Just found out im pregnant and we are in debt

Emjday

Hi everyone this is all pretty new to me
my and my partner live together he earns only £15000 annum and travels to work every day, we share a car, and i earn £18500 annum and walk to work next door, my job is also pretty good with maternity first 6 weeks paid and they have that basic child care scheme where i can get £250 something out of my wages every month that is not taxed towards childcare vouchers.
we rent a property with a private landlord so we have a pretty good deal with our house. anyways after all of our outgoings after pay day we are honestly left with probably £200 to buy food with, we dont go out, we dont spend money on anything else, the reason is we have already bought everything we wanted on creditcards!
we already have a £6000 loan we are paying off over 4 years but this year we have another £6000 that needs to be covered as we are paying interest on it every month, BUT my partners credit rating is shocking! and i have so many credit cards and loans all in my name and keep getting rejected! :mad:
im so worried as just found out im pregnant only 5 weeks and we need to make a decision, we want the baby of course but can we really live, i would only get the basic £500 maternity and I personally need £750 to cover my side of the bills!! as we are both employed would we get help with rent? council tax? i would go back to work full time but then we are going to pay for childcare so i am not sure if that would be worth it?
can anyone give me any advice???:(

FiFithepoodle

It is very difficult. Im 6 weeks pregnant with my second and also worrying about money.

No advice , sorry. but wish you all the best xx

RAS

Hi

Start by going to www.turn2us.org.uk to check out what support you will get. You need to know how much you will get when you are on maternity pay. Also work out what the Local Housing Allowance is as this affects what housing support you might get.

Then do an SOA and we may be able to help you reduce your costs.

littlesue

Take Ras's advise it can help you. I take it this pregnancy wasn't planned?. You wont be the first or last to have a baby and be in debt trust me, i have three and it took me a while before i finally pulled my head out the sand and did something about it. If you really find yourself struggling with debt talk to one of the free debt help lines, the cccs or national debt help line, they can and will help, they won't judge you. Trust me there arelways to cope, this forum is full of helpful people, you just have to ask.

I wish you all the best.

Determined_2b_Debt_Free

Definitely check out what you would get in the first instance. Then if you post your SOA as advised above, you can get advice on where you can save money. Then you have a little more idea of what your situation would be like both whilst on maternity leave AND after it.

Afterwards will depend who would look after the baby. Consider whether you could go part time, work from home, or whether OH's job is flexible. Do you fancy a career change - would your home be suitable to become a childminder (if your Landlord agreed)? Do you have any skills that mean you can work in the evenings or weekends so you don't have to pay childcare? (Childcare is expensive so if you can reduce what you are paying out, that's the key).

There could be so many options that you need to weigh up but there are lots of ways you can make it work.

Good luck with what you decide x

banks4u

Maybe your Partner can get a higher paid job to help support you. What does he do? are there jobs around where you live?

totallybroke_2

i must say i was in the same situation as op, my oh had to get a 2nd job and im basically working full time to pay our nursery fees, but we are looking at the long picture and hope that when dd goes to primary school i can just work the hours she is there and we will save a fortune

there is light at the end of the tunnel

chevalier

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

Here is the link to the soa (statement of affairs) calculator. Hopefully when you have all of your figures in black and white, you will feel strong enough to post it on here, so that we can make suggestions on where you could cut back.

It must be very daunting, growing a new life and having to deal with debts at the same time, so take care of yourself.
chev

magpiedawn

Hello
Just to wish you good luck with your decisions, and

CONGRATULATIONS.

LittleHippyHop

Hi and congratulations

Definately look at the previous link (turn to us) and put in your details to see how much help you will be eligible for, including tax credits for childcare. If you were to stay at home with your baby you would get child tax credits and as your husband is on £15,000 I'm pretty sure you would get some working tax credit as well. Also, you could apply for housing benefit as you are renting and you will obviously get child benefit.

Good luck!!

parsniphead

Hello Emjday and congratulations on the pregnancy.

I'm more of a lurker than poster so I'm sure some of the hard hitters will be along soon to offer advice.

I have recently had a baby and had the same worries being up to my neck in debts etc. It's hard but can be done and is worth every second.

My one bit of advice is to not fall for all the hype and buy every baby product out there. There is so much stuff which is pushed but you don't need. I remember at antenatal class the midwifes laughing at all the stuff. It started with a discussion about bathing babies and top and tail dishes which can be brought for an amount of money. Just keep a couple of margarine tubs, etc,they said, they work just as well. Personally when I was in the hospital they kept bring in stuff in these little round white pots so I kept a few of those.

Oh and my little ones favorite toy (he has loads to choose from)....... an old roses tin and a wooded spoon.;)

Good luck. You will sort things out. x