Budgeting Service?

AngelPie78

I am TRYING to plan long term, but I can't get past the fact that I have to pay rent when I don't have any money now.

Surely you can understand that??

getmore4less

You need to move this to debtfreewanabee and possibly the benefits boards if you really want to address the income issue.

having someone manage your account which was your original question won't solve the issue.

Tryingagainandagain

Could you please check your water rates and landline figures - they are the same.


Straight away cut out the spending on clothing for yourself. For the children, only buy essentials for school.


Can you sell anything? instead of taking the kids out for a meal/treat, pack them all up and do a car boot sale (don't sell the children, but get them to help you sell) and then put the proceeds to paying off something you owe.
Sell anything you don't need or use.


It's hard and I'm still struggling with money management. My parents were poor managers of money but they had far less than I had. I still waste money but I have no debt, no dependants and manage to save on the lowest income I have ever had - the restrictions seem to help me.


You simply have to restrain yourself - the debt will come and bite you sooner or later so you need to control yourself - that's all it takes - there is no magic to it.


There is no-one who can do it for you - you need to keep saying "no" to yourself.


I don't know how you will pay what you need to this month, but I suggest you start selling - borrowing will just make the future problem worse.


Sorry I can't be of more help.

AngelPie78

so what will solve my issue then?

Bearing in mind the whole "i don't have enough money to pay my rent this month" is my main issue at the moment?

How is being debtfree in the LONG term or applying for more benefits (which I've already tried) going to HELP?

CLAPTON

AngelPie78 wrote: »

I am TRYING to plan long term, but I can't get past the fact that I have to pay rent when I don't have any money now.

Surely you can understand that??

do you receive housing benefit?
can you ask them to pay the money direct to your landlord?

one would assume that you can't borrow any money from banks etc as presumably your credit records are awful

so you really only have the option of parents/friends or the state

AngelPie78

I don't have anything to sell. I don't even have a bed! My house is fully furnished and the garage and loft is full of my landlord's stuff because I don't have anything to put in it. I sell absolutely everything I don't need, as and when I buy or get given something "new". My ex-husband kept everything when I left and he didn't even give me any of the children's toys.

Ah yeah - sorry, tv/cable/internet is £67.88!

I don't even own my laptop, it's my mum's and I need it for my computing degree. I put the £50 on there as an average over the year. It's pretty much all the kids stuff. My daughter is 15 and is growing all the time so she constantly needs new clothes, more than the little boys. My mum helps out with clothes as well and bought me some jeans, tops and a winter coat. It's just a rough estimate. She also pays for my daughter's mobile bill.

AngelPie78

housing benefit won't pay to anyone else now - it's all changed recently. They'll only pay to an account with your name on. I have no-one to borrow from. I have my Mum and that's it. She lives in a council flat and helps the kids out as much as she can as it is. Uni won't loan/give me any money as they see my income/outgoings over the year and see that I have enough so won't help me out in the short term. I already owe them from two years ago too when they lent me a bit to help me out when I was waiting for the finance to be sorted. Banks/credit union/loan companies are all a no go and would just get into more debt anyway.

AngelPie78

the state won't help out. a crisis loan is about £35 for a week's shop. that's it. I don't know of anything else. I spent a week on the phone this time last year, trying to apply for grants and loans to help me out then. I ended up getting evicted due to not paying my rent (though I was waiting for student finance and housing benefit to be sorted, which didn't help).

DCFC79

When does your mobile contract end ? You could get that down to say £10 a month whe it ends. According to the soa you should have £178 left, where does it go ?

Start a spending diary to see where its going.
Where do you shop ? You thought about buying reduced food in the shops eg reductions done at night and freeze stuff eg bread, milk.

Sorry if im going over old ground.

Paulaviki

If you can't afford your rent this month, surely the best place to start is speaking to the landlord? See if you can come to an agreement with them?