Advice needed

Comedyfan

Hello, I'm not sure if I am posting this in the correct thread, so I hope you will forgive me if it's in the wrong place.

I was made redundant towards the end of 2012, but was lucky and managed to get another job, but it was in a different county. As a result the money I received from redundancy had to be used towards a deposit for a flat as it was too far for me to commute from where I was currently living and the rest of the money was used to pay off a store card I had.

At the beginning of last year I was in a car accident which meant I needed to take a month off work, as I hadn't been working at my new place of employment for long I wasn't entitled to company sick pay and would only receive the SSP. Due to the length of time I had off work the amount of money I received barely covered my rent and was struggling to meet my monthly payments of my other commitments eg loan, car finance, bills and food.

As a result of this alot of those direct debits bounced due to my lack of funds and had to be taken out the following month, which meant that months payment could not be met (if that makes sense?).

It's been almost a year now since the accident and I am still suffering financially because of it with direct debits bouncing and late payment fees every month. My credit history has severly plummited so I am unable to obtain a credit card or loan because of all this.

I feel like I could cry all the time and it feels like as soon as my wage has been paid into my account it is gone again.

I have tried to help by selling things on ebay to generate a little bit of extra cash but sometimes end up paying more than the winning bid due to their fees - as the zero insertion weekends dont come around often enough.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do or how I could generate some spare cash as I am worried sick about my finanices.

Thank you for reading

good_advice

Happy new year!
I suggest over hauling your monthly DD's. I have been doing this for a year now. As annual tied in contracts come to an end, ask yourself a few questions? Do I need it, can I get it cheaper?
I have cut our house bills a lot.
Just a few things left and waiting for end of contract.

Learn to live a simple life and stop buying.
Use a cash back site like Quido every time you do spend.
Voucher codes
Spend time completing Survays

It is a change in life style BUT you have to want to change
The journey is not easy
One i can remember on my journey for example was cutting down the TV package. There was objections..The bill changed by about half. the difference has now become the normal.

Sending good wishes for the start of your journey, it will be a bumpy ride to see the light at the end.

FinanciallyUnsavvy

Hi and welcome

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I know there's nothing worse than worrying about your financial situation and feeling like no matter what you do, you just won't make ends meet.

There are lots of lovely people over on the "Up Your Income" board who constantly come up with ways to make extra money to top up their income. Have a look over there and see if there's anything you can do to bring in a few extra £s.

It's probably for the best that you are unable to get a loan or credit card - these may help in the short-term but in the long-term are likely to exacerbate the problem as you can become reliant on them.

Are you still in full-time employment? If so, and if you work for a decent company, it may be worth enquiring about a workplace loan. Some companies will give you an interest-free (or low interest, I'm not entirely sure) "advance" and then take it out of your pay each month. It may be worth explaining your situation to them.

The best thing for you to do is to fill in a "Statement of Affairs" (link here - http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php ) to highlight exactly where your incomings and outgoings are going, and the lovely people here on the forums will be able to suggest ways to make cutbacks and changes.

Good luck - you'll get there.