Where do I start....

lewpster

Yep I have £550 including my birthday money. £450 of which has been put in my current account to cover rent and 1/2 nursery for Monday.

I am behind with my council tax so will have to put it on my credit card.

Get paid next friday(6th) most of which will go on the £750 nursery bill I need to pay.

Tax credits goes in on 13th? i think. I just cannot see a way back without borrowing as I have gone over my overdraft, it just does not show without the shuffling.

Done an excel spreadsheet which shows o/d at about £3,200, and actual limit is £2,400

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

Have you looked into the childcare element of tax credits or is this included in your tax credits, I agree about the savings and non essentials such as mobile phone etc
Could you mum and dad have the kids for a day or so a week to help reduce childcare costs, do you have any other family that could help with childcare, could you ex ( no sure how things stand if you speak etc ) help with childcare, are they old enought for a government funded nursery place

I was in a slightly similar situation a few years ago ( 1 child, live with partner but both low income jobs, accumulated debts etc ) I've cut back on almost everything and life it great you wouldn't believe how much better life is when your dealing with your debts

Help from parents is nice but if they have already done this before I can see the reason for your dad's hesitation, if you deal with them yourself everytime you take plastic or money out of your purse you think 'do I really need this new top/expensive kids toys etc'
I am now so tight but i love it
Bootsale every saturday & wednesday
Sell on Ebay like mad
Don't spend brass if I don't need to
Cut back on food bills
Call up sky/setanta etc and get reduced deals on a regular basis

Go on tackle it yourself you'll be surprised how much better you feel - you'll be able to teach those two lovely kids of yours how Mummy stood on her own two feet and took control, hopefully stopping them from getting into a mess wth finances when they are older
With MSE we all have the power:cool:

lewpster

Alas my parents live 100 miles away. My little boy starts school in September so childcare will go down, but so then will my tax credits.

I have a few other debts to - I can meet the repayments but it is leaving me with nothing ateotd. I do not know if I am better just taking out a DMP with CCCS but will this adversely affect my credit rating forever more?

God I'm useless......I have a budget, why can I not stick to it!

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

NOOOOOOOOO to Welcome Finance - as the others say this will only lead to trouble, they are sharks that pray on people who either desperately need the money or people who don't know better, I once seen a loan agreement from them which had an interest rate of 99.9% OUTRAGEOUS the loan was for £2,500 and including ppp, interest and set up costs the person was going to pay back a total of £7,500 THREE TIMES WHAT THEY BORROWED next time they phone pretent you someone else and say 'she doesn't live here any more now get lost !!!!!'

SamanthaA

I was in a similar situation, WFTC paid into bank account & used for bills rather than childcare, meaning I was `bricking` it when I had to pay nursery - now childminder.

What I ended up doing was moving it into a seperate account & only using it for the purpose intended.
Means that I could/ can budget without the HUGE monthly bill burrowing at the back of my mind. And sometimes the overpayments can mount up to a useful figure. Also its a necessity, not a luxury to have childcare when in the `single parent boat`!

Maybe in the future this will help, but for now its not much use.

Good luck AND YOUR NOT USELESS!

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

lewpylew wrote: »

Alas my parents live 100 miles away. My little boy starts school in September so childcare will go down, but so then will my tax credits.

I have a few other debts to - I can meet the repayments but it is leaving me with nothing ateotd. I do not know if I am better just taking out a DMP with CCCS but will this adversely affect my credit rating forever more?

God I'm useless......I have a budget, why can I not stick to it!

Your not useless first of all, they don't teach us this at school, were just suppose to know ( I'm teaching my son early he's four next week and when he want a toy, sweets etc he says mummy is this not too many pounds !!! sounds a bit sad but they need to learn that money doesn't grow on trees !!)

Can you move closer to your parents, would this decrease rent & childcare costs

You've taken the first hardest step, coming here and declaring your situaton - if you don't know much about money THIS is the place to be, I have worked in a bank:eek: for 10 years and I'll learned more in one year on here than I ever learned working in a bank

if you need more detailed help citizens advice are amazing and free they have no vested interest, I send all my customer who are in diffs ( if I can't help) to them and they always manage a solution, everyones situation is different, start a spending diary, online if you like, we'll all help in any way we can the people on here are amazing giving help & advise for free

If you think I can help with any of the bank questions pm me and I'll try
Regards MLSL

lewpster

No I would like to stay in Hampshire as I have been here for 5 1/2 years. Just on the phone to CCCS to see what they advise.

I have a job down here, friends and a new man so no way would leave it all as I will show my parents I can do it on my own and I WILL!

MYLITTLESISTERLOLA

That's my girl your sounding more positive already !!!
Is there anything specific I/we could help with, interest rates on credit cards etc

lewpster

Just got to get the children to bed, but I will bringing down the huge bags of clothes in their rooms and sorting them out for Ebay etc.

Will be back later with a proper breakdown of my debts.... THanks for all your help. I just feel crap at the mo and horrible that I find myself here again, but the sooner I accept responisbility and deal with the debts, the quicker they will not be here!

Deep_In_Debt

Well done for taking the plunge again. With the help of the good people here, you should be able to start clearing your debts soon. What a great feeling it is when you start seeing your debts going down, even if it is by a small amount. I've not even noticed a change in my lifestyle either.

A DMP will trash your credit as you will be defaulting on your original agreements with creditors. The credit rating will last for 6 years after your last payment. I'm on a DMP and to be honest, I'm not bothered about my credit rating as I don't want credit again if this is the mess I managed to myself into!

Good luck!