Need help to get debt free and manage my spending without losing my life/style

enthusiasticsaver

Bradden said:

Slightly off topic but I'm suprised to see £2008 in benefits for a single person - how is this achieved?

The OP has health issues so I should imagine DLA, housing benefit and/or PIP or something.  Lets not go down the route of questioning benefit recipients as these are not easy to come by so I would imagine the poster has already had to jump through hoops. Can we reserve questions to help them with their budget given they have said their mental health is already fragile? 

fatbelly

Bradden said:

Slightly off topic but I'm suprised to see £2008 in benefits for a single person - how is this achieved?

UC with LCWWRA and housing costs, PIP daily living, maybe mobility. Prob not mobility. Maybe some transitional protection.

Actually, op, can you do a benefits check on Turn2us just to check that you are getting the right figure. Also if you are bunging your 4-weekly PIP into this figure it needs to be rejigged to a calendar month. You divide by 4 and multiply by 4.33333

Ps. You should be getting a £300 cost of living payment in the next 3 weeks. Get out of the overdraft and stay out!
Cheers

Bradden

enthusiasticsaver said:

Bradden said:

Slightly off topic but I'm suprised to see £2008 in benefits for a single person - how is this achieved?

The OP has health issues so I should imagine DLA, housing benefit and/or PIP or something.  Lets not go down the route of questioning benefit recipients as these are not easy to come by so I would imagine the poster has already had to jump through hoops. Can we reserve questions to help them with their budget given they have said their mental health is already fragile? 

Absolutely... no judgement intended. I'm sure many hoops were jumped through!

PrettyPenmanship

I’ve massively reduced the clothes shopping to almost zero. Even taken some things back for refunds (I’m really bad at doing that! Need to be more organised). Also planning on having a sort out and selling stuff that is now far too big for me having lost weight. 

Cheaper options for socialising doesn’t really work. We have a specific hobby/interest and it all ties into that. 

Groceries costs are gradually coming down, trying to empty freezer at the moment anyway partly to defrost partly so I can get back into batch cooking properly (this is as much for health as financial reasons). 

The gym membership I am tied into can’t change that. Also it’s a location thing, no cheap gyms nearby/easy for me to get to. It’s in walking distance so that’s a bonus and I try and take most of my showers and dry my hair there so at least I’m saving those costs (which I know isn’t much but may help a bit) 

The work subs are essential to me but also come with discounts and cashback stuff that I’ve not been making best use of and need to. 

The phone insurance - phone is my lifeline, I’ve had cheaper insurance before and when it was needed it was frankly worthless! This is a good insurance company that when I’ve had to claim have been fantastic. Currently paying for phone and usage. Phone goes sim only in a year I try and keep tech going as long as possible. 

Travel ins, breakdown cover and fx rates all of no use to me and that deal only £1 less than I am paying now. 

Broadband is cheapest I can get for this location without risking frequent outages. 

Energy costs are driving me nuts! I don’t think they should be that high, I’ve just tonight been looking at readings etc and I’m pretty sure energy company taking liberties with my dd but I am not good at understanding how all that works so I need to post on energy board and a Facebook group I am in and get up to date advice. 

I think I’m low use and currently over £200 in credit and I think paying a far higher DD than I should be. This may be at least in part due to high usage last winter as I had some issues with the heating which I now have sorted so won’t be using nearly as much this year! 

Yes it’s important to me to live an honest life. Having debt companies chasing me and my credit file negatively affected would really stress me out! 

I’m reluctant to switch banks as my current one have been very good to me and I would hate to have issues with DDS etc which past experience with switching has taught me can be a nightmare! Also there aren’t many branches of eg nationwide up here, I need to be able to access a branch sometimes. 

Don’t think I can get a 0% balance transfer card to cover the amount I currently owe but I shall check I am in the credit club. 

I have agreed a no gift Xmas with some family thankfully (they are also feeling the pinch!) the birthday I’m afraid I was thinking something like Very? Klarna? Kick the can down the road a little. 

Work stuff is me trying to get into an industry where I could work from home and hours that suit me so I could have an income I could manage around the health issues. I’ve had some promising moments but it’s not translating into an income as yet, I’m trying some ideas for that. 

I do online polls/surveys sometimes I could definitely put more energy into those. 

Enthusiasticsaver thanks for that response re benefit amounts. I have multiple health issues yes which are my business tbh. Hoops galore! Plus I live in constant fear of the goalposts being moved again and again! It’s not easy to get understanding from the agencies involved and I sometimes have to have someone advocate for me as it causes such anxiety and distress. 

The COL payment merely saved my neck due to some other stuff going on, shan’t bore with details. 

As far as I am aware I get everything I am eligible for but sometimes forget to tap into other ways of reducing costs. Figures are calculated accurately I convert eg 4-weekly payments to calendar monthly etc 

I am still paying off initial uc advance which I needed when I switched to uc as there were some delays to payments and missed payments of things etc. This finishes in spring next year that’s £35 a month approx. 

Thanks to everyone who kindly replied. 

fatbelly

Thanks for the update.

Keep in touch

TheAble

Good work and well done on agreeing the no gift Christmas. I'd personally love that! 

EssexHebridean

Agreed that the no gift Christmas agreement is a good one for you to have reached - well done. Please don’t look at taking further credit for birthday presents though - really focus on every penny you can make on surveys or similar in the timescale available and also accept that your budget for the present has to be limited by that. 

I would make sorting out the energy bills a bit of a priority - although £200 credit at this stage in the year isn’t really much I’m afraid. If posting on the energy board make sure that you have meter readings from a year ago, and then one taken currently on each meter, so your accurate annul use is there for people to see to help you with. 

WYSPECIAL

Can you afford to give your daughter £50 a month?
Could she manage without it or earn it herself?
I’ve currently got two daughters at uni so know the system and imagine your daughter is getting the maximum student loan. That’s quite a generous amount and Shen may well have more disposable income than you.
Maybe it’s  time for  conversation with her?

PrettyPenmanship

I've managed to almost halve my energy DD to £100. Will keep a close eye on usage so I don't end up in debt with them, I need to do an up to date reading for them though last one was only a few weeks ago I just wanna make sure I keep straight. 

Retail spend almost £0 most weeks now I am sticking to essentials only (eg toiletries, seasonal). 

Transport also to bare min. 

Ents much reduced as my friends and I have slighltly altered how we do things and where we go, they were feeling the pinch a bit too as a conversation revealed. 

Daughter is taking as many shifts as she can at her work but she is in 3rd year so uni is full on! I disagree the maintenance loan is generous! Could you live on less than £10 k a year inc rent? I couldn't!

Plus student rent tends to be on pricey side in my opinion, she's paying the same for 1 room in a shared house as I am for a one bed flat. I've looked at rents where she is and she is actually on a good deal as that does include utilities (energy and broadband) but its still not cheap! She can't get to cheap supermarkets etc as she can't drive (can't not won't), working shifts on a zero hrs contract also makes it hard for her to do things like meal plan. She walks most places to save on transport costs but this has an impact on shoe costs.