Any advice - single parent of two spiralling into debt

Karonher

theoretica wrote: »

Not for the 7am to 8pm needed - that comes out at £2200 + employers NI a month (at minimum wage if over 25) and hugely exceeds the working time directive as a 65 hour working week.

I was thinking more to try and cover the early start and allow the late finish to be reduced. Knowing more about the other person it does sound that this would not be an option.

getmore4less

I think you may need to review the costs on an each hour basis to see which are costing you the most and try to cut them out

The net income for some of these hours will be very low after tax and child care.

Any chance to work from home?

Mnd

If your house is worth half a million pounds, I would sell up and buy something more realistic. Pay off you debts and start again.

SneaksyWhippet

If your live-in help is a student, does that not mean you should qualify for the single person countil tax discount?

EssexHebridean

Hi OP. Some excellent points already made here.

Your disability should I'm sure entitle you to some level of help if it really does stop you from being able to do certain essential tasks - have you double checked to see what you may be entitled to? Either way have you checked how much you'd pay for a local cleaner maybe once a week for a couple of hours? Allowing for all the extras that you're paying around the live-in help, I'm pretty certain that it would be cheaper even without any benefits to pay towards it! You would also of course then gain the single person council tax discount also.

I absolutely understand your position on the speech therapy but even if it would be cut down to twice a month that would be a heck of a saving. Have you looked into how often the NHS suggest that it should be done to check that actually your little one does need to go so frequently?

Clothes need to be cut down a lot - small children really don't care in the slightest wear their clothes come from - so think about Primark, Adsa or Tesco for basics like school uniform and underwear, and charity shops or eBay for day to day clothes to wear at home and for play. Make sure that the one that has childcare after school is changed out of their uniform immediately they are picked up from school too as this will extend the life of the stuff that really needs to look reasonable.

What is the £80 a month medical amount for? If prescriptions play a part in it then switch to pre-paid prescription cards - that should cost you around £10 a month then.

If it is at all possible to track down your kids father and the situation allows it I agree with those who have said he really does need to start meeting his responsibilities. I accept that things aren't always this simple though.

what was the credit debt accrued for? If it was buying things is there anything you can sell to pay off a chunk of this debt at all?

Unless you know that there is anything likely to fail imminently then I'd suggest dropping the emergency fund savings down to £100 a month, then when you get to £1000 in the EF kitty divert even that £100 per month back to paying off debt.

If you could cut that £300 from the EF savings, cut clothes and electricity/gas by half also, cut £100 off the food bill and reduce that £200 for the live-in help to half that by paying for a cleaner then that at least covers the £600 shortfall. You could then look at working on other reductions to start making at least some headway with the debts.

tlc678910

sadcuckoo wrote: »

In a year (and then another term, I think). The total reduction in fees is around £300 / month, which will definitely bridge the gap a little bit.

You should be entitled to 30 hours a week of childcare the term after they turn three - that has got to be worth more than £300 a month.

https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

Edit - Just realised the 30 Hours is based on term time only so you are probably right!

zippygeorgeandben

Some excellent advice and guidance here for you UP.
Regarding the therapy, speaking as a Reception teacher (I'm not sure which child it is of yours who is attending SALTI but I think that I would be talking with the teacher and explaining this. See if you can have a meeting with the SENCO, normally they are full of advice and to be honest, have built up some experience of working with children who have SAL needs.
Ironically, I have been at a communication and language course today. More and more children are struggling with articulation, expressive and receptive language. Who recommended the SALT?
I'd see if you could have a word with your school and see if they could speak to whoever is in charge of your Early Years Support Service about any help which could be provided. Just because someone has said it's 21-23 months (sorry if months are incorrect but I'm too tired to scroll up!) doesn't mean you have to accept that answer straight away. I'm always pushy as a teacher to get the best possible support for my children.
If you want to DM me any concerns, feel free to do so as I have plenty of strategies which may help you (and save you money!!)

Honeysucklelou2

The SALT team that I have worked with, tend to give packs of activities to go through with children, so the children might be seen every few months but we practice the sounds every day. Perhaps an initial consultation might be key to helping you deliver much of the speech therapy at home.

Silver_Queen

Are you certain you need comprehensive sickness insurance as an immigration requirement?

sheepy21

Hang on, so you have a student who is living with you for free AND you pay them £200a month and in return they do a bit of cleaning?
You could have a lodger for £500+ and pay a cleaner for a couple of hours every other week. You’d be hundreds better off.