Oh dear.

asparagus1968

sorry, what is £174 for food for a four year old at nursery?? if its costing you £174 for that and you are not working, cancel nursery!


how much do you think school uniforms are? logo'd jumpers are expensive -but you may be able to source second hand. The generic stuff can be bought very cheaply.


you could easily cut grocery bill by £50 a month. follow advice above- meal plan, drop brands ,look at reduced foods, shop at a budget supermarket, or real market if you have one.


look to reduce amount on hair cuts for a while.


try and reduce phone costs, be really careful how much gas/electric/water you use.


speak to stepchange, tell them you have had a run of expenses and need to now include Wonga and peachy, they can re-do your DMP. there was a thread on here a few weeks ago, the chap had to do exactly that, he said they were great,he'd been dreading telling stepchange, was worried they'd "sack" him.


It's all sortable,good luck:)

sourcrates

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

I don't know why this has turned itnto what you can live on food wise rather than finding ways to cut OP's spend as whole.

I do apologise for straying off Topic

eyeopener2

If you have £350 "over" each month, what was your surplus when you were working? I assume you will be returning to a similar role if you can so your spare money can be used to increase your DMP and pay back the scummy pay day lot.

Have you reduced your DMP payment since stopping work?

As it stands, all you need to do is write to Wonga, or go through stepchange please, and explain you can't pay them anything at the moment apart from a token £1 (same with peachy) and say you will look at this again when you are working.

When you are back at work contact them both and organise repayment plan ( or do it through stepchange, which is preferable).

pinkslide

thank you so much for the replies.

Nursery used to be totally free, she does her 15 hours. Apparently the council reduced the amount THEY pay the nursery per hour, so instead of asking us to pay the difference (which isn't allowed) they told us we now have to pay for food. Very convenient! I have asked to take packed lunch but they said no on the grounds of health and safety?! She attends a day nursery rather than a school nursery so we can't avoid the meals. She leaves nursery in August though (I had to give 6 weeks notice). It is a bug bear of mine because if she's off ill for a week, I still have to pay for food, the food she isn't there to eat...!

I used to earn about 800 per month and we paid all of that to stepchange. When I lost my job, they recalculated it to what it is now. Unfortunately we went from 4 years to almost 30, but I'm hoping it is temporary.

Thank you for the samknows exchange - what should I do with this, seek out one of the providers on it? We are with plusnet at the moment for landline on their weekends package, and internet. We don't have sky. I would like to reduce the bill as much as I can though.

I am a bit scared to speak to stepchange incase they sack me for taking out credit when I'm not supposed to

DH reckoned if we extended the payday loans we could pay them back in chunks once our expenses are back to normal. But that works out costing more?

fatbelly

pinkslide wrote: »

I am a bit scared to speak to stepchange incase they sack me for taking out credit when I'm not supposed to

Even so, that's what you should do.

Anecdotally, they are usually understanding.

In the event that they did sack you (is sack the right word?), Payplan provide effectively the same service and there is always the self-plan, maybe using a cabmoney site (this is Cornwall's but they are all the same, managed by NEDCAB):

https://cornwall.cabmoney.org.uk/

DevCoder

Just a cautionary note, were you in the DMP before May when you then took out the PDL's?

Some DMP's have a condition that you should not seek further credit and indeed some creditors will pull out of a DMP if they discover you have done so.

eyeopener2

Speak to stepchange, don't worry they are fine, and get this blip sorted. Your not the first to do this and you won't be the last. It takes a lot for them to sack you but don't make a habit of it!

Don't worry but act, and act as soon as you can by calling stepchange tomorrow.

Do not follow your husbands advice, that fatal.

dancingfairy

The best approach is probably to:
1) fess up
2) take a payment break of a few months due to the school uniform and dentist and save a bit for an emergency fund
3) review your budget and decide whether you want to reduce your dmp further to allow you to have a small emergency fund.
4) Breathe.
Regards
df

DevCoder

Apologies OP, I see you have already mentioned the credit whilst under DMP point.

On_my_way

FBaby wrote: »

Surely this is wrong?

I don't see a problem in a nursery charging for lunches - as it's the supervision that is free.

Could you opt to let your child take a packed lunch?