What a fudgewimple

laveugle

Brookside88 wrote: »

Is the 302 childcare for a child minder or after school clubs etc? It may be worth seeing if your employer does childcare vouchers as I think these can be used for wraparound care. Based on your income which is similar to mine you should be able to get the full 243 a month which will only reduce your salary by around 160 a month

£302 (I think its less but thats maximum) is an average over 12 months that pays for AM/PM club at school and then full time holiday club. I haven't accounted for our combined 10 weeks holiday mainly as we take a couple of weeks at the same time and I haven't planned for next year. We've only required full time childcare around schools since my husband went into full time work this month. I've just increased my childcare vouchers to £243. Are you sure it would only reduce it by 160? I've been trying to work it out and it went over my head!

EDIT: Just found a calculator online, you're correct! I'll have to see what difference that makes over the next couple of months as maybe my deficit will be slightly less then. Also forgot to mention that June and July I've had to pay a private nanny £20 a day to pick my son up from school as my husband didn't submit the childcare form to the kids club on time so there was no space. It's killing us but we've already submitted September+'s forms

Help28

Have you looked at an app called Borrowmydoggy? You may be able to find someone who would walk your dog for free as they like dogs. That would help knock down the dog walking bills.

Also, I am fully aware I may be shot down here, but could you rehome your dogs? If they went as a pair it wouldn't be so traumatic for them and you could save a huge amount of money.

Grumpelstiltskin

Ok Your car is through work, you are showing £200 petrol monthly, so are you getting any fuel expenses for work? At that amount of petrol you must be doing mileage for your job.

Rehoming the dogs is not something I suggested but I have to agree with Help, you just can't afford them.

pelirocco

laveugle wrote: »

£302 (I think its less but thats maximum) is an average over 12 months that pays for AM/PM club at school and then full time holiday club. I haven't accounted for our combined 10 weeks holiday mainly as we take a couple of weeks at the same time and I haven't planned for next year. We've only required full time childcare around schools since my husband went into full time work this month. I've just increased my childcare vouchers to £243. Are you sure it would only reduce it by 160? I've been trying to work it out and it went over my head!

EDIT: Just found a calculator online, you're correct! I'll have to see what difference that makes over the next couple of months as maybe my deficit will be slightly less then. Also forgot to mention that June and July I've had to pay a private nanny £20 a day to pick my son up from school as my husband didn't submit the childcare form to the kids club on time so there was no space. It's killing us but we've already submitted September+'s forms

Your debt will keep increasing as you cant cover the minimum figures you have entered on your SOA ( and there is nothing in there for emergancies , plus we all under estimate what we spend). Its just not sustainable you have to reduce your spending by £640 per month , and keep it up ( or earn more ) just to get by , and this will be for possibly years
Does your job rule out DMP?

mitch2509

Until you figure out the short fall, your debts are just going to keep getting bigger.

I am a massive animal lover and would never tell you to get rid of them but financially they are burying you, you have got to figure out a way to reduce the costs.

One last thing, could your OH not work more hour etch. Also you sound like you have a really heavy duty job are they paying you, your worth?

laveugle

Help28 wrote: »

Have you looked at an app called Borrowmydoggy? You may be able to find someone who would walk your dog for free as they like dogs. That would help knock down the dog walking bills.

Also, I am fully aware I may be shot down here, but could you rehome your dogs? If they went as a pair it wouldn't be so traumatic for them and you could save a huge amount of money.

I tried BorrowMyDoggy, unfortunately didn't work out so cancelled my membership after the year was up.
If I rehomed the dogs we'd all be devastated. Our weekends revolve around going out with the dogs to new places and my mental health has been a lot better since having them. I don't lose my temper as much, I'm a lot calmer and nicer (I was horrible before). They are basically my support animals. I just need to evaluate what I can do with regards to costs. I might see if I am able to get home even one day a week as that would save £60 a month as a starting point.

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Ok Your car is through work, you are showing £200 petrol monthly, so are you getting any fuel expenses for work? At that amount of petrol you must be doing mileage for your job.

£200 covers getting to work in rush hour for the both of us (we can't lift share unfortunately. Additionally none of our family live in the same town, they all live two hours away at opposite sides of the country so we visit each once a month. When I do drive on business its expensed. I plan on reducing my fuel cost as much as possible because being hugely overweight I was driving to the local shop, (5 minute walk). Since losing some weight I'm finding it easier to be more mobile. No more driving to Aldi!

Also I really want to get cycling to work - I haven't ridden my bike in years so I've got to get the money to get my bike serviced first! But that's on this summers agenda.

pelirocco

laveugle wrote: »

I tried BorrowMyDoggy, unfortunately didn't work out so cancelled my membership after the year was up.
If I rehomed the dogs we'd all be devastated. Our weekends revolve around going out with the dogs to new places and my mental health has been a lot better since having them. I don't lose my temper as much, I'm a lot calmer and nicer (I was horrible before). They are basically my support animals. I just need to evaluate what I can do with regards to costs. I might see if I am able to get home even one day a week as that would save £60 a month as a starting point.

£200 covers getting to work in rush hour for the both of us (we can't lift share unfortunately. Additionally none of our family live in the same town, they all live two hours away at opposite sides of the country so we visit each once a month. When I do drive on business its expensed. I plan on reducing my fuel cost as much as possible because being hugely overweight I was driving to the local shop, (5 minute walk). Since losing some weight I'm finding it easier to be more mobile. No more driving to Aldi!

Also I really want to get cycling to work - I haven't ridden my bike in years so I've got to get the money to get my bike serviced first! But that's on this summers agenda.

Im sorry , this is harsh , but I dont think you have had your lightbulb moment . You need to make serious changes now , you are facing financial disaster

Grumpelstiltskin

Peli I have to agree with you. Everything that is suggested is countered by ' Can't do that because...…….'


There is no way this can improve without a massive change of attitude which is not there at the moment.

laveugle

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Peli I have to agree with you. Everything that is suggested is countered by ' Can't do that because...…….'
There is no way this can improve without a massive change of attitude which is not there at the moment.

I wrote a very long reply to this and have deleted it because there isn't any point ranting over the internet. I would very much appreciate that if you think it is necessary to comment on my "attitude" that you just don't bother contributing at all because the impact it has on me is essentially sitting in the toilets for 30 minutes bawling my eyes out.

You are correct I do counter with " I can't do that because" but please point out where I'm being unreasonable?

Do you have dogs? Do you know what its like to be so depressed you want to end it all? I was in that place a few years ago and it's taken a long time to feel good again and the dogs are part of that. To lose them would be extremely detrimental and I don't want to go back there.

Money is just money, but health is everything.

I am aware that they are costing me a lot of money and I will go away and think about how I can reduce that impact but I do have restrictions on what I can do.

laveugle

mitch2509 wrote: »

Until you figure out the short fall, your debts are just going to keep getting bigger.

I am a massive animal lover and would never tell you to get rid of them but financially they are burying you, you have got to figure out a way to reduce the costs.

One last thing, could your OH not work more hour etch. Also you sound like you have a really heavy duty job are they paying you, your worth?

I'll be able to cover the shortfall for the next two months with ebay and work bonus but September onwards could be pretty hairy.
I don't even know what the typical costs are for dogs, or whether what I spend on them is a lot.

OH will be entitled to overtime and on call pay after 5 more months. On Call pay should help a lot but that's not going to be for a while.
With regards to my pay. I'm paid okay for a self taught professional - I am trying to get my company to pay for some training which would enable me to earn more. I'm paid 13k less than qualified people. I could fund the training myself, but well clearly I can't. I am extremely lucky to have my job, essentially I have clawed my way into this position and have to work very hard to keep it!