No Spare Money to repay

LoulaBelle

yes and I believe Aldi is selling a plug in oven for £29.99 a countertop one - I had one when I lived in a teeny tiny bedsit - you can also get ones with 2 hobs on the top - google it for prices

bouncydog1

On food shopping, definately cook from scratch and also think about giving up on meat every day. I don't eat meat (eat fish) and DH is a confirmed meat eater. He now eats quorn mince in lasagne, spag bo etc. The sausage rolls I made with quorn sausages were wolfed down by his colleagues who had no idea they weren't meat! Quorn mince is about £3 per bag and would make about 6-8 portions of sauce with a tin of tomatoes, spices etc. You should be able to eat well and cut your grocery bill right down. Get on your local freecycle - you will be amazed at what people give away. Washing machines, tumble dryers, microwaves etc. You have a car so could travel a few miles for a free microwave!

Takmon

bouncydog1 wrote: »

On food shopping, definately cook from scratch and also think about giving up on meat every day. I don't eat meat (eat fish) and DH is a confirmed meat eater. He now eats quorn mince in lasagne, spag bo etc. The sausage rolls I made with quorn sausages were wolfed down by his colleagues who had no idea they weren't meat! Quorn mince is about £3 per bag and would make about 6-8 portions of sauce with a tin of tomatoes, spices etc. You should be able to eat well and cut your grocery bill right down. Get on your local freecycle - you will be amazed at what people give away. Washing machines, tumble dryers, microwaves etc. You have a car so could travel a few miles for a free microwave!

You can get the same size bag of Aberdeen Angus Minced Beef in Aldi for £1.99 and there are probably even cheaper bags of it available. My local butchers even sell minced beef for less than the price of Quorn Mince.

So buying Quorn Mince is certainly not a good idea for someone on a tight budget.

poppasmurf_bewdley

As usual, 'Sourcrates' comes up with the most sensible advice, which you should follow immediately.

After looking at your SOA, it became immediately obvious to me that you had set yourself a standard of living you couldn't hope to sustain, hence all the debt.

If you don't follow 'Sourcrates's' advice, then you have only two alternatives - move into shared accommodation or get a job which pays at least 50% more than you are getting at the moment.

Hopefully a DRO will solve most of your problems, but whichever route you take, you should be looking for a new job with a decent pay increase over what you are getting now.

L.D.

Hello,

As you have two rooms in your flat, is it possible that you could rent one of them out?

I know you keep one for your daughter to stay... but as she is not there most of the time it’s not the best use of the space, especially when you can make some extra (tax free) money from it. If you have a lounge with a bit of space then maybe you could find a cheap / free sofa-bed on sites like Gumtree so that there is still room for all of you when she’s back.

L.D.

PS I live in London and my water bill only equates to £16 per month. I have long daily showers and my water bills still only come to this.

Water companies eg mine is Thames Water offer water saving measures, for example things you can put in your toilet cistern to take up space (a brick also does the job!) so less water is used and water saving shower heads.

Then the other usual stuff like turn off the tap when brushing teeth etc.

Leaky taps would be a problem so if you have any of these then it’s worth either asking a handy mate or looking at some youtube videos for replacing the tap cartridges if that’s all that’s needed.

With washing clothes I usually just run short washes, I’m not sure if that uses less water. And I usually keep the settings on low temperatures which helps with keeping the other utility bills down.

Best of luck.

blueskev

Hi,

Not sure of your geography, but organisations in each of the 4 nations are under the common banner of

mhmaDOTorgDOTuk

Advice and support across both mental health and money advice. If you're overwhelmed with debt, each of us (I'm with Support in Mind Scotland) can 'take the heat off' by negotiating with creditors on your behalf & can help you decide on the best debt management programme (anything from an informal arrangement to full sequestration/bankruptcy) - whatever suits your situation best.

Good luck!

Kevin

piggielady

Why would a 48 week contract mean your wages are (this) low? You should be paid a minimum £8.21 per hour regardless of contract or have you divided this over a year to give a monthly wage? If you are claiming UC this may fluctuate each month if your wages vary each month.

You are doing really well to have addressed this and will get lots of support on here. Ditch Netflix, Spotify and National Trust (other things to do other than visit NT places), and there’s a saving of approx £140 a year.

It’s a real juggling act. Have you explained your situation to your daughter? She can help by not expecting money from you - where is this in your SOA as you should budget for it? She is an adult now and should not expect to still be supported by you, especially as it may be compounding your situation ...

Youremove

Here in Sheffield we have a dhp which stands for discretionary housing payment where you can apply for help to clear off previous debt or even to help pay your current rent/ council tax for a short period of time. This could give you a couple of weeks to save some emergency fund money or even to sort out home insurance. Also do you watch live tv if not cut out the tv license and watch things online with no need for a tv license. As for the cooker check out car boots, freecycle or trash for nothing app, Shpock etc where people offer items some for free and try to get a table top oven with hob again here in Sheffield we have a scheme for you to apply for help towards purchasing essential items like a cooker etc which is awarded on a case by case basis I’m sure given your circumstances you maybe entitled to some help. Which area are you in ?, I will try and find out any help from charities etc around many thanks and I hope you get through this I know as my son is going through the same but just 18 months ago he was debt free just 17 year old who was homeless now he has a 1 bedroom flat and is over £9,500 in debt due to a certain homeless charity and a loophole where they can charge £240 per week rent for supported living but giving no support. I will help anyone whose in the same way as my son in any way I can

determined_new_ms

You have received a lot of good advice here. I will add that a few years ago our oven died and we couldn't afford to buy another for some months. I invested in a slow cooker and with that and the microwave we ate pretty normally - would even do a roast on a Sunday in it. I see them in charity shops often for around £4/5. Would help reduce your grocery costs.

Have a look at Jack Monroe's website - think its called cookingonabootstrap - I've tried loads of her recipes and every one has been delish. and there's a woman who lived on £1pd for a year. Long term this approach would be hard but in the short term it could help you eek out a little spare cash