just want to cry :(

funkyfish586

hi all, i rarely post on here but me & my partner are in £28 000 worth of debt we are really struggling to say the least. My partner earns a good wage £2000 a month but all of this is gone we are paying 700 ish in minimum payments & loan repayements. I dont work as we cannt afford childcare for our 11 month old, im also pregnant again. The problem is that we never miss a payment, have no defaults or anything but once everything has gone out we have £30 so we live off credit. We never buy any thing for ourselves so we are not wasting any money at all. I hav searched endlessly for a weekend or evening job but A there are hardly any jobs & B no one will employ me because im pregnant. The stress is getting to me now & im having sleepless nights. What is our best option ? x

fermi

Hi.

Have you posted an SOA here before? You may not think there is any way to free up some expenditure, but people here can work wonders with an SOA.

Have you taken some impartial advice as well?

How much of the debt is in your sole name?

Presumably you won't be working, even if you could, in a little while due to the new baby?

funkyfish586

Havent done a SOA but we have this on a spead sheet

Rent £650
FirstDirect Loan £210
Council Tax 125
Water 29

Andrew Egg £61
Andrew Vodaphone £35
House Insurance £17
Tash Mint £18
Tash O2 £35
IF Loan £90
Npower £86 ( gas & elec)
Car Insurance £43
Andrew Virgin £69
TV License £11
tash virgin 100
Mint Andrew £111
Tash Lloyds 60
Egg Tash £14
Virgin £25
Tash Littlewoods £20
Tash Studio £10

Totals = £1819

Andrews wage = £2170
Child Benefit £80
Child Tax credits £55

Final Total = £2305

Total Out goings = £1819, Total incoming = £2305 Amount left over = £486

General

Shopping -£250
Petrol -£80
monthly Allowence ( as i am a sahm, playgroup etc)- £80
Going out - £50

Total left = £26

the problem is we have no money for account for anything so if i need a filling for example it goes on credit etc etc

ramblingtree

Hi,
People who are much more knowledgeable than me will be along soon, but didn't want to read and not write anything.
I know its very stressful, but people on here will give you all the help you need. As you have a small child another on the way, make sure looking after you and your families mental state is your number one priority.


Your gas and electric look quite high (although I don't know what kind of house/size etc you have) and there's quite a lot of allowance/entertainment budget that could be used to pay off debt or have an emergency fund if you cut back.
Your shopping is fairly high, and do you need the petrol for commuting or could you walk more places?
Just a few starter ideas.
Good luck and as I say, better folk will be along soon!
x

pepe2008

Check if you are getting all the Benefits you are entitled to using the checker tools on MSE.

Have a word with CCCS or Payplan if you think you are going to fall behind with things. Better to take action sooner than later.

davetrousers

Can you sell a few things on ebay?

Going Out £50. Easy money to recoup there
Lower your shopping perhaps by £100.
2 £35 a month mobile phone contracts, can you drop to a lower tarif?

funkyfish586

thats for your responses, unfortuantely not entitled to any other benefits. In shopping i have included £25 for my sons clothes & anything he needs. Petrol is a must as my partner works in another town i dont drive so its all for his work. x

ramblingtree

Can you get second hand clothes, charity shops or freecycle even? I don't have children, so won't get judgemental on how much you spend on clothes etc for him! But my sister gets a lot of hand me downs etc for her kids.

I understand the pain of having to spend a lot on petrol, have you checked out the car sharing websites to see if he could share at least some of the time? I saved a fortune doing that before I could walk to work.

funkyfish586

hi there, i am fine with second hand clothes its more for nappies & milk etc but if he needs clothes them thats what it comes out of. Do you think its as bad as i do?

dancingfairy

Things do look tight - maybe a bit too tight if you are having to use the credit cards every month.

Basically the options you have are:
1) to increase your incomes and decrease your outgoings (which by the sounds of things there isnot much scope for with things the way they are)
2) perhaps doing a dmp -o.k it will trash your credit rating but if you are currently just getting further and further into debt then maybe a dmp would suit you?
3) It would help if you could list the size of the debts ie card 1 - debt 10,000 apr 5% and the min. payments. Is there any room to transfer high interest debt to low interest debt? how long have you got left on certain things -ie does anything finish soon?

It might be worth giving CCCS or National Debtline a call to chat things through with them as well.
df

dancingfairy

Martin says he's never seen a debt problem that can't be solved. Some people have debts over 100K and are working to pay them back. However if it's causing you problems then it needs dealing with and it's definitely sortable.
df