new dad to be pls help

fuffmeister

hi,
heres the story...
my fiance of 8 years has become pregnant. I am so happy and love the fact of becoming a dad, until the reality kicks in. I am 23 and have an average job circa 25k my partner earns 16k a year and we pay 750 pcm for rent amongst bills ect. i am really worried about not being able to afford to live and moving back with parents is out the question as we have 2 large dogs. i need some idea of what help we may get from gov ect... i hate to sponge but we have both paid tax all our lives and obviously when she is off with baby she will not get full pay. People have been advising me we would be better if my gf was single ect but i dont want to do all that but at the same time i need to be able to afford to live. to give u some idea i take home circa 1600 and she takes home circa 950 we pay 750 rent 105 elec no gas 109 c tax 250 off c card and 200 paying off debts 180 fuel for car basically we try to live on like 100 spare cash per month but i always end up spending on c card so the 250 i pay off always ends up like 100. i pay circa 50 intrest off card and 60 intrest from overdraft i have 2000 on c card 3500 on od and a loan of 8k please help!!!!! thNKS

LilacPixie

Not alot. www.entitledto.co.uk will give you an estimate but on a joint income of 41k a year I would guess £20 a week child benefit and basic tax credits unless they have been withdrawn for your income range in the budget.

CLAPTON

1. you need to set out a proper budget .. a good format is here
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

2. you need to know exactly where ALL you income is going

3. you need to stop spending on credit cards today.
on your current income there should be no need to spend on CCs at all.

4. you need to urgently look at ways of paying off your debts before the baby is born... that's top priority

5. maybe look at way of increasing your income.. part-time job etc to help pay off the debts

Witchfinder_General

fuffmeister wrote: »

I'm 23... i hate to sponge but we have both paid tax all our lives and obviously when she is off with baby she will not get full pay.

Firstly; No. You haven't paid tax "all your lives". Even if you started work at 16 you have only been paying income tax for a paltry 7 years.

Secondly; The Government don't see you as some kind of special case just because you have paid a bit of tax Do you think it goes in to some kind of savings pot just for Tax Payers? If I were you I would go and post on the benefits board, people there know their stuff.

Reading between the lines of your post, it wouldn't suprise me if you do indeed "split up", so you can both take advantage of the single parent benefit package. Sorry to have to say this though, there is a new Government in town and the Gravy Train is about to hit the buffers old chap.

sp1987

Short answer: You spend too much.

Long answer:
£1600 a month take home you say
- 750 rent
- 105 electric
- 109 council tax
= priority bills (I'm guessing water is included as not listed).

Leaving you with a balance of £636 to cover food, petrol, debts etc (and phone, internet I presume as this isn't listed). This is without even including any contribution from your partner whatsoever, be it maternity pay or full wage. You need to start offering lower payments to your debts as you can't afford the amounts you are paying, but you can afford to live on the amount just you bring in when they are on minimums.

Instead of looking for more money (which would probably be swallowed up by the debt payments regardless) look at paying out less with what you already have. The way I work it out it is entirely doable to live on your salary and use whatever your partner gets as extras.

I can see currently £636 + £950 and all it has to cover currently is food, petrol, phones/internet etc and debts. Save her salary whilst she is still working as you will need some savings to tide you over.

You'll only get child benefit £81.30 (£20.30 a week) every 4 weeks and something like £40 a month in tax credits (a bit more before the baby is one year old). This will easily cover the day to day costs of a baby (nappies and food). Save up for the big things before it is born. You'll end up with plenty of clothes if you have family/friends etc. Just make sure each knows what age to buy so you end up with a nice mix of ages.

Your income is actually perfectly doable for a family with a newborn as your rent is lower than most people's mortgages.

Post on the debt free board, they will probably say your electricity is too high and that there is a lot of scope to cut down a lot of the other spending you do. You obviously haven't had the best grasp of money as you are 23 with debts of £13,500 without mentioning if you have any students loans etc. but all is not lost.

Jon_B_2

Wow over £200 a month on gas and elec. Do you live in a Mansion? Myself and my partner only pay £61 DD a month for both! https://www.uswitch.com sonny jim.