oppps I did it again

downnotout

I can always tell when I am getting into a bigger mess, I subconsciously end up back on MSE. For the past week or so I have been using an app on my phone that tracks my finances, and then yesterday I got the Council Tax final demand Long story short I sat down with MrsDNO and talked about where we are up to, we are in a big big mess.
The week before Christmas my mother turned up on my door step homeless and split up with her boyfriend, like a fool I fell for it and took her in. A couple of weeks later she was gone, along with my washing machine, freezer full of food, sofa and microwave. I have no idea where she is and no way of contacting her. I suspect she has moved back with her boyfriend and moved away with him, She has re directed some of her mail to my house and I have got her Council Tax bill. Should I be worried about this? I have my own CTax arrears to sort :rotfl:

We do not have huge debts with one company as such, but many many debts all at the £500 mark. Off the top of my head:
£503 Littleforrest catalogue
£450 SIL creditcard
£850 MrsDNO Creditcard
£545 Council Tax arrears
£1600 loan I have not paid for years

The upshot of all this is that we do not earn enough to cover our outgoings and we are in a mess. I do feel relieved that MrsDNO is quite keen to sort this together. So now we are going to sit down and work out a plan. wish us luck

Sessie

Welcome (back?)!

As you know you will find oodles of help and support here.

You're in the right place both by being here and also in your head. No hiding from it, facing it and finding ways to move on. Well done (not meant to sound patronising, sorry if it does).

I am so sorry to hear about your mum too - you need to understand that what she does is HER problem and not yours (difficult I know). You can only be responsible for what YOU do.

The Boards I find useful are Old Style - for ways of eating more cheaply and stretching food and Grabbit - Food and Groceries for details of who has the best offers at which supermarket etc... You can then plan meals for a week around what's on offer (topics galore on Old Style of ideas for this).

I wish you all the best and will be back to see how you are getting on!

x

downnotout

Thank you, we are trying to figure out how to feed a family of 4 on 20 quid this week lol I guess alot of pasta is in the offing. We have food in but nothing to make a meal with if that makes sence?

downnotout

They say that a lot can happen in a week, and boy is that true.
Monday saw a nasty DD that I had not accounted for to leave my account and practically wipe out our tax credits, meaning in short, we have had to spend the week at the In laws. That in itself wouldn't be a problem normally, however knowing the reason you are not at home is because you cant afford to feed your family certainly did touch a nerve. This has followed a hectic week where MrsDNO and myself have worked 70+ hours each this week in the hope that at some point it will bump start the finances later down the line. This followed by late friday night MrsDNO breaking down in tears and telling me that she is pregnant. Now if we were not in such a financial mess we would have been overjoyed, we had a mis carriage in october last year so pressure is back on again.

Current debt level is around the 10k mark, and this is something we had hoped to clear before adding to the family, however this now seems an uphill struggle or nigh on impossible task. Clearing debt and financing a baby with low income is not an easy task, add to this that on April 6th we will be losing our WTC it just seems that we are in a bigger mess than we could have ever imagined.

MrsDNO and me are going to have to sit down and talk about how we are going to overcome this, if not clearing the debt, at least getting it down to something manageable. wish us luck i think we will need it.

downnotout

Well today was pay day and 800 in 500 out on debts. I have mixed emotions to be fair, extremely happy that we have chopped a wedge of debt off, but then a little flat. The realisation that without past mistakes we would have a healthy 500 quid in our account. Such is life short term (maybe 12 months or so) of sheer hardship should but us back on track financially and then hopefully a brighter future x

elantan

downnotout wrote: »

Thank you, we are trying to figure out how to feed a family of 4 on 20 quid this week lol I guess alot of pasta is in the offing. We have food in but nothing to make a meal with if that makes sence?

do you have a local soup kitchen type place? or a local food bank charity? i worked in a soup kitchen and we often had families in ... yes it isnt great but feeding a family of 4 for a week on £20 isnt going to be easy ( check the os board though ... if anyone can they can)

it may however help for future weeks

have you ever snowballed your debts?

downnotout

Thanks for your reply, our weekly shopping bill is around 40 quid and we do manage most weeks, hopefully now mrsDNO is back a work the income will raise a little and we can crack on with getting rid of our debts. We have used the snowball calculator and the order of debt repayment is something we are going to stick too, however we have run up 900 quid on sister in laws credit card and although the interest is 0% for another 4 months it's the owing sister in law and the sor of moral high ground she gets with it. We have paid 300 off it today leaving a balance of 600, and giving her card back to her.
We have also done a forecast of money in and money out, having 70 quid a week for shopping and fuel we should start to feel the benefits at the end o march.

elantan

thats good news then ... the light must appear a wee bit brighter at the end of the tunnel ... it's still a wee bit away but it your getting closer to it every month

downnotout

Yeah it just feels a long way off at the moment, but I feel fortunate to be able to pa off 500 quid this month .

elantan

thats a good amount to pay off in a month ... i have had to divide mine by 100 months ... so i am here for the long haul lol

his_missus

downnotout wrote: »

Well today was pay day and 800 in 500 out on debts. I have mixed emotions to be fair, extremely happy that we have chopped a wedge of debt off, but then a little flat. The realisation that without past mistakes we would have a healthy 500 quid in our account. Such is life short term (maybe 12 months or so) of sheer hardship should but us back on track financially and then hopefully a brighter future x

I know that feeling when, every month a third of my wage is eaten up by loan repayment and another chunk pays of CC debt. We've had weeks when we've lived off beans on toast and beans n jacket spuds as money was so tight.

Regarding mum's council tax bill - have you informed them she's not living with you, just in case...

Hope you find things more manageable and good luck to you both on the news of Mrs DNO's pregnancy