Desperately wanting a better quality of life for my kids

Shineyhappy

Hiya!

Welcome to the boards :j

There seems to be quite a few areas it is possible to cut back on.

As others have said the tumble dryer has to go, it is expensive to run and expensive to hire. Freecycle is fab and you can get some really good stuff on there and also things for the kids as well as washing machines. My friend recently got two Ikea childrens chairs for her two kids, which the kids adore.

Is there any way of going interest only on your mortgage for 6 months to help pay off some of the other debts?

I have raised quite a bit selling off unwanted books, clothes and an old bed frame on Ebay and Amazon.

I think you mentioned Quidco so make sure you get all your insurances on there. Your car insurance seems quite high, is that up for renewal soon?

I think a lot of people on here get contacts on here for cheaper than that, it might be worth making a seperate post on that subject- I prefer glasses so cant help.

Might it be worth one of you getting an extra job to pay off the small loan and credit cards?

Also have you thought about trying to get a freeview box for a bit to cut things down until you are more financially secure?

You said you dont get out much and for me that is a real concern.

I am pretty skint too but I do try and get out and about as much as possible. I try and go for walks or having friends round for a cheap meal. If you do enough googling you can often find days out for next to nothing near you, although may favourite is going to feed the ducks. There is a special board for this sort of stuff so if you ask on there for free things to do in your area people may have some fab ideas.

There are lots of threads on here that give good challenging ideas to try and make money saving a little competive and fun, it might be worth looking at these.

Good luck with everything and keep posting- it does seem to help!

FRUGAL_4

jessie-jane wrote: »

Seaxwyn- hope you dont mind me asking but ho do you manage to get the tax credits ( are these working or child )?

we earn approx 24000 between us and are only entitled to 10.50 a week child tax credit but not working tax credit.

Hi, I hope you don't mind but I am thinking the same, my OH doesn't earn what Seaxwyn does and we are only entitled to the 10.38 a week child tax credit and no working tax credit, even when I worked part time on the minimum wage I still wasn't entitled to anything, so work didn't pay for me so I am now a SAHM.

jessie-jane

Hi Seaxwyn, I have tried to send you a message but me and computers dont get on to well.

Thanks for the information

We have one child who is a high school so no child care to pay for.

thanks

jessie-jane

Seaxwyn

Hi Frugal and Jessie

I PMed Jessie but as others are interested I'll put the details here as well - sorry elliotts for hijacking your thread!

We get Child Tax Credit, not Working Family Credit. Our joint income last year was just under 26k, we have four children and pay £12/week childcare (£16/week term time only which they average out for the year). That is the info that we gave them and they awarded us £238 every four weeks.

We are both self employed so our earnings change a lot every year. Every six months or so I ring them up with details of our current income, and each year I give them the info off our tax returns. The amount we get changes dramatically. Last year we got no tax credits at all, as they had overpaid us previously. So possibly this year's includes some back payment as we should in fact have had a bit last year.

I have no idea how they work it out. My policy is to be scrupulously honest and then accept what they give me so if there is any error it's theirs, not mine. We also often pay more than £16/week for childcare, but as it isn't regular I don't bother claiming for it as it would seem too much hassle to get them to recalculate each time.

I hope this is helpful for someone.

Ok Elliots - over to you again.

immoral_angeluk

Income
Mine £1300 Any chance of increasing this? Overtime? 2nd job? New job closer to home?
Wife £695 as above
Other income Ebay ebay ebay!
CSA £165
Child Benefit £163
CTax Credit £82 Go to entitledto.co.uk to check if you're getting the right amount as this seems low to me...

Total £2405


Expenditure
Mortgage £917.86 - £126,000 with a redemption of £6000 - Property value £165,000 This is high.. is it interest only or repayment?
Secured Loan £465.32 £26,000
Mortgage Endowment –Should have one but we can’t afford it
Personal Loan (£2000) £77.70
Capital One His (Balance £1444.37) £65 – Is what we were paying till this month
Capital One Hers (Balance £1070.95) £50 - Ditto
Barclaycard (Balance £145) £5.00
Water £41.86 this seems high.. are you on a meter or bill? If it's a bill and you pay over so many months, as to increase it to 12 months.
Council Tax £91.00 Again if you pay over 10 months ask to increase it to 12.
Gas £30.00
Electricity £40.00 Are you on the cheapest for gas/electric? Is this meter or bill?
Building/Contents Insurance £64.76 HOW MUCH???? Look around for cheaper deals!
Telephone (Including Mobile) £45.00 Go pay and go or stop using the mobile. Check you're on the cheapest phone/internet deal available.
TV Licence, Satellite, Rental £113.28 (this includes renting our washing machine , tumble dryer and TV )Can you reduce your sky package? Ask on freecycle.org.uk for a washing machine etc and cancel the rentals. It's wasted money! Failing that check out ebay.. we got a brand new chest freezer for £49!
Service Contracts £15.00 (British Gas)What is this for? How many times have you used it?
Motoring Costs - Fuel & Parking £345.00 (I work 50miles from home!) Could you get a job closer to home? That's a hell of a lot of travel and money every month!
Car Insurance £73.78 This is high... can you get cheaper?
Other Travelling Costs £18.40
Food & Housekeeping £220.00 (It’s all we can afford) Check out the moneysaving old style board for ideas how you can cut this down. For example we have 2 children in nappies with a baby on formula and we spend £180 a month on food toiletries.
Clothing & Footwear £21.00 (Catalogues) Is this what you spend every month or the repayment? If it's what you spend do you REALLY need new clothes every month? If it's the repayment what's the APR, balance etc?
Other Personal Expenditure £35.00 (Includes £22.00 specsavers contact lenses I'm sure you can get them cheaper than this.. it's worth looking into.and a £13.00 takeaway to make us feel human Could you buy the ingredients and make it a family thing to make the 'take out' at home together?

Total £2739.00


We were (very politely) told by the CCCS to reduce our outgoings) or sell up. Have you spoken to Payplan or CAB as well?

Is this really all we can do? Have you looked into debt management plans or IVA's?

Should I not be trying to keep the one real investment we have? Investments are pointless if you're living on the breadline... your family comes first.

Even if we do sell, won't the letting agents need to do a credit check! Private landlords will rarely credit check