Struggling and desperate... Please help!

gggxxx

Thanks for your kind comments.
I double checked with ESA after work today and they've confirmed it is because I earn too much and he hasn't made enough contributions (how can he when he has only has temporary work at minimum wage?)

I was really down about this but my parents will help us out for now, our council tax is £120.
I have double, triple checked and we aren't entitled to anything else to help us. I really don't want to find a different job as I have a great boss and good prospects there.
Also to the person who assumed my partner quit school, he left at 16, same as me with GCSE'S. I was lucky enough to drop on an apprenticeship but as I said previously the only work he ever gets is temporary.
Moving back to my mums isn't an option really, so I'm having to loan from friends and family this month and keep scraping by.

xylophone

The rent to income ratio is high but the amount you are spending on items other than food is very high - you do not have transport costs so where is the money going?

Nada666

Real question is what are these £500 bills? Knocking £90(?) off for council tax and £75 for gas, electric and water and £27.50 for broadband (inc phoneline) that still leaves about £300. What is this going on if not food?

Mojisola

BigAunty wrote: »

Download the MSE budget planner, populate it with your actual expenses and income, then work through the site to work out how to slash your outgoings - cheapest energy,telecoms/tv packages and so forth. The site has links to the cheapest groceries, ultra thrifty recipes and so on.

gggxxx wrote: »

Thanks for your kind comments.
I double checked with ESA after work today and they've confirmed it is because I earn too much and he hasn't made enough contributions

I was really down about this but my parents will help us out for now, our council tax is £120.

I'm having to loan from friends and family this month and keep scraping by.

If you can't increase your income, you need to reduce your outgoings. Borrowing from people is only going to make things worse further down the line.

Several people have suggested what BigAunty says - plenty of people will help you reduce your spending if you list it all.

gggxxx

As stated my council tax is 120, my gas and electric is 90 and water is 40. That's just the basics, on top we pay phones contracts taken out when we could afford them, Internet and TV, TV license, credit card.. It amounts to 450-500 depending on credit cards.

[Deleted User]

could you cancel the phone contracts and go PAYG ? internet and phone line rental is available from as little as £12 a month for both from SSE
https://www.sse.co.uk/phone-and-broadband#Phone-broadband

bigadaj

gggxxx wrote: »

As stated my council tax is 120, my gas and electric is 90 and water is 40. That's just the basics, on top we pay phones contracts taken out when we could afford them, Internet and TV, TV license, credit card.. It amounts to 450-500 depending on credit cards.

That response is why you need to do a statement of affairs and interrogate where every penny is spent, and where savings can be made.

Your initial post indicated your desperation, but if you can't be bothered to work out exactly where your money is going then your situation definitely won't improve, 'it just goes' isn't good enough.

From the above, have you reviewed your energy supplier recently, can you get rid or reduce costs on your mobile phones, change your internet and TV package, reduce spending on credit cards, balance transfer to save in interest, that's just for starters.

PlymouthMaid

It all sounds quite difficult for you. 20 is very young to have the burden of being the sole breadwinner. The only thing that will really improve your lot long term is your partner being able to work again. Could he be doing some kind of study to improve his employment chances once he is better? Could you move back home perhaps and save some money either with or without him - maybe he would be able to access more help if he was without your support.

Topcat1982

If he does have a family to live with that would be best until your debt is paid, you would get single person's discount on council tax, he could get ESA.

You can aim to move back in together in a couple of years

At 20 you should be going out with friends and having fun, this is so much stress and worry

FBaby

So you made the mistake to live over your means which means now that with the debts to repay, you are struggling. Unfortunately, this is the lesson to have. DO NOT get tempted by those swanky new expensive gadgets that everyone seems to have. It sounds like you were never in a position to justify being able to afford them. Same with whatever was bought on credit cards.

I know it is hard when you work hard not to feel that you can reward yourself with some of life pleasures. However, the reality is that when you are young, you put in a lot more than you get back and it is this investment that means that you can get those things as you get older.

It sounds like your priority is to put yourself back to a position when you have no debts. If it means moving back to a box room and taking on even more hours, then so be it. You won't be the first one having been caught in the trap of building up some debts early in life, but all the people I know who did that took on evening/week-end jobs to pay it off, and then learnt their lesson.