Desperate help needed with grants n benefits

SingleSue

In your situation, I would feed and clothe the child first, then yourselves and offer £1 payments for the debts, maybe even get in touch with one of the debt charities to help you organise this.

The child has to be the important one...food, heat and clothing for that child take prime importance over debts.

plum2002

nannytone wrote: »

the OP was working until recently, and states that her boyfriend was made redundant ... so obviously he worked too.

so the comments about not being able to afford the kids you have, so why have another, are completely is unwarranted.
you don't know what they were and weren't able to afford.

i hate the holier than thou attitude, and hope that people that have lovely 5 bed houses, and can afford to gibe their children whatever they want for xmas, and pay their bills on time ... never find themselves in need. because there will be a lot of people ready and willing tocriticise the choices they made whilst they could afford to make them.

i totally agree that the OP needs to get the debt situation sorted out.

but when someone is already on their knees ... why do some people feel the need to kick them too?

Well said!

dktreesea

nannytone wrote: »

the OP was working until recently, and states that her boyfriend was made redundant ... so obviously he worked too.

so the comments about not being able to afford the kids you have, so why have another, are completely unwarranted.
you don't know what they were and weren't able to afford.

i hate the holier than thou attitude, and hope that people that have lovely 5 bed houses, and can afford to gibe their children whatever they want for xmas, and pay their bills on time ... never find themselves in need. because there will be a lot of people ready and willing tocriticise the choices they made whilst they could afford to make them.

i totally agree that the OP needs to get the debt situation sorted out.

but when someone is already on their knees ... why do some people feel the need to kick them too?

I second that. Well said!

sulkisu

nannytone wrote: »

one of the kids doesnt live with the OP, and she hasnt stated the age of her other child.

my daughter recently had a baby after a gap of 6 years, and it was like starting all over again!

She says that her daughter is in nappies, which suggests that she is very young - unless she has special needs, but nothing suggsts this.

dktreesea

OP, maybe post a statement of affairs, so we can better see what your situation is and may have some suggestions. Never mind the posts on here that are nasty. They are from people who never learnt the phrase "There, but for the grace of God, go I".

sulkisu

nannytone wrote: »

the OP was working until recently, and states that her boyfriend was made redundant ... so obviously he worked too.

so the comments about not being able to afford the kids you have, so why have another, are completely unwarranted.
you don't know what they were and weren't able to afford.

i hate the holier than thou attitude, and hope that people that have lovely 5 bed houses, and can afford to gibe their children whatever they want for xmas, and pay their bills on time ... never find themselves in need. because there will be a lot of people ready and willing tocriticise the choices they made whilst they could afford to make them.

i totally agree that the OP needs to get the debt situation sorted out.

but when someone is already on their knees ... why do some people feel the need to kick them too?

I do agree with you to a point. However considering that OP states that both she and her boyfriend were working until relatively recently, the problems that she mentions such as no carpet, no clothes, £1600+ electricity bill that they can't pay which would have been accumulated over several months, and huge debts, this does suggest that they were already in serious financial difficulty before they decided to have another child.

OP-as others have suggested try Freecycle, charity shops.
Also check if you are eligible for the Warm Home Discount scheme and you might also qualify for help with fares travelling to and from the hospital.

Glen_Clark

nannytone wrote: »

hope that people that have lovely 5 bed houses, and can afford to gibe their children whatever they want for xmas, and pay their bills on time ... never find themselves in need. because there will be a lot of people ready and willing tocriticise the choices they made whilst they could afford to make them.

How do you know the comments are from people in lovely 5 bed houses,
and not from the many people who are managing on less?

nannytone_2

princessdon has stated many times that she has a 5 bed house.
and she was the one that said @ you have 2 kids that you cant afford, so why have another@

princessdon

Very true but I have always ensured I have enough money for a rainy day and would have loved more children but couldn't afford them so had no choice but to call it a day.

It's the children I feel sorry for this time of year.

Was my comment harsh - perhaps and I apologise as was harsher than intended and yes I guess OP didn't need to hear it. But it is clear that their financial difficulties are not new. £1600 + in debt on a quarterly electric, no carpet (though they may have laminate), no winter coat or clothes etc doesn't happen in a short space of time.

This time of year especially it always saddens to me see families struggling, but their issue is budgeting and they need to get their loans etc sorted out.

OP seems like a lovely parent (their concerns appear to be for their children) but getting another loan doesn't seem to be the answer. Once a child is inside you the love it is there, so you can't turn back the clock but it's a sad situation when you are having another one and your other children are living on noodles.

But you really do need to also look at getting your debts down on a repayment plan, because spending all your limited funds on debts isn't working.

4390evans

Caz3121 wrote: »

I am guessing the JSA is fortnightly, CB and CTC, weekly and HB monthly

If so, yhis gives you a total of £1,095 per month

I don't think there is anything else you can currently claim until new baby arrives - which will give you an approximate £52 per week CTC and £13 child benefit

You may benefit from doing a SOA (detailing all your income and outgoings - details on the debt free wannabe board) and also have a look at freecycle for carpet etc, charity shops for clothes (if your sons father claims the benefits for him and he lived there most of the time why do you need to buy him clothes?)

Have you been in touch with the car loan people? you may also benefit from one of the debt charities.
Benefits 'should' be sufficient for housing and feeding however as soon as you find you have other debts to pay off this money you then find there is not enough left (car loan, energy arrears etc)

We contacted the car people straight away thinking they may give us some le-way as we had never missed a payment etc and because we were on ben they might offer a few months grace, instead they sent out a bailiff letter.

My son stays with me fri sat sun and any holidays is halfed down the middle so in the six weeks its 3 weeks I have him, the clothes he has was bought the year before last, joggers are up his legs and he has t-shirts to wear but they are riding up. With me working previously we usually done a winter clothes shop when needed which we couldnt do this year.

N-power is helping me with my elec and gas we have been though all that we use which is the very basics so there is not much else we can do, Ive tried moving to another company and getting a key meter in from them start afresh then pay n-power on a card the £5 a week debt they are asking for but they said I cant leave till my account is clear, so Im getting in more and more debt?????