Ideas please ?

[Solutionssought2026]

Income - 600 universal credits
710 child support
104 child benefit
Outgoings - Mortgage 663
Gas/electric/water £130
Petrol to school £40pw 240pm
Insurance £47
Internet £40
Mobiles x 2 £40
Life insurance £100
any ideas how we stay alive on £204 a week or how to make some super fast money please? I’ve got everything I can think of on Vinted if it’s not nailed down.
I have sciatica and a broken great toe which limits my mobility
I’ve had corporate roles HR/Finance for the last 30 years and I can’t even get an interview.

Is £204 a week a typo and meant to be a month?

Assuming it is supposed to say a month, so basically £50 a week, is that just to cover food? For how many people?

£204 a week or a month? I'm assuming a month, as weekly would be fine. Your life cover is very high, that's the only thing jumping out at me..

It is per month, unfortunately
No choice but to continue with the life assurance because if I stop it and then go to restart it again, it will be £450 a month and completely insurmountable
I’d actually give up eating before we stopped that, or kill myself whichever was easiest at the time

2 people, myself and teenager
include absolute everything we will be okay for a bit because we’ve got tins and overstocked cosmetics and sanitary products and laundry etc
However, we have three cats and a dog

Could you ask for a mortgage break for a few months . Are you signed up with all the temp agencies .

That’s a brilliant idea thank you I will give them a call in the morning
Honestly, I don’t even know which temp agencies to sign up with.

There’s one locally that deals with warehouse staff I actually live really close to a hub
But realistically, I’m just concerned as to how much physical work I can do with the sciatica
I can’t even get interview interviews for 25 grand a year HR jobs I’m pulling my hair out to be honest
My last role I was on 80,000 a year as an Ops Manager and the company has gone bust

You mention a teenager - could they make own way to school to save something on petrol outgoing?

community larder - do you have one nearby. Still shopping and paying but cheaper.

see if animal charities might have a pet food bank.

No, he’d have to get up before he went to bed and his attendance is shit anyway.
The train is £10 a day so £10 more expensive per week.

It’s his GCSE this year and if he was left with his own devices, he just wouldn’t go
His mental health has been quite precarious the last 12 months and I am running out of energy to be the cheer squad

Have you looked at if you can get a low rate broadband deal with being on uc? Im with bt and pay £20 a month and it doesn't go up.

Phones can you do a monthly sim? I have me and two teens and currently paying £16 for 12gb a month with smarty (could get cheaper but I live rural and its a good option for here). Lebara is good.

Is your water on a meter? Are you entitled to a lower rate with being on uc (this is dependent on water board).

Are you entitled to the warm home payment? Have you had it this year?

Do you absolutely need life insurance, I can't get it and so dont have cover but know if i die they can sell house and buy a small flat and be ok.

Can you get teenager to school any other way? Is there any way of reducing petrol cost?

Are you entitled to any other benefits (try entitled to or similar online calculator). A mortgage break may help but becareful it doesn't add too much cost later on.

Look at money-saving expert and see what they suggest.
Can you so a bank switch? I know its a one off but its like having free cash.

I've heard good things about office angels OP for some temp work:
https://www.office-angels.com

Have you done all the available bank account opening for some quick cash?

Have you registered with recruiters?

£40 on mobiles - are you in contract? If not switch to sim only. I'm currently paying £1.10 pm with Lebara.

On contract until November already spoken to them and they did reduce it
£20 each didn’t seem too terrible

My credit is shot. I’ve got 25 grand on my credit cards that I can’t pay so no bank switches unfortunately nobody wants me.

Also how old are you OP? Whats your pension pot like. You might be able to retire early - given you had a high paying job before it would be worth looking into.

Just to warn you I'm not sure how that works with UC so need more research.

I’m 50 and this is what’s incredibly frustrating is that I could probably hang on for another five years withdraw 25% of my pension and clear the mortgage
I’ve just literally got to keep our heads up above water for the next five years
It just feels so insurmountable, but if I give the child to X obviously then I lose the child support as well as the child losing so much in the way of opportunities and support
Honestly, at this point it just feels like I’m more used to them dead than alive

I shouldn’t keep making these jokes. I’m not suicidal. Couldn’t do it to the child.

Current account switches shouldn't be affected by credit cards but if you have an overdraft the new bank will need to take it on.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/

Have a read here.

You've not mentioned credit card repayments above - are your cards bearing interest.

Could you downsize?

They definitely do do Credit checks when you move current account I’ve done it before and it’s shown up as a hard Search.
Ive just stop paying the credit cards, had a few few letters put them in the bin that seems to be the end of that for now. I’ll deal with them later.
Moving or selling the house obviously comes with its own issues/costs and is it a very permanent solution to should be temporary problem.
In theory we could move to a cheaper area but again the child loses so much from that

Hang in there OP. You can get through the next 5 years ❤️. You are NOT worth more dead than alive.

1. Contact recruiters and temp agencies. Just google and try and register with loads
2. Do a current account switch for some free cash
3. Contact pension and find out if it would be possible to access early due to ill health.
4. Have you applied for pip? Appreciate application will take a while but worth doing.

I’ll give you some tips I’m good at making money from nothing
I started with selling clothes bought clothes by the kilo went to car boot sales
then I advertised bags of clothes cash paid £10
I advertise to sell people’s items 50% paid whole house one week
where abouts are you if you’re local I’ll give you a free master class. Don’t stress there is a way around this I remember losing my salon and thinking shiiiiiit what am I going to do

Would you consider registering yourself on Rover to earn some cash looking after other people's cats or dogs? Appreciate you have lots of your own but worth looking into.

You could specify that any dog you looked after would need to be ok with cats for example. You can pick and choose who you accept too.

Sorry for lots of posts - I'm invested now! You could also look at remortgaging and borrowing some more to release some cash. Use this to pay off credit cards and have a bit of cash left to help you through until you find a new job/retire. Have to look at if it's suitable for you so again looking at pension pots etc.

Some great advice on here
I would also speak to your teens school as they can sometimes support with referrals to the food bank, uniforms, stationery, transport and they have the ability (at their discretion) to put a recommendation in for free school meals to cover temporarily difficulties (I used to work in a school office and they often did this) and children with free school meals get cheaper or free school trips.
It also might be worth booking an appointment with citizens advice to see what
they say, there might be other things you are eligible for.

re jobs - look at employment agencies that cover your field eg Hays Recruitment and visit your local jobs centre and ask about careers fairs in the local area you can attend.

Dont give up ❤️

OP don't just stop paying the credit cards. You will not be able to remortgage if you just destroy your credit rating. You need to make the minimum payment. Don't bury your head ❤️

Might be worth contacting a debt charity

I wont be able To re-Mortgage anyway with a different company if I haven’t got a job so I don’t see that as being relevant. I’ll be offered another fixed with my current provider providing I’m not in arrears.