Just discovered the extent of partner's debt. Help me.

hs122

Would it be better to get his wages changed to monthly?

thatwilldo

I would keep it weekly and adjust your budget accordingly. For the items your partner pays for divide them up weekly no matter if its a monthly bill. Also round up DDs and you will start to build up your buff without noticing.

dancingfairy

You are obviously going to be ok for the next few months. How are you going to manage on SSP? What will your income be in total? When do you plan on going back to work(ie how long do your savings need to last)? Obviously your savings will last you for a while and help but will your partner be able to pay his debts during this time? He may want to consider a dmp then.
Best of Luck
df

Prothet_of_Doom

Sounds like he's had a light bulb moment when he realised he was going to be a father....if he hasn't spent on his credit cards since then, it's a fair indicator that he knows you both have to work together.

You need to do a budget for when the baby is born too, adding in any Child benefit and Tax credits, and child care vouchers etc, so that you give yourself confidence that it's not going to be that bad.

In my very humble opinion your joint income vs essentials like housing and heat, is workable, and you'll need to work on the nice the haves.

dancingfairy

Is the monthly train pass for you job? I assume this won't be needed when you go on maternity leave, which will really help.
Is the car essential?
With regards to the cineworld pass, can you suspend it for a while? You might be better off downloading films and tv that you can watch at home as you won't want to be going to the cinema much with a little one to start with.
Best of Luck
df

hs122

So do I add up all his direct debits and divide it by 4, then each week when my partner gets paid we keep that to one side?
My SMP is not going to be too different from the first few months. When I get home from work I will post exactly what I am going to get each month. I am going back to work part time in October but starting a uni degree in September which I also get financial help for.
The train is for my job. We need the car unfortunately as we live in a rural area and not only does my partner need it to get to work, we need it to do the big shop, get to antenatal appointments etc. I would be willing to cut back on the food budget and things like Sky and cineworld cards before we looked at getting rid of the car as I really don't think we can do without it. His insurance is up for renewal in Feb and is expected to come down quite a bit so there's a saving there as well.
I'm not sure what other help we'll get when the baby is born except the weekly child benefit, I will have to look into it.

UsetheFORCE

With regards to SKY,

I have had for 12 months (non conditional as I am out of contract)

27.00 Sky TV Entertainment Extra
2.50 Multiroom (normally 11.25)
NIL Line Rental (normally 15.40)
2.50 Sky Talk Anytime (normally 5.00)
7.50 Unlimited Broadband

plus I have sky movies for THREE months for just 1 pound in total!

They would of even reduced the Sky TV cost by 2.50 a month but I chose the FREE installation of multiroom plus reduced subscription.

If they don't keep giving me what I currently have for the price, I will downgrade or leave!

If you have only actually started being a Sky subscriber then you may still be under contract and just be appealing to their better nature. Do remember that most of the costs SKY have are fixed so better to receive some money in than non at all!