Oh goodness I've messed up...advice please!

silvercar

Do you understand about prioritising debts? Your rent should be the most important because without it you could lose your home. As it is, getting into arrears could easily result in you being given notice to leave at the end of the fixed term. Add together the costs of moving home and realise that these arrears could end up costing you a lot of money, let alone the time and hassle of dealing with a move.

If you can't cut down on food, then let some other bills fall into arrears. Isn't it easier to explain to the nursery that benefits have messed up your childcare payments so you are behind with your nursery fees, than explain to a court that you used housing money to pay for other things?

narabanekeater

OP I dont usually post on these boards but id just like to make sure that you know that you must be working at least 16 hours average every week to get your childcare part paid by tax credits. Till April they will pay up to 80% then from April of this year its up to 70% so not matter what the amount you will be getting shall decrease by at least 10% in April
Would a childminder be an option as when your baby is born youll have 3 in childcare which im sure will cost at least £12 an hour in a nursery but probabily more. Do you earm more than that per hour?

alasia

Jowo - I've looked into CSA and I know how much I'd get, but the timescales on the actual csa website mean it's really not worth my while applying; "within 3 months" to start collecting details, "within 6 months" to start collecting payments...maybe not quite that long but bad enough.
I know the town he lives in but not his address, and where he works but he says they pay cash (sounds unlikely to me in this day and age, but if it's true it'll make things difficult). It'll take them ages to even trace him in the first place.

silvercar - yes, thank you I am well aware of priority debts, but as I said I was 100% sure I'd get the tax credits and I notified the letting agent of the delay in payment, which they were fine with - it's only because I took the children out of that first nursery and put them in a more suitable one after just one paid session; as I said I'm hoping the fact I phoned them straight after they switched nurseries means this letter I got was just an automated one and my updated claim is still active - it's complicated to explain, but anyway basically, I'm going to get onto the tax credis first thing tomorrow and see what's what - at the moment I'm just speculating.

I've just worked out, I'll have £50-£60 to pay the LA agent tomorrow, the usual £550 rent on 2nd March, £140 on the 14th, 15th march I'll have this £100 plus however much else I can make this week. That's without wages and assuming my tax credits stay the same as they are now - if TC go up I'll be better off again, and I'm going to aim to make an extra £50-£100 a week to go towards the arrears.

I really don't want to start missing any more bills, as if I do that I'll just be getting myself more in the mess.

And I am taking this advice on board, just dont like being called irresponsible/a bad mother as I do this with no support whatsoever and my children are always happy, healthy, fed on a balanced diet and clean. I made a mistake, yes, but I thought I was acting in my childrens' best interests at the time...

DVardysShadow

alasia wrote: »

... But how DARE anyone say that they feel sorry for my children, or can't afford them - I made one f*****g slip up and am now paying for it, get a grip and calm down!

If you have only made one slip up while f*****g and have 3 children, they must be triplets.

The first time I signed on, it was September, mild nights [5 to 10 C iirc] and there was a single mother talking to here mate about her claim and she was effectively rehearsing her claim about heating for the kids. She had ice on the inside of her windows apparently.

The advantage of coming here and having your story torn to shreds is that there is no comeback. Plus the advice, though it is harsh, is generally the best. But people are harsh on BS. So it does not go down well to hear that you will spend £60 on childcare to earn £50. As for 3 kids with the same absent father whose family will not give support, once is an accident, twice is carelessness and the third is deliberate.

It is not necessarily politically correct to say this. I understand your desire to do your best for your kids, but sometimes the best thing you could do for them is postpone having them until you can provide for them. And if you really are into doing your best for them, you spend your LHA on keeping a roof over their heads come hell or high water.

Young lady, you need to buck up your ideas, or you will spend the next 25 years as a victim of the system.

alasia

narabanekeater wrote: »

OP I dont usually post on these boards but id just like to make sure that you know that you must be working at least 16 hours average every week to get your childcare part paid by tax credits. Till April they will pay up to 80% then from April of this year its up to 70% so not matter what the amount you will be getting shall decrease by at least 10% in April
Would a childminder be an option as when your baby is born youll have 3 in childcare which im sure will cost at least £12 an hour in a nursery but probabily more. Do you earm more than that per hour?

Hi, thanks for the info but I work 20 hours at the moment, it's just I'm paid by the minute and it works out to less than minimum wage

My baby is due in July, my other children are 4 in august and 3 in september; therefore by the time the baby is in childcare my eldest will have started school (in sept) and my daughter will be eligible for the funded nursery places - so I will only have to pay childcare for the baby

Jowo_2

alasia wrote: »

Jowo - I've looked into CSA and I know how much I'd get, but the timescales on the actual csa website mean it's really not worth my while applying; "within 3 months" to start collecting details, "within 6 months" to start collecting payments...maybe not quite that long but bad enough.
I know the town he lives in but not his address, and where he works but he says they pay cash (sounds unlikely to me in this day and age, but if it's true it'll make things difficult). It'll take them ages to even trace him in the first place.

....

They have plenty of tools at their disposal.

http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/about/our-powers.asp

Are you in an abusive relationship because there is high resistance or timidity on your part to ask the father of your 3 children to pay anything towards their upkeep - what decent father let's his children risk homelessness and hunger?!

Contact Womens Aid if you are a victim of domestic abuse - this doesn't solely apply to those receiving physical violence, it also applies to those who are controlling, who wreak economic hardship on their partners, too.

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

sarahevie

Having read the OPs thread from 6 months ago she was almost £1000 in arrears to the last landlord in June.

Now Feb (3 months in this tenancy) and she is already a month overdue.

Then people wonder why landlords don't give LHA tenants a chance.

I appreciate the OP is doing her best, but I don't regard £200 a week as low income, our bills are £35 a week, food £40 a week. If she lived with our budget it would leave her £125 a WEEK for everything else- I personally think that's enough

alasia

DVardysShadow wrote: »

If you have only made one slip up while f*****g and have 3 children, they must be triplets.

The first time I signed on, it was September, mild nights [5 to 10 C iirc] and there was a single mother talking to here mate about her claim and she was effectively rehearsing her claim about heating for the kids. She had ice on the inside of her windows apparently.

The advantage of coming here and having your story torn to shreds is that there is no comeback. Plus the advice, though it is harsh, is generally the best. But people are harsh on BS. So it does not go down well to hear that you will spend £60 on childcare to earn £50. As for 3 kids with the same absent father whose family will not give support, once is an accident, twice is carelessness and the third is deliberate.

It is not necessarily politically correct to say this. I understand your desire to do your best for your kids, but sometimes the best thing you could do for them is postpone having them until you can provide for them. And if you really are into doing your best for them, you spend your LHA on keeping a roof over their heads come hell or high water.

Young lady, you need to buck up your ideas, or you will spend the next 25 years as a victim of the system.

I'm sorry but what has your first paragraph got to do with me, exactly?

As for my children...the first two were planned. Then my ex left when the kids were 5 months and 18 months old...this one was an accident, yes - but more people get pregnant on the pill than I realised until after it happened.

As I keep saying; I have 2 jobs - one gives me the potential to earn over £100 a week but isn't very nice to do, the other requires a lot of hours sitting around waiting for calls and is paid for the time you're actually spending on a call. £50 was an average figure; as I said before I've made £100 today alone in 3 hours (in the 'other' job), so if I can do that every week I'm fine - I'm NOT spending £60 to earn £50 and to reiterate again; the whole point of putting them into nursery was to get the childcare paid by tax credits - so I was supposed to be spending NOTHING to earn £50.

tomitma

alasia wrote: »

No, his family won't help, theyre not interested.

I havent justified anything...as it is, I've made £100 today but wont see it for 2 weeks - but it's a start.

But how DARE anyone say that they feel sorry for my children, or can't afford them - I made one f*****g slip up and am now paying for it, get a grip and calm down!

My food bill WILL NOT go below £80 a fortnight and as I said, I DO already live off cereal most of the time, saving the food for the kids.

Ahem more like three slip ups

alasia

Jowo wrote: »

They have plenty of tools at their disposal.

http://www.csa.gov.uk/en/about/our-powers.asp

Are you in an abusive relationship because there is high resistance or timidity on your part to ask the father of your 3 children to pay anything towards their upkeep - what decent father let's his children risk homelessness and hunger?!

Contact Womens Aid if you are a victim of domestic abuse - this doesn't solely apply to those receiving physical violence, it also applies to those who are controlling, who wreak economic hardship on their partners, too.

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/

He is controlling, and has been abusive in the past (waits to get flamed for having children with an a**e now), but it's more that there's just no point. I ask for money, he agrees but never has it at the time because he's got the mindset of a single person who just spends his money on him. A typical example is he came over thurs to see the children for the first time in 8 weeks and asked me for 60p towards bus fare home (I refused) . It's just not worth the hassle, really it isn't.

I appreciate the OP is doing her best, but I don't regard £200 a week as low income, our bills are £35 a week, food £40 a week. If she lived with our budget it would leave her £125 a WEEK for everything else- I personally think that's enough

I agree. Maybe the trouble is I switched all my bills to be paid on the same day of the month? I don't know.

My bills are as follows (all monthly:

gas/electric £88
tv license - usually £11.70 (double payments atm due to failed DD)
water - usually £21.70 but again, on double payments so £40-odd.
rent - £90
BT (phone, internet and tv; all needed for work except tv but the aerial wire is shot so wont pick up analogue signal) - £53
Contract phone (stupidly!! taken out 3 months ago trying to save on buying pay as u go top ups) - £30

Erm, that's it I think.

I put them all on the same day of the month, so that I'd have one week with no money, one week with more spare; didnt work out like that though.