc or sandwich mount up.
Re Sky, I 'm sure if you ring them you could get a better deal.
Also checkout https://www.petrolprices.com to make sure you are getting the cheapest petrol in your area.
The downsize challenge is a good one as well.

mardatha

For people up in the islands there isn't so much scope for shopping around, or mystery shopping though.
I would start writing down everything you spend for a week and then work out where you could cut it.
I would go onto more home made cheap foods like big pots of soup & rice pud, with porridge instead of cereals. Try things for just a month at a time-if the kids dont like porridge then shove a dollop of honey or some nuts in it:D
I don't know how to help re the actual money/payments side but somebody will soon ! Keep the heid and you can DO this !

dawnybabes

Have you put your income through www.entitledto.co.uk to make sure you are claiming everything.

tricky32_2

just wanted to say thankyou for the tips ladies I will check to make sure I am claiming all im entitled to although I have claimed tax credits but was told all Im entitled to was £10 a week towards childcare for my son, and yeah your right mardatha up here we only have a few independant petrol stations and they all keep the prices high as we can't get it from anyone else, although we do have Tesco up here and prey that they put in petrol pumps when they build they're new store:D pls pls!! Will def try to cut the food bill down but we are limited in shops too only having Tesco and co-op and local shops so i will just have to find the time to cook more meals from scratch, I will check the sky package although I'm sure we switched to them a whil back, you see thats another problem as my partner pays for them and is forever switching so i cant keep up! I used to be able to manage my money a lot better but have let things slide and I'm glad I have support from you all in what feels like a very lonely place.

milliemonster

You should be getting child tax credit which is around £10.49 a week, it may be more on your income, you may be able to have this backdated? and this is excluding the childcare element. Our income is more than yours and we get the child tax credit on top of child benefit so you should be entitled.

£100 a month on electric still seems a lot for the four of you, we are a family of 4 and we use around £60 a month worth of electric (and there is usually someone home everyday all day). I would really take a look at what you are using.

Your telephone charges are a lot, £50 a month, we pay £20 and that includes broadband and free evening and weekend calls, although I accept you may not have as many options on the isles?

Nargleblast

Hello Tricky and welcome on board - lots of people have been in similiar dire straits but with the help of this site are doing something about it, so you have made that all-important first step. Certainly things like satellite TV inflate the budget - have you thought of getting rid of it and getting a Freeview box instead? Or as has been suggested look for a cheaper package. Petrol - monitor your use of the car, try and cut out unnecessary journeys, drive sensibly at the optimum speed for fuel economy, keep your tyres inflated correctly - all these things help. And whilst the amount you show for food is not bad for your size household, you can cut a bit off and still eat well - check out the Old Style moneysaving forum for meal ideas. It will take a while before you get budgeting down to a fine art but it will come with practice. As far as debts are concerned, your priorities are housing, heating, lighting, water, food - try logging on to the CCCS website and do their online debt remedy and see what they suggest. And as far as Christmas is concerned, the Old Style forum will have ideas for Christmas on a budget.

tricky32_2

hi milliemonster i spoke to oh about sky package but as you said we cant get that here as there arent the cables which is a shame as that puts us out of reach of virgin also.

tricky32_2

hi nargleblast i will def check out the old style forum for meal ideas, thankyou

moneymummy1_2

Hi Tricky
just had a scan through your post and know how you feel. Im constantly swapping and changing money from pillar to post to make ends meet. Have cut all possible bills and having done quite a bit of research on here and consumer forums I figure my best option is to request CCA from all credit card companies I owe money to - £20k plus and see if they are enforcable. Im guessing many are not as they are all pre 2007...have just sent off all my POs for £1 and I await responses. I have bitten the bullet - stopped paying them (simply because I cant) and im concentrating on catching up with my mortgage. Im sure there are many of us in the same very large boat and I cant tell you how much more positive I am already. good luck

dancingfairy

Hi. I think you need to contact CCCS or National Debtline for advice. At the moment you are 267 pounds short of makng the minimum repayments and although there are some cutbacks you might be able to make I don't think you will be able to make that amount of savings.
You might need to do a debt management plan (DMP) where you pay all your bills and then any money left is split between your unsecured creditors. I'm not sure what the Scottish Equivalent is (I presume you are covered by Scottish Laws and things?) but there are different arrangements you can come to with your creditors but give CCCS or National Debtline a rung and they should be able to point you in the right direction.
Best of Luck
df