Advice needed please

justpgraham

How do u work out the £9400 tax credits? As on the calculator when i worked it out with his wages and me not working we would be entitled to £128 per week so dont you times that by 52? Giving u £6656, sorry if im being totally dumb here x

pmlindyloo

OK. if you are prepared to 'tighten your belts' then this is perfectly doable.

Post on the Debtfree Wannabe board and do a SOA (incomings and expenditure - someone will tell you how to access it.)

The folks over there are incredible at reducing your outgoings.

Also have a read of all the other forums to do with reducing your expenditure. There are heart warming stories of how people manage on very little money.

We all get used to living a certain way of life and although I am sure you are not extravagant there are always ways to make the money go further.

It won't be easy but can become addictive so if you are really wanting this 'go for it'.

Good luck!

BigAunty

You can download the MSE budget planner and work through the site to identify where to slash living expenses, anything from cheaper energy/telecoms/insurance tariffs through to cheap recipes and ultra thrifty living. You've missed off lots of expenses, including social/haircut/stationery/etc and so that budget planner is good to identify your true monthly spend and then helping you to structure a big drive to reduce expenses.

The Old style money forum is good for advice on being frugal. An MSE member has published a website where a family of 4 can eat for £100 a month, for example.

You haven't indicated what your overall debt for the repayments of £200 per month but if you got on top of your debts, that's your tuition fee, materials and a few other course related costs paid for.

As well as the Debt free wanabee board, there's good debt management info on the Direct Gov website.

Mupette

justpgraham wrote: »

We have a 3 story 6 bed house
Mortgage is £500 per month 4 children, get them sharing within thier own gender, rent some rooms out.
Gas and Electric £275 per month!!! We've had this checked time and time again as this is a joke, but they dont see any probs apart from we have just found out we have hardly any cavity wall insulation (house is only 7 years old) and are having that done next month!
Council tax just short of £200 a month
Car insurance £40
Sky, telephone, internet £130 what is causing the price, telephone calls? or tv channels, if channels, you don't really need them.
Water £65, are you metered? look at ways to reduce the amount you use
Boiler cover £40
Home and contents insurance £50 odd
Mobile phones £60 change tariffs or learn to less chat
TV license £12 i think
CC monthly payments over 2 cards (100 each) £200 cut the cards up
Overpayment TC payback £20

Sure there is something i've missed here, but thats what we pay out, then have all the other things on top x

few suggestions here, really you can bring these costs down,

just by getting lodgers in will pay for your college course

FBaby

You are choosing to live in some luxury. the size of your home is not required. It means you are more likely paying extra in rent and a ridiculous amount of electricity. If you are heating three stories no surprise the cost if the bill. You then must have a sky package including a number of things. I get phone internet and basics package with them for under £40. You then have expensive mobiles. If you were to down size your property get rid of sky and use cheap mobiles you would definitelyhave enough to pay for your studies. It is just about compromises.

Dunroamin

justpgraham wrote: »

I know where your coming from saying maybe wait until all the children are at school but then its another 2 years training after they start school - if I do a year hair and a year beauty, so thats another 5 or so years til I'm actually all sorted, which is a long time, plus i'll be 40 odd! :eek:

Even if you're over 40, you'll have 25 years of working life left, so that's hardly a waste.

You would generally be better to do 2 years of either beauty or hair and have a good level of qualifications in it than to get a low level qualification in both.

princessdon

So you have take home pay of £36k - figures from up there and you get wtc and ctc? The self employment and tax credits surely needs looked at. End of the day if someone is claiming such a low income from wtc - how can they afford a 6 bed home?

Dunroamin

princessdon wrote: »

So you have take home pay of £36k - figures from up there and you get wtc and ctc? The self employment and tax credits surely needs looked at. End of the day if someone is claiming such a low income from wtc - how can they afford a 6 bed home?

I think that the fiddle of taking dividends rather than a salary enables people to claim to have a low income.

themull1

I don't know if dividend payments are taken into account when tax credits are calculated? If you had wanted to this type of work, either do it before having kids or when all kids are at school. You seem to be picking the worst possible time to change your career path!!

Mara69

Pursue your dream by all means, but please, don't expect the tax payers to fund it. I work full time in a stressful, target driven job and am also studying for a degree with the OU. Each module is costing approx. £800 and I have to take six modules - that is just shy of £5k. No loans, bursaries, benefits or concessions. I am paying this entirely myself by making sacrifices in other areas.

You chose to have children and you chose to live a lifestyle you can barely afford. If you want this dream enough, then you and your family have to do the same.

Find another college, go in the evenings, save, find another job that works round college or ask your husband to get a second job.