A house of cards - help

redsheep

In a similar position. My husband got made redundant in March - now we are struggling with two small children. Have you looked at what you can sell on ebay / car boots ?
Good Luck.

JayW

Sorry but you only get a reduction in Council Tax if the house is occupied by a single adult or if there is only one adult who is liable. Unemployed people still have to pay council tax, its only students who don't count. At least, that's how I understand it.

sophiedb

This is very quick post - I saw the link on the tips email and have found the entire thread to be one huge pile of wonderful information.

It sounds like you started out with what looks like an absolute mountain of debt (and yes it probably is), but job or no job your family's willingness to do something about it - rather than panicking - is going to see you through :j

At the risk of sounding overly long term, it's probably a good thing that this epiphany happened now. I don't know what uni fees etc will be like in 10 years' time, but with 3 kids (and two professional parents) odds are that you'll have at least one who wants to go. Together with the normal costs of living, becoming debt-free as early as possible is the way forward!

Rave

JayW wrote:

Sorry but you only get a reduction in Council Tax if the house is occupied by a single adult or if there is only one adult who is liable. Unemployed people still have to pay council tax, its only students who don't count. At least, that's how I understand it.

Ah, you might be right; it's worth asking though I guess. When my wife was unemployed it seemed to be the same form to fill in for housing benefit and council tax benefit, and I can't remember what they actually gave us money for in the end.

TimC

sophiedb wrote:

At the risk of sounding overly long term, it's probably a good thing that this epiphany happened now. I don't know what uni fees etc will be like in 10 years' time, but with 3 kids (and two professional parents) odds are that you'll have at least one who wants to go. Together with the normal costs of living, becoming debt-free as early as possible is the way forward!

Long term yes - also very realistic.

Until 2010 any rises in tuition fees are pegged to below inflation - after that who knows?

Previously I'd read that in 10 years time the average student debt will be £30k - that's the average. What a indebted future we're building for the next generations who will also be expected to fund us out of the pension problems created for our generation.

This article http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/guides/university-fees-school-011700.html reckons the costs of fees and living for someone starting next year will be £31,260 and in 18 years time it will be £48,755. We've had a notional target of having £50k available for each of our daughters in time for their 18th birthday (the first in 9 years time) so that they can go to University if they want to and be able to complete their courses without ending up in debt. If they don't go - I can retire sooner!!!

witchhazel

Hi, sorry to hear your job is at risk. I've lived on a low income for years now, but I really like my job, and don't get into debt. I work on the principle of - if I don't need it, I don't buy it or if I can't afford it, I don't buy it. I know this sounds simplistic but I've seen the amount of stuff that people acquire and how shopping has become a leisure activity. If your telly still works why buy a new one?
Buy clothes at Oxfam - they have brilliant good as new bargains, (Maddona buys stuff at Oxfam!) or TK Max.
Go to Netto/Aldi/Lidl for basics and try shopping with cash, leave your cards at home - it's amazing how quickly you leave behind all the uneccessary stuff.
Holidays - ask around and see if anyone can lend you a tent and some gear and give camping a go if you are still running a car. Not for everyone but there are sites with great facilities for kids. Look on your local authority site, there are always loads of activity days organised for kids specially during school hols often free.

Squiffy

Well, good news and bad news.

Good news. Got settlement figure for investment trust of £7950, which is more than the £7k I had allowed for. Also had my final months salary paid of £4500 which is more than the £3200 I usually get. I haven't seen my payslip yet, so not sure what is going on there.

So as things stand, going into my account from today and over the next month are :

£4500 final salary payment
£29700 redundancy
£7950 investment trust

Making a very handy lump sum of £42,150. :j

Bad news. Finish work tomorrow, and still haven't had an interview for any new positions. I've got several things on the go, but they all seem to be moving very slowly. Hopefully from Friday I can concentrate full time on pursuing a new job.

IF I can get one reasonably quickly, then we have a huge lump sum to pay off a massive chunk of our debts. :T

JAMIEDODGER

well done squiffy!!! and good luck with the job hunt!!!

Squiffy

Thanks Jamie.

Had a call back from an agent - got my first interview setup for next Wednesday. :T

It is an excellent company, decent sounding job, fingers crossed I get it. Indications are that the salary will be only slightly below my current job.

Nickynoo1

Good luck with the interview squiffy. I'm also on the redundancy list. They told us Sept 2004, and we think we may be going oct this year! Talk about taking their time. It's nice to know in advance but a year of not knowing when were going or what's going on is rediculous. I'd rather just get going and move on now.

Nickynoo1