totally worn out !!!!!!!!!!

mrs_pinkybinks

hi i have been looking at this site for 12 months or more and picking up lots of helpful ways to sort my finances out but have now come up against a brick wall and am feeling totally worn out with the stress of it all. i am single mum to 2 great kids and work 3 days a week, but due to rising debts am finding it increasingly difficult to pay for essential bills. i ebay stuff just for food or utility bills and the worry of trying to think about where next penny is coming from is sending me over the edge. below is my SOA


income £885.00 wages
£884.00 benefits
£120.00 child benefit

outgoings
rent £625
c/tax £104
gas £31
elec £20
water £35
child care £378
food £200
union fees £15
tv licence £11
TV phone broadband £48
petrol/car £30
debts
mint £4200 15.9%min payment £100
next £550 29.9% min payment £58
barclaycard £667 5.9 % min payment £18
loan 1 £7478 12.9% £133.80 fixed
loan 2 £12560 15.9% £212.12 fixed

Without doing too much maths i already know that this leaves me in negative balance. i have been to CAB. they say offer £1.00 to all debts. payplan say cant help as no money left over to offer anyone. really worried about offering a pound to all debts as live i rented accomodation and know that this will effect my credit rating( which is surprisingly good at moment as never missed payment) and could effect me getting a home in the future(never know with renting how long landlord wants to rent out house!).

sorry to rant but at wits end.

any suggestions please

Sea78

Hi :hello:

Welcome to the board! No doubt you'll get lots of valuable advice from the board - it really is fab isn't it?!

Now, you're currently -129.92 each month and like you say, have little spare moeny for the creditors. However, you have £392 after your non-debt outgoings, so it might be worth trying CCCS for their advice. I don't know, and will be corrected if wrong, but sometimes it seems CCCS accepts DMPs when Payplan doesn't. A lot of people do start their own plan as well, as I'm sure someone will outline soon.

The car amoutn looks a little low - does this include tax and ins? How about extra items for the kids? Clothes? Christmas etc? While I appreciate you can't afford those items, they still have to be bought - or is this what you've been raising with the ebay money?

So it might be worth trying CCCS. With regards to the credit rating - yes, a DMP will damage it, but you can still get private renting and you can also show you've always paid you rent etc on time.

Hop this has been of some help!

Sea xx

liz105

mrs_pinkybinks wrote: »

income £885.00 wages
£884.00 benefits
£120.00 child benefit

outgoings
rent £625
c/tax £104
gas £31
elec £20
water £35
child care £378
food £200
union fees £15
tv licence £11
TV phone broadband £48
petrol/car £30
debts
mint £4200 15.9%min payment £100
next £550 29.9% min payment £58
barclaycard £667 5.9 % min payment £18
loan 1 £7478 12.9% £133.80 fixed
loan 2 £12560 15.9% £212.12 fixed

There's a shortfall of £129.92 but I think thats work -able

Firstly, your food bill is high, there are familes of 4 or 5 on here with 2 adults who shop for £150 a month. Get over to the old style board to get help with that. You havent included car tax & insurance, is that all in the £30? if so you have a very economical car petrol wise, please tell me what it is?!! do you budget for birthday & christmas

TV phone & PC so thats Sky & phone & broadband? negotiate a better package with your current supplier or go to a new one who will offer you a better bundle, Virgin? Tiscali or how about pipex? our phone and pc is £36 per month which is probably too much, you can get rid of sky and put the box on freeview only if you're out of your 12 months.

get onto whatsthecost and snowball your debts, you need to get rid of next asap, that APR is HUGE!

you may not like the suggestion, and obv I dont know what part of the country you are in or how old your kids are, but can you rent anywhere cheaper? apologies if I seem very naive with that comment.

best of luck

medman

Hi Mrs P, chin up there is always a way out.

I see you pay Union Subs, have you considered approaching them for help? Very often they will have access to support services and hardship assistance. Including low APR consolidation loans perhaps.

Good luck

MM

mrs_pinkybinks

hi thanks for replies. with regards to car money, i have paid for 1 years car insurance this month on c/card as had no money to pay for it. must start budgeting for next year. petrol only spend £15 a week and brother does all repairs and mot etc. other £15 for tax next year. tv package is for tv with virgin took out in feb this year when moved in. it includes tv all phone calls broadband and tv drive which i foolishly took out but did get half price. things like birthdays and christmas and kids clothes i usually get them from ebay sales. i did try the CCCS but they suggested bankruptcy and dont want to go down that road really.
i can see i need to get food down fromm £200 and it has given me hope to know that you think that my shortfall of £100.00 + is doable
thanks again
miss pinkybinks

racer256

Can I say you are not on your own. Can you fit energy saving light bulbs? If you are with a certain supplier you can get light bulbs free, this will dramatically reduce your lighting bills. If not you can get energy saving bulbs for £1 in John Lewis, also think about reducing your rent by moving?
Good Luck x

nonsensefactory

Rent £625 seems high, where do you live ? I rent a 2 bed place (flat) for £420 pcm (Peterborough), nice area too, although not through an agent I might add. perhaps put an advert in the paper ? - maybe if you could find somewhere a bit cheaper and knock £50 pcm off your food bill you could make the sums add up ?

moonlightpjs

Hi Miss P
Welcome to the DFW board and well done for facing up to your problems:T

There isn't anything I can add that you haven't been given advice about already from other DFW's but I would consider calling CCCS again, although they have advised BR they may be also willing to do a DMP with you. I know this because its what they advised us to do but when we said we didn't want to and wanted to do a DMP they gladly took us on board so it may be worth another shot. Though I'm not entirely sure (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) they do require you to make at least a payment of £5 per month to each creditor.

Good luck and keep posting, you've made the first step.

Lisa xx

mae

Hi if your credit rating is good could you not shift some or all of the debt onto 0% credit cards?
Is your child care not paid for?

I take my hat off to you, single parent with two children is not easy when you have all this stress too and you have been trying for the last twelve months to sort it too so well done. And well done for posting on here because facing up to things is always the first step in things improving. Its baby steps, things won't improve all at once, but with the right attitude, which you must have to be facing it, you will get to where you want to be and life will become easier. Have you seen the posts about AQA on here which is work than can be done from home and it can be done in the evening when the kids are in bed, maybe thats something to look at for extra cash.
Good luck.

pania

Hiya miss pinkybinks, am so sorry to hear of your problems and welldone for posting on here, is a fantastic first step to have made.
Just had a couple of thoughts on your post. Please please don't worry about your rental situation. I have a totally horrendous oh my god i can't look credit rating, 5 defaults, missed payments et al. I rented a property with my partner in march through a lettings agency. Unless you have a ccj you are still likely to be able to rent. And as said above, you would have a great payment history with your landlord also.

You seem to have quite a few benefits, would your housing association contribute toward your rent at all? have you checked this out?

My sincerest apologies if this is a delicate question for you and please don't feel you have to answer, is there any chance of being able to claim maintenance for the children at all? Have keyed below a couple of questions on your outgoings, Please consider speaking to citizens advice re the situation, they can really help and also put you in contact with CCCS.

income £885.00 wages
£884.00 benefits
£120.00 child benefit

outgoings
rent £625
c/tax £104is this with the single persons discount? as you are on a low wage with benefits are you eligible for assistance with this from the council?
gas £31 summer months are a coming! allegedly. are you in credit with this balance at the moment? are you able to lower your payments for the summer?
elec £20 ditto the above.
water £35
child care £378 does your employment do childcare vouchers? may be more cost effective for you. try asking to see. or is there a local creche/playgroup that would be cheaper but as safe and secure for them than childcare. If not do you have family/a friend who could look after them just once a week to free up some cash?
food £200
union fees £15
tv licence £11
TV phone broadband £48
petrol/car £30
debts
mint £4200 15.9%min payment £100
next £550 29.9% min payment £58 ok, debts, here we go. does barclaycard have any surplus balance on it? if so suggest transferring some if not all of next balance over to it to lower interest rate.
Mint card, ouch!! have a look at you credit rating. does it look good? if so try applying for a 0% apr card and move some if not all of the mint debt onto it.
Try to let us know on the barclaycard so we can help you where to go from here.
Who are the two loans with? Is it the same company? is there any chance you can amalgamate into one to lower the monthly payment?
barclaycard £667 5.9 % min payment £18
loan 1 £7478 12.9% £133.80 fixed
loan 2 £12560 15.9% £212.12 fixed

any suggestions please[/QUOTE]

I hope some of these ideas help, you can and will recover from this and things do get better! you seem to be very alone in dealing with this right now, stick on these boards and you will have so much support you'll be overwhelmed. (but do be careful, these boards are addictive! hence it being 2245 and i'm still awake posting!!:rotfl: )
Big hugs to you
P
xx

mrs_pinkybinks

hi thanks for all replies. really nice to have support at times like these:T
few answers to your questions. am currently getting single person discount on council tax and cant get any help with rent from council as earn too much.
nearest family live 50 miles away hence high childcare costs.
have recently moved nearer to kids schools as was spending loads on petrol and although new house is higher rent still cheaper than old house + petrol.
on positive note have been accepted for 0% credit card with natwest but only £900. shall i pay off all next and some of mint or more on mint and try and crack next over 3-4 months any advice please
thanks again miss PB