just want to cry :(

broxiebear1

hi go on c.c.c.s website theres something on there where you do a soa and at the end they recomend what plan is best for you also national debt line site same as above ,you dont give your name but they can give you good advice . and no they wont leave you with nothing.
i have roughly £22000 debt rent from council and thought i could get a dmp but both recomended bankruptcy for me.

funkyfish586

thanks all, just filled in the cccs thingy & it has recommended a dmp. i wish it was possible to do it without one though x

Homer_J

Hi Funkyfish,

I really empathise with your predicament. I was in a similar position to you a few years ago (worse actually) and felt that there was nowhere to turn for help. I had £42 000 of debt and, as my credit cards were at there limit, I was bouncing cheques to survive. In desperation, I contacted Payplan.

After completing a full SOA, including a realistic monthly living allowance for food, clothing, petrol, tax, TV licence, utilities, birthdays, even a savings allowance for a holiday, they negotiated payments to my creditors from the remaining balance and, most importantly, managed to get all of the interest frozen on every debt I had. This allowed me steadily chip away at my mountain of debt, but, most importantly, gave me back my peace of mind and self respect. I currently owe £3700 and will be debt free in August next year, which I am really exited about!

I realise that you might not be too happy about entering into a Debt Management Plan, but it really does work. You just need to set yourself a realistic budget - there is no need to live like a pauper!

From what you've said with regard to living each month on credit cards, you really must act quickly. The companies you owe money to will be much less sympathetic if you have defaulted on payments and, trust me, it won't be long before you're in that position.

I hope this has been of help; lots of luck and let us know how you get on.

property.advert

I am a single parent, though not pregnant (I'm the Dad !) so I face similar issues with looking for work, childcare, taking care of the baby during the day etc. but I've found that some simple things can make a little.

I try and prioritise things and it forces me to question whether I really need something or whether I can do without it or look around for a cheaper substitute. I buy in bulk, but not if it forces me onto credit. I really look at my food consumption. I like port fillet but there is nothing wrong in getting 4 or 6 and freezing them to use at will, then they are marked down and a day or two before their sell buy date. I appreciate you don't have the cash but things like this lower the weekly cost.

Obviously look at changing your electricity and gas. I find British Gas Websaver 5 is the best for me by some margin and they have not introduced any long term penalties for getting out. I'd check through uswitch.

Simple stuff such as buying clothes a little large means longer wear and now keep them because of your second child when they get too small. Asda have some great children's clothes at very low prices and John Lewis as well surprisingly have very good prices on sets.

Buy what you need, not want, through cashback sites. I use Topcashback the most. I've about £70 from than in a few months. Look at hotukdeals for daily deals (a lot of rubbish I know but some you'd just not spot - such as 1/2 price M&S meat this week).

To bring in some income, I do surveys. Usually about £0.50 to £1.00 each but sometimes £2, yesterday one for £4 and a few around £1, occasional one for £10 or more. They bring on some product tests as well. Not much, but you can give an hour or two when the baby is sleeping and if you made £3 a day then it is £100 a month. Not a lot but better than nothing. The trick is to stick with it as your daily income rises over time as you get better surveys.

Poosmate

Hi Funky, congratulations on posting and I hope the advice and support on here helps your sanity.

The only thing I can suggest, which hasn't already been suggested is if maybe you could use terry nappies for your new baby rather than disposables and much cheaper in the long run. Would you be able to use them on your 11 month old too? Also, possibly keep your new baby on breast milk for as long as possible? I know some women just can't hack it but I think it can be different for each baby. I know this is possible future saving and I feel a bit eek! for suggesting your child could be a source of reduced expenditure (kind of like child abuse!), sorry, I don't mean to cause any offence, I guess it just shows how desperate I would feel if I was pregnant with the debt I have. (I have actually contemplated it and thought I'd probably be so poor I'd have to use terry tea towels!).

Hope this helps, it's said with the best of intentions.

Poo

LilacPixie

I have not read all the replys but if your renting is the house insurance just contents?? if so £17 looks high. Virgin phone/net/tv thing is easy to reduce. Call then get put thru to disconections and ask what sort of notice period you need to be disconected. They ask why and you say oh well i can get xxx package from sky for Y price so I feel thats better value and they will throw discounts at you to make you stay. I have L tv, XL net, talk evenings and weekends for £36.

Nappies well my two LO use about 50-60 nappies a week between them. Reusables are without a doubt more economical long term biut can you afford the initial outlay?? I know i couldn't. I feel you may be able to lop a little off grocery funds but not alot.

how far pregnant are you?? have you applied for health in pregnancy and surestart grants yet?

jo1972

I just wanted to pop on to your thread to wish you luck with sorting your finances out and the pregnancy. Emotions run very very high when pregnant, I've been there 3 times so know what it feels like!!

You have done the right thing, you need to calm down, get out all the paperwork, work out with the help of the lovely peeps on here what can be reduced, get over onto the OS board and start meal planning and work out how to halve your shopping bill (this won't happen overnight but it is addictive!) and start chipping away at your debts. It looks like a long road at the beginning but very soon you will be on your way and you will probably find yourself finding other ways to be debt free and bring your debt free date earlier and earlier.

Good luck x

funkyfish586

Poosmate wrote: »

Hi Funky, congratulations on posting and I hope the advice and support on here helps your sanity.

The only thing I can suggest, which hasn't already been suggested is if maybe you could use terry nappies for your new baby rather than disposables and much cheaper in the long run. Would you be able to use them on your 11 month old too? Also, possibly keep your new baby on breast milk for as long as possible? I know some women just can't hack it but I think it can be different for each baby. I know this is possible future saving and I feel a bit eek! for suggesting your child could be a source of reduced expenditure (kind of like child abuse!), sorry, I don't mean to cause any offence, I guess it just shows how desperate I would feel if I was pregnant with the debt I have. (I have actually contemplated it and thought I'd probably be so poor I'd have to use terry tea towels!).

Hope this helps, it's said with the best of intentions.

Poo

lol hun i didnt take any offense great ideas! I plan to breast feed this little one until 9 months ish & started to use reusable nappies but my son kept wetting through!

I have decided to phone playplan now & get an phone consultation with them. It cant hurt to see how things would be if we had a DMP. Just out of interest what is the OS board?

thanks everyone so much for your advice x

Buffythedebtslayer

OS board = Money Saving old style bloody marvellous place.

The only things I can suggest are could you do Avon ? or Body Shop? - only do this if you know you will get customers, cos it can be costly at first.

And well, have a look on up your income board for other ideas. I am so sorry you feel bad about it all, I was in a lot of debt when I first came here, still am but it is going down now, however at the time the fear was a constant.

take care andpost to let us know how you are doing xxxx

xxxx

Crisp_£_note

((HUGS)) I hope it all works out soon. Make sure you look after yourself and your family first! Its only money at the end of the day paper, metal chips and plastic all adding up to virtual figures! Thats the way I see it ok its not ideal when we are in debt but it does make me smile to see it at an alternative angle.

Reguarding the mobile phone can you go to Pay as you go top up? I did this and persuaded hubby and now we save a lump sum every month, it surprised me how little I actualy did use my phone. We are on Tesco pay as we go so when we top up Tesco give us xx of free credit which sees me through another month which means I top up around £10 every other month! £20 at times like Christmas when theres lots of calls and texts being made back and forth and as most of the regular contacts I text and call are also on same network its cheaper to comunicate with them.

Hope it helps