IVA Finding It Tough & Extra Income Advice Please

getdebtfree

adyj73 wrote: »

Have you thought of stop making babies....I can just hear Jeremy Kyle now 'Do you people just smoke, facebook, and have sex all day' ;-)

Oh and you are in a IVA to just like me, maybe ill come to your thread and make ridiculus comments...

But im not like that :-)

FiatFan_2

getdebtfree wrote: »

Thanks Fiatfan yet another idiot that doesnt no me.....

Aye it is annoying comments like that especially when they've spammed a couple of other threads in the same way.

We're a family of 5, having a third child helped us focus more on our finances. Our need for an iva arose from our non-majority government robbing the nhs of money and cutting nurses take home wages and in the future, pensions. I could rant on, but I won't for now :rotfl:

Just to add, as my workplace has been under the cloud of redundancy for the last 12 months, instead of struggling financially the iva has brought assurances for our family and creditors that we both get something which is better than nothing had I gone BR which would also have ended my career.

getdebtfree

FiatFan wrote: »

Aye it is annoying comments like that especially when they've spammed a couple of other threads in the same way.

We're a family of 5, having a third child helped us focus more on our finances. Our need for an iva arose from our non-majority government robbing the nhs of money and cutting nurses take home wages and in the future, pensions. I could rant on, but I won't for now :rotfl:

Yes fiatfan

yes I blame the government as well just taxing us for everything in sight, and not paying a decent living wage inline with cost of living..

Thanks as always for your kind imput

Marcus

milliemonster

Marcus, I just wanted to say that the first year is quite hard but it does get easier, it's so hard to adjust to sticking to a rigid budget when you know you have no access to credit to fall back on if something crops up so those first few months can be a bit of a shock to the system, but stick with it and it does get better, you will learn to be more savvy with how you can make your budget stretch but the key thing is to ensure it is set correctly

If you have a look at beatmydebt website I think they have an allowances calculator but its probably out of date, I know CCCS guidelines have been updated since 2011 but I don't know what the increases are.

In the beginning you go through the wanting to cut your budget back so much so you can free up plenty of disposable income for your iva payment in the hope it will get it agreed, but it's only when you have to try and stick to that budget you realise just how strapped it makes you, so it's a shame that this happened but if you are now in a position to have an increase in your income, then you need to make your expenditure match 50% of it ( as they would only increase your iva payment by 50% of any pay increase anyway at the most.

What we did before our review last year was maximise our use of our cars for a couple of months, we weren't extravagant but our allowance was only originally based on work journeys which was ridiculous and with how much fuel has gone up, we needed an increase massively so we made sure we had the odd day out, visited relatives etc so we had enough receipts to justify an increase, we also asked for increases in a few other areas like electric and oil for our heating, clothing, a few pounds here and there they don't bother about receipts for but anything more and you need receipts, so just do your weekly shop, buy what you need to and submit your receipts to prove it, guidelines are just that, they aren't set in stone and your ip should be flexible enough to work your budget to your advantage whilst still ensuring creditors get some money back, after all if they try to restrict you too much all it does is set your iva to fail which they don't want as it looks bad on their figures

MrsB2100

Hi, just wanted to say that I agree - first year of an IVA is hard - it's a learning curve, but it does get easier, really it does! There's only the 2 of us, so no kids to worry about - I cant imagine how worrying that must be.

Just wanted to pass on a tip that was passed onto me from a lovely MSEr at the time we went into the IVA. Whenever you do your shopping, try to get some savings stamps - £1 - £2 - then hide the card, dont carry it with you. That way, you have a few bob put aside for emergency food, milk, petrol ... or a couple of quid extra at Christmas. Think of it this way - there are 52 weeks in a year, if you go weekly and put £1 aside, thats £52 in a year that you barely noticed.

That, for me anyway, was very helpful in the first year. This year, I've tried to add to that, to include buying £10 tesco giftcards too. We only go shopping once a month, on payday, and freeze everything we can! But, petrol prices keep going through the roof, and I want to know that I have an emergency £10 to put in the car - more, if needed!

Good luck - you WILL get there! And, it's going to feel soooo good not having any debt!