I need help, major debt

smokybabe

If you were to work above 16 hours you can claim up to 80% of the childcare back through the tax credit system (child care element) if you use an accredited child minder, nursery etc. You can use the tax credit website to pop in some figures and see what you might be eligible for in the section (are you eligible for tax credits). Just a thought, as this could free you up to work during the day, as you are already claiming tax credits it should not take too long to sort out as it is a change of circumstance and not a new claim. However you would probably have to meet the fees for a couple of weeks until the payments come through.

chevalier

There are some things you can do online, to increase your income. You could apply to complete surveys that pay in points (which get turned into vouchers) or some sites pay a small amount of cash. As you have small children you could join https://www.mumsopinions.co.uk, which offers surveys (for cash) that are particularly about children and baby products.

If you did get work, they may run a nursery voucher scheme, where you save on national insurance payments, but get vouchers to pay towards nursery fees. Both you and your OH can apply for them (or perhaps your OH could suggest his firm set a scheme up, it doesn't cost the company anything).

Depending on the ages of your children, have you thought about using reusable nappies? The intitial cost can be quite high, but some councils offer discounts, or nappy laundering service, or the nappy packs can be bought on ebay quite cheaply. But using reusables will save you a lot of money in the medium to long term.

Do you have anything you can sell on ebay/amazon etc? To raise some short term cash, especially anything new on the lead up to Christmas?

You may also wish to check the ppi on the mortgage, some of these policies are not very good, ie they only pay out in a very narrow band of circustances. It would save you £20 odd a month if you felt you could ditch this.

Best of luck
chev

tyllwyd

smokybabe wrote:

If you were to work above 16 hours you can claim up to 80% of the childcare back through the tax credit system (child care element) if you use an accredited child minder, nursery etc.

I wouldn't get too excited about this! I tried claiming it, but my OH's salary was too high and the amount I was awarded was promptly reduced to £0 when his earnings were taken into account. It's worth a try claiming, of course, but before you sign anything make sure you check what they are likely to award you.

xela_17

You should have a closer look at what you pay to each credit card. Do you just pay minimum amounts or do you pay some extra? If you pay some extra, you could save yourself some interest by paying them off in the right order, i.e. most expensive APRs first. Go to https://www.whatsthecost.co.uk and it will help you work this out (very easy - just plugging numbers in and it does it for you).

ps well done for cutting up cards.

iceicebaby

Hiya.

Firstly well done for starting the process off.

The only thing I have to add to all the excellent advice you have had is that if your hubby works Sunday to Wednesday, then if you get a job Thursday Friday and Saturdays then you wouldn't need childcare.

zippee

Thanks again everyone.

Childtax credit or whatever you call it, we're not entitled to it, my H earns to much they reckon. I will have to look into the childcare side of it. My eldest is out of nappies and potty trained so thats a saving, we buy our nappies in bulk for my youngest

I'm looking for part time work for a Monday and Tuesday thats the days my H is home from work, it seems hard to find the companies around here don't seem to like job shares etc.. I'm still plugging and looking about.

I feel so much better for cutting the cards up and I wouldn't even dream of putting secured debt on the house.

We do pay the mininum payments as we can't seem to pay anymore.

I am sorting all my bits out that we don't use baby wise and selling them on Ebay.. I am going through everything and seeing what we can cut back on, yesterday we went the extra miles to Asda and done our shopping for £40 only buying what we need to make meals up from what we have in the freezer, we bought a turkey for Xmas which added a few more pounds but the way I see it if we buy bits and bobs weekly we won't have to find the money in one go.

I want to Say Thanks to all of you, your all so helpful I was worried about posting as I felt so embarressed about the amount of debt we got into. In hindsigt we probably should never have moved when we did, bu if we didn't the house prices would have gone sky high soon and we didn't want to stay in the area we were in.

Zippee

roxy7699

Hiya,
Glad your feeling better about all this. How old is your eldest, as the government also offer I think its 5 half day sessions a week to all people with 3 /4 year old.
some nurseries offer the money off the fees and others require payment upfront but they then rebate you a month or so later - worth looking into as its been a godsend to me

zippee

Hiya Roxy my eldest is 32 mths, shes due to start the local nursery in April. I didn't know you could get these vouchers

Storm

Hi Zippee,

I sympathise with the childcare vs wages problem - it doesn't seem to be monetarily worth it for many mums to work!

Have you looked into everything you can do online to get a bit of extra money coming in? Things like surveys, quidco, pigsback etc can boost some people's income, plus sign up for mystery shopping.

Congrats on cutting up the cards & on taking the first steps to clearing your debts.

roxy7699

zippee wrote:

Hiya Roxy my eldest is 32 mths, shes due to start the local nursery in April. I didn't know you could get these vouchers

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/improvingquality/guidance/freenurseryeducation/

Have a look at the FAQ to the right as well.