Life is becoming such a struggle :(

shelovestobuystuff

You need to sort out your credit cards.I don,t recommend paying the minimum payment on credit cards,but while you are in dire straights,and as long as it is a short term situation,combine the credit card debt on to one card if you can,try for a good balance transfer rate,0% is possible.Minimum payments on one card is going to be less than on 4 cards for sure.
Have a search about the various boards on here for help with your credit cards,there,s loads of great info.

misspoppy

I'm so pleased that your Mum is helping with food I was very worried about you there. Call the CCCS or visit their website and lets get this situation under control. Keep coming back and telling us how you are getting on.

Thistle-down

Yea for your Mum! I hope you are able to get some dog food from ASDA as well...?

We have dogs (or dog now -my lovely 15+ yr old JRT just passed away :A ) but 15 years ago when I was was living in a barn on about £6 a week, my JRT was the only thing keeping me going. They are wonderful support, best friends, hot water bottle substitutes, and give unconditional love. It would take extremely dire straights and even then I don't know if I could give up our dog. If one of your dogs gets ill and you cannot pay the vets bills, contact the PDSA - they will help you get your animal seen by a vet. They are also a lovely charity well worth supporting once your finances change!

As for other than TV things to do - if during the day we do things like take the dog for a walk, go to village fetes, go on picnics, go to the library, and check for free entrance days to local tourist places / museums, etc. It sounds a bit dull but we always end up having a really good time.

Saturday night is our "movie night" when we watch something we have recorded on TV earlier in the week, yes it's TV, but it somehow seems a bit more special! Both DH and I read a lot, so we get library books, and we are both amateurish musicians but have a good time playing and learning new songs. I have recently checked out a few library books on rug making and hope to give it a try as soon as we have some old clothes to recycle.

I hope things get better for you soon!

~Lynn

janegresty

Right... here is a more accurate SOA..

rent = £450.00 (monthly payment) - £300.00 owed
council tax = £141.68 (monthly payment)
scottish power = £22.31 (payment required now)
british gas = £80 (bill very overdue)
tv license = currently do not have a valid tv license
water = £200 owed
capital one credit card = £200 (minumum payment due £10)
lloyds tsb overdraft = £227.91
lloyds tsb credit card = £612.87
halifax bank = £96.92 owed (have refused to freeze interest and charges)
3g contract one = £300
3g contract two = £98
o2 contract = £56.66
royal bank of scotland credit card = £539.83
barclays credit card = £12,000
argos store card = £220
bt = £378.24 (want £10.51 a month payment)

which amounts to quit a lot!!!! i am going to send them all letters asking them to freeze interest and charges and to put the account on hold from further action for 28 days. not sure if this will help me, but i need to at least try!
thanks to everyone for your help, feel free to add more if you think of anything.
jane xxx

meme_3

Initial thoughts - your council tax is very high.. almost a third of the rent!
Are you in an expensive part of the country?

meme_3

janegresty wrote: »

i cant sell anything on ebay as i owe them £50 for selling fees otherwise i would sell the tv, and then look of freecycle and see what free things they are giving away. then anything free being given away i could take and sell ours. but ebay is a no go at the moment.

What about the local paper?

Many will advertise for free - just look at the small ads pages.

You don't even have to buy the paper - go to the library....

Think about what you are selling though. You need a life.

If you've not got a TV licence, but you want to keep the TV, I would suggest that you put it in someone else's house PDQ.

Gemmzie

Why isn't your hubbie on JSA? Apply now and ask for a crisis loan until it gets instated.

How many hours do you work? You may be entitled to WTC if you are over 25

janegresty

OH is not on jsa and we can't get any benefits, because we got a warning from benefit fraud which is still being investigted. basically we claimed housing benefit and council tax while not working, but then when i started work i didn't tell them because i knew i could not afford to pay them.
they found out hence why i owe housing alot of money and why my council tax is so high. my council tax has also been spread out as much as possible and its still really high.
my own fault though isnt it that im in this mess!

janegresty

meme tbh im not sure we have anything else we can sell. we sold all our dvds and cds, and anything else we had that we didn't ''need'' so all we have left is access to internet and tv for entertainment now.
so to sell tv would make life even more unbearable for us.

Gemmzie

Ah right that will apply for JSA. It may not apply for DLA however, as it isn't income linked so as long as your doctor confirms your condition there's no way you can fake it.