Struggling :(

Hayley20013 · 14 November 2019 at 1:08AM

Hello, I’m not sure where to go for advice so I will ask here. A bit of background about our situation, my husband and I are 30 and we had our first child at 19 :eek: And another at 24. My husband is a self employed subcontractor and I have a part time job in a school. Money is tight, we were lucky enough to be able to buy our first house earlier this year but this has come with some unexpected repair bills and needing a new car so our pot is now empty

we live payday to payday with no real luxuries, we don’t often go out or go on holiday and we have a £6000 loan we are paying back. We have always managed to get by and never miss any payments or bills, but I am seriously stressed about Christmas coming which will mean my husband will loose two weeks wages as the site he works on will be closed, my daughters birthday is also on Christmas Day and I really don’t know how to raise some money to cover Christmas and the loss of earnings. Plus we have a guttering issue that needs to be sorted asap that will cost a few hundred. I’ve thought about a credit card or topping up the loan neither of which I want to do but I don’t see any other option? Our families don’t have much money themselves and we work the most amount of hours we can around the kids. I would appreciate any ideas!

WhenIam64 · 14 November 2019 at 8:03AM

Not really a debt question more of "a welcome to life issue". Tough times financially will come and go and eventually it will all settle down.

You might be better off in one of the other forums such as Budgeting and Bank accounts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

See if there are any Xmas jobs where you/your husband can use the spare time for extra money. Short work is far, far better than short term debt (credit cards) which can lead to it being permanent.

comeandgo · 14 November 2019 at 8:40AM

Would you be able to change banks to get the £100 offers some are doing at the moment?

Hayley20013 · 14 November 2019 at 8:50AM

Thank you. I know this is life, i have spent most of my life just getting by but we would normally have managed to put a bit by for Christmas but we haven’t been able to and I’m worried. My husbands out of the house for work for 12 hours a day, and we don’t have anyone who can really look after the kids. I work while they are at school and I do a full day on a Saturday at my second job while he is off. I’m trying to get some overtime for the evenings too but there doesn’t seem to be any at the moment. I think I’m going to ransack the house later and see if there’s anything I can sell!

Hayley20013 · 14 November 2019 at 8:52AM

comeandgo wrote: »

Would you be able to change banks to get the £100 offers some are doing at the moment?

That’s a point if we both did that it would help, is it straightforward?

Misslayed · 14 November 2019 at 8:56AM

It's very straightforward, I've done it numerous times with no problems at all. The switching service is very efficient.

warby68 · 14 November 2019 at 9:09AM

Obviously there is a longer term budgetting issue to address as you're not quite living within your means.

But for now :

Temporary work
Sell stuff
Keep birthday and Christmas budget as low as you can
Online earnings - such as surveys. Not a fortune but every bit helps.
Can you move any bills into the next payment month and effectively miss a payment?
Can you use the interest free credit period on any cards ( although this only puts off the amounts to January)
Do you have any supermarket vouchers (Tesco clubcard) or similar lying around?
Review bills - anything at all you can cancel? Subscriptions and the like.
Eat out of your cupboards/freezer and use up toiletries etc and plan some cheap meals to keep your food bill down for the next few weeks.
Charity shop for a few gifts/stocking fillers.

Andyjflet · 14 November 2019 at 9:15AM

The good news is that Christmas isnt a surprise, it happens every year, so for next year you can start a budget from January and plan ahead, open different accounts with pots, call it the Christmas Fund.

This year it sounds as if your husband or yourself need a little side hustle, sitting at home wont bring any money in.

I'm currently doing Christmas work at the Post Office sorting office and deliver Amazon Flex when I get the chance, as well as my normal 60 hour a week job, this has added £539 to my income this month, very welcome.
Its simple maths really, if there isnt enough income coming in then find a way of increasing it.
Meanwhile, sell any unwanted items on ebay and start writing a Christmas Budget.

SusieT · 14 November 2019 at 11:53AM

How old are your children? If they are very young they will not have much concept of Christmas, so its you who will be worried rather than them. If they are older then perhaps sit down with them and explain the situation, and that for this year you will only be able to do small gifts but will go on a special outing later to make up for it (then find vouchers for places to visit to keep the cost down). Its the middle ones that are harder, as they understand christmas, but do not yet have the grasp of finance, and I suspect they are the ones that you have.
I would also talk to the family and not buy anything for them, and that will help what money you do have to go a bit further, sell toys the children have outgrown, if you are not in contract see if utilities do a bonus payment for switching as that may save a bill needing to be paid, perhaps see if one of you could do some bar work, cleaning or something over the holiday time to bring in a little bit more as that may fit around the time your husband is not doing anything. Use food thats already in the freezer or cupboards, use cheaper brands, only buy what you need rather than "just" a bar of chocolate or bottle of wine, shop later in the evening when things are reduced etc. that will reduce what you are spending and hopefully get you through the weeks that there is no working.

EssexHebridean · 14 November 2019 at 12:35PM

Hi Hayley - sorry to hear you're in a bit of a panic. I suspect you already know the answer to the Christmas question - and that is of course to downsize it drastically. If you have anything you can sell to raise funds then brilliant - otherwise online surveys might raise a bit of extra - there are various sites out there you can do - have a look at the "boost your income" board for ideas. For presents for the kids - particularly the younger one - start making regular visits to charity shops and see what offers itself - the older one is now at an age where clothes might be appreciated so if you're smart and can find good quality clothes in the charity shops you can also get away with saving yourself money going forward on stuff you'd have bought anyway!

Explain to both children that because of needing to replace the car things money is tight and that Christmas is going to be a bit less expensive this year - and work with both of them to establish what they can make for presents for friends, their sibling and their Dad - and suggest to your husband that he does the same with them for their presents to you too. Susie's idea of planning a family outing done "on the cheap" using vouchers is a great one. Remember if you shop at Tesco Clubcard Vouchers can treble up into all sorts of things - meals out, visits to theme parks etc.

It sounds like as a rule you do manage to budget although things clearly aren't entirely easy - so you need to work to get over this wobble. I'm going to suggest that you thoroughly review your budget with a view to reducing anything you can for the next few months to make up the shortfall - and going forwards those savings can be used to re-build your emergency fund.

It might be worth you putting together a fresh SOA and posting in here so we can see if we can help you find any extra savings you could make?

Hayley20013 · 14 November 2019 at 2:35PM

Thanks for all the replies, my daughter is 5 and my son is 10 and they both still believe in Santa! added to that I’ve always tried to make sure my daughter doesn’t feel like she misses out due to having a birthday on Christmas Day, she was born two months premature and I’ve always made sure she gets exactly what my son gets for his birthday (in may) we also have 12 nieces and nephews &#55357;&#56904; three of which have birthdays in December plus my dad and grandad. We don’t buy presents for adults at Christmas anymore. I usually save what I can throughout the year for all of this but with unexpected repair bills and the loan for a car I just haven’t been able to. I’m concerned about our usual household bills too but these will obviously be a priority before presents. My first job this evening will be to see what I can put on eBay, plan some meals to clear out the freezer and cupboard and look into switching bank accounts. Also a friend at work today said she’s with bulb energy and her bills have since reduced along with £50 credit for each of us if I switch. Thanks everyone!

Struggling :(

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