Need some control

stinabean

Pay day today and it was a good amount, but as I was £400 overdrawn it's not a great day!

All minimum and essential payments will be made thankfully, however nursery will put me back in the arranged but obviously charged overdraft.

As the months go on, the amount I'm in the overdraft should reduce until I'm out of it. I can't cut down on my spending as I literally don't buy anything for myself so at least I know I won't be frivolous!

Considering getting a Saturday job to see if that can help us out short term. I'll be exhausted but I'm feeling incredibly stuck and have a strong desire to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
Another option is to start selling some bits we no longer need/use but I don't see us getting much money for them for the amount of effort in photos and listing etc.

stinabean

Have sold a few miscellaneous bits which help our day to day money so we don't need to touch the card for a small while, so that's helped me feel a bit positive!

However I'm currently quite overdrawn, approx £350 of my £500 overdraft.

I'm trying to find more bits to sell to bump this up a bit to make next pay day better, and the one after that better, etc.

I've applied for Universal Credit for help with the childcare costs which I'm pretty sure I should get but I've heard nothing but bad things about UC so my hopes aren't very high at all.

Fingers crossed!

Scott-Weiland

Have you considered doing market research surveys too see if you can boost up your income?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money-surveys/

stinabean

Scott-Weiland wrote: »

Have you considered doing market research surveys too see if you can boost up your income?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money-surveys/

Ah yes thank you!! I used to do prolific and couldn't remember what it was called - thanks for reminding me to start that up again!
I didn't make much money from it tbh but every little helps

stinabean

I've just applied and gotten a 0% balance transfer card for 6 months to buy myself a tiny amount of interest free time for some of my debt.

Is it best to concentrate most of my money on this as it's 0%, or put most of my money on the card(s) that have interest against them?

I think both Halifax and Barclays are getting interest now and I'm feeling so overwhelmed. I wish I could take a break from childcare fees and throw that on the credit cards instead!

jwil

Pay off the highest interest first, just pay the minimums on the 0% card.

I know the feeling about childcare!

stinabean

Well Universal Credit have now informed me we earn too much for any assistance with childcare. Which means we're screwed. We now spend more than we earn and I'm struggling to find a way out of it.

jwil

Sorry to hear about the UC claim. Did you look at tax free childcare? That will save you a bit.

Also is there any chance your DH could also work compressed hours? Or could either of you work from home a day a week? You could squeeze another day out of the childcare.

stinabean

Yeah I think it's all roller into UC where I am unfortunately. It's made a lot of trouble for people who've moved over to it.

I already work from home, luckily, and they let me squeeze full time into 4 days already. I can't squeeze anymore time in!
I'm now considering either a weekend job, or looking for a night shift somewhere just stacking shelves or something to help us out.
Sadly DH works long shifts as it is, there's no way he could do more.

Failing that I'll see if work have any more responsibilities I could take on for extra money or some sort of added bonus etc.

Another thing I realised is most, if not all, bills will get paid. All the essential stuff should be fine. It's literally food that we can edit so I may have to look for some good tips for cheap eating and being more organised in that way.

Working_Mum

You are working really hard at all areas stinabean, some days you just put one foot in front of the other and keep going ((hugs))

Have you checked out the Old Style Forum??
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=33

It is rammed full of money saving and thrifty ideas to get your household budget go further - it has some challenges you can share. It has helped me re-engineer how I shop for food, view repairs and renewals etc and has saved me loads. It's been great to learn new things during my debt free journey!

Good luck