Immoral_angel's Debt Diary

immoral_angeluk

March Budget/Debt Challenge!

Money in -
Ste Wages - £887.37
Sar SMP - £432

Total - £1319.37

Money Out -
Bills - £847 (approx)
Driving Lessons - £40
(assuming Ste passes his test which is coming up but I'm not telling you when. :P)
Food budget - £180
Petrol budget - £30

Total - £1097

Difference +/- - £222


Weekly budget - £51.80 (£7.40 per day)




Debt Targets -

1. [STRIKE]Put aside £99 saved from council tax[/STRIKE]
2. Save all tax credits - (£82.43 on [STRIKE]28th Feb[/STRIKE], 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th)
3. Save all of child benefit - £116.60
4. Save as much of weekly budget as possible
5. Pay off Dotty P's by 31st March
6. Have a nice chunk towards Barclaycard by end of March

Target Savings for March - £627.75

Snaggles

It definitely looks achieveable....good luck!

Sounds as though you and Steve are starting to get into more of a routine with Kaitlyn now. I know you have been finding it hard, but the way you are coping with it all is really inspiring. I know I will be FAR worse.......!

You haven't got many debts to tackle now - bet it feels great every time you cross another one off.

JET34

Well IA if anyone can do it you can!!
I wish you the best of luck and GOOD LUCK to Ste for when his driving test is!! :j :j

immoral_angeluk

My friend has just called (The one who works at the nursery I've applied for the job at.) with the figures for wages/childcare. Basically, wages wise I would be on £4.61 until I turn 22 on the 4th June, and would then be on £5.35 which works out at a take home of £781.49 a month. The childcare for the girls would be £784.87 which includes a 30% discount which is a lot better than I thought TBH for 2 full time places. Have crunched some numbers on the entitledto.co.uk website which has said we'd get £249 (£996 a month based on a 4 weds month.) a week for the coming year, and then £179 a week (£716) next year. Have got to call the tax credit office and confirm this but it's looking like we'll be much better off for me going back to work. Apparently the manager said that we could also pay weekly which would be a lot easier because of the tax credits BUT they would need a months nursery fees in advance. :eek:

Once I've spoken to the tax credits people Ste and I need to sit down and think about it carefully. We'll be tonnes better off if what I've worked out is right but it would mean putting off Barclaycard for a bit while we got the nearly £800 advance nursery fees together. :eek:

Argh! What do I do!!!

Snaggles

If you feel like you really want this job, I would go for it. Knowing you, it will only delay your Barclaycard payment slightly, and you may be able to clear the rest of the debts more quickly once you are back at work. Plus the job does seem ideal, working at the same nursery that is looking after your two young children.

Good luck!

immoral_angeluk

Right well decision made. Just called tax credits and they're saying because our joint income would be 24k that we wouldn't get ANY help with childcare so we'd be working for a loss each month as we'd go down to £26 a week CTC.. Nightmare. Well at least there's no decision to be made now. I can't afford to go back to work and it's as simple as that.

So looks like we're going to knuckle down and pay off as much as humanly possible before we lose my income altogether come May. :eek: I don't get how entitledto.co.uk can tell me I'd have our childcare covered plus more and then the tax credits computer says we wouldn't get squat!

Oh well. We'll just have to soldier on and look at maybe going back to work when Ashli gets her free sessions. Part of me is absolutely gutted though as I was beginning to lok forward to having my independance back and being able to contribute to the family rather that just being a housewife which I was always adimant I'd never become. Gutted.

Anyway, on a brighter note it means we don't have to worry about finding the money for the advance fees and can plow everything into paying off debts before May. Plus Ste will be happy when he passes his test because he'll have full run of the car. lol.

Ah well! Back to concentrating on paying off debts!

TallGirl

Imoral Angel - strange about the Tax Credit issue with the Childcare fees. I think it might be worth looking at it again in April when the rate goes up I am sure that cannot be right. It will be easier to calculate from April as they do it for the whole of the tax year 07/08 and I assume you are not starting work until then anyway. Also make sure they don't mess up with your age as if you are under 25 you can't claim WTC unless you have Children.
Tax Credits are a nightmare so just double check.
Otherwise keep up the good work you are doing great.

Snaggles

I would ring them back and double check too - our joint income is more than £24k (just), and we get child tax credits (well, we don't, because we are paying back an overpayment, but technically we ARE entitled to some help with childcare).

immoral_angeluk

Ste called the tax credits tonight and we are entitled to help. Thank god! Don't know what that other woman worked out but she must have been drunk when I called. lol! The guy on the phone quoted us £169 a week which works out that we'd only have to add £100 or so to make up the fees and we'd end up with nearly double the spare money every month after bills, food and petrol so going to definately go for it. Apparently if you do your NVQ level 3 qualification with them and pass they give you a £250 'Well done' as well. Bonus!
Just have to go to the interview now, whenever that is. lol.

Spendless

HI IA _ Been offline for a couple of days and just started reading this thread and saw what TC had said re childcare and was so worried that you'd turned job down before I could post. TC have informed both me and my sis incorrectly that you do not get help with childcare over £24K but people on this site with a good knowledge of tyhe tax credit system;) have said otherwise and the entitledto website has always confirmed that. I know you also have another thread going about whether to go to work f-time or not but I'll give my view on here. I'd go for it, use the money to blast your debt and then if you feel it's too much for you, you can always give it up then, or look for more part-time work. I know you were also asking about when funding comes thru for March babies when they reach 3. Both mine have March birthdays and I got the funding from beg of May. All nurseries administer it diffferently though, but if you work on May next year as a rough idea, you shouldn't be too far out.