To use the kids Christmas money to get me through January?

[darkmorning]

In a way I don’t know why I’m asking as I don’t have a choice really, but if the overall consensus is absolutely not I suppose I can use a credit card or something.

PIL gave both children £50 for their savings accounts. I’d have to put the cash in my bank account and transfer to their savings accounts: plan is to do this after I’ve been paid in January. Should I? Or is this just horrible?

Considering that you’ve said you’re not great with money and are so sure you can pay it back when paid, use credit card.

Woah - we’re not spending £70 on socialising!

Trip is preplanned, no getting out of it, I’d need to fill the car anyway, children want to see grandparents, grandparents want to see grandchildren, husband wants to see his mum and dad and other family, mum and dad and other family want to see husband.

I don’t have a mortgage personally, no.

Read the rest of OPs posts - there's a bigger issue here. No shame in it but also does need looking at.

2 preschoolers don't need the money right now. I'd use it, and either schedule a payment for the end of Jan or whatever date or set up a standing order for whatever you can afford to go in monthly until it is paid back.

There's nothing morally better about risking your finances using a CC, if you are going to pay it back which you say you will.

No, I wouldn’t take children’s Christmas money to fund petrol for family visits. There are two adults in your house, you aren’t desperate for money to pay for essentials, just use the credit card if you know you can pay it back.

What does your husband think?

@Barrenfieldoffucks i am confident I will. I do pay £50 into their savings accounts every month anyway, and I’ve never not done this, even when I’ve been very short. But I had budgeted everything down to the last penny: it was still tight but manageable, then am £100 down which I hadn’t budgeted for.

I did this a few times when my children were little @darkmorning . I knew it was a short term loan. I paid their accounts back within the 2 months I knew I would.

If you're not good with credit cards, then do everything you can to avoid getting one.

It's better to access the £100 cash you have now and pay it back in your timeframe than it is to give yourself access to £1000s via a credit card.

I too am asking though why your husband isn't part of this discussion?

All the best.

I would be very reluctant too, but then again I've never been in the position you're in and expect the kids would rather have a warm house and full tummy than money sat in their account. If you are actually confident you can pay them back there's no real consequence for them. If you can't pay them back because you're hard up then I don't think that makes it wrong either.

Well - I am, actually, I mean, how am I going to get to work and get the children to nursery without some fuel, for starters? What am I going to feed them with? I have some food in the house but not absolutely loads: enough for this week and then I’ll have to get some more in.

Yeah I'd do this. Thats what credit cards are for

Why are you so skint, if you're earning well?

End of December and January are often lean months, between Christmas expenses and early December pay it’s easy to have more money than month while being well
paid. Telling the OP she should have budgeted better doesn’t change things now. I can’t believe everyone posting has never been caught out with finances.

@darkmorning I’d pop it on a credit card and really focus on not spending more than you really need to - set yourself the £100 as a budget.

@Globules that is how I see it - I have four credit cards and one is paid off in full and I destroyed it! I’m trying to pay off the others. But I feel like if I order a replacement credit card then I’ll sort of back to square one, giving myself £100 is tight and controlled if you like.

If you can't pay off your credit card why are you saving so much for your kids each month?????? You don't have that money. If you can't pay off your credit card I wouldn't trust you'd repay your kids so use the card. Make it a priority to pay off the card this year.

In that case I’d use the kids money and avoid adding to credit card debt, just set up a payment to go in when you get paid, or pay off £50 this month and £50 next month. It’s horrible when you’re juggling all the balls.

Your children are preschoolers, they don't know what NYE is.

You just tell them that they are going to see their grandparents in a few weeks or whenever.

And you tell the PIL that you can't come.

People might be looking forward to a week in Barbados but if they can't afford it they can't go.

You failed to mention that in your previous posts. I still don't agree with you using it. It's not yours to use.

Is your husband aware you are short? That still hasn't been answered. As you are going to need fuel to visit his family why are you not saying anything to him about needing extra?

You also say it's not your mortgage...does that mean it's your husband's and he owns the house and pays that while you pay the bills? Is this a fair split if that is the case?

I feel like I am missing a major backstory and why it is only you worried about not having the money

If things are tight at this time of year, I would not pay 'my' £50 to them in Jan anyway.

You'll pay it back one way or another, and if you know you (generic you) only have £100 available it is very different to having the XYZ available on a credit card.

@fuzzychic well, this is it isn’t it - so arguably I shouldn’t have saved £50
for them both this month but I did so if I’d not done that but they’d had PILs money then they’d have had exactly the same amount of money.

I know people do things differently with money. My dad was always obsessed with direct debits as being the way, the truth and the light but personally I hate them. I know people who insist on only using cash as they spend less and people who think cash makes them spend more, people who have different accounts, people who put everything on credit cards and pay back in full every month. Different things just work for different people.

My mum used to fleece me like this. She took thousands from me as a child and never saw any of it back.
Its a slippery slope. Don’t.

If you already pay £50 into their savings every month then why not NOT pay in £50 for a month or two… investing money that children get at 18 is risky imo. If I’d given my son thousands when he was 18, he’d have blown it on a car or motorbike and you can’t insist that they spend it on something sensible… best to save into premium bonds in your own name or own isa and then you can gift them money when it’s time to buy a house… yes there are tax benefits to doing child saving accounts but give an 18 year old cash is risky…

regardless, spend the £100 and put it back at the end of the month but also stop your own payment into their account next month to give yourself a breather. Or let them spend the money on toys.