Aibu to ask how anyone has money left?

[sprinklecupcakes]

How on earth does anyone have any money left at the end of the month. I have totalled up all the bills we need to pay and they total more than the income. I just don't understand?! How can you work full time and still be left with not enough 😭please give me tips on reducing costs and making money last. I have gone to bed crying I cannot live like this. I got paid today and once I pay everything tomorrow I will have £3..😭

I see the problem as the debt:

Bank loan: £111
IVA: £150
Credit cards: £60
Total £321

If you had £321 extra per month you'd be absolutely fine.

Can you phone the various loan providers and explain the situation? You have a 7 week old baby and made redundant? Even if they paused the payments for 3 months, it would allow you to fully recover from birth and your baby would be a bit older. Then you could get a job more easily.

Completely disagree that your car insurance is high- what planet are people living on if they think that's high? Newsflash that's completely normal for young people. Count your lucky starts it wasn't that high when you were young!

Disagree you should sell or downgrade the car. Reliably being able to get around will increase your job opportunities.

In the short term could you look for a job where the hours are the opposite to your partners to save of childcare?

I understand the contracts are high but after 6 years I think it is reasonable to assume you are pretty safe. We could more than afford the bills until this happened. We only got home from the NICU a week ago I honestly just haven't had time to think about any of this until now and realise just how bad it is. I'm not sure if I could get the baby into nursery to go to work due to his needs (I wont share due to outing my self) but he needs extra care than the average baby which the nursery would have to be trained in. I have been on the entitled to website and it says I would be entitled to £125.78 a week. Not sure how accurate that is but I will try and ring tomorrow. I feel incredibly down about the high bills but honestly there is little I can do about that now. I am trying my best to fix this whilst caring for a baby who is sick.

Do you have any family you can leave your baby with if you got some work? Tesco? Night shift?

Also how did a guy under 25 earning minimum wage get credit enough to run up debt needing an IVA at 150 a month

@SpookyScarySkeletons

OP how many weeks pregnant were you when they made you redundant? If It was within 25 weeks of your due date your old employer is liable for the full 9 months of SMP.

Sorry 15 weeks not 25!! Fat fingers!

You will be entitled to UC definitely on that income.

I am more than happy to cook but honestly no idea where to even start with meal planning

^

What/how are you eating now? Your DH isn't one of those a tenner a day on his lunch out types is he? Latte at 3 quid a go?

@DeepaBeesKit

Also how did a guy under 25 earning minimum wage get credit enough to run up debt needing an IVA at 150 a month

The debt is from when he was 18 his parents were signing as guarantor and allowing it. I wasn't aware he was in that much debt until recently.

OP, based on those outgoings and income you should be entitled to UC. You should also be getting child benefit - apply now and it will be backdated to when your baby was born.
One thing worries me - if your husband is working full time and that’s his wage after tax, he’s earning below minimum wage which is illegal.

@sprinklecupcakes you’re doing great. Better than you think.

You’ve got a newborn with additional needs AND you’re taking on the mental load of redundancy and sorting the admin / finance out for the family. And you’re a brand new mum.

One little step at a time. xx

@nocnoc

Do you have any family you can leave your baby with if you got some work? Tesco? Night shift?

I live 40 miles from my family and my partner only has help from elderly but due to him needing extra care They are likely to say no unfortunately.

Phone BT, and your mobile providers, and explain the situation. I’ve been made redundant, I cannot afford to continue payments. I don’t want to be a bad payer. Can we terminate the contract now? Be politely insistent. They can release you from a contract ( though because your mobiles probably include buying the phone that might be more difficult)
I pay £16 sim only and £25 home WiFi which also includes all landline calls to landlines and mobiles. Useful as I have older friends who like to call a landline and chat for an hour but I could live without the landline otherwise.
Make sure you’re claiming everything you can.

Also OP, this isn't that helpful now (sorry) but this is why people have an emergency fund.

Basically all financial advisors will say to have a chunk of money set aside in an instant access account for an emergency (like being made redundant or your car being stolen or illness).

Financial advisors usually say 3-6 months of expenses but don't let the high anoint put you off- any amount saved will help you.

You keep saying that after 6 years you thought your job was stable. Let me tell you jobs are NEVER stable or safe. Which is why we all need an emergency fund.

When you say your dh works full time...how many hours does he work?

Apply for maternity allowance, no point in uc just now because maternity allowance is taken off that pound for pound so uc would be zero.
I see you say baby has additional care needs. If that is going to be long-term you can apply for dla, when that is awarded carers allowance for you and then uc as you would get couple element, rent, child, disabled child and carers element which increases uc before deductions.

Go and make an appointment with a budgeting service, the sort that has a food bank attached and does not charge for their help.

Firstly, they will deal with your contracts and will apply for you to be released or renegotiate with the supplier. They will do the same with any bank and credit card debts, may even be able to find a credit provider who will consolidate your debts.

The main positive thing though about going to a budgeting advisor is they have connections and sway with organisations and credit providers that you as an individual do not. Having another set of independent eyes go over your financial position is also helpful.

You will also feel a whole lot better seeking professional help!

Good luck.

Tbh I would never lock myself into a phone contract for £75 and I earn about average income with well below average outgoings, so lots of disposable income. I bought my phone (iPhone!) outright 3 years ago and pay £10 a month for the SIM.

I agree you can’t do much about it now (though you should both call your providers to see if you can do anything to get the cost down), but it is a fact that your phone & internet bills are taking up a significant proportion of your outgoings.

All that said, it sounds very tough & of course being a new mum with a poorly baby is difficult even when you’re not worrying about money! Can your partner try to take some of this off you & call companies to negotiate payments etc? It’s something to resolve together.

Absolutely claim any benefits you’re entitled to and follow up on maternity pay/allowance as encouraged by others.

Sorry, didn’t read your latest post. If your baby is recently out of NICU then you really need to be with him/her. I’m so sad for the stress you must be feeling— time spent in NICU is stressful enough. Do you have family support? Do make sure you’re claiming everything you can.

As @Tiredtiredtired100 says, you need to claim your SMP from your previous employer. If you were with them for 6 years up until 35 weeks pregnant you would have been eligible for SMP from them, regardless of redundancy. You need to contact them and call ACAS for advice.

In the mean time, you will get child benefit, if you applied soon after the birth you should hear back very soon. Have you checked if you qualify for universal credit? Call BT again and say you need to terminate the contract, rather than asking to reduce, they usually come up with some way they can cut the bill then.

As you need money ASAP, rather than being able to wait for contracts to end/car insurance renewal, I would contact your IVA provider and see about either a payment holiday (max 9 months break from payment, which would cover you being on maternity) or reducing payments. That will help you out more immediately.

If you need to cover food for yourselves the contact your HV, they should be able to give you food bank vouchers, you can also speak to them if you need formula for the baby. Don’t be worried about approaching them, being made redundant wasn’t your fault and it has obviously affected your circumstances.

Are your family aware of your financial predicament? Would they be able to help you?

First of all, sign up for universal credit. You will need to do a joint claim.
My take home is £1500 and without nursery fees I would still get £200. Yours will be higher as your rent is higher and the couple element is higher.
UC can also help towards childcare when you do decide to go back to work.

You have a lot of outgoings OP. It would be useful for you to speak to a debt charity about your situation. Maybe there is something that can be done about the expensive contracts, and maybe the debt repayments can be reduced. Good luck.

People saying the OP should get back to work are wrong. Baby only came home from NICU a week ago. No matter my money situation I wouldn't be going anywhere.

If your baby has additional care needs then look into Disability Living Allowance. I think the baby has to be 3 months old but don't quote me on that. Ours was on 24/7 equipment support until nearly 2 years old, so I worked an evening job and my husband worked a day job, so one of us was always with the baby as like you a nursery would have been unlikely to meet their needs and moreover we just weren't comfortable with it. I was also made redundant while pregnant, and had a 4 month nicu stay, so I do understand how daunting it is when all these plans you had in place end up completely broken.

Have a look on entitled to, are there any benefits you could be claiming right now to support your position. You were working during the qualifying weeks of pregnancy so you should be able to claim maternity allowance. That'll buy you a few months breathing room. I would have thought you'd be entitled to tax credits or whatever they call it now on your partners income too.

You know that the BT and phones are all really, really high. Call up, ask to speak to the financial support teams. Specifically state you have had a change in circumstances and are struggling to meet your bills. Our experience was that they would work with us in those circumstances. Also if they're new handsets the phones themselves are likely worth quite a bit, I would seriously consider selling them and getting an older second hand handset you can just put the sim into, right now you need the money rather than the latest phone. It's not forever, but you need to make changes either to your lifestyle, or going back to work much sooner than planned , or your partner taking a second job around his first to get through this, as ignoring the issue will make it so much worse (I've been there, and it took nearly a decade to recover financially).

I hope your little one is doing well now

There are some things you could do. If you call Citizens Advice on this number
0800 2404420 (9-5) they can look at your options. They could review the IVA, advise on charity grants and a whole load of other things that could help.