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.

Is your credit card 0%? You could reduce the payments there, unless they're minimum, for a time until you feel more settled.

I can PM you with links to download audio books and stream content for free if that would help so you could cancel netflix and audible?

members.pineconeresearch.com/#/

You get £3 per survey which you can take in a gift card right away, you don't get a lot of surveys but it's easy enough to make £10 a month on it and you'll never be screened out of a survey.

If you download the too good to go app you can get their grab bags for £3 from Morrisons (mine go up at 6:17pm exactly and you do need to be fast)

Netflix audible & labour party membership £28.28

Netflix: £5.99
Audible: £7.99
Labour party membership £4.42

= £18.40

Why are you paying £28.28?!?

Dump the Labour Party membership. You can take it up again if and when you are in a comfortable position.

Do you have a single occupant discount on your council tax? That's 25% off.

YY to a 20 etc months interest balance transfer credit card if you can get it.

Do you have credit monitoring apps? They're not exact but they do show you what accounts you have open and give suggestions to improve your credit. You can get them free. You can improve your credit just by ensuring that you open new credit as seldom as poss, keep older accounts to "age" your profile and ensure that all accounts have your current address and that you are enrolled at that address to vote. You want Experian (which is Experian's own app), Money Supermarket (this uses Transunion data, and it has credit offers so you can find a balance transfer offer there and apply based on likelihood of approval!) and Clear Score (this uses Equifax) - those cover the 3 main agencies so should give a fair idea of your current credit state and any errors to correct or areas to address. They update monthly.

It's so obvious you should ditch the labour party membership and Netflix. There is so much free TV entertainment out there and you can join labour again when you have more money. Why put added pressure on yourself.

I think as well as cutting down on expenses, you should also try and focus on making more money. You mentioned that you have a car - could you not work doing some deliveries perhaps..? self-employed courier jobs, or airport transfers..? Not sure if you'd be interested but having a car is an asset - think about using that asset to bring more money xx

You can often listen to audiobooks for free from the library. Podcasts are another free source of audible entertainment.

When I was earning similar with the exact same rent I was entitled to tax credits, and I would have been entitled to universal credit (slightly more actually) but my area hadn't switched over. Please double check your entitlement it would help you hugely.

I could be wrong but I don't think going into a repayment plan affects your ability to rent. I don't think landlords access a "score" per se, just look for things like bankruptcy or CCJs. Maybe a landlord here can chime in.

Those suggesting she bin Netflix and audible - that's hardly going to make the difference is it.

Agree with PPs about using the car for deliveries etc, it may be less physically taxing.

@Smolgoose

I'm not entitled to universal credit unfortunately, I must warn too much!!

I get roughly 1200 a month pay, then outgoings are

Rent £525
Council tax £90 pay manually
Road tax and insurance £38
Credit card repayment 120
Internet, electric, gas water etc £81.50
Phone £16.8
Netflix audible & labour party membership £28.28

But those expenses add up to £900, leaving you £300 a month spare. Food needn't be more than about £100/m for a single person, so as well as the luxury of living alone, running a car and repaying debt you have £200 a month spends, which is a fair bit.

I appreciate furlough must have been tight, but realistically what kind of lifestyle do you think that £16k a year(standard hours on min wage in low skill job) is actually be able to provide?

I think I'm surprised that youre surprised that a salary of £16k p a will mean that you'll always have to budget.

@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.

But there are LOADS of free options out there @Northernsoullover - why would you pay for Netflix when you can't afford food?

YouTube
4onDemand
Channel 5 on demand
iPlayer (if OP has a TV license)
DailyMotion
ITVPlayer
UKTV Play.

Just off the top of my head. None of those require money and there's thousands of shows and movies to choose from without paying a penny.

Netflix really isn't a necessity.

@mrsm43s I do budget. Hence why I can detail my outgoings.

Also food costs more than 100 a month, and then there is petrol, household supplies, prescriptions, clothes etc etc

Unfortunately you are living above your means. Either you will have to work more (i.e. an evening/weekend job at pub, supermarket or similar) or save some money. As a previous poster said, living alone and running a car just isn't doable on that income.

If you need regular prescriptions, you can get a pre pay card. No-one has to pay more than about £10 a month.

What about a food bank to help you with some of your food costs

Can you learn some new skills? You need to up your income. What do you think about coding? There are plenty of free resources to learn online and I even saw a free cyber security course recently and it is something that you can do at home.

I've had to manage on a low salary before and just got on with it until I found a higher paid job. That's reality I'm afraid. In desperate times I did car boot sales or sold stuff on ebay

@Dohrehmee

What about a food bank to help you with some of your food costs

she wouldn't be eligible

@arcof

I could be wrong but I don't think going into a repayment plan affects your ability to rent. I don't think landlords access a "score" per se, just look for things like bankruptcy or CCJs. Maybe a landlord here can chime in.

Those suggesting she bin Netflix and audible - that's hardly going to make the difference is it.

Agree with PPs about using the car for deliveries etc, it may be less physically taxing.

yes it is going to make £28 difference, that could be a weeks groceries instead

@BoomChicka

When I was earning similar with the exact same rent I was entitled to tax credits, and I would have been entitled to universal credit (slightly more actually) but my area hadn't switched over. Please double check your entitlement it would help you hugely.

she's not entitled

This is crazy, people suggesting you get a second job in an equally badly paid industry!

When I was in a worse financial situation than this, I used the time outside work to study and get qualifications so that I could get a better paid job and support myself. That's what I'd recommend. It's not easy but better long-term than working two dead-end jobs and being so exhausted you have no time or energy to make your future any better.

Definitely do some surveys I make about £50 a month and I could make more if I applied myself.
Save the student has links to the good sites and many other ideas for saving money or making it.

So many posters focusing on how to cut your monthly expenditure by £10-20 etc. 🙄 The most obvious way to make your life much better is to focus on qualifications and a career and start increasing your earnings, not to cut your already minimal living costs even further.

Also food costs more than 100 a month, and then there is petrol, household supplies, prescriptions, clothes etc etc

OP I'm sorry people have posted such ridiculous things to you. 30 years ago I could not do food/ household supplies plus prescriptions and clothes on £30 per week (in nominal terms, not inflation adjusted) so the people saying this is ok now are having a laugh.

@PolkadotFlamingos exactly. My food shop (just for me) comes in on average around £40
Some weeks yes it's £20 on fresh stuff, other weeks I need washing powder, washing up liquid etc etc and it's £60
By the time you've bought let's say butter, milk, bread, cereal/porridge, some form of veg/fruit, some form of protein, any cleaning products, something to take to work for lunch, tea/coffee.. it's right. Even at Lidl prices
Eating cheaply is easy for a week or so using up cupboard/freezer but then you don't want to live off pasta forever