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No money left until next Tuesday

Hello
I live with my OH,DD and DS. We try to be careful with our money, we both work and get by month to month, however, this month we are short, all bills and rent are paid, but we have £3.58 left in the bank, until OH gets paid on 15 May. Been stretching food out all weekend and still have some tins in the cupboard and things in the freezer. I am most upset because we have to pay £30 for a trip for my son at school tomorrow ( already been given extra time to pay) . We have no savings and no credit cards to fall back on, OH has a small overdraft which we have already gone into. We have no family (all parents sadly passed away) . I have been doing online surveys and we have items listed on three selling sites. I know all you guys are busy and have your own lives going on but just wondered if anyone had any suggestions ? Thanks in advance for reading this
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Comments

  • es5595
    es5595 Posts: 380
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    Have you considered your local food bank, or have a look on Olio (https://olioex.com/)
    How old is your son and what is the £30 for? I'd suggest informing the school you simply don't have the money and he'll have to go without the trip or it be paid from school funds.
    Try posting a SOA, someone will give you the link to one soon, or google it, and there will be better people than me to help make suggestions.
  • Thank you for your quick reply. DS is 14, I will speak to his head of year tomorrow, and explain the situation. Thank you also for the SOA, we will sit and work our way through it.
  • zippygeorgeandben
    zippygeorgeandben Posts: 1,273
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Debt-free and Proud!
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    Speaking as a teacher, schools are much more responsive to parents being up front and honest with them. It's parents who don't bother to pay and the impression left is that 'Oh well, everyone else can pay it.'
    Speak to the school, and perhaps you can pay in instalments. That's what I offer to some parents if they need to.
    Savings as of April 2023 Savings account - £26460.50(14474.88)Current account - £2140.24(4576.79)Total - £28600.74(19051.67) £1010 (£65pm CS/BS) £250 CS/BS/JS
  • midnight_express
    midnight_express Posts: 1,272 Forumite
    Could you pawn or sell something ?
  • Speaking as a teacher, schools are much more responsive to parents being up front and honest with them. It's parents who don't bother to pay and the impression left is that 'Oh well, everyone else can pay it.'
    Speak to the school, and perhaps you can pay in instalments. That's what I offer to some parents if they need to.[/QUOTE

    Thank you this is great advice, I appreciate you taking the time to help me
  • I’m not sure what we could take to the pawn shop, we don’t have any gold or valuable jewellery. I have got some other items listed on selling sites. Thank you for the suggestion
  • katie4
    katie4 Posts: 430
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    we too have been in the same situation as you, luckily we were able to borrow from family members though
    what I found really helpful is creating a table (on excel) with the headings Asda, Petrol, Days Out etc and going through my bank statements writing under each heading how much I have spent in that particular shop/petrol/day out etc that month
    I was shocked to see around £700 a month on groceries/takeaways when I always though that was between £300-400
    Its definitely an eye opener and I can now use this information to watch what I'm spending and where more carefully
  • Today’s update, I have spoken to DS school, they were very understanding again. We have agreed to pay half the money on Tuesday and the other half at the end of the month when I get paid.

    Have managed to find a couple of electronic items , which I will take to see what I can get on buy back.

    Thank you again for sensible and kind words
  • Summer12
    Summer12 Posts: 103
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
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    Today’s update, I have spoken to DS school, they were very understanding again. We have agreed to pay half the money on Tuesday and the other half at the end of the month when I get paid.

    Have managed to find a couple of electronic items , which I will take to see what I can get on buy back.

    Thank you again for sensible and kind words

    Oh I am so glad you have posted an update about this as I was thinking about you today! That’s a relief. Perhaps post up a SOA and the good people on here maybe able to help identify some costs that can be cut.
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