Page 8 | Urgent money raising ideas needed

whattodo36 · 2022-09-17T18:37:48+00:00

Ok I know I'll get a lot of blame etc but we've ended up in a situation where I need to desperately raise £300 and I can't think of any ideas so I'm hoping someone may suggest something I haven't considered. The money is needed for food for the week and to pay a very important bill. There's no wiggle room on the bill as we've already tried. I've been on countless loan websites all afternoon but due to really bad credit ratings we are getting nowhere. I've thought of selling things but we honestly don't have anything of any value to sell! I've tried asking family and friends but they aren't in a position to help. Can anyone think of anything we haven't thought of or can recommend a website that would loan with very bad credit ratings??

Starsong82 · 18/09/2022 00:25

Worth checking here what help you can get with childcare costs if you haven't already, I hadn't realised until my sister told me that before/after school clubs were included in tax free childcare for example.
www.gov.uk/childcare-calculator

At £650 pcm on the school clubs would a childminder work out cheaper if it's just 30 mins before and after school?

ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk · 18/09/2022 00:30

Husband gets cheaper phone
Cancel tv licence and delete iPlayer
Cheaper broadband
Get rid of a car and replace with moped or bike or whatever for husband.
Get prepaid prescription card. This is essential.
Second job for you and have a look at that childcare bill too. Don't the kids go to the school you work at?

caringcarer · 18/09/2022 00:36

Can you do some baby sitting or dog walking?

Sell books and things.

Ring your Health Visitor and explain about DC and ask for referral for food bank.

Try church groups.

caringcarer · 18/09/2022 00:39

I think Santander is giving £150 for switching but £3 per month cost. However you get discounts of 2 or 3 percent of each bill you pay, council tax, utilities, etc.

Newmumatlast · 18/09/2022 00:40

MitherTheresa · 17/09/2022 21:16

I don’t see this suggestion often here, but have you considered getting a paper round? My children have a round each that takes them about 30-40 minutes each morning, and a bit longer on Saturdays and slightly shorter on Sundays. Admittedly they use their bikes, but sometimes walk if bikes out of action. They each earn £43/£45 cash each week, which is actually a lot of money for the hours. Also cash in hand, so tax free. As the fuel bills are going to hit each month, that’s a fair whack and reliable additional source of income. Also good chance to clear your head and get exercise of a morning.

Obviously cash in hand doesn't actually mean tax free. It just means you don't pay the tax yet if doing it self employed, and you would have to file a tax return and pay if over threshold. If its an employed position then the employer should be sorting tax. OP will want to be careful not to get herself into even more troubles doing cash in hand jobs, not declaring, and then adding tax evasion to her woes.

caringcarer · 18/09/2022 00:41

Ironing, you pick.it up, do it at home, then drop it back but charge enough to cover electricity.

NeckFanInSoftPlay · 18/09/2022 00:50

whattodo36 · 17/09/2022 19:49

@ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk I haven't asked for anybody to and would never dream of asking so I'm really not sure why you felt the need to comment.

Re the breakdown, the bill part is £250 and the £50 would be for food. We've been told if we default then our energy will be switched off. We've paid the £50 already as a type of good will gesture but they aren't bothered.

I can't let it get to that point as I currently have an asthmatic 2 year old with pneumonia so not having electric is not an option. I will literally do everything I can to stop it getting to that point.

We don't qualify for food banks or benefits because we own our house (mortgaged) so nobody seems to want to help.

I work in education so I'm not skilled in anything else like gardening etc so I can't really offer to do those type of jobs (people would most likely pay me to stay away from their gardens )

This is nonsense, they cannot 'switch off' your energy! You have to get into SERIOUS debt before they intervene and the only intervention is to force a Pay As You Go meter!

caringcarer · 18/09/2022 00:51

Asthma is a killer. My school friend died of an asthma attack many years ago. You can't go without your inhalers. Get the prepaid once a year card for you and DH. Put it on credit card if you have to. It works out a lot cheaper.

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination · 18/09/2022 01:20

MitherTheresa · 17/09/2022 21:16

I don’t see this suggestion often here, but have you considered getting a paper round? My children have a round each that takes them about 30-40 minutes each morning, and a bit longer on Saturdays and slightly shorter on Sundays. Admittedly they use their bikes, but sometimes walk if bikes out of action. They each earn £43/£45 cash each week, which is actually a lot of money for the hours. Also cash in hand, so tax free. As the fuel bills are going to hit each month, that’s a fair whack and reliable additional source of income. Also good chance to clear your head and get exercise of a morning.

@MitherTheresa @ what do you propose she does with her kids under five, one of them being a3yo with asthma. Leave them
home alone or drag them sround to do a paper round!

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination · 18/09/2022 01:21

Fat fingers!! 2yo that should be

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination · 18/09/2022 01:25

whattodo36 · 17/09/2022 21:19

Wow that's a lot of money for a paper round! I will look in to that as it's something I could do with the kids in tow too

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@whattodo36 you can't be dragging 2 small kids, one with asthma, around in the wet & dark every morning! Much easier ways to earn £40 odd pounds a week.

XelaM · 18/09/2022 06:56

TooMuchToDoTooLittleInclination · 18/09/2022 01:25

@whattodo36 you can't be dragging 2 small kids, one with asthma, around in the wet & dark every morning! Much easier ways to earn £40 odd pounds a week.

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This. With AmazonFlex you can take your kids in the car with you and make over £40 a day (including petrol deductions). Other courier/delivery companies as well I'm sure

rose69 · 18/09/2022 07:57

Please contact your local council. Ours has been granted a lot of money to help people with Cost of Living crisis called the Household Support Scheme

ILoveAllRainbowsx · 18/09/2022 10:19

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

CornishTiger · 19/09/2022 07:49

@whattodo36 how did you get on with the benefits check.

DontMakeMeShushYou · 19/09/2022 08:25

whattodo36 · 17/09/2022 19:58

Thanks again everyone.

My plan for tomorrow/ next week is going to be to try and get as many things together for a boot sale. Then I'm going to call my bill company and question them threading cutting us off. I can get a letter from our Gp if needed for our poorly DS as hopefully that will mean they definitely can't cut us off.

I will also cancel my direct debit and see if we can just pay what we can for now and try and come to some sort of agreement with them.

I'll ask for this thread to be deleted now as my intention genuinely wasn't to upset or offend anybody.

@whattodo36

Might be worth asking on local Facebook groups whether anyone has old stuff they would be willing to donate for you to sell at a car boot sale.

LovedFedAndNoonesDead · 19/09/2022 08:39

whattodo36 · 17/09/2022 21:58

I don't want to list everything as I don't want to fully put myself but roughly:

Incoming per month after tax is £2900.

Outgoings are roughly:
Mortgage: 400
Gas: 300
Debt: 50
Mobiles:57 (husbands is higher than mine)
Family debt: 150 (we borrowed some money whilst I was pregnant as I was put on bed rest and couldn't work, have tried to negotiate a lower amount but they won't accept it)
Other bills including insurance, tv license, water, general household bills and prescriptions: 450
Childcare (2 kids in before and after school club for half an hour for each, 5 days a week) : £650
Nursery (all local nursery's to us charge for subsidies) £200.
That's £2260 a month which leaves us with £640 a month which roughly works out at £140 a week.
Our food shop for 4 of us generally comes to £75 a week at Aldi and I make sure I get everything on a budget. My DH needs £40 petrol a week to get to and from work. I need £20 a week for fuel. That leave us with £5 a week.

We've cut back every single bill where we can. I've cut back on every shopping item that I can. My children have an allergy which makes shopping slightly more expensive than it would be but I try and get every deal I can.
Honestly reading it back makes me feel like we should be better off than we are but I don't know what else we can do.

I've recently stopped taking my anti depressants, asthma medication and metformin prescriptions because they were costing me £60 a month and it's something we can't afford. We're left with £5 a week which is normally absolutely fine until we have a random bill come up, or this month it has been uniform payments that we're needed etc.

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Hi @whattodo36,

I’ve just used the info you’ve put on this post and think you’d be entitled to some UC each month. The online calculators aren’t great so you have to do a manual calculation and this is what I worked out.

entitlements

couple over 25 - £525.72
child 1 - £290
child 2 - £244.85
childcare - approx £730 (85% of £850 school wraparound care & nursery)

total = £1790.57

calculation for deductions
wages - £2900
disregard as have children on claim - £573 (no housing rate
£2900 - £573 = £2327 x 0.55 = £1279.85

entitlement minus deduction
£1790.57 - £1279.85 = £510.72/month

you can also take an advance during the first assessment period to cover bills etc and pay it back over 12-24 months and that might help with bills now - it’s usually based on your entitlement before deductions.

Solittletimenow · 19/09/2022 08:48

I haven't read everything so I'm not sure if it's been mentioned, but are you in a union? They will have a money advice section that may or may not help.

There are places you can get a couple of extra quid from selling things that aren't worth much. Places like buymybooks, most books go for pennies but here and there you'll find one that goes for more. Textbooks seem to be the highest paying.

Have a search on your local Facebook groups for a community fridge. Some you pay a membership (around £5 a week or so), some are for reducing food waste and cost nothing. The one I volunteer for doesn't cost anything to use, just has an optional donations box.

Citizens advice or the council can give you a food bank voucher, you do not have to be on benefits or renting to get one.

Many places have community orchards set up by volunteers. Google should tell you if there are any near you. Anyone can use the fruit there, by us there are apples, plums and walnuts.

Olio is an app people give food and other things away for free, another food waste prevention place. People list, you collect.

If you would like some help looking for things in your local area, feel free to message me.

SomethingWycked · 19/09/2022 08:53

Not sure if this has been mentioned or if you are already claiming but If you are not eligible for universal credit help for childcare, you will be able to get 20% off your childcare using Tax Free childcare.

www.gov.uk/tax-free-childcare

giveovernate · 19/09/2022 08:56

hoowhoo · 17/09/2022 19:46

Get a second job ideally cash in hand and a referral to food bank. Next call energy company and explain you can't afford it and see what they can arrange

Yeah great idea, presumably you're saying cash in hand to avoid tax? Get charged with tax evasion to add to bad credit and having no money!

giveovernate · 19/09/2022 08:56

NeverDropYourMooncup · 17/09/2022 19:47

You'll have to bounce the bill/cancel the DD. They can't take what you haven't got.

You'll switch to a tariff that's higher, but it'll give you a short time to look at whether you are actually using the amount they are wanting you to pay.

This

OfficiallyBroken · 19/09/2022 09:08

@whattodo36 I've only read your responses, not everyone on the thread.

British Gas cannot just cut you off. At best they can insist on a prepayment meter.

Before you get to that point please contact the British Gas Energy Trust. They may be able to help you settle your energy bills. I don't know why more British Gas agents don't mention this because it's open to anyone, not just British Gas customers. When my sister contacted them they helped her settle back to zero. It's definitely worth getting in touch with them.

Really hope you manage to get things sorted. The cost of everything feels impossible at the moment.

Solittletimenow · 19/09/2022 09:19

Cash in hand doesn't always mean tax avoidance. Self assessments for now until the 5th of April don't have to be submitted and paid - if done online - until 31st January '24 so assuming OP got a second job now that paid cash, there is time to get back on a level footing before putting aside money to pay the tax bill. Also, you don't have to declare anything under 1k for the full tax year.

giveovernate · 19/09/2022 10:00

Solittletimenow · 19/09/2022 09:19

Cash in hand doesn't always mean tax avoidance. Self assessments for now until the 5th of April don't have to be submitted and paid - if done online - until 31st January '24 so assuming OP got a second job now that paid cash, there is time to get back on a level footing before putting aside money to pay the tax bill. Also, you don't have to declare anything under 1k for the full tax year.

I'd like to think that was the motive for a PP suggesting cash in hand.......

Goodadvice1980 · 19/09/2022 10:01

Hi OP, would definitely recommend prescription pre-payment option. You cannot go without the meds you need.

Food banks can normally give an emergency issue to cover a few days without a voucher.

With regards to British Gas, words fail me but not surprised. They are an awful energy company. Switch to another supplier as soon as you can, probably when you’ve paid them off. I would contact your MP and ask for their help in dealing with the energy company.

For extra income, could you do some cleaning work? Just a thought.

The wraparound child care costs seems very high. Any way you can reduce this even short term? Can another school mum/dad help out or a family member?