Can't make ends meet and debt will only grow

breakingpoint

Hi all,
Am new to posting but have dipped in and out reading for some time. Currently my debt stands at £4359.71. Ashamed to say £660 I owe to my kids' bank accounts. I gave up my job last September as my boss was making life totally intolerable. Since then I haven't been able to find work. Approximately 1/3 of my husband's annual income of around £23k is overtime. Currently all overtime has stopped. We have 5 children aged 9 - 16. We live in an old difficult to heat house. Every budget I try leaves me in deficit every month. I don't want the debt to gorw but am really struggling.
We live in a rural area of NE Scotland so are limited with available shops and it is difficult to reduce our £50/week diesel bill. We will probably get through to pay day this week with the help of a £50 handout from a kind relative and paying in all our saved copper and silver into the bank. After this week, who knows? At the moment am not sure where we will get the money from to make our mortgage payment next month, other than increasing our debts.

Copied from Diary where posted in error
Owing £4359.71 as at 22/03/11

dancingfairy

Hi - the first thing to do is a budget - there's a good one at the makesenseofcards website called an SOA calculator - it ensures you don't forget to include christmas, birthdays, car repairs etc. Once it's all down in black and white you can see where you stand.
Firstly you should pay your priority bills - these include things like council tax, your mortgage, electric, food, clothes etc.
Secondly you've possibly got some other bills which aren't so much of a priority where you could see if any savings could be made - things like a mobile bill ,internet etc.
Any unsecured creditors will have to made do with what's left - they simply can't have what you haven't got - they can be like children throwing their toys out of the pram and will invariably lie/threaten/bully/coerce/manipulate/persuad/be nice - well anything they think will get their money back - they haven't quite told anyone to sell their granny yet but I wouldn't be surprised . You should deal with them in writing only as they can't use some of their favourite scare tactics then (and 99% of the time they are things they might like to do but frankly are hot air and complete rubbish)
When you have done your budget don't forget you can seek help from one of the debt charities such as National Debtline, CCCS or your local CAB- just don't pay anybody for help- it's not neccessary.
There are various options available to you but without the budget it's going to be difficult to help further so getting that done and posted up here is a good starting point.
Best of luck
df

dancingfairy

SOA calculator here:
http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

I can't imagine how hard it is to use the kids money but if it needed to be done then it needed to be done and keeping them fed and a roof over their head was and still is the priority so don't go too hard on yourself - I'm sure things will work out.
df

[Deleted User]

here's the link to the SOA calculator: http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

D9

EDIT: Dancing Fairy beat me to it!

Hannah_10

£15k-£16k is not enough to support 5 kids and 2 adults plain and simple. I'm not surprised you're struggling. I would have thought you'd be entitled to benefits.

First I think you should run the benefits checker at http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx
Then ring the DWP or the Inland Revenue, or whoever is indicated first thing in the morning (google to find when they open, might be 8am) and apply for everything indicated, even if you think there's no chance, apply anyway, it wont even cost you a stamp.
Then I think you should get hold of the CAB and get an appointment to make double sure the benefits checker hasn't missed anything. It might take a couple of days to get an appointment, so this is last on the to-do list.

Hannah_10

PS: You used the kids money to feed the kids. I can think of no more important need. It is just the way it is.

breakingpoint

Doesn't look too bad when presented like this, however this calculation is based on my husband's last year's income so does not account for the fact there is currently no overtime. The monthly income now is around £1100. Also I think I have hugely underestimated groceries.



Household Information[/b]
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 5
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 0
Partners monthly income after tax....... 1672
Benefits................................ 935
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2607

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 373
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 156
Electricity............................. 106
Gas..................................... 200
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 47.5
Mobile phone............................ 75
TV Licence.............................. 12.43
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 0
Groceries etc. ......................... 500
Clothing................................ 100
Petrol/diesel........................... 200
Road tax................................ 17
Car Insurance........................... 35
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 40
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 112.7
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 86.4
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 100
Haircuts................................ 20
Entertainment........................... 20
Holiday................................. 180
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 2381.03


Assets
Cash.................................... 0
House value (Gross)..................... 200000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 500
Other assets............................ 30000
Total Assets............................ 230500


Secured & HP Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 28000....(373)......0
Total secured & HP debts...... 28000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
egg............................1312.22...26.78.....0
tesco..........................127.42....11........0
halifax........................710.07....15.62.....0
kids...........................660.......30........0
Total unsecured debts..........2809.71...83.4......-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,607
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 2,381.03
Available for debt repayments........... 225.97
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 83.4
Amount left after debt repayments....... 142.57

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 230,500
Total HP & Secured debt................. -28,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -2,809.71
Net Assets.............................. 199,690.29

_Persephone

£112.7 per month for buildings insurance?!

breakingpoint

yes, its building and contents. Due to Direct Lines way of dealing with last year's snow damage, they separated it into 4 claims which made us almost uninsurable due to an adverse claims history.

Hannah_10

There are some people from here feeding a family of four on £100 a month. Given your family is nearly twice that size it can be done on £200 a month. It became such a big project they got an outside website. Here it is. http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

Trying_to_be_good

Some of your bills are really high - gas, electric, phones, insurance - but you're showing a surplus at the end of the month, so should have enough money with a bit left over. Can you work out where this, and more, is going?

Is there a big item/expense you've missed? Budgets can only work if you include all the information in them.