Not making ends meet

Galloglass

I have a rare heart condition and he likes to know that I can call him or for help if needed.

Doing a benefits check as suggested is a good idea. The household income may preclude means tested benefits but there may be non-means tested benefits related to your health that may be available. Have a look at the benefits section of the forum for suggestions or talk to a local benefits charity.

sourcrates

Hi,
Maybe I’m missing something here, but you say your in an IVA, yet you have no payment listed for it, and you have over £1100 of debt you have added, I’m confused as to your true situation, can you clarify that for me ?

CoolBeans22

natlie said:

You should be eligible for some benefits, housing support or UC on such a low income and with high rent, have you checked? You may be able to reduce you electricity, we are 4 at home at the moment and paying £50 a month. Can you speak to your IVA provider to lower your payment or switch to a DMP?

We were told no to housing support prior to Covid, not sure if that will be different now so I could double check that.  The electric we can’t change until December, but we are currently on our cheapest tariff ever, please can I ask which electric company you are with?  We are on the lowest IVA payment but what is  DMP?

CoolBeans22

curlytop12 said:

Hi, hard but wise decision re the cats,
have you checked you aren't entitled to any benefits?
can you speak to IVA company?
do you really need 2 cars?
rent is too high for your income.
cut clothing budgert for now
could you not pay off catalogue with the asset money you have?
use topcashback for pet insurance- yours is extortionate!! 
also use them to get some contents insurance- be about £5-£10 a month.
anything to sell?
get speaking to people re your sewing skills  
I'd love a local alterations lady!
ISA............................0.........106.......0   What does this mean?
good luck 

curlytop12 said:

Hi, hard but wise decision re the cats,
have you checked you aren't entitled to any benefits?  We did prior to Covid and were told no entitlements as private tenants.
can you speak to IVA company?  On lowest payment plan.
do you really need 2 cars? We have SORN my car until I can return to work.  Husband needs his car to get to work.
rent is too high for your income.  We need to increase income somehow.
cut clothing budgert for now - we have, only spend when necessary.
could you not pay off catalogue with the asset money you have? We don’t have asset money, that amount is approx resale of our cars which are needed.
use topcashback for pet insurance- yours is extortionate!!  Not possible as existing health conditions but is actually a good price.
also use them to get some contents insurance- be about £5-£10 a month.
anything to sell?  We have sold everything we can of any value.
get speaking to people re your sewing skills    Yes, definitely.
I'd love a local alterations lady!  Thank you 😊 
ISA............................0.........106.......0   What does this mean?  £106 is what we pay StepChange for the IVA dispersement.
good luck - and thank you again.

enthusiasticsaver

I assume the ISA should read IVA and is £106 each month? The additional debt should not have been taken on so the first thing you need to do is get rid of the catalogue and the card before your situation gets worse and contact them and stepchange to tell them you have been furloughed.  Any indication when you can return to work or does your health condition mean you are shielding?  You can ask for payment holiday at the moment due to the virus and your employment situation. A DMP is a debt management plan and again something you need to discuss with Stepchange.  

As many have said your problem, apart from the debt is lack of income so checking to see if you are eligible for PIP or universal credit may help.  Additional ways of earning could be delivery driver for Hermes/Just Eat etc , surveys, supermarket work etc etc but again your health may make that impossible.  

On the soa you can get rid of the clothing budget and just manage on what you have. You need something in emergency savings if you have pets and two cars, all of which have a tendency to cost money at the most inconvenient time.  Getting rid of one of the cars if you are able to would help.  Getting rid of pets is not something I would like to recommend as I know they are part of the family and the only reason I would say that is if the situation got desperate and you had to move.  Landlords do not like pets. 

CoolBeans22

kimwp said:

It sounds like your situation is really tight at the moment. I think to get the best advice, you might need to refine your SOA. For example, you have calculated the grocery amount as the amount left over after DD's and essential bills, but it really needs to be the actual amount that you spend on groceries, to see what the impact of those other expenses might be. And if you don't spend 40 pounds a month on clothes, then put a more realistic amount. Having said that, it does sound like the main issue is the amount left over after paying your rent.
What is the ISA payment? 
Regarding family birthdays, if the expense is presents, could you sew something handmade instead?  

I understand, I will try to revise tomorrow.  The IVA payment is £106 per month.  For presents etc, we actually told family that we weren’t able to do presents last Christmas but I do try to make gifts.

CoolBeans22

John_ said:

You say your husband is working full-time, but how many hours is that? It looks like less than 40, and on minimum wage, can he find an evening or weekend job to supplement his income?

Looking at the other side of it, can he not find a way to earn more per hour? That’s the wage for completely unskilled work; is he able to find something that pays a bit more?

It’s hard to tell what’s going on with your wage; will you be on a lot more when you go back to work? If not, the same questions apply, why so little?

I’m not suggesting that anyone or everyone can do 60 hours a week on £50 an hour, but a working week of fifty hours is pretty normal nowadays when you are young, and £10-12 an hour should be manageable with some planning and effort. It’s no use cutting expenses to the bone if the income side isn’t looked at too.

We pay our cleaners and nanny £15 an hour, would it be worth finding some self-employment cleaning, or qualifying to mind children?

My husband works shifts so it is difficult to take on anything extra.  Prior to Covid he had overtime to top up the salary but that obviously all changed.  My husband had a well paid managerial position up until 3 years ago but had to downgrade suddenly for health reasons, it was at that point we started the IVA.  He has therefore had to start again from the ground up.
i hope that I will have a job to go back to and that my hours and pay will increase which was the plan.  I didn’t have to work full time when my husband was on a higher salary and then when I needed to go back to work full time, I had a rare heart condition diagnosed.  As I didn’t work full time at that point I have not been entitled to benefits.
i would love to find something for £15 per hour and so would my husband and maybe some self employment is the answer.  I actually have a nanny qualification but no parent would employ with my heart condition unfortunately.
thank you for your thoughts 😊

littlegreenparrot

Regarding the sewing and possible extra income - have you looked at etsy?

It's a website that allows crafters to sell on to the public. Don't know the ins and outs of using it as a seller, but definitely worth a look. 

Also worth advertising what you can do locally, my alterations lady works out of a small shop so has been closed for months, am missing her a lot!

Galloglass

Check this out to see if either of you are entitled.
https://www.gov.uk/pip/how-to-claim

CoolBeans22

sourcrates said:

Hi,
Maybe I’m missing something here, but you say your in an IVA, yet you have no payment listed for it, and you have over £1100 of debt you have added, I’m confused as to your true situation, can you clarify that for me ?

Oh crikey I’ve just realised it says ISA on my figures, that should read IVA, trying to edit that.
The IVA was taken out in just my husband’s name, our provider recommended this.  We pay £106 per month for the IVA.  I already had the catalogue and card debt when my husband started an IVA, the outstanding amount has not been added to, it is coming down, slowly.