Struggling :(

ian1246

I m assuming your a Teaching Assistant? (Sorry If I m wrong in that assumption!) Can you look at SEN Support Work in the evenings/Weekends/Holidays? My Wife was a SEN TA and she was able to top her income up by taking a SEN child on days out every other Saturday (& more often during term-breaks).

Sadly, after further budget cuts, causing all Teaching Assistant Hours to be cut at her School by another 4hours per week (on top of the previous years 6hours per week cuts - got to love Variable Contracts!) she had to leave being a TA in 2017 - instead going to work in a Nursery with a significantly poorer hourly rate, but longer hours (46hours a week vs. 26hours as a TA) and paid 52 weeks a year vs. 38 weeks a year as a TA - effectively doubling her Annual Income (at the cost of longer hours, less holidays & no sick pay!)

Would that be a potential alternative for you if you are a TA - Nursery Work instead (8.30-4pm or something?), utilising breakfast & evening School clubs for your kids to allow you to work the Nursery hours? Granted, you'd likely be on a poorer hourly wage and paying for the Breakfast/Evening Clubs, but this would be offset by the extra paid hours in the week (Working 37.5hours a week) and - far more significantly - the extra 14 or so weeks of paid work (52 weeks) vs. being a Teaching Assistant (38weeks)!

Another potential alternative - again, something myself and Wife looked at - is 24hour Respite Care for SEN Children. Most Council's offer this service and are crying out for people willing to do it. You basically take a SEN child on at home for a 24hour period once a month (or however much is agreed), in order to provide respite to the child's family/parents. When we looked at it a couple of years back it was around £140 we got paid for each respite period.

Just some thoughts. Best of luck!

HandD

Hayley20013 wrote: »

That’s a point if we both did that it would help, is it straightforward?

We changed banks at the start of this year. From one joint account to two joint accounts. Really straightforward and hassle free, all direct debits and standing orders were transferred without interruptions. The only thing to check is when the incentive is paid as often its not straight away.

Don't know if you have overdraft fees but the biggest thing we changed in the last few years was to take out a 0% card to clear a longstanding overdraft (which was small but costing us £30/month). We set up a DD to ensure the CC debt was cleared within the offer period and binned the card. The repayments were less than the overdraft fee so actually freed up some money but e careful here, there's temptation to overspend so only go down this route if you're disciplined.

Have you checked the amount you're paying for Gas/Electricity - always worth doing a comparison to see if you can cut some spending there.

Stick in there BTW, my and the Mrs were the same as you, met young, had the kids early and struggled for a number of years through their upbringing but, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Once they grow and start becoming independent finances ease off and life becomes more enjoyable at a time where the whole family are active.

Samsonite1

Seasonal temporary work that can give you a lot of hours are:
- Selling Christmas trees (especially for a garden centre). You have to start really early and the hours are long, but that means more money, but ideally the earlier you can start before Christmas, the better.
- Pubs/restaurants - they tend to be desperate for extra staff over Christmas.

If you can consider looking into things like guttering repair yourselves or a friend or family member, that will save you a bit.

Hayley20013

HandD wrote: »

We changed banks at the start of this year. From one joint account to two joint accounts. Really straightforward and hassle free, all direct debits and standing orders were transferred without interruptions. The only thing to check is when the incentive is paid as often its not straight away.

Don't know if you have overdraft fees but the biggest thing we changed in the last few years was to take out a 0% card to clear a longstanding overdraft (which was small but costing us £30/month). We set up a DD to ensure the CC debt was cleared within the offer period and binned the card. The repayments were less than the overdraft fee so actually freed up some money but e careful here, there's temptation to overspend so only go down this route if you're disciplined.

Have you checked the amount you're paying for Gas/Electricity - always worth doing a comparison to see if you can cut some spending there.

Stick in there BTW, my and the Mrs were the same as you, met young, had the kids early and struggled for a number of years through their upbringing but, there's light at the end of the tunnel. Once they grow and start becoming independent finances ease off and life becomes more enjoyable at a time where the whole family are active.

Thank you, we’ve been together since we were 15 and watched both our families struggle and we have been determined to break the mould. Being able to buy a house and give the kids some inheritance has been our biggest achievement so far! Glad to hear there’s light at the end of the tunnel :rotfl: trying to keep positive and realise this is just a bump in the road and things will get better. Childcare is a real problem for us but we’ve both managed to get a few days over time over the next week so that will help.

MS67

Just a thought if you are thinking of selling some items, consider using local buying groups on Facebook, no selling fees or PayPal fees. I've just found them useful selling lots of things clearing my mum's house.

fatbelly

If your OH is self-employed and has a decent accountant he should not be showing much net profit and you are not earning much by the sound of it. Universal Credit does pay out for couples with children who are on low wages (though there's a bit of a catch with the Minimum Income Floor)

Try a check on https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou

sazaccount

I'm not sure if this will help, but I fell down the youtube rabbit hole last night and found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6_wsPDhcrQ

I don't have children or own a house so not sure why I was watching but that is the way with youtube, they do 3 main gifts the 2 big ones are from the parents and the 3rd and smallest is from Santa. They took all of the kids out to walmart (asda) and took photos of what the kids were really interested in

Newstartforusnow

At 5 and 10 their gifts will be in no way comparable anyway I’m sure so there should be no guilt attached to spending a bit less on your daughter this one year if needs must.