Financial advice urgently needed

Barham

Following a recent divorce, I have managed to move on and obtain a shared ownership property, but more importantly I have managed to provide a home to my two boys aged 13 and 9.

However, I am struggling to make ends meet each month and this month I find myself in a position where I have literally £11 left in my account and cannot afford petrol to get to work or food.

I have whittled down any debts, but my outgoings are still large, my incoming and outgoings are as follows:

Monthly net Income = £1770
Additional income or benefits = £0

Outgoings per month:
Rent £600
Mortgage £180
Gas and Elec £61
Water £30
Council Tax £119
Life insurance £14
Car service plan £21
TV Licence £31
Union sub £15
Food £200
Fuel £200
Internet £17
Maintenance £200
Car insurance £25
Mobile £58 (that's my and my son's phone - under contract for another year and my only means of contact with my children, when they are not with me)

I don't have any credit cards, an overdraft or loans. However, I am barely breaking even and can't afford to cover anything that comes up as an emergency or to buy new clothes. I am worried that if prices go up I cannot afford to pay my rent or mortgage and after having to fight to get the house I have I don't want to lose it.

I am a teacher, living on my own most of the time (except alternative weekends when I have my two boys) and have already discounted council tax and because of my wage I am not eligible for any benefits, so I am extremely stressed as to what to do.

I owe my family £5000 and need to pay them back, plus with Christmas approaching, I cannot afford to get anything.

Any advice or help will be gratefully received.

BookmobileBadGirl

Evening,

Some things that jump out at me to begin with:

- your gas and electric seem quite high, for someone who mostly lives alone. Have you submitted some meter readings recently?

- you pay your tv license monthly for £13 to give you a little leeway.

- what is a car service plan?

- could you try and shave a bit off your monthly food budget (batch cooking etc) and save that money into the start of an emergency fund to help deal with the unexpected

The main thing looks to be that you need to up your income. Could you do any tutoring to bring in some extra money?

theoretica

The food is high for one adult and kids every other weekend. Does this include meals at work? Do you take packed lunches or each school meals? The old style board here can help you cut this down.

No home insurance?

Fuel is another biggish bill, do you have a long commute? An inefficient car or driving style?

fatbelly

You don't get child benefit for your two boys? Does someone else? Have you checked whether you can get Child Tax Credit? Or Housing Benefit on your rental part?
(Edit: I just read your post more closely. This is the problem, isn't it? You are spending money on your boys but your ex is getting the benefits and you are paying maintenance. Is there not a better arrangement possible?)

You say that you have £11 left but your figures show:

Monthly net Income = £1770
Monthly net Expenditure = £1771

so that's really tight and there's nothing for clothing, presents, haircuts, school trips, a holiday...

You need to look at every figure on your financial statement. Yes, you need more income. And yes you need to shave some pounds off as many of those expenditure items as you can. Small changes addd up and this site can help in every area:


Gas and Elec £61 (use mse energy club; note you can get referral payments with Bulb and Octopus)
Water £30 (check your water authority for schemes)
Council Tax £119 (with a sinle adult discount? spread over 12 months?)
Life insurance £14 (essential?)
Car service plan £21 (or go PAYG?)
TV Licence £31 (should be more like 12.71)
Union sub £15
Food £200 (a bit high if you're on your own most of the time)
Fuel £200 (that's a lot of petrol)
Internet £17 (check for deals on this site)
Maintenance £200 (specialist help needed there)
Car insurance £25 (check for deals on this site, use topcashback/quidco)
Mobile £58 (that's my and my son's phone - under contract for another year and my only means of contact with my children, when they are not with me) - so why's your ex not covering son's phone?

D_M_E

Water - you list shared ownership so you must be on a meter. If you are really paying £30 monthly and live mostly on your own this seems high - have you checked for any leaks? For example a leaking toilet cistern could cost a lot of money for a small leak.

Fuel - Do you really spend £200 monthly on this? If it is necessary, could you change your driving style and get this down, or park the car up for a week and use public transport and see what that costs instead?

Have you explored moving school/college for a better paying position in your proffession, or part time evening teaching at a local college?

EDIT - it's not often we see someone on the forums who does not have much in the way of credit debt, so well done for that.
Your biggest problem is paying mortgage and at the same time paying rent on the share you do not own - you say you don't want to move, but have you considered selling and buying a property nearer either where you work or where your 2 sons live, this could cut down considerably on travel costs.

NeverendingDMP

Hello and welcome.

Ideas could be extra tutoring marking proof reading etc. These are the things other teachers on here seem to do. Surveys are time consuming and quite slow progress but there are ones out there that you can get money or vouchers back for Amazon. This would help with future birthday gift funds. Not sure on the children's thoughts about Xmas and what's appropriate as mine are younger but if things have changed and they are not seeing you as often an activity invite or Fillm night and popcorn night at yours promise could be part of there present. I know that's not ideal but it's an idea, hopefully some other creative person will see what I mean and give you better ideas x

You could also ask to spread council tax over 12 months it feels cheaper and eases the budget a bit.
There's lots of people on the old style thread who can make very little food money last a long time- I'm still trying but the threads are very inspiring x

natlie

Additional income or benefits = £0 Hi are you sure about this? I would advise trying Universal Credits if you haven't I was really surprised that I was entitled to housing benefit to help with my rent

Outgoings per month:

Rent £600 - this is high, are you in a contract? can you move closer to work?
Mortgage £180
Gas and Elec £61
Water £30
Council Tax £119
Life insurance £14
Car service plan £21
TV Licence £31
Union sub £15
Food £200 this is really high for one person and 2 kids part time, have a look at the recipes on Bootstrap cook Website she used to live off £10 a week for food and her recipes are health and priced per portion
Fuel £200 really high, can you car share with someone or cycle? how far is work?
Internet £17
Maintenance £200
Car insurance £25
Mobile £58 (that's my and my son's phone - under contract for another year and my only means of contact with my children, when they are not with me) after your contract get a deal where call to each other are free something like giffgaff

System

I was also going to mention Giffgaff. Calls to Giffgaff numbers are free.

You could definitely increase your income by tutoring.