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.

See if you can get the bills lower as your on UC- water should give you lower bills

I used to be a director for Hays 😭

You can’t re-Mortgage without being employed. At the moment they wouldn’t even let me move to a cheaper house and take the Mortgage with me. Never mind lend me any more.
It’s all a bit shit

I’m in the south Midlands in theory. I could get to Birmingham or London, which is why we moved here.
I just remember last time we were in this much shit when the ex lost his job in 2008 it wasn’t this bad. This feels really bad.
And people keep talking about it getting worse

You can go to a good bank as a last option. You need to contact your council I think / ask to be referred. You may have to provide details of your income but you'd still be entitled

Are you sure you are getting the correct amount UC? Standard rate is 400, plus 1 child born before 2017 is 339. You list 600 in your OP.

When did you lose your job? Did you get a redundancy etc?

I get what you are saying, if I lost my job my family would survive from my life insurance from my pension, but not from me being there. But you have to think differently because you are worth far more than money. Worst comes to worst you sell the house and rent from the equity until pension kicks in ?

Sorry that's a good point about the mortgage, I was thinking because you had enough income to cover the repayments they would but appreciate might not be the case.

They are deducting Money for an overpayment initially and I had that advanced thing that you sign up for while you wait for the first payment to be sorted out.

I would give this a go OP - might not come up with anything but sounds like you would be eligible

www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/bank-charges/

I lost my job in December 24, for the first year we lived on credit cards because I was expecting any moment now I’m going to get a job
I then did get a much much smaller job but better than nothing and got assaulted on the job and broke my toe so I had to go sick and then got effectively fired
I am taking them to tribunal , but that’s neither use nor ornament for now.
I lodged the paperwork with the tribunal 3 months ago. They’ve not even responded.
And it’s the council and apparently they would rather spend 40 grand denying liability than pay me £10,000. So that will war be fun.

Oh OP how crap!

Have you spoken to a free debt service like CAP? I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but I fear you are missing some things off your budget. What will your son do post GCSEs? I’m concerned you have a 5 year plan but you won’t be getting child support for 5 years.

Also, really sorry to say that I’ve seen tribunals are really delayed right now. Two/three years delayed.

The five-year plan has to be another 80 K job. It just does.
There’s no other Answer is there ? I don’t give a shit about food banks I just won’t eat but you know what I mean.
Once kiddo has passed his GCSEs I can sell the car and that’ll give me a couple of grand and a bit of breathing space.
I’ve got my old engagement ring knocking around somewhere so that can get sold
I think I’ve got a tag watch somewhere as well. I just don’t want it to come to that. You know it feels ridiculous.

Have a look on moneysaving expert debt free wannabe forum, they’ll tell you how to deal with the credit card. It’s frightening how quickly you can go from doing ok to being on the bones of your arse. Keep your chin up!

You really need debt advice, and advice on how to get more help with living. Christians against poverty are supposed to be really good, they aren’t trying to convert you they just want to help people.

You can definitely lower both the WiFi/Internet and your Mobile bills OP ...

Who are you with right now?

Have a look at Community Fibre (www.communityfibre.co.uk) and Zen (www.zen.co.uk).

HTH

Also, depending on where you are could you rent a room out and/or get a student from a language school as they will pay you for that as I have friends who do this all the time in Sussex ... again, it does depend on where you are based ... apologies if I missed this ...

No, the other issue is I moved into the house ripped out the kitchen. My son left the taps on in the bathroom trashed that from top to bottom. Literally the bath was in the kitchen.
And then two weeks later, I lost my job
So we are going outside to use the outside tap to fill up the kettle. I’ve got a dishwasher and a washing machine thank goodness.
But I couldn’t ask a student or a lodger to live in those conditions and it’s only a two bedroom place anyway.

Without wanting to be too outing, the front door is broken as well, so we have to go out the back door and lock the fence
Today I went out and forgot that my son might want to go out. I came back and he’d climbed out the window in order to be able to leave the house.
It’s an absolute comedy of errors
I should write a book

If you live so far from school your son would have to “get up before he went to bed”, why don’t they provide school transport?

I think you could review that sim card deal, my dad only pays £6 a month for his, though it isn't a huge saving. I think you can just about do the £200 on food a month, but it won't be very varied or nutritious- things like bread, milk, porridge, beans, soups etc.

Would anyone be able to foster the pets for you for a while? Just to give you a little breathing space on bills for vets and pet food maybe?

It does sound tough, I hope you are able to work something out.

Because they’re under no obligation to it’s not the nearest school. But he’ll be leaving in June so it’s a bit late to move him now.

I think you need to be realistic and get any job why waiting for the job you're wanting

Im not aposed to that at all. I havent been “waiting”