To feel depressed at how skint I am?

[Smolgoose]

I was furloughed for 8 months over the past year and a bit on 80 percent pay and it has tipped my precarious finances into total shit. Money is tight anyway on full pay (I only earn 16000 a year) so I've had to make up the shortfall with overdraft and credit card.

Endless expensive things keep happening, like the car needing repairs and it's starting to really get me down. I have £50 to last till the end of the month which is doable just about, as long as I stick to cheap food.

I've taken on an extra part time job cleaning that starts later this month, but I have no idea how I'm going to physically do it on top of full time work, as I've had health issues recently.

I just feel so depressed with it all.

I can't ditch the car unfortunately, there are no buses that go to where I work.

Offer £1 to your creditors until things are better.

I’d get rid of the Labour Party membership even though I’m also a member. You’re skint and this isn’t a necessity. Is there any way you could get another job? 16k a year isn’t enough for anyone.

How long would your commute be time wise if you moved in with him versus your current commute. I have had a couple of absolutely dreadful commutes one was an hour each way and involved a walk, a train and then a lift and another before I could drive meant I spent 40 minutes on a motorbike each way for a year. Stuff like this is more doable pre children.

Finances are always going to be tight if you're only earning £16k. Can you do any qualifications to change your job or look for promotion at work?

What do you actually get from the Labour Party membership OP? I would bin that!!

Get rid of Labour party membership. And contact your credit card company. When this happened to me they froze my repayments for 2 years until I was on my feet again.

Get rid of Netflix, Audible and the LP membership, for starters!

There's so much free stuff out there to watch and listen to - YouTube and all the channels' catch-up services, for example. There are so many shows to watch on All4, iPlayer etc. - there's really no need to pay for Netflix when you can't even pay for food.

Finances will be tricky when you earn £16k and live alone. You'd have been better off living with a flatmate or living in a town where you could do without a car and walk/bus to work. Its shit being rural poor.

Really good idea about contacting debt charities about freezing repayments.

Is there anything you could sell and go straight off the credit card ? even a couple of pounds here and there is worth doing , some of the debt free diaries on MSE are inspiring . Budgeting week after week is depressing , especially when you work hard for little reward x

@tulippa there's no promotion opportunity unfortunately (retail) and moving to a different shop would just be a sideways step.

I can't afford to retrain, it all costs money!

I’d cancel the Labour Party membership straightaway.

Political parties are much better off than you.

Do you claim 25% discount for Single Adult occupancy on your council tax?
Are you on a water meter? Look at going on one if you're not and ask your water company for water saving (thus money saving) devices if your property is already metered.

YANBU

People also don't realise how cheap some cars are to run. I have a little Fiat 500. It's cheaper to tax, fuel and insure (2 older drivers with many years no claims) than going on the bus out here (rural and expensive) especially with 4 of us.

Is it worth looking at eg Aldi or Lidl, only they do pay better than min wage, or just looking at what other retail jobs offer in your area? Or looking at other jobs, my nephew's wife went from working in WHSmiths to a job at the council paying half as much again.

Could you transfer your credit card balance to a 0% interest card (and keep transferring every 6 months) and reduce that payment down?

If you can’t (or aren’t willing to) reduce your out going’s you need to increase your income. look for a higher paying job or take a second job. Anything, bar work, waitressing, dog walking, babysitting.

There is a new breathing space scheme you can use for creditors.
You need to go through someone like stepchange but by doing so your creditor is obliged to apply breathing space for up to 90 days with interest suspended, no contact etc.
You won’t be able to use your card of course but it might be enough to enable you to get out of the habit of relying on credit.
I’m not sure if it’ll come off breathing space if you mAke payments but you might be able to take interest free period to reduce your debt.
Another alternative is try and find a 0% balance transfer card. Some providers are offering 21 months. Then transfer balance from your card to the new card- then be strict and cancel the old card it might mean splitting the balance over 21 months makes it much cheaper to pay it off each month

Would you look at working from home, online retailers such as Amazon Ebay etc are always hiring with a good wage, better than the one you are on for sure. With no travel costs, you could cut down on petrol, and as someone who works for one of the types, opportunities for overtime and progression are always there. If you cant change your outgoings, change your incomings.

No way you are not being unreasonable at all. Totally crap the position you find yourself in. Try and stay calm and do what you can with the cleaning job. Skip corners if you need to. Do what you can. Dont gamble or take on more debt.

I feel sorry for you. The restrictions are crushing people.

YANBU, OP, really feel for you.

What's your monthly food spending, out of interest? Do you eat out or have takeaways..? This might be an area to look into perhaps..? xx

@Northernsoullover

Don't cancel Netflix FFS. I hate it when people suggest this. If you are absolutely brassic then why on earth would you get rid of your main source of entertainment. Labour Party membership could definitely be binned.

Why don’t people share memberships?