HELP !!! Pay Plan or Baines & Enrst, DMP or Bankruptcy

Deep_In_Debt

I live on about £80pm food. I don't buy cleaning and household products every month...it's not that I am dirty, but those sort of things seem to last a while so often £80 is just on food which is manageable.

Ames

immoral_angeluk wrote: »

Ames. £60 for food? Is that realistic? I know people are here are all about cutting everything down but long term that might not be feasible unless the OP made some MASSIVE cutbacks in her household shopping.
The British Bankers Association(with the money advice trust) trigger figures set the level of housekeeping for one person (without disability or special dietary requirements) at £280 with extra amount for other people in the household... basically that's the 'guideline' figure than Mr Joe UK Average is expected to spend on food/toiletries and anything above this is likely to be queried. Anything below this and creditors would not be able to query it. There are also other allowances for travel, telephone and 'other spending' too.

I hope that doesn't sound patronising.. not my intention :eek: Just giving the 'official' view as to what's allowable

In my experience most single people I've had and done financial statements for have been comfortable around the £100-£150 mark for their household shopping.

That doesn't sound patronising, it's just the figure that seems to be bandied around on here a lot. I've had a play around with meal plans assuming I could cook them and it should be possible, although I'd be a lot more comfortable at £80 a month. I'm truly shocked that a single person is 'allowed' up to £280, I don't think I could spend that much on food if I tried, unless I ate out most nights!

I'd be interested to know what would be allowed for 'entertainment', as CCCS told me £15 a month was the maximum, but people on here at the same time (it was a couple of years ago) were allowed enough to go for a night out and have a takeaway kebab afterwards!

fermi

Ames wrote: »

I'm truly shocked that a single person is 'allowed' up to £280

The trigger figure are actually supposed to be:

The trigger figures represent pre-agreed levels for certain areas of discretionary household expenditure. The trigger figures help identify levels of monthly expenditure deemed reasonable when completing the CFS. You will not need to explain the financial statement to creditors unless the trigger figures are exceeded.

CFS = Common Financial Statement, which is the basis for I&E for the likes of CAB and other not for profit debt advice services.

However, they are very wide categories......

chipsmum

Are the CFS trigger figures available anywhere to view or are they secret ? I am not trying to see how much I can get away with but just want to know what is likely to be accepted without query e.g. I live in a rural area and drive 300 miles a week to the city to work so have high diesel costs.
Fuel is very expensive in my part of the country anyway.
I am also on LPG gas which is really expensive compared to mains gas but this could be cancelled out as I have my own well so have no water rates. Do they take geographical differences into account ?