I would look at seeing what advice is available for you in your area - step change for example, but there's numerous charities that work with people in debt/ struggling
They can help you get your repayments down. Maybe not get them written off, but they can help negotiate lower payments over a longer term They can possibly get you onto lower utility payments - set for those that are struggling , but Im pretty sure you need referring . Im not an expert - BUT MSE is. Get your backside over there to the DEBT FREE Boards and sign up for the newsletter
Im not in such dire straights, as no children and mortgage paid, but the month is still lasting longer then income - as it is for so many
I yellow sticker shop - not bread and cakes - meat and fish - whatever it is, if the reduction is enough - I buy it - freeze it and it gets used eventually I also yellow sticker fruit and veg , other wise most of our veg is frozen - no waste so cheaper in the long run.
The only subscription I have is Prime , I find so much to watch on the free view channels , I will need to live to be a hundred to watch it all. And Youtube . Keep away from the BBC and Live TV - and you can dump the license fee - saving more money. And lets face it, the days of a family sitting watching a tv programme together is all but gone - even me and he will be double screening
What meat I dont buy yellow stickered , is the cheaper cuts. Mince beef is now creeping up to silly money , but turkey and pork mince are both still affordable and just as verseatable
We now seriously prefer a turkey burger - but I find to keep them moist - smash them
I also try to make the meals a lot more protein and fibre rich by adding beans/ lentils and grains Dahl is one of the cheapest meals I make. 200gr of red lentils, a few spices and whatever veg you have, a tin of toms and a tin of coconut milk - two quids worth of basic ingredients, then add whatever you can afford - fed two of us for 3 days and we were stuffed - I added sweet potato, mushrooms and spinach. I know we think we should be able to afford more then Dahl - but half the world live on it and it really can be lush spending very little . I add dried lentils to bolognese ( they cook to invisible ) I add tins of butter beans or black eye beans to sausage casserole and any sort of casserole, in goes a tin and a pack of mushrooms or pearl barley
I try to avoid bread for meals as it really doesnt fill you , I avoid sandwiches for lunch - but will pack a whole meal pitta absolutely full with salad veg, pickles and cheap proteins - beans ( all sorts plus quinoa and couscous ) and then some protein - even an omlette made in the microwave . Seriously I can make them look like a late night kebab is in a diet
I keep the bills down by layering and timing the heating, and by cooking via microwave, slow cooker, pressure cooker and air fryer. We had family come stay last week and I was all fingers and thumbs working out how to use it as I hadn't used it in over a year. I can do a full on roast dinner without using the oven in under an hour
My way of living takes a lot of thought, imagination and some time, and maybe some way out meals for this time, but after a while the time gets less. I used to be stood there with the phone online working out what I could make with whatever YS item I bought, bot now I know that pork fillet - £3.99 - will do us a roast and a Chinese - 6 dinners ( stuffed using breadrumbs from the freezer from loaf ends, onions - YS before christmas and hung in nets in the garage , and sage from the garden )
When I was a child of the 60's/70's, we were also going through a period of instability and high prices - decimalisation , petrol hitting 50p a gallon, 3 day weeks , strikes and shortages, and most of us had more week then wages, We ate a lot of foods that are no longer fashionable and a lot of spuds , but we didnt go hungry - we got fed. And our parents managed the payments
Find a debt helpline - free - join MSE - learn to cook cheaper foods as cheaply as possible to keep the fuel bills low