I cant afford my rent anymore!!

[Purplecrocsrock]

Me and DH, and DD whos 14 months signed contract 4 months ago £875 a month, DH earns around £1600 a month, but we have been constantly living in the credit card since we moved in, paying energy/council tax/water and car insurance has just increased by 40 per month.
What will happen if we find somewhere cheaper, with the contract we have signed for 12 months here?

So is car insurance going to be £95 pm on Fiesta?

(£245 minus £35 minus £115)?

Regarding the gym - it's not enormously expensive to buy a weights bench and weights to use at home, particularly if you get them second hand. Where there's an issue though is if he's going to the gym on both breaks, because he needs to do something on his breaks. If you can balance everything else then a cheaper gym is a small luxury to keep.

I agree with PP - DH should cancel gym membership. What sort of person prioritises that over keeping a roof over their child's head?

Also - there is something very odd about your car insurance. I have had a few Fiestas, and have one now. £95 per month is extortionate.

Considering we do prioritize paying our rent every month we aren't in arrears it just seems that we cant afford it i have made some suggested changes which will help a lot now, the roof isn't going to go as we always have the means to pay the rent even if we skimp elsewhere. The car deal seems to be going forward the man is coming round at 7.

Whoah - did you just save £95 a month before breakfast? Yaàs queen! And when you have closed down the catalogue debt then you will have a lot more wriggle room. Well done you. 😀

I love the people claiming the £35 gym membership will suddenly thrust them onto the verge of losing their home. Yes he could cancel that £35 but that isn't going to massively help money problems. It's £35 over a month which is roughly £8.75 a week.

my dh used to cycle hour to work do 12 hour shift and cycle home

it can be done

looking at your outgoings if you use a flannell istead of wipes thats £6 a month less, and look round for cheaper phone contracts or PAYG as thats £42 a month you are spending just on phones, look at swapping utility companies see if you can find a cheaper one there should save you around £20-£30 a month, pay less each month on the catalogue debt if they dont like it tough, you will still be paying it off, see if you can get your credit cards switched to a no interest one that will save you money, and if your so poor why the hell is your husband spending £35 a month on a gym, that could be spent on food

purplecrocsrock you've done amazingly already by reducing your outgoings. Well done. I have tried to read all your posts and I wonder if a way of you earn g some money might be to take in ironing ( like you said) but you do need to do it to a very high standard and probably get one of those steam unit irons not just an iron. I wonder if you could register as a childminder and work from home that way? I don't personally have experience working as ken but I have used CM in the past one of whom did it to stay at home with her child really and it brought extra money in which helped. Going outside the home to work will cost you money I think. You could also maybe think about working at a local school in some capacity eg dinner lady, admin staff but you'd need child care at the moment. You are doing well.

Your DH goes to the gym for 2 hours a day and drives for an hour and a half, so cycling for 3 would save him half an hour?

He could but some free weights to use in his extra 30 mins

He could buy some (cheap) free weights to use in his extra 30 mins

He could buy some (cheap) free weights
to use in his extra 30 mins

You can’t really buy cheap and decent weights. Plus you’d need dumbbells, a barbell and a decent bench.

I’m all about cutting back on unnecessary expenses but if the gym is the OPs DHs one indulgence then I’d be inclined to say, at just over £1 a day, keep it. Or look for a cheaper gym? Exercise is good for your mental and physical health. And if you’re a dedicated gym goer, then “going for a run” doesn’t really cut it.

Although I’m a bit bewildered as to why he spends 3 hours per day in the gym? There’s really no need to spend more than an hour there, absolute tops!
If I had a baby to look after and my DH was spending 3 hours a day in the gym I would go nuts!

Apologies haven't read whole thread so might be saying same thing, but you should be entitled to housing benefit. We had it and our rent was lower and our income higher than yours. Not massive but made a difference.

Well done, you've done a lot today!
As someone said above, re catalogue debt, they have to prove it was you if you say your mum was fraudulent, look into this!
Good luck, I know it's tough living tight but you've done well and have been proactive!

adamant he can't cancel gym WTF

You’ve done lots already OP.

(Ignore the people who are still moaning about the gym)

The car is the biggest thing that's idiotic spending. To be honest he could scrap the car for £100 and be better off very quickly. Even if you put £500 on a credit card to get a new car as long as you buy one which costs less than £100 a month to insure you will have that paid back off quite quickly. It certainly won't cost more per month to pay off £500 than it does to pay that insane insurance.

I have zero no claims and it cost me less than £60 a month to insure a 5 door family car. I also live close by a northern city in a less than ideal postcode. The car insurance is your biggest problem by far. Get a new car and you could save probably £200 a month. Add that to the £100 you get from next month once the existing debt is sorted and you would be much better off, even if you have to temporarily pay for the new car.

Car insurance is now going to be 85 per month plus road tax so I'm happy with that.
DH has found a gym for 22 pounds a month also, for those of you moaning about it, i asked him last might and hes done it today!! I have also applied for a council tax reduction.

Well done OP, great progress.

Those hours he’s spending in the gym are hours you could be working and earning.

He needs to look after his child!

He sounds like a vain narcissist.

Did he even want a child?

Well done on your current progress, sounds like you've already saved loads. Regarding the credit card and the catalogue, could you put it all on a new credit card with 0% interest and hopefully 0% balance transfer?

Did the OP not say that the hours her DH spends in the gym are on his breaks during his 12hr shifts?

Sevendown- don't you know how to read? How very rude of you, horrible horrible person. Shallow.