Which of my outgoings should I pay?

Lmh71365

Hello, I've not been in a position to not be able to afford my bills before (or able to pay double the following pay day),

But for the next 2-3 months our income will be SEVERELY impaired, this month it's just my OH's wage.

So I've got £1378 to pay some of the following. I will struggle to make up anything I'm short on, so this could have long term implications, so which of the following do you think I should pay or not pay, and which should I pay in full.

Rent - £795 (thinking I had better pay this)
Car finance - £245 (wasn't able to pay last month so have to pay this in full)
Halifax Loan - £160
Fuel - £60 (well that's non-negotiable)
Food - £160 (me, OH & baby daughter)
EE - £38
Three - £20
EE - £25
Sky - £16.40
Council tax - £110
Water - £89
Utilities - £60
My Mum - £200.


I have £130 to clear on my credit card (it's high interest so I need it cleared) and then I have maybe £200-300 on my (tiny limit) credit card I could use.

Lmh71365

Also got a bunch of outstanding parking fines.

DawnW

Didn't want to read and run, the real experts will be along a bit later I am sure. Your priority costs are your rent (as you rightly state), Council tax and food. Though can you cut down on food costs for a few weeks, ie do you have food in that you could use, meal plan, use Aldi or Lidl etc?

Your utilities and water seem next most important. No idea about parking fines - I think the outcome of not paying them depends on whether they are issued by the Council or a private company. The worst case scenario is that they take you to court, and the court would order that you pay x amount per month (based on what you can afford). Not being judgemental, just curious, but why do you have so many? Can you avoid getting any more, as this seems one unnecessary hassle that you could do without? I admit to just ignoring a private company one once, and although they threatened to take me to court, they never did.

Credit card debts etc are much less important. What I would do is contact one of the free debt charities, such as Stepchange or National Debtline, for advice. Why not have a quick look at their web sites and give one of them a ring when their call centres open?

Take care xx

Pixie5740

Rent, council tax and food are your priority bills. anything else is gravy. I'm pretty sure that even if you have substantial arrears the water company can't cut off your supply. All the gas and electricity companies would eventually do is install prepayment meters. That's not to say you should get into arrears with the utility companies but it's just not the end of the world if you don't.

Moneyfordreams

is your council tax over 10 or 12 months?
If 10 can it be caught up in February and March? Due to bank account changes a 2 years ago I missed a couple of payments. They were happy to accept them at the end of the financial year. Please check though.
Your water bill is huge

National_Debtline

Hi

I agree with the others that rent, council tax and fuel are priority bills. You’ll also need enough for your essential living costs.

You could contact any organisation you can’t afford to pay to let them know your situation and stress that it should hopefully only be for 2-3 months. Ask them whether they’ll let you make reduced payments and then catch up.

We normally class council issued parking fines (PCNs) as priorities as enforcement officers can be used to collect them if you don’t pay. That would also mean extra fees get added. If you have council PCNs it’s a good idea to contact the council to let them know your situation and that you plan to make payment offers when your income improves.

James
@natdebtline

Lmh71365

Hey thanks for all your replies!

Is council tax super important? Aren't they quite accommodating with repayment plans without it affecting my credit?

They are council fines. They're basically because there is just not enough parking in our residents parking zone, at all. Like, not even just on our street but everywhere within walking distance. Sometimes I'm better off parking at a supermarket 10 hours away where I get 4 hours parking than I am trying to park in my zone. We have a tiny baby and my OH is in a leg brace and on crutches, so we've sometimes had to park on double yellows or for longer than 2 hours in 2 hour bays and the parking enforcement officers are hot in our area (knowing it's an awful place to park).

Two of our phone contracts are our first payments - what would be the implications of not paying this?

RE: food. Our food bill is extremely low. For two adults it's £100 a month, so strictly £10 a week each. The £60 is for the baby's food (we make sure she's eating fresh fruit and veg even when we can't) and the fact it's Christmas coming up and we just don't know what we might have to contribute to at people's houses etc.

Pixie5740

Yes council tax is super important. So important that it's dealt with a the High Court rather than County Court and you wind up in jail if you do not pay it.

If you fall into arrears with your mobile phone accounts then the operator(s) can put bars on your SIM cards which can prevent you from accessing the network(s).

Lmh71365

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Yes council tax is super important. So important that it's dealt with a the High Court rather than County Court and you wind up in jail if you do not pay it.

If you fall into arrears with your mobile phone accounts then the operator(s) can put bars on your SIM cards which can prevent you from accessing the network(s).

But what I mean is, if I call them and say I can't pay for two months, can I spread it over next year, they are normally OK with that aren't they?

Gods sake I have to have my phone for work. What am I going to do?

I've been served a default notice for my car for the one month missed payment (as I've only had it since the end of August and therefore only made one payment), so I have to pay that.

795 for rent + 245 for car + 160 for food + 60 for fuel + £38 for phone + £16.40 for sky (without it we have no signal anywhere near our house) = £1314.40 so that leaves us £56 to pay our council tax!

thriftylass

Hello,

terrible time to have this problem, but I hope you get through this. Hopefully it really just temporary.

Your planned outgoings are 1978.4 (plus the 130 for the CC?)

Lmh71365 wrote: »

Rent - £795 (thinking I had better pay this) PAY
Car finance - £245 (wasn't able to pay last month so have to pay this in full) *
Halifax Loan - £160 *
Fuel - £60 (well that's non-negotiable) is that just for OH going to work?
Food - £160 (me, OH & baby daughter)
EE - £38
Three - £20
EE - £25 why are there 3 mobiles ?, can you cancel one or *
Sky - £16.40 *
Council tax - £110 PAY
Water - £89 PAY
Utilities - £60 PAY
My Mum - £200 *


I have £130 to clear on my credit card (it's high interest so I need it cleared) and then I have maybe £200-300 on my (tiny limit) credit card I could use.

* phone them up and ask for a payment holiday or similar, explaining the situation, do you have proof that your income will be back to normal in 3 months' time?

For future reference, get a water meter or are those payment incl some arrears. Seems high

All the best

Lmh71365

I have spoken to Halifax and Blackhorse, neither can do a damn thing to help me. No repayment holiday, no lower payments, no promise to pay, as we are within the first 6 months.

Fuel is for me AND OH to get to work. Neither of us can get to work in a cheaper way. OH gets a lot of lifts as it is.

We have two phones and one iPad. My phone is new (reduced from a £50+ contract but I have to have lots of data for my job as I'm constantly required to use my phone as a sat nav). They are all in contract so can't be cancelled. The iPad is new too (so damn annoyed about that but that's another story, so there's no DD to cancel so I'm worried that's just gonna be taken out).

We can't get a water metre, our property is too old. It includes £20 of arrears from a previous flat.

I just don't know what to do.

I'm torn between making sure I can earn good money to get us out of this mess, and paying the 'essential' bills.