New to DFW any advice appreciated

cherylelizabeth1

Hi, hope u don't mind me asking but just wondering what the £120pm child related expenses pays for?

blackberrycurved_2

Thanks Everyone.
My work yes I have an agent so I have maybe 4 things she is actively trying to sell so all things are possible it is the right now I seem to be struggling with. My child's dad used to pay £25 a week he was made unemployed in November and pays £5 a week ironically he worked for job centre plus as a job advisor. So that is £20 I forgot to include but as I'm £80 down it doesn't seem to go anywhere. A lodger is a possibility I have done that before and was able to get £150 a month but my bills went through the roof with all the extra showers and she kept putting the heating on and wasn't so tidy. But maybe I could look at that again if it was the right person.
Tixy i shopped for gas and electric over christmas I'm on the cheapest. I'm not on a water meter so I'll look into that. Phone includes wifi and internet and unlimited calls. Mobile is used for work, I'm on orange I'll ring them monday and see if they have anything cheaper. Maintenance for car should be budgeted but there isn't anything left so if anything goes wrong I don't use it until I have the money to get it fixed I don't have the car serviced. Same with clothes I can't buy anything new at the moment. My girl wears her school uniform all day and as we're a similar size we share jeans t shirts and sports clothes at the weekends. Secured loan is a car loan which ends march 2012. Mortgage is fixed for next 4 months. The APR on my cards are different for parts of the balance they are 0% or 3% or larger depending on when I've moved money to them to get a better deal. M & S card was 0% a new one and I don't start making a minimum payment for 3 months. Overdrafts yes I have 2 of £1700 each because I have 2 accounts which is partly how I juggle - I owe £1200 on one and £1500 on the other. I need to think outside the box maybe.

hp48910

I'm quite new to all this too and can't offer any advice other than what has already been suggested but I'm sure others will be along soon with some helpful advice.

From reading your thread, I really admire the fact that you are actively striving to keep on top of your finances whilst juggling irregular income/tax/maintenance. You work hard and obviously have great skill in the arts to make the money you do in a good year. It's a shame the income can't be regulated.

Good luck with your journey. I've subscribed to your thread.
Take care :O)

amorge

anything you can sell on ebay? Regardless of how useless you think it is, it may be worth something to someone? If you can keep going until March you'll then have just over £100 extra from the car loan

Tixy

Do you know what your mortgage rate will be after the 4months? presumably it will be your banks SVR, and hopefully will be cheaper and bring that down quite a bit?

As you've already put selling the house and downsizing is the 'obvious' solution but of course if the house won't sell isn't a solution at all. I know the market is generally very stagnant at the moment but have you had many viewings? The house selling section here on MSE might be worth a browse on if you are struggling to sell or want some pointers on what else you could do etc (I've been reading on there to pick up tips ready to put my place on the market soon).

blackberrycurved_2

Thank you so much hp Tixy and amorge
You sort of struggle on because you have to, don't you it's scary to think about. My mortgage rate should go down and yes £100 better off without the car loan. I'll think about e bay in the morning but not sure we have anything at all to sell. I'll check out the house moving thread, I've had about 6 viewings in 12 months there are so many houses up for sale none of them seem to be moving at all. I suppose the little things make a difference but I have to do something bigger to clear some of these debts.

ladysparklexx

I would hold off looking at a water meter till you have decided whether to take a lodger in as Im not sure but this might make it a bit more. Instead of a lodger have a look into foreign student accomadation (sorry not to good at spelling), you sign up for these through local colleges and they can pay quite well for a short amount of time so this might help out here and there if you dont want someone all the time.

Dime_Bar

Not sure if any of these are feasible but worth thinking about.

-Would it be possible to rent out your house and move to a smaller rented one? The difference may be worth it (Obviously i am not sure how big your house is)

-Can you sell any of your pieces directly yourself to old customer etc

-Have you though about doing your own classes directly?

-I know you need to be able to do the contract work when it comes in but could you find something part time not related to your skills to help boost the income?

sp1987

What sort of things do you make? Are they the sort of things that could be sold at a craft/arts type fair? Are there shops in the area that could sell it/them for commission? I see lots of nice paintings being sold in cafes etc for commission.

I am imagining you making mini sculptures but I would imagine my mind has run away with me, lol.

chevalier

Could you sell any of your artwork directly on ebay? Have you heard of a sight called Redbubble? YOu can upload artwork online, and people print off prints of it. Might that help.

However I would agree with others that maybe you need to look at get some stable income from somewhere. Is your DD old enough to leave in the evening if you could get bar work?
chev