Terrified

dizzybuff

I'm absolutely terrified of the mew budget cuts next year associated with child tax credits. So this week I'll be looking again at my budget and where I can save. Being a single parent and sole earner is absolutely frightening me. I don't want to let my kids down

Ladyluck1

How much will you be losing? We're losing around £90 a month which I can't recoup anywhere really, apart from the fact I won't be upgrading my mobile.
It'll mean more cuts to the food bill which is already only a measly £125 a month. That's nearly my whole food budget gone.
Ive already got rid of our sky, on the cheapest call package etc. it's our rent and council tax that wipes us out
They make it hard. I have 2 children under 5 one is a at school but the other isn't even nursery age yet. My husband works but only at £1.50 above minimum wage....

AnnieO1234

Ladyluck1 wrote: »

How much will you be losing? We're losing around £90 a month which I can't recoup anywhere really, apart from the fact I won't be upgrading my mobile.
It'll mean more cuts to the food bill which is already only a measly £125 a month. That's nearly my whole food budget gone.
Ive already got rid of our sky, on the cheapest call package etc. it's our rent and council tax that wipes us out
They make it hard. I have 2 children under 5 one is a at school but the other isn't even nursery age yet. My husband works but only at £1.50 above minimum wage....

Hon that's awful, £125 for the month. Surely you must be entitled to some further help?! Xxx

worn_out_mum

Ours is going down £150 a month but luckily my wage will be going up £70 so we will only be losing £80 overall. We are trying extra hard to pay off a couple of debts before April so we don't have to cut back anything else.

Tink_04

I'm confused what is being cut? Xx

Ladyluck1

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

Hon that's awful, £125 for the month. Surely you must be entitled to some further help?! Xxx

No further help, we get a tiny amount of housing benefit but it's not a lot. It's tax credits we rely heavily on, my child benefit pays the council tax.
Tax credits pays food, electric and water and an old credit card. My other half pays the rest including his car for work so petrol tax insurance.
It's just such a worry!
Hope you find a way to cut down before April x

Upsidedown_Bear

Tink_04 wrote: »

I'm confused what is being cut? Xx

Working tax credits and child tax credits.
Link here:
http://www.litrg.org.uk/News/2015/150917-How-will-tax-cuts-2016-affect-you

Long ongoing thread here where the very helpful blondebubbles has been helping people work out how much they will get next year.

dizzybuff

oh thanks ill have a look at that thread tonight. i have two children in childcare and as childcare has gone down as both are now in school i need my new calculation so I can attempt to figure out what i will loose.

Im so confused , I need to act now , we are currently working on a 150 per month food budget , Im gonna have to seriously look at this. Sky will have to go I have already told the children ill look at the package and try and keep thier channels . I need the extra money as my daughter starts rainbows soon. Okay im going to eat dust for a few years then .

DomRavioli

Dizzybuff, if you keep internet on, you can get an amazon fire stick for 35 quid and add Kodi onto it *(you can buy them pre done and it is all legal). I got rid of sky just under a year ago and it was the bsst thing I ever did. Fab kids channels, millions of films, live sports, literally everything you could think of.

It even has iPlayer for BBCshows.

t14cy_t

dizzybuff, use freeview for tv, skys so expensive. x

june89

As well as stopping Sky, look at whether you can legally stop paying your TV licence. We didn't have one for years because we didn't have an aerial, so had no means of watching broadcast TV. The few shows we watched were always on iPlayer catch-up (NOT live streaming) which does not require the licence. It's not a massive cost, but would be about £12/month back in your pocket.

Could you pick up a few DVDs for the kids, rather than having the channels for them? I'm assuming children's telly is much like ours and repeats after a few weeks, so you don't really need it! Used DVDs are really cheap on eB*y or Am*zon.

Also check out the debt-free wannabe board if you haven't already, they are really good at sorting out budgets and suggesting areas to trim.