Always skint and have a 3 month old child. I need money advice

gettingready

sulphate wrote: »

most apprentices do live with family, and are not expected to support themselves let alone a child.

Clearly OP is not "most" so advice appropriate for "most" is not suitable here.

And bringing him down when he is already feeling low and reaches out for help is not going to help.

Poppie68

Shen81 wrote: »

Martin Lewis would be embarrassed by some of the replies in this thread. He started Moneysavingexpert to help people like this young man. What we see here is a contrast between genuine people who come on here and share Martin's philosophy of helping people save money and people who come here just to pick faults in people and argue amongst themselves. The maturity of this young man really shows, when he says he just ignored the snotty people. Credit where credit is due, that is a very admirable quality he has and puts the people posting those comments to shame.

Flinchy-Stryder, I see nobody else has mentioned this yet. As you are studying in college, there is a bursary fund available for 16-19 year old's in your position. You can get up to £1200 in a single payment which I think will help you long term by enabling you to save some money at the start of each month. Check to see if you are eligible for this. I know for definite it is an advantage if you are a parent or living away from home. Both of these apply to you. Good luck.


This site is for help and advice but as it is a public forum people also have the right to express their views. Nobody was cruel or even derogatory some posters were just staggered after the Op comes on here as for help and advice, gets good advice in the suggestion of which in reality is his only option.....get a second job, and he reply he doesn't want to because he is too tired.....he doesn't have the luxury of time off if a child needs providing for.
Op in regards to a bursary you would of had to apply for it before you turned 19, there isn't anything available to apprentices as they earn a wage. Are you aware that once you are 19 and been there a year you have to be paid the national minimum wage.

gettingready

quidsy wrote: »

And so what? He replies or not, it is his choice & it is the other posters choice to suggest things that they think may be helpful. If they've already been suggested, the op has the choice to skim over them.

Yeah.... pick through masses of garbage to pick up one useful and relevant bit of advice.,Very helpful.

Any moderators in this section? Could clear this thread so OP can actually get some help he asked for/needs without wasting time going through all the nonsense on here

gettingready

Poppie68 wrote: »

.get a second job, and he reply he doesn't want to because he is too tired.....he doesn't have the luxury of time off if a child needs providing for.
.

You know nothing about why OP may be feeling too tired to take on another job, you have no idea how is the child being looked after and if the child needs OP to break his back to get an extra tenner.

Stop judging people. Help if you can. If not - just stop posting nonsense

sulphate

gettingready wrote: »

Clearly OP is not "most" so advice appropriate for "most" is not suitable here.

And bringing him down when he is already feeling low and reaches out for help is not going to help.

Okay, whatever. The point is that he is on a low wage, so not really surprising that he is struggling trying to support himself because so would most other people on an apprenticeship, so totally understandable. As someone else said, unless he finds a way to increase his income or decrease his expenditure by a reasonable sum he will carry on struggling.

And he needs to do this, fast. As I said on a previous post, he is still liable to pay maintenance should the child's mother choose to chase him for it through the CSA.

I don't see anyone "bringing him down" on this thread to be honest - most people have made perfectly reasonable suggestions, if the OP chooses not to follow them that's up to him. Comments like "but I can't get work at the weekend because I'm too tired" are bound to put peoples' backs up.

quidsy

lol, I wondered when you would call for a moderator. This is a forum, people post & should expect opinions of varying kind. You can't start crying if you don't like some of the answers. And actually the op isn't crying, you are.

[Deleted User]

The OP generally comes across as a lot more mature than some posters in here. His living circumstances are his choice based on his own rational reasons. I find it incredibly impressive that he's surviving on that little money and not surprising he's complaining about wanting more.

So far, we've established that money can be saved on lunches and transport. We know he may be able to earn some more money, but that's not proving too easy to find.

I would look for some work in a shop; ideally a major chain that might be able to throw you some Christmas work whilst you are on a break from classes this December. It'll also give you an exercise in writing a CV.

Don't bother with the internet - walk around some shops, ask to speak to a deputy manager about available positions - do not expect this to be on the internet.

Also, are there any facebook groups for your area? How about asking on them to find out if anyone wants evening or weekend work?

enjoyyourshoes

Hi
Phone contracts

many phone contracts have a option to up grade or down grade your contract (some at mid term)

Might be looking through your documentation or contacting their customer service team to see if this applicable to you and what the conditions are. See if that helps?

I reduced my Sons 2 year contract at 12 months from £30 to £13.99 and no loss of texts, minutes and data !?

Mrshaworth2b

fivetide wrote: »

As an aside a friends mum freezes everything. This includes biscuits. You are torn between dunking to defrost your biscuit and making your tea cold. It is that bad.


Randomly though she puts everything in bags with names one so you know the contents. Sounds almost sane, yet she does it with things that are already in bags... and meant to be frozen.


Hence there are clear bags, obviously containing peas decanted from their original Birds Eye packaging, with 'PEAS' written on the outside.


Everyone is too polite to ask about it.


They have four freezers and one fridge.

Thank you for this post, cheered me right up

Claire_A87

Echoing what ringo said - this is the perfect time of year to look for a Christmas temp job, especially in retail. It would be perfect if you're not in college for a lot of December, & although the pay may not be amazing it will give you a bit of breathing space money wise. Also, if after Christmas you decided you could manage a weekend/evening job, you'd have experience to put on your CV.

Whilst at uni I got a xmas temp job at Waterstone's, they kept me on and the experience then got me a job in Selfridges that I kept until after uni. Believe me, having down on a CV that you've worked retail during 'the busy Christmas period' is a big plus point for many part-time casual jobs.

Whatever you decide, you sound like you've got your head screwed on so just have a think about it. Unfortunately, the situation isn't going to sort itself out, so some sacrifices are going to have to be made.

Good luck with it.