Children's savings

mrsspendalot

Thanks for the encouragement Tara

AndyR_3

If you really don't want to use the kid's savings for paying off debt, how about using it to buy things they need, such as clothes etc, and then use the money saved in your budget for debt. That way, you can at least show the relatives the new coat or whatever that their money bought?

BettiePage

mrsspendalot wrote: »

Well we were going to chop the cards straight away ... but we thought we would get more satisfaction from cutting them up one by one as they are cleared ... another one bites the dust kind of thing. So we sealed them away in an envelope so we would see if each other had weakened and opened the envelope. However, that was before I came on here and got some motivation. Perhaps now is the right time to give them the snip afterall.

Cutting them up is not the same as cancelling them. Make sure you cancel the accounts too, that way you're not tempted.

mrsspendalot

Yeah I would cancel the accounts too bettie

That is a good idea AndyR, thanks

southern_chick

about a year ago i was really struggling to make ends meet and said to my mum that i would probably have to borrow some money from dd's savings (i've been paying £20 an month in since she was born and it stands at about £2000) at which point my mum and dad took her savings book off me and said i was to borrow from them before i even thought about raiding dd's savings, i am extremely lucky to have such wonderful and generous parents and just hope that i'll be able to help my dd out in future if she ever needs it. if my paretns hadn't helped out though, although i really wouldn't have wanted to borrow off dd i knew that the option was always there, better to borrow money off her than loose our home

Beth86

I agree with that Southern Chick.

When I got into this amount of debt (well the majority) I was working full time and able to make the monthly repayments.
I didn't foresee ending up as a single Mum.

But hey thats the way it goes.

weegie_gal

Have done this reluctantly when times were tough but now have 2 jobs so opened the Halifax account and also have another Standing order to pay him back. but like some of the others use the family allowance to pay for treats, clothes etc.

Getting rid of the debt will be such a relief so go for it.

TurnaroundSue

Hi - I had 'borrowed' £500 from each of my children and it has taken me 3 years to save up the money to pay them back. I am going to give them £600 each in Children's Bonds as that is what I would have done with the original money and they are none the wiser. My son is now aged 13 and when I told him that he has x amount in bonds which he will get when he is 21 - he was dead chuffed. I know for a fact that if it were left in his account he would have spent the lot by now, so I see it as a blessing.

I think if you could pay off one or two of your debts then do it, and pay them back when you are in a better position to do so.

mrsspendalot

well, I spoke to hubby and to mum who put most of the money in their accounts and they both agree it is a good idea to help us out of debt quicker. So I am going to borrow the money from them and pay it back as soon as we are debt free, which is currently planned for Nov 09 ... but I am hoping I can reduce that. Thanks for all your advice and opinions.

QueenB.

OK I have been in a similar situation recently. My daughter who is 14 knows about our debt problem and for the most part....teenage mood swings aside LOL....she is very understanding. Recently we had alot of bills come at once, plus car problems and i really was in a bit of a state wondering how on earth i was going to pay all of them. She could see i was worried and had an idea that it was money related and so she just came up to me and offered me her savings if it would help the situation. I refused and she said but you need it right now and i don't and i know you will pay it all back when things ease.I did borrow a small amount and have put paying her back a small sum each month as part of my budget. I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful daughter.

As long as you pay it back and ask the child if they are old enough i don't see a problem.