To be drowning in debt

[Nohelpoutthere]

It doesn't matter how many hours I work, I never earn enough.

I'm in so much trouble.

Right, where to start.

I'm miles behind in my council tax and electricity.
I owe money to bailiffs because of historic parking tickets. I have to pay one this morning and it will leave me with about £30 for the rest of the week.
Just not managing.

Fed up of it all. Never seems to end,

I know. I'll try to get it paid off asap

It is such a shame you dont have anyone in rl to help you. Perhaps there is but you dont want your real life people to know.
It is hard to face things alone so it might be worth trying to find someone who understands.
Take care of you and DC as you go through this. Budget like mad but do have the odd treat within reason.

Thanks for the CAP link, unfortunately there isn't one near me.

I really feel for you. The stress and worry that comes along with debt is just awful. I was so bad with my money (still not great even now!) and went through this too. Don't worry too much about anything else until your council tax is paid. Try to pay a bit off each of your utilities each month too though as these are the next priority. It's stressful to deal with it all but the utility companies are usually quite good at helping you with a payment plan.

Have you put your details, into entitled.co.uk that will show you if you can claim any benefits

I can't, no, my income is okay but just debt

If your income varies I would try and take an average of the last 12 months and work out the minimum you have earnt in one month, and start from there.

I will post some links but you don't have to use a debt management company, you can do it all yourself.

After you have worked out your average and minimum income, you need to calculate your regular outgoings. Including your council tax repayment plan.

You also need to write to all your creditors and tell them you are in financial difficulties and you require breathing space to start a debt management plan. They should hold your account for 30 days. Although CT from last year will be unlikely to do so, so can't act them asap to see what stage in collections your in. It can escalate to balifs quite quickly.

I will provide links to letters templates and budget planners that help you prioritise your debts and help you come up with a sensible arrangement to go back to your creditors with.

Given you income varies I would calculate the plan starting with your minimum earnings as your base, and then slowly increase your repayments in line with your average.

Budget planner: www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/budget-planner

Your repayment offer to creditors should be your surplus amount minus £70-80 a month for emergencies based on your minimum monthly take home pay, and offer to recalculate every 3 months after an initial 6 months.

It could get rejected, but it might not, and as other PPs have suggested prehaps talk to CAB, Step Change or Payplan once you have your budget nailed and know your income.

Letter to your unsecured creditors asking for breathing space:

www.nationaldebtline.org/EW/sampleletters/Pages/Hold-action-on-your-account-(sole-name).aspx

I would also avoid trying to use Internet forum tricks to get your debt wiped off (like asking for Credit Agreements, it rarely does work!)

The stress of debt is just horrible. Without Stepchange I wouldn't have got through it. I'm on the last year now.

I'm self employed with varying income each month and used step change without any issues. Managed to pay back 10k in debt within 3 years and had all my interest frozen. My outgoings on debts before I went with stepchange was something insane like £1000 each month. Stepchange cut it down to £275 per month so it was way more manageable. I also stopped getting threatening letters from my creditors too. I'd think about calling them again if I were you. Hope you manage to get something sorted out