Really need to clear my debts but debt charity cant help. What next?

mennie

I received some great advice when I posted on here which is really helping me. You have a positive balance each month, we, theoretically, have a negative balance but I am manage to make it work.

• Double check you are getting the correct benefits. After advice on here, I contacted tax credits again and we are getting a further £4 a week. I know that doesn't sound like a lot but it makes a difference to us! I also have a council tax claim going through at the moment. Do you qualify for healthy start vouchers? Home Front? Free School Meals?
• Call all your suppliers and make sure you are on the best tariff, threaten to leave, do you research first and quote to them comparable deals. Make sure you are not in credit with any and if you are, request the money back. I made one call to my gas and Electric Suppliers and saved £27 per month just for asking.
• Online Surveys, Cashback, Paid to click sites, Try me free offers, Money off coupons, Mystery Shopping. These really help focus me as they are quite a lot of work for a minimal amount. If I spend 25 minutes when the little one rattling through a survey and getting 50p for it, it really make me value every penny and much less likely to fritter.
• I have paid for all the insurances and council tax in one go on 0% reward card. I then pay 1/12 of the amount into a savings account each month. This allows me to earn interest, earn rewards and gives me a discount for paying up front.

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs

BeingMe

Thank you mennie, that all sounds like really good advice.

I don't qualify for free school meals as I receive working tax credits. Healthy start vouchers are the same. I'm almost scared to contact anyone about my benefits as I've been messed around so much which is partly why I'm in such a mess.

I think I live quite frugally anyway, don't buy myself lots of clothes or have my nails and hair done, that sort of thing but whatever money I've got available in my account, I will spend without thinking too much about it. Posting here has focused my mind and made me really face up to what my debt is costing me.

I am going to switch from sky to plus net which should save me at least £20 a month. I will similarly check the gas and electricity but I must admit to finding this all a bit confusing.

I still haven't heard about the 0% card so I'm going to guess I've been declined. But, I'm still better off today than I was on Monday if for no other reason than I have say down and actually worked out what I really owe and how much it is costing me.

BeingMe

So things are looking ok with the budget. I had a small overspend of £3.54 as I found a council tax bill from last year with this outstanding so thought it would just be better to pay it now.

I called sky for the switching code so I can move to plusnet. I haven't received it so will call again tomorrow. The agent I spoke to pointed out that my bills have been high due to the number of calls I make. I can buy an add on for £5 but switching to plusnet will save me just over £7 a month. Ordinarily I wouldn't bother for such a small amount but I'm realising it's the small things that add up. I will go through a cash back site if I can and I've also started using no to 0870 too. Again, I'd have been too lazy in the past to bother with this.

On a bad note, last year my husband booked a holiday in my name (due to a loyalty discount) for this year. It's a uk holiday park costing £1500. We agreed we would still go as a family so the children don't miss out. I've discovered today that he hasn't paid it. I was told by the holiday company that we had to pay at least half today or the holiday would be cancelled. I called him and told him this but now he's not answering the phone so I don't know whether he's done it or not. I'm sad that the children will miss out on this holiday but also, does anyone know what will happen to the amount we owe? The holiday is in my name only but I wasn't present when he booked it although I've received all correspondence about it. He assured me he would pay it

Willowpop

You're doing really well sorting stuff out!
Must feel good to be a bit more on top of things.

Re the holiday. If you've not paid anything, I would call the holiday company up tomorrow and say your ex booked this, put it in your name and the money owed can't be paid. See what they say. You can do without a £1500 holiday right now.
if you want to take the kids away, borrow a tent and go camping. Our family holiday is a week camping in Kent (90mins from home) It costs around £150 for the week for the campsite, we take food with us and we take a cinema 2 for 1 voucher, or go early to see the kids movies in the summer holidays at 10am, and if we find a voucher for bowling we take that with us too. The cinema and bowling will cover one wet day, or 2 wet mornings. The rest of the time we spend relaxing, walking through the woods, picking our own strawberries etc. Fab holiday and really cheap too. Even if you don't have a tent, you can pick them up pretty cheap and still go for a lot less than your £1500 holiday. You don't need all sorts of equipment…just a few basics. And you know what? The kids won't suffer at all if you don't have a holiday and just take a few picnics to the park this year.

Annoying though that your ex said he would do something and then didn't.

BeingMe

Thank you willow I am feeling very positive and motivated still.

Unfortunately this is par for the course with my husband. He has CCJs coming out of his ears but he was adamant that he would pay for this holiday and I didn't think he'd let the children down like this. I didn't want him to book it in the first place, I knew we couldn't afford it and at that point I already had plans to leave him but he didn't know this.

Whilst I am disappointed for the children, I am more than happy to take them to a caravan park or even do without a holiday this year if needs be. What I'm worried about is that as it is my name the booking is under and the cancellation period has now lapsed, they will pursue me for the money.

Willowpop

Did you sign anything, or did he do it all? Perhaps deny all knowledge if you didn't book it? If your ex booked it but under your name then can they chase you for the money? I dunno to be honest.

MrsCautious

Hi, I don't usually comment on these threads as so much good advice is offered, I like to read it to help me budget and live more frugally. But I just wanted to say you sound amazing and motivated and making a real difference and dent in your debt, you sound like an excellent role model for your children

I just wanted to say that there are 2 parts of this forum that have been really helpful to me and they could be to you as well? The Grocery Challenge (in the old style part of the forum) and the Make £10 a day thread in the Debt-free challenges board. I've been selling things like old kids' bikes, travel cot, baby monitor, clothes, you name it really and signed up for all sorts of websites which pay (as said previously on this thread ) peanuts for answering surveys or doing mystery shopping. I've been part of the Make £10 a day challenge for 12 months and it has helped me no end, it sounded really daunting when I first joined but you can say £2.50 or £5 a day if you want!

My children are twins, now 15, last year I helped them get a cleaning job for which they're paid a reasonable rate and they do it on a Sunday evening, they are buying most of their clothes out of this, they're supposed to get a certain amount of pocket money so long as they've done certain chores, this has really slipped as they're revising for GCSEs. I just wondered if there was any chance your eldest could find a suitable little job? I know it's not always easy but I have loved encouraging their work ethic. My children wanted to help me financially since losing their dad.

I think reading this thread that you could lower your debt quicker if you thought about what you could sell and lowered your grocery bill with the help and support of the 2 threads on here I have mentioned. It does become addictive when you set these targets -- I tried for £200 a month groceries but have raised it to £225 and I have raised extra hundreds a month through eBay/Facebook/car boots/cash 4 clothes/mystery shopping etc, I never imagined in a million years this would be possible.

I also think you should take a moment to realise what you are achieving day in, day out, I know how stressful it is running a business when you have a young family, I hope you are proud that you are working hard, wanting the best for your kids and doing so much to get to where you want to be. You sound very organised to me, don't beat yourself up for having a bit of a 'blurry head' around money -- sounds to me you are on top of things and committed to making mincemeat of this debt! Good luck.

BeingMe

Thank you ever so much for your kind words Mrs Cautious

There have been some developments since my last post. My husband has failed to pay for the holiday. I spoke to the holiday provider and they have confirmed that they will not chase me for the money if I cancel. I have changed the booking and reduced the holiday cost by half for just myself and my children but it will still cost £711. Now I need to decide if I will pay that or forfeit our holiday this year. I have looked at my budget and made more cuts so that I can afford it but not sure if I should just cut my losses at this point.

On a plus note, I have underspent on my budget so far and also managed to do my weekly food shop for just over £40! I have never been able to get it so low before. We are away over the weekend so need less food this week but I still feel it's an achievement. I used as many coupons as I could, even getting a 12 pack of value crisps for just 1p by using a coupon. I'm finding this quite addictive seeing how much I can get for as little as possible and for the first time ever I feel like I'm in control of my money.

bsms1147

Personally I'd forfeit the holiday. I appreciate it sucks, but the £711 is over 10% of your total debt, and if you put it towards your debt, in real terms it'll likely be worth more in the long run as you will be paying interest on less debt.

Well done for getting into things and taking control. I'll subscribe.

BeingMe

Thank you bsms. I have until the 30th of this month to decide. It is a lot of money but on the other hand, I think it would feel good to have paid for something like that myself as it was always my husband who paid for our holidays. I have a bit of time to think about it anyway. The holiday itself should be cheap enough - all entertainment is included for free and the price includes a meal plan so we will get breakfast and dinner included.

At this point I have saved £135 since quitting smoking Also, I am due to go on a hen do at the end of the month. It will necessitate going in fancy dress with a superhero theme. I had planned to buy a full costume costing around £30 but now I'm cutting back, I've decided to go as catwoman and wear black leggings and a black top (both of which I already own) and spend a fiver on a mask and ears