Not being able to make ends meet

1940sGal

I have recently claimed for JSA but it takes up to 4 weeks to be approved.

McKneff; As i've said in another post my sister cannot pay any more because she has her own expenses and is also on a low wage. If she could pay more, she would.

McKneff

1940sGal wrote: »

I have recently claimed for JSA but it takes up to 4 weeks to be approved.

McKneff; As i've said in another post my sister cannot pay any more because she has her own expenses and is also on a low wage. If she could pay more, she would.

Your sisters expenses should not take the priority, food, roof over her head, electric gas should come well before her own expenses, what kind of expenses are we talking about. Are they more important than helping your mum out and paying her way.

How low is low

pennypusher

Can your mum extend the life of her mortgage and bring down the monthly payments? Perhaps she could change to a different mortgage supplier or go interest only.

Can you reduce the Water, gas and electric at all.

Can she car share for her trip to work?

Perhaps your sister needs to increase her contribution slightly and pay less off her debts per month.

Maybe CAB could help.

Hope this helps.

1940sGal

McKneff wrote: »

Your sisters expenses should not take the priority, food, roof over her head, electric gas should come well before her own expenses, what kind of expenses are we talking about. Are they more important than helping your mum out and paying her way.

How low is low

I don't know her exact wage but she has a car to get to work as the buses here don't go anywhere near her place of work. She has a mobile phone obviously and she has a credit card debt from when she was at uni.

I'd like to make it clear that although i contribute nothing financially and my sister contributes what she can, we are not sat on our backsides watching mum struggle. On top of her board my sister does buy other things for mum if she needs them, including gas/electric if we need more than stated above (usually when it's colder and more's needed). I also help mum out around the house and do most of the housework and take her to and from work if she needs it (using sister's car).

Just wanted to point that out for people who might be getting a bit judgemental.

1940sGal

pennypusher wrote: »

Can your mum extend the life of her mortgage and bring down the monthly payments? Perhaps she could change to a different mortgage supplier or go interest only.

Can you reduce the Water, gas and electric at all.

Can she car share for her trip to work?

Perhaps your sister needs to increase her contribution slightly and pay less off her debts per month.

Maybe CAB could help.

Hope this helps.

Again, my sister is doing all she can to help.

As for the mortgage, mum only spoke to them last week so there's no budging there. She thinks also that since she's in arrears on the mortgage and has a poor credit rating she wouldn't be able to change?

Also, when it comes to going to work she doesn't have a car of her own, she gets a lift and contributes that way, which is cheaper than getting the bus before anyone suggests that.

McKneff

Not being judgemental, sorry if it came over that way. I really was thinking of your mum struggling while sister has the mobile (which are never necessary) etc. etc.
In your mums shoes, I'm not sure whether I would feel a little resentful

Hopefully things will be a little easier when you get your JSA and you can contribute.

quintwins

£300 is alot for food for 3 people, head over the old style board there are lots of useful threads and the grocery challenge, honestly as a short term solution i'd be looking at cutting that to £100, this is completely do-able if you put your mind to it. If you were willing to do this for 3 months you could clear the creditcard and catalogue, freeing up some more money.

Could be worth looking at cheaper insurance qoutes aswell.

Spirit_2

I can see you are thinking hard about this, and some of the responses will challenge your existing thinking. These responses are not judging you, just another way of looking at things. You sound like good family team, so the next paragragh should not be taken as a critcism, just a bit of achallenge to think differently.

There is no way your sister could cover her basic living costs for £110 per month, and at this point your mum cannot afford to subsidise her ...as much as she might want to. Your sister needs to recognise this, cut back on her own expenses and meet more of her share of bills. (for example - my DD is still studying, when she has worked full time we have asked her to pay £200 per month towards her keep as she needs to have realistic understanding of the cost of living).


When you have found work or recieved benefits that should also be assessed as to what it costs for you to live and a fair sum go into the household kitty (could you assess what did rent, bills and food cost when you were away studying?).

In the meantime have you and your sister things you could ebay that might raise money towards helping your mum with arrears that cannot be met otherwise.

Good luck, you sound like a great daughter.

dancingfairy

At the moment you are showing as being approx 45 a mont short.
Solution would be:
1) ditch the catelogue and credit card - 35 a month saved - make token 1 pound per month payments if necessary (mortgage and c/tax are more important).
2) can she reduce the travel costs at all? work the same hours over 4 days/ get a lift in/get the train instead of bus/walk/cycle - anything at all?
3) can you cut the food bill at all? -even if you saved 20 pounds it will all help.
4) water/gas/electric - what do these break down to? can you cut the gas and electric bills? are you in credit with any of them? can you swap to a cheaper tariff? would a water metre help at all?
5) also with some of your jobseekers you should be just about able to balance.
To be honest your mum should pay what she can to the council as and when she can afford it. It is likely the council will take her to court and add liability order costs but if she can't pay she can't pay. She should put her offer in writing and stick to it -she needs to make it very clear (in writing) that she wants to pay but can't pay the full amount due to circumstances. She should also enquire about the second adult rebate and see if that applies to you as you don't have a job an your sister has a low income. The council will then decide (after court) whether to accept her payment plan, whether to go for a deduction of benefit (which is set at a specific rate) or whether to appoint bailiffs. If bailiffs get involved they will try and add extra fees and you should read up carefully on your rights and what to do/not do. Eventually the bailiffs will give up and return the debt to the council and say they can't collect it. It is very important throughout the process though that she pays what she can afford at every opportunity.
The legislation exists so that people can be imprisoned for not paying council tax. In practice this is rarer than hens teeth and I can't see a judge sending someone to prison for not being able to pay, You would have to be deliberately not paying and messing the council about for this to happen or really, very, very,very stupid - this is why it is so vitally important to pay whatever she can, when she can and make it very clear that she is not refusing to pay.
At the moment there is little you can do with the council tax apart from claim all benefits you are entitled to and try and be reasonable and try and come to some sort of arrangement with them.
Best of Luck
df

flutterbyuk25

£300 is a lot for 3 adults for food/cleaning products. I'm currently working on £50/month for one (veggie) person and have no probs sticking to that and eating healthily. You could easily cut £100/month off the food bill.

Cook from scratch. Pop over to the OS board for inspiration. Don't waste any food. Reduce portions slightly.

Good luck