Arrgghhhh - Newly in Debt!

Elle00

Normally, if I overspend one month then I just rectify it the next but that’s going to be extremely difficult to do now I’ve suddenly had three debts landed on me that I’ll need to repay at the same time as clearing an overspend.

One debt is a tax credits overpayment of £530 odd that I'm going to write to them about (I updated all my details the day changes happened). The next is around £300 to my old landlord for a carpet that got damaged. Finally I owe £280 odd to the water board. I’ve worked out that this time next week I'll be £200 in the red thanks to two unexpected bills on top of a £60 overspend last month.

Overall I need about £1300! I’m a lone parent to an under 3 who was working previously but couldn’t manage due to childcare problems. I can earn up to £20pw on top of benefits. Please note that my problem is not with working but with childcare. If you know how to get 16hrs homework a week then please do share! Also, I can sell items that I paid for as long as I’ve used them as this isn’t classed as income. I can’t do car boots though as I don’t have a car anymore.

This is what I’ve done so far:

• I've got some bits ending on ebay today that will amount to around £40 - £50.
• I signed up as Avon Rep and just completed my first campaign as this is a job I can do without needing childcare. I will only make about £10 this month because of start-up costs. Hopefully as the months go on I can earn up to £50 a month.
• I write reviews for a website plus I do some freelance articles for a company. This only pays about £20 a month (paid quarterly) plus £10 in Amazon vouchers though with no real opportunities to increase this.
• I’ve switched most of my groceries from Tesco own to Tesco Value and put my son back into reusable nappies which I got off ebay and freecycle.
• I’ve started a repayment plan with the water board of £3.50pw. They won’t like it but I’ve been reliably informed that they would be unable to get more than £3.05pw out of me if they were to take me to court due to my income.
• I’ve asked Tax Credits to freeze repayments at present. They said no in writing but stopped last week anyway?? I’m writing to them this week about both this and to ask how this overpayment happened anyway.

I’ve managed to get my monthly finances to add up now as follows:

Total Outgoings: £471
Total Income: £570

So there’s £100 spare in my monthly budget now – but how easy is it to spend £20pw and not notice? So tips on how to stick to the new budget I’ve worked out would be very much appreciated! I’m sure I will have heard them all before but sometimes it helps to hear them again.

What else can I do? Also, any opinions on selling things on ebay that actually I’d rather not? For example I bought a really nice TV for £300 when I was working full-time last year. I’m sure I could get £100 for it on ebay but am wondering if I should sell it or just try to bide my time and chip away the debt a bit more slowly?

Horace

Hi Elle and welcome.

If you list your statement of affairs then we will be able to see where you can save money. Joining one of the challenges e.g. make £10 a day is good because you can find ways of making free money from surveys and mystery shops.

Keep a diary on how much you spend on your shopping etc, include things like coffee out, meals out, magazines, newspapers, cigarettes (if you smoke).

Hope this helps.

Elle00

My monthly outgoings are:
Water Repayments £15
Water Bills £36 (waiting to get a meter installed)
Phone and Broadband £30
Mobile Credit £9
TV Licence £11
Electricity £50
Baby, Household & Cat £50
Food and Drink (excl milk which we get vouchers for) £105
Playgroup Sessions £30
Travel £25
Tobacco £50 (yes I know, I know – it doesn’t stop me though does it?)
Clothing, Shoes etc £40
Entertainment £20


Soon this will include £25pm to pay back the carpet and possibly £25pm to pay back the tax credits. That'll bring my "spare" money down to just £10pw and still take me several years to pay off!

Horace

Elle83 wrote: »

My monthly outgoings are:
Water Repayments £15
Water Bills £36 (waiting to get a meter installed)
Phone and Broadband £30
Mobile Credit £9
TV Licence £11
Electricity £50
Baby, Household & Cat £50
Food and Drink (excl milk which we get vouchers for) £105
Playgroup Sessions £30
Travel £25
Tobacco £50 (yes I know, I know – it doesn’t stop me though does it?)
Clothing, Shoes etc £40
Entertainment £20


Soon this will include £25pm to pay back the carpet and possibly £25pm to pay back the tax credits. That'll bring my "spare" money down to just £10pw and still take me several years to pay off!

See the Moneysaving Oldstyle forum for tips on cutting your food budget - £105 seems high for one person and a baby. There is a giving up smoking thread on this forum and I understand that they can offer lots of support and help.

I think there is also a forum called Up your Income and it lists on there real work at home jobs which might be helpful to you.

Elle00

Horace wrote: »

See the Moneysaving Oldstyle forum for tips on cutting your food budget - £105 seems high for one person and a baby. There is a giving up smoking thread on this forum and I understand that they can offer lots of support and help.

I think there is also a forum called Up your Income and it lists on there real work at home jobs which might be helpful to you.

Thanks for taking the time to post. £105 is only £25pw and it's for one person and one child (nearly 3) and being a growing boy, he does eat and drink his fair share.

Giving up smoking is great in theory and I will keep trying. I've been trying for two years would you believe? It's not even the drug side of things so much as the habit. I'm down to roll ups these days which is something but I know I really need to give up.

I got the Avon job because of the Up Your Income board (very helpful) but I can't up it any more now because I would then just lose benefits. Like I said, nothing against working it's just that it defeats the purpose of working more to clear debts if you don't actually get any extra money!

I think I can only really either find a reliable 16hr a week work from home job (unlikely!) or sell more things on ebay.

Deep_In_Debt

Hi Elle83. Welcome.

Do you have a Lidl, Netto or Aldi near you? If so, try them. I've recently stopped shopping in Tesco and started shopping in Lidl. Wish I'd done it sooner. I'm saving a fortune on my weekly shop and can have a little treat occasionally. I also find that much of the stuff I eat tastes better than Tesco's stuff. Even my fussiest cats in the world seem to like the Lidl cat food so I'm saving on that too!

Elle00

Deep_In_Debt wrote: »

Hi Elle83. Welcome.

Do you have a Lidl, Netto or Aldi near you? If so, try them. I've recently stopped shopping in Tesco and started shopping in Lidl. Wish I'd done it sooner. I'm saving a fortune on my weekly shop and can have a little treat occasionally. I also find that much of the stuff I eat tastes better than Tesco's stuff. Even my fussiest cats in the world seem to like the Lidl cat food so I'm saving on that too!

Thanks, but no, just a Tesco! In fact I live about two minutes away from it lol. I really don't think £25pw for two people is that much you know!

Horace

You are welcome Elle. I would also try looking at the freebie board as you can get some useful things there as well as looking at the discounts, vouchers board where you can pick up money off vouchers, this will help save money.

I struggle on JSA so I know where you are coming from - I want a job but can't find one. To help me with my shopping, I make a list of what I want and when I run out of something it goes on the list for when I next go shopping.

I am sorry I don't know what else to suggest.

Elle00

Horace wrote: »

You are welcome Elle. I would also try looking at the freebie board as you can get some useful things there as well as looking at the discounts, vouchers board where you can pick up money off vouchers, this will help save money.

I struggle on JSA so I know where you are coming from - I want a job but can't find one. To help me with my shopping, I make a list of what I want and when I run out of something it goes on the list for when I next go shopping.

I am sorry I don't know what else to suggest.

Sometimes there aren't answers are there Horace? But it's still nice just to talk about problems sometimes even if they can't be solved!

Starting a shopping list again is a good idea thanks, I've not done that for a while. I was ordering online a while back but now I live so near Tesco (social rented place) it's a waste of money to get things delivered. I go twice a week - once for heavy stuff like milk and cat food while my son is at playgroup then once for normal stuff (food!).

I looked in the cupboard today and realised I have two weeks' worth of food so I'm going to try to stay away from Tesco for at least a fortnight and maybe try writing down the things I want for next time but could make do without for a while.

I run a budget in excel (have done for a year now) so I can see that if I don't spend more than £20pw for the next three weeks I can be back in the black by the third week of June.

That just leaves the long-term debts to be rid of asap!

Deep_In_Debt

£25 is not much for 2 people - good for you for managing to do your weekly shop for that.

Glad to see that you are getting a water meter installed. I had one installed a couple of years ago and my bills reduced from £32pm to £12pm and set to reduce further. It also makes you more conscious of the water you use, like not leaving taps running even when cleaning your teeth and loading the washing machine up and just doing 1 wash a week and washing up at the sink instead of using a dishwasher.

Horace

Elle - I have remembered something that I saw on The One Show the other night which may be helpful. They reported on supermarket BOGOFs and how if you and a friend compared shopping lists and one went to the supermarket and bought the BOGOFs on the list and the other went to another supermarket and spent the same on different BOGOFs they could then pool their shopping and save money. It might be an idea although whether or not it would work I am not sure.

I am becoming the master of making do and have only recently ventured into selling on ebay - not sold anything yet though, I am not really sure what to put on there, I have some nice clothes that no longer fit but don't know if people would buy them Guess, I will have to be brave and list them and see what happens.