No more maintenance from ex, budgeting help please

[Namechangedebthelp]

I seperated from my abusive ex around 2 years ago and he left me with quite large amounts of debt. I've been gradually paying off the debt and there is around £8000 left but all on interest free credit card at the moment.

I work full time and have 1DC. Up till now ex has paid maintenance but has recently lost his job. Due to the circumstances he is very unlikely to get another job and could go to prison.

I've been trying to figure out a new budget but it's looking very tight. Have listed my outgoings below, if anyone has any suggestions of places I can make savings it would be greatly appreciated.

Total monthly income including child benefit =2003

Rent 825
Council tax 105
Childcare 190
Broadband and phone line 40
Netflix 5
Mobile 10
Home insurance 15
Car loan 100
Car insurance 89
Gas/elec 49
Water 30
Fuel 175
Food around 40 a week
Was paying 300 a month off Credit card and will now reduce to 170.

This leaves me £40 a month and thats with no extras for school uniform, trips, birthday or things going wrong.

Am looking for a better broadband deal but other than that not really sure. Help please!

[Fluffycloudland77]

The ones that jump out at me was the car insurance, the home insurance as you only need contents for rented and £15 a month is high for contents, the water if your on a meter. Do you pay the council tax over 12 months? it saves you nothing but you have less to find per month.

I'm assuming you live down south with the rent as you'd get a 4 bed detached around here for that.

[TheBlueDot]

Your car insurance is huge. Have you tried comparison sites for all the insurance policies you have?

Also your fuel - can you cut down on journeys or is it work related?

Are you getting help with childcare costs?

[Itsatravesty]

Your car is costing you £365 per month! Any chance you could sell it and buy a cheap run around?

[Namechangedebthelp]

Car insurance is massive after a bad car accident last year, it was the cheapest I could find when it came to renewing. I do massive amount of miles in an already cheap 2nd hand car but fuel costs might be worth looking at. Most of the mileage is commuting but could possibly work from home one day a week which would save a little bit.

Am living in the south east, I could save a tiny bit by moving to a one bed flat but moving costs would outweigh the savings.

Could also try to get food closer to £30 a week.

Will also look into changing the contents insurance.

[IfIWasABirdIdFlyIn2ACeilingFan]

Do you need the phone line? Could you switch to broadband only? I have mine through EE along with my mobile contract. All in its £26.50 a month.

[IfIWasABirdIdFlyIn2ACeilingFan]

That’s for 6GB data on mobile and home broadband.

[Catspyjamazzzz]

Are you getting all the benefits you might be entitled too. I’m afraid I know nothing about this but someone else might.
Are there any charities that help if a ex/partner is sent to prison (I know this doesn’t help now).

Is there anyway of increasing your income in anyway. I’m guessing you already work full time so this might not be case. Doing surveys can mean bit of money put away for amazon vouches for xmas etc.

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Talk talk broadband is around £18pm

What's min payment on CC? Could you pay the min plus a few extra quid rather than £170?

[ourkidmolly]

Could you bring your dc in with you for a bit and rent out the second bedroom?

[Catspyjamazzzz]

is Credit card on zero interest?

[Starlight345]

Are you entitled to any other benefits including wtc, housing benefits, single person allowance on council tax?.

Also until he goes to prison he should be still paying £7 a week. £28 a month will make a difference to you .

[averythinline]

Do you have to pay the Credit card? that is a lot of money- maybe talk to stepchange or another organisation like that - they are often really good at renegotiating debts as well...

You maybe entitled to some tax credits/ universal credit but would need to check....
other than that housing costs are high..if you have to do a lot of miles for work coudl you live in a different area?

[Moomicorn]

You could try writing to credit card company to explain situation and ask for ability to pay off money at a lower amount per month than the minimum but maintaining the zero interest. Say maybe £100 a month. Or see if they are willing to give you a payment holiday of e.g. 3 months so you can build up a reserve pot of cash, without affecting your zero rate. Your local Citizens Advice would be able to help you write the letter.

[SillySallySingsSongs]

Do you have to pay the Credit card?

If it's a debt why shouldn't it be paid!

[greathat]

Phone line and broadband is expensive, shop around. Plus maybe switch to giffgaff for mobile, it's cheaper for most

[Moomicorn]

Perhaps Silly one of the ways the abusive ex was abusive was financial abuse, for example not paying his share of household expenses or making the OP take on debt for items he wanted under duress.

[Namechangedebthelp]

Lots of useful advice thank you. The £170 on the credit card is double my minimum payment. All safely on zero interest for another 2 years but I desperately want to pay off as much as I can. It does give me flex though to pay off minimum in the odd month if there is an emergency.

The vast majority of the debt was caused by my ex spending on my credit card and he bought a very expensive car in my name without my knowledge then ruined it so it was in negative equity. I sold the car when I left him but had to pay off the finance so it cost thousands to get rid of.

Feeling a bit more positive after my panic earlier when I worked through the budget. If I cut down food to 30 a week and change broadband and contents insurance that's already about £60 a month.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Do you have any proof of that?. Usually fraudulent transactions are void.

[RandomMess]

Claim for housing and council tax benefit you may only get a little bit each week but can be the gateway for reductions on other things- in our case reduced council ran summer playscheme.

[Namechangedebthelp]

Only proof I have is the original finance documents for the car with a signature which is very different to mine.

Would it be worth looking into? I used the credit card to clear the loan to make the payments more manageable. So as the current debt is legally mine I think I might be stuck with it.

[SillySallySingsSongs]

OP you can try, but it would be extremely difficult to prove.

[UnderMajorDomoMinor]

Might be worth a trip to citizens advice regarding the car you’re paying off and also benifits check.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Surely they needed proof of id, driving licence or passport?

[MrsL2016]

This website has a benefits calculator to check you are receiving everything you are entitled to:

www.entitledto.co.uk/

[RickyGold]

Do you use childcare vouchers? If not that would save you a bit.