How much do you live on per month?

mattwhite1

I really feel for a number of people on this thread.

My situation was that my wife suffers from mental illness and found it really difficult to hold down a job, or stay in FT employment for a long time. I was supporting us both, living in Surrey in a 2 bed maisonette (she has animals to keep her company, we needed space for her mental health to improve) on 21k a year. Sounds decent, but when the rent alone is £700+pm, then you realise that there is little left over. We got into debt, deeply in debt. Started out with a 2k credit card, then a 3k credit card, then inexlicably I was given a 9k credit card - these got paid off with a consolidation loan - kept the cards, ran them up again when my wife lost her job, then another consolidation loan - credit cards up again. Just spiralling out of control. If I knew then, what I know now - that I couldnt afford to buy a property even 9 years later then I would have IVA'd or gone bankrupt. Last year, I lost my job, the job that supported us both. I was paying £775 in debts each month, before living costs. If the car broke, credit card, a dental bill, credit card....it was a severe crutch.

I stopped paying my debts while I looked for new work. I got a new job, but literally weeks before this, I arranged 6 month payment breaks with all lenders. I have been working for 5 of those 6 months and managed to put away everything I would normally have paid into debt. Now, my debts (when they get paid again) will be £325 a month, and that gets paid in full by next year. I have no credit cards, and I owe nothing to them - the short settlements of 50% I put out there resolved that for me. Its hard looking at the bottom and seeing that you are standing on it.

For those who cant afford a freezer, I have been there. For those who cant afford to go out, I have been there. Its bizarre, but the best thing that ever happened to me was being made redundant from a job I was tired of, but too scared to let go. I now live in stoke, and am paying less for a house twice the size. I dont pay train fees of £250 a month as I can drive to work.

Redundancy payments, and being a little cute with the creditors helped me, and at 35 I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have £400 disposable income a month. That pays for going out, entertainment, clothing, etc. We dont go out a lot, and I might buy a bottle of scotch a month. I listen to music on spotify. I even have some left over, and am sticking to this budget because I want to aim to clear my 2 year loan, in just over 6 months.

It can be done, and the answers are sometimes so far removed from your thinking that you havent even considered them.

Aesop

Nohope, Freecyle is a community incentive to not put things in landfill that can be used again, even if not working.

I used to give loads away on freecycle, I gave away a shredder that had jammed. The gentleman who came and took it from me, said he managed to take it apart, replace the part that was not working for a very small amount of money, less than the value of the shredder and hey presto, he had a working shredder for freeish, bar the replacement part.

http://www.freecycle.org/

if you click on the link above, you can find out if there is a freecycle group near you, if not, try Freegle,

http://www.ilovefreegle.org/

exactly the same concept.

it doesn't cost anything, except possibly the cost of collecting the item you request from the person.

You don't need to be on benefits or anything else. You read the e-mails that tell you what people are offering, respond to the ones you are interested in, and hopefully they choose you to be the recipient. You then arrange a mutual time for pick up or delivery, if they are generous enough to do this.

By the way, Freecylers and Freeglers do not appreciate "call me on xxxx", "I will come to collect it, tell me when." " I will take all of it".

whenever I replied to an advert, I always explained why I wanted the item. some Freecyclers/Freeglers, just offer to the first person to reply, others have a fair response policy, where they will wait a day for people to reply and then check all e-mails and choose someone they feel "deserve" the item.

There is also comet clearance, thanks to StartAgain, I learned about this.

http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/

Try your local free papers, people often advertise second hand items cheaply. Gumtree, and check shop windows that let people advertise things for sale.

Lucy1010

mattwhite1 wrote: »

I really feel for a number of people on this thread.

My situation was that my wife suffers from mental illness and found it really difficult to hold down a job, or stay in FT employment for a long time. I was supporting us both, living in Surrey in a 2 bed maisonette (she has animals to keep her company, we needed space for her mental health to improve) on 21k a year. Sounds decent, but when the rent alone is £700+pm, then you realise that there is little left over. We got into debt, deeply in debt. Started out with a 2k credit card, then a 3k credit card, then inexlicably I was given a 9k credit card - these got paid off with a consolidation loan - kept the cards, ran them up again when my wife lost her job, then another consolidation loan - credit cards up again. Just spiralling out of control. If I knew then, what I know now - that I couldnt afford to buy a property even 9 years later then I would have IVA'd or gone bankrupt. Last year, I lost my job, the job that supported us both. I was paying £775 in debts each month, before living costs. If the car broke, credit card, a dental bill, credit card....it was a severe crutch.

I stopped paying my debts while I looked for new work. I got a new job, but literally weeks before this, I arranged 6 month payment breaks with all lenders. I have been working for 5 of those 6 months and managed to put away everything I would normally have paid into debt. Now, my debts (when they get paid again) will be £325 a month, and that gets paid in full by next year. I have no credit cards, and I owe nothing to them - the short settlements of 50% I put out there resolved that for me. Its hard looking at the bottom and seeing that you are standing on it.

For those who cant afford a freezer, I have been there. For those who cant afford to go out, I have been there. Its bizarre, but the best thing that ever happened to me was being made redundant from a job I was tired of, but too scared to let go. I now live in stoke, and am paying less for a house twice the size. I dont pay train fees of £250 a month as I can drive to work.

Redundancy payments, and being a little cute with the creditors helped me, and at 35 I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I have £400 disposable income a month. That pays for going out, entertainment, clothing, etc. We dont go out a lot, and I might buy a bottle of scotch a month. I listen to music on spotify. I even have some left over, and am sticking to this budget because I want to aim to clear my 2 year loan, in just over 6 months.

It can be done, and the answers are sometimes so far removed from your thinking that you havent even considered them.

WOW! Inspiring, thanks for your input

mattwhite1

Welcome!

I know I havent exactly been straight with my creditors, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

When I lost my job I was in despair. As the only one in the house capable of holding down a long term job the pressure was on me. If I didnt lose my job, my creditors would not have agreed to a short settlement, and for that I am thankful.

I took a 25% pay cut when I moved too. I sit back and think that I could have been earning 25% more since July 2010, but would have only ever been able to afford the minimum repayments, and would realistically be no closer to my goal.

Now, my credit cards are cut, and my debts halved just in Feb. I cant get credit, and I am happy with that. I have always had great credit, but the current global financial situation was already putting paid to that.

Chin up everyone

crafty*kate

Ash1982 wrote: »

Flat Budget


Monthly
Rent £400
Council Tax
£78 Water £17
Electricity £45
BT £49
Mobile Phone £20
Cinema £13
TV Licence £12
Which £11
Gym £28
Food £150
Clothes £50
Eating/Drinking out £100
Credit Cards £25
Debt Repayment £545

£1,465
Salary £1,465
Disposable Income £0

Your disposable income is the stuff you spend on the cinema, the gym, Which, your clothes, drinking out etc....all the non-essential things.

This thread has really made me think. I will admit to often feeling sorry for myself, but this thread has made me re-do my budget twice and really think about where I am spending/saving/could do better.

Thank you, and my thoughts are with everyone who is struggling so hard.

Lucy1010

crafty*kate wrote: »

Your disposable income is the stuff you spend on the cinema, the gym, Which, your clothes, drinking out etc....all the non-essential things.

This thread has really made me think. I will admit to often feeling sorry for myself, but this thread has made me re-do my budget twice and really think about where I am spending/saving/could do better.

Thank you, and my thoughts are with everyone who is struggling so hard.

I agree Crafty*Kate, it really does make me realise that I might as well be loaded compared to some. I too want to do exactly as you and re-do my budget.

7roland8

Hi - have registered with frecycle but not used yet, so I'm no expert!

Would say anyone can join - google the one for your county.

You can then post a 'want' or perhaps see someone offering something you want - ask for a table top freezer - our neighbour had one so they do exist!

Aesop

7roland8 wrote: »

Hi - have registered with frecycle but not used yet, so I'm no expert!

Would say anyone can join - google the one for your county.

You can then post a 'want' or perhaps see someone offering something you want - ask for a table top freezer - our neighbour had one so they do exist!

most freecycle groups won't let you post a want first, until you have offered something. Even if it is a small something. Could be sainsbury's vouchers for the kids, something you were thinking of throwing away, but maybe useful to someone. Doesn't matter if no one wants it, after that you can post a want advert.

ani_26

crafty*kate wrote: »

Your disposable income is the stuff you spend on the cinema, the gym, Which, your clothes, drinking out etc....all the non-essential things.

This thread has really made me think. I will admit to often feeling sorry for myself, but this thread has made me re-do my budget twice and really think about where I am spending/saving/could do better.

Thank you, and my thoughts are with everyone who is struggling so hard.

Glad to be of assistance, crafty*kate. Disposable income, what is that? Thats the thing that makes me laugh about soa's. They can be ' tweaked ' as much as anyone cares to tweak them. But the harsh reality is, if you genuinely have'nt the money to cover essential outgoings, an soa is worthless. In fact, when i went to hand in my last soa to the or ,i was in a quandry as to how to fill it in, as i don't have a regular income, but i have regular outgoings. I'd only half filled it in. How shall i complete this ? Just give it here, they said, and that was the end of it.


Its worthless, meaningless to write on an soa, you have say £150 for food, £xx for entertainment, and the rest. You've got to have the income in the first place.


A freezer, to be honest is the least of my worries right now. I have other priorities to deal with first, financially. Maybe in the future?

Yes, i know alll about wtc, but i'm not eligble to claim, until the start of the next tax year. But first i have to get my NI contributions up to date, as theres been a ' mess up ' , by hmrc, or IS. Neither of them knows what has happened. But this is something else that has to be sorted, paid by the end of march, so i can apply for wtc.

Right, off to get ready for work. First stop, a cash machine to check my account, ( i can't check online ), and put a brave face on for today. I'm going to claw myself back from this, eventually. I can't give up, now. I've just got to survive march, somehow.


Have a good day, everyone

Nohope x

Billy-no-Money

Hi, late to this thread, just wanted to write something in defence of Aldi and Lidl!!

I guess what works best depends on where you live - we have a big Morrison's a couple of miles away, and an Aldi and Lidl about a mile from home. Not far from there we have the likes of Home Bargains, Wilkinson's and B&M so it's quite possible to do a circuit and get the best bargains from each.

What's helped for us is that previously we only had a Lidl, and could never quite get everything we needed and ended up back in Morrison's. However, a local Aldi has recently opened and now we find we rarely need to go to the big supermarket. It's taken a few weeks to find the best stuff and best prices but we're about there now.

The big thing I've noticed is that shopping is now far less stressful. Both our Aldi and Lidl are very calm places, no loud announcements (Asda is by far the worst for that), no background music (Morrison's seems to have a 'best of the eighties' CD and nothing else). Because we're in a seaside town there's a high pensioner population, and they tend to shop in Aldi and Lidl - many of those pensioners are very well off indeed, it certainly doesn't feel downmarket.

As for smelly people - I've encountered far more in Morrison's than anywhere else. There's one old man who wears a dirty old coat, odd wellies and smells strongly of stale urine. I followed him out once - he drives an almost-new Honda.

You really can't trust stereotypes and preconceptions!