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..😭

Can you not get a job while your partner looks after your bambino in the the evening. Just an idea.

OP sorry you’re having a tough time and your baby’s poorly. If your LO has higher needs than a typical child you can apply for DLA when they’re 3 months which (possibly depending on the rate you get) also means you’d get higher UC. My advice would be to keep a diary of everything you do for a week or two to support your baby that a parent of a typical child wouldn’t need to do. Depending on your baby’s needs it can be hard to get when they’re young but if they are NG fed or on oxygen etc it’s definitely worth doing. The form is shit though - the CAB can be really helpful.

Re nursery and additional needs - it’s worth looking into when you’re ready if that would help you get back to work. If your child has a disability they legally need to make reasonable adjustments including training staff. Depending on the complexity of your baby’s needs there are special needs nurseries out there too. My little one has Down syndrome and is at a mainstream nursery - it’s actually been really straightforward although I really worried about it when first born.

I’d also agree with those upthread who suggest looking into your rights around redundancy including the possibility of discrimination.

NICU is hard, finding out your baby has additional needs is hard, your financial situation sounds hard. It sounds like you’re doing brilliantly. Is there support locally for babies with additional needs? It might be worth asking the hospital or your HV if they know of anything.

BT: £102 (they said they cannot down grade this) change to Talk Talk. I get TV Broadband and a landline for £26 a month

Phone: £75 and £65 both expensive phone contracts no doubt with iPhones. Get to the end of your contract and go with a SIM only at £10 a month from Tesco.
That's £176 saved each month

You need to get in contact with job centre as you probs be able to apply for maternity allowance which is £150+ a week. Also child benefit.

First, stop paying any non priority bills. Priority bill are rent, utilities, council tax and so on. Then budget for food and nappies and petrol. What's left is what you can afford to pay against other things. If what you have left doesn't cover those other things eg bank loan , so be it. You have to call them and explain.
This may only be temporary however as if you can claim UC and child benefit you may be ok and when this starts coming through you can resume your responsibilities to those payments.
Don't look for a job, you have a 7 week old baby.

@sprinklecupcakes what happened to your redundancy pay?

Your debts are taking up a lot. Please don't stop paying them as a PP suggested. You can ask a debt advisor or the CAB to help you speak to your lenders to arrange something temporarily more manageable. They are usually great if you set up a payment plan with them.

They will also to be good to help you reduce some of those other payments e.g BT and the phones.

Ensure you are taking advantage of all payments you are entitled to: child benefit, maternity. Also your redundancy when pregnant worries me. You should be owed redundancy payments and if you feel you have been made redundant because you were pregnant you should pursue that. There will be no win no fee solicitors who specialise in that who will listen to your story and tell you your chances. Several friends have got nice payouts because of this.

Good luck.

£1370 income for a family. I would struggle too tbh! It's harder for people at the moment that's for sure.

@EmbarrassingHadrosaurus

Seconding anyone who has said that you need to go to:

–MSE Debt-Free Wannabe section as those people are legends at helping you to reduce your outgoings. You need to put every little detail in there and there are forms to help you. www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/stop-spending-budgeting-tool/

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/debt-free-wannabe?
–Stepchange
–Turn2Us
–Christians Against Poverty (no faith affiliation involved)
–Benefits and Work.

This. You are paying premium rates for everything apart from rent. You are right you should hang on to your car as it is paid for and reliable. I know you already know this and are on contracts you took out when things were easier. Good luck. You are doing the right thing by re-looking at your budget.Things will get better.

I would 100% check Universal credit.
Your rent isn't that high but would need to be checked by the rates UC are prepared to pay.
You don't say your age and I'm no expert but I'm pretty clued up about UC and I think you could get around £400 to £500 a month depending on your age and where you are renting.
Good luck.

You need to find a benefits calculator and use this to see what you're entitled to

Your situation has also changed which means you need to talk to all your creditors. You could reduce the payments on your Iva, loans and credit card to £1 a month. It'll screw your credit rating but give you £300 a month extra

If your partner works shifts, why don't you go round to all of the local takeaways and ask if the need any drivers, I know some of the larger chains pay more than minimum wage and you get tips, some pay your petrol. My daughter used to work for Dominios which paid okay, she has had various different delivery jobs over the years. What about care work, they also do shifts to suit these could work around your partners shifts.

Bloody hell 102 to bt, are you calling abroad????? Wow op your outgoing are a lot. We are with ee and paying 34 quid for landline and broadband.
And 25 on both phone lines. For our mobiles

Your phones are sky high - I know nothing you can do about that but when are those contracts due for renewal? My contract is £25/ month and I have an iPhone. I’m sure my husband has threatened to leave before and that’s brought down the monthly cost - it’s still worth a call.

Try to renegotiate your IVA agreement - can you do that? £320 a month is going on debt.

Food - go vegetarian - it’s the only way.

Sorry things are so tough .

Get some debt counselling advice. CAB or you local authority might have something. They will help you negotiate with these companies to pay less monthly payment. Also help to see if you are entitled to ant benefits.

Apply for benefits, you'll definitely get something on that household income.

Also wtf is BT that's so expensive! Meal plan too, sometimes going into places like aldi people think ah its cheap, but ending up spending loads as not keeping a proper eye on it

Hi Sprinklecupcakes based on the outgoings and income you have provided . .. and assuming you have less than £5k in savings (assuming as you would not be so worried about money) you would be entitled to

£166.82 per week . Universal credit.
Along with your child benefit this is a total of £197. 97 per week.

I would urge EVERYONE to put their figures through the Turn2us benefits calculator. It is particularly generous if you rent and at least one of you work.

Hopefully that helps you OP. ? and takes the strain off. I work in DWP and if only people claimed what they were entitled to and didn't listen to others saying .. my brothers, sisters, aunties neighbour tried to claim that and they weren't entitled.. so you won't be either . ! Everyone's situation is different . It depends on your income, number of kids, rent, council tax, disability, etc. Check YOUR own circumstances.. you may well be surprised.
I earned £38k and never thought for one minute I would be entitled but because at the time I had one dc still at school and I rent in the S.E at over £1k a month. I was entitled to £126 a month that I hadn't been claiming .
Now DC at Uni - obviously no longer entitled but it helped for a while.

Can your partner take an evening job a few days a week, like in a pub. Even just one night a week would help. Could he get to and from work on a bike a few days a week (save petrol). Given that quite a bit is being spent on his debts I think he should take a bit of responsibility. Is there any work you could do at the weekend or on his NWDs, I have friends who have done a couple of shifts at Waitrose etc on a Sat/Sun evening. As others have said don’t take no for an answer, simply keep on at BT/ Sky and stop paying them if necessary. Could you move in with family for a couple of years and save the rent or use it to pay debts off? In the longer term it sounds like you both need to think about a plan to get into work/ retrain to earn more (you may get 30hours free childcare by the time your baby is 2- check the rules online).

You phone contracts are ridiculous, why did you need such expensive ones?

Even working full time many people are entitled to help. Go on ‘entitled to’ and fill out your details. You may well be entitled to some housing benefit

Hey op. This is really tough and sounds like you're the one doing all the worrying plus a tiny new baby and you don't know which way is up. Short term, sell the phones.. CEX are good, or ebay obvs. That will give you a wodge to help in the next month or so. V cheap 2nd hand replacement for now.
Meal planning.. Sit down with a piece of paper, ask your partner to choose 3/4 meals and you do the same, pasta, chilli, shepherd's pie. Simple stuff that will do more than one meal. Some nights might be beans, egg and cheese on toast. Big box of cereal and toast for breakfast. He takes a packed lunch to work and buy ham, crisps, bananas etc for that. Make applying for whatever benefits you're entitled to a priority.. An extra £125 Pw is £500 a month. Tha would transform my finances

Those phone costs are nuts, mine is £35 BT for landline broadband and a sim only deal (8GB). So with 2 phones you'd be on about £45 and saving nearly £200 a month.

Phone them up and ask what they will do to reduce your bill when yours ends. If that's including a TV package you can't afford it and will need to make do with council telly and not as much data! Google what other providers are charging like TalkTalk or Sky and then ask BT can you price match. I got my bill down from about £47 by saying no that's too expensive can you bring it down a bit - I phoned the call centre and didn't just do it online.

I have been there, do you have debts? I ended up going to Payplan who have been fab and now I've sorted lots out and make a payment to them I can afford, i was paying £1200 a month before on loans and c cards and getting nowhere.

If you have debts, consider that, but look at all your costs and maybe even look for a different job if you want to earn more also, just some ideas x