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Does anyone know?

As mentioned in my previous post, we are approx £30k in debt and pay about £5 a month to eahc (except on which is for £11k where we pay £10 per month) - the total amount of £30k is including all of the creditors who have not responded to our requests 2yrs ago to write off our debts. (We currently pay out about £120 a month to creditors.

The problem we have is this, i am a stay at home mum and my hubby brings in £1200 a month, rent is £650, car insurance £40, house insurance £17, Credit card £15, money borrowed from mother in law (to clear car finance) £160, Childcare £192, Council Tax £123, Fuel costs (for travelling to work) approx £150, Internet subscription £16, hamper (saving for xmas) £27, Creditors £120, food £240, gas & electricity £80 (£40 to clear arrears), Water £30. We get tax credit of £160 a week and i earn about £80 a month from a small business i have. By keeping the childminder we get childcare element of taxcredit and we work out at about £50 a month BETTER OFF than not paying childcare.

As you can see, the sums don't REALLY add up!! (£1927.80 in and £1860) We are left in a PLUS each month BUT in all honestey we don't ever see it! (extra food or something on the car always crops up!)

We have thought about going bankrupt but as my husband is a prison officer, i don't think we are allowed to do it.

I have thought about contacting CCCS and setting up an IVA but i'm worried it will be too much for us to pay in one lump (at least our creditor payments are staggered through out the month). On top of that, we owe our landlord 1 month rent arrears!!!

Any advice???

Comments

  • Luis
    Luis Posts: 637 Forumite
    As a prison officer you can go bankrupt, but you have to notify your Governor, and there is the possibility of disciplinary charges.

    I advise your husband to contact the staff, care and welfare officer - who can help and advise very effectively.

    pm me for further advice if you want.

    Good luck with your situation.
    "It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that, I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin'."

    Overlord for the Axis of Evil (part time) :D
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    A couple of thoughts:

    Would it be better to save £27 a month rather than pay for a hamper?

    Look at the Moneysaving Old Style board to cut your food bill.

    I would have thought it would be good to contact the CCCS for advice. You don't have to go for an IVA, they may be able to help in other ways.

    I use Microsoft Money to budget and track spending - you have to put in everything - I notice you don't mention clothing, car teax, TV Licence. Maybe you don't pay for these things but if you do, you need to do a proper budget -that way you won't be in arrears if you stick to it.

    I think MS Money is about £10 on Amazon, there's a budget sheet onthis site and on the debt helpline sites. With mine, I enter in every receipt and break it down (e.g. groceries/pet food/garden/car maintenance) so I can see where the money goes.

    So I would recommend, consult a free debtline, draw up a budget and go from there. Hope this helps!
  • Hiya, i use MS money too! Its brill (quite scary too when you see how much you spend on the silly things that are 50p)

    I do pay TV licence but i forgot to add it in the list!! D'oh! As for clothes and car tax, i'm one of those awful people who don't budget for them - just buy them whenever and find the money!! Terrible i know!! I have downloaded the budget from on here and have started it from April 1st!!!

    As for the hamper, its not a food one, its for Vouchers at the end of the year to do my christmas shopping with and i did one last year and i paid for all of Christmas on them so we weren't skint over December - lovely!

    My food is £240 cos i spend £60 a week. That inlcudes nappies for my baby. I have followed martins advice from the diet book and from an appearance on this morning by buying a brand below what i would normally buy and it has saved money BUT i do only cook fresh food - no frozen stuff at all! Which inevitably costs more! What i do though (great bit of advice here, i got it from a mate) is i put £60 a week into a money bag/small purse (on a monday take the money out of bank) and thats my food for the week. if i go to tesco's i do not take my purse or debit card - only my food money. If i only spend £50 that week, i have £10 left in the bag at the end of the week and it gets put into my childrens money boxes and paid into their accounts at the end of the month with all their other money from family. Usually though my food is about £58 a week!!!
  • I have gone with CCCS recently who have been absolutely amazing. She gave an allowance for clothing, haircuts, entertainment, a reasonable allowance for food which I didnt have before, and also christmas and birthdays which i was quite suprised about. I will be paying THEM the monthly amount to my creditors as from 1 May as they are now dealing with everything. Bankrupcy was an option for me but my best friend is a police officer and i didnt want to go down that route in case it affected him as we are looking to take things a step further, (best friend keeps things simple). I also use MS money, gift from best friend, which has also been a life line for me and as the other posters say when you look at what you spend your money on its quite scarey but at least it shows where you can cut back. :rolleyes:

    My story basically is that i was in the end due to bank charges and late payment fees etc paying out approx £700 a month more than i had coming in and with my health deteriating (spelling) as i have a disabillity and ending up on benefits i was unable to work. Prior to that i had quite a profitable business running which gave us a whats classed as a good standard of living :eek: But with hind sight..........:( But its no use thinking if only i had done this or that or you'll nevr ever get out of bed again :rolleyes:

    Have you anything you can sell at car boots or on ebay? I have had a good look at my home and i can clear up a load of space by using car boots. I hoard books, i darent say how many ive counted :eek: but it will bring a nice amount extra to add onto the debt payments :o As well as that ive made a folder from printing out the recepies off the MONEY SAVING OLD STYLE BOARD which are saving me loads of money which i'm putting into savings account which i can send part of it to CCCS and keep some back as emergency money, in case things break down such as the washing machine or its suddenly needed for my sons education or far worse.

    A lot of posters on here also swear by https://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk and CAB.

    Which ever way you decide to go i wish you well :o


    Regarding msn money i even have an account for the cash i have in my puse which i balance daily so i know exactly how much i have spent and on what its gone on. My name for posting befits me very well these days lol my son has to practically give me a business plan when he needs money for something :D oopps :eek:
  • mountainofdebt
    mountainofdebt Posts: 7,795 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    can you claim any relief on your council tax bill...£123 seems an awful lot especially as you are paying rent of £650...can you get an help with that as well?

    Also (and I don't mean to be cheeky here!) but why don't you buy frozen veg etc...I always thought that frozen food could contain more nutrients than fresh? Plus you can alot of meal deals with frozen food.
    2014 Target;
    To overpay CC by £1,000.
    Overpayment to date : £310

    2nd Purse Challenge:
    £15.88 saved to date
  • No that is our council i'm afraid! we get no help because we are wah tthey call "lower middle class" - we earn above £16,000 and under £30k!!!

    Foodwise, i have JUST weaned my family off of frozen junk and gone back to basics so i'm afraid that is out!! I have started getting my fruit and veg from the market and have started to buy meat at cash and carry type place and freezing it to save money
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    Well, it looks as if you're doing pretty well! But ... why a hamper/coupons? Why not an interest earning savings account?

    And OK, I would agree that it's better to cook 'proper food' and I spend way more than you do on food but I bet the people of the Moneysaving Old Style would find ways for you to save!

    But really, it seems like you budget doesn't work - if you do it properly, you have to put in things like car tax and clothes. I have a budget for car maintenance so if something comes up, it's accounted for. If it was something horrendously expensive, I'd have to rethink but things like brake pads, new battery all come in general car maintenance for the year. Maybe if you put in EVERYTHING, you wouldn't be in credit and you could see where you could make savings?

    I still think you should get some free professional advice - you don't have to take it but it may make your life easier in the long term.
  • cheers guys!

    I think part of the not including clothes and car stuff in budget is it does make you go over your income and it makes it seem less bad (poor grammar sorry) if you omit it!!! Father in Law owns a garage so the only thing we pay for on car is tax, fuel and insurance! Lucky us!!!

    I'm going to find all my debt paperwork tonight and i'm going to phone CCCS tomorrow! Wish me luck!
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,390 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Re - the childcare bill. I was under the impression that both parents had to be working at least 16 hours a week in order to qualify for the childcare element of tax credits.

    Is this not the case?

    It might be worth looking into as you don't want to land yourself having to pay back a chunk of money to the IR.
  • Yeah, i am self employed but my business (home based) only brings in about £80 a month.
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