Making money

[rhuhbarb4]

Hi everyone.

I have a finance agreement that is due to end in june and i need to make a final payment of £960.

Before anyone says that i knew this was coming-yes i did but this finance agreement was taken out 3 years ago when my dh was working full time and me working part time since then my husband has become disabled and i am his carer so neither of us work and we are currently living on benefits so money is tight and very stretched. When my youngest child is old enough to go to playgroup i will go back to part time work and we will employ a caree for my husbands needs but at the moment if i worked full time it would not be possible for us to pay for childcare and carer on the wages i would earn.

So my question is how can i make £960 in 6 months, i have already had a sort out of stuff we dont need and put it on ebay but is there anything else?

Thanks all

Check your utilities are they cheapest, are you in credit with anything to claim it back. Spread your council tax to 12 months could add a blitz to the amount.
Check your shopping reduce & down brand as much you can. Meal planning so not to wastep anything and no non essential spending till your done.

Thanks for the advice notreallyhappy unfortunately we are stuck with british gas as we are in a long term rental and rhe landlord will not let us switch but o have contacted them and made sure we are on the cheapest tariff with them. I am meal planning at the moment but that is maily due to me trying to get rid of excess baby weight so maybe try to do it strictly would help. The brand switch thing is a good idea as i do tend to buy branded products instead of a cheaper one. I am hoping thay by me cutting our outgoings to the bone i will manage to save enough i have worked out i need to save at least £160 a month to pay it off in time.

Depending on your DH's disability, is he able to join some online survey sites (and you too)? You could easily make a few hundred pounds in that time. Or could you get a lodger? Or rent out a space on your driveway?

Try the 'Boost Your Income' section of Money Saving Expert. There's loads of helpful tips on there: www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money

Use my supermarket.com

You do an internet shop as normal but it will tell you where you can save money by buying a different brand or shopping at a different supermarket.

Check your benefits - are you getting carer's allowance? If you are not then claim it.

Check your tax situation, when did wither of you last work? You may be due some tax back.

Check what tax credits you would get if you do go back to work, it might be more than you think.

Babysitting? If your husband is able to cope with your children in the evening (sorry no idea of what type of disability and how many children etc) I babysat for extra money many years ago, lots of people would prefer not to have a teenager babysitting. Ask around parents of your children's friends.

Depending on your husband's old job you could look in to grant making trusts and see if he is able to claim any pension / payments.

www.dsc.org.uk/publication/the-directory-of-grant-making-trusts-201617/

The book version is available in libraries, I got quite a bit of funding as a student from various trusts because I had become disabled. It takes time to work through, I did a spreadsheet and spent the first 2 weeks of the summer break applying - I got one for being born in Yorkshire, and another for being a 'lady in impoverished circumstances training to better herself'.

Lots of trusts were set up by Victorian philanthropists so the language can be quite amusing, one was for 'the impotents of the parish of...'

If either of you are in a union, or if your dh was before he stopped work they can often help with advice and sometimes finance.

Do you have credit cards? They can suspend interest for a time, some are better than others.

Check your bank accounts, sometimes you can get cash for swapping, although a lot need you to have a minimum being paid in each month.

Have you got 'warm homes discount'? You have missed it for this year but as you have a disabled adult in your house it looks like you would qualify for next year - it is £140 cred to your electricity account (even if you are on a pre paid meter). The money is allocated on a first come first served basis and each company has its own rules - link for British Gas below

www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/gas-and-electricity/the-warm-home-discount.html

Are you eligible for any free courses at your local FE college? If so you can get a student ID which gives you 10% off in loads of places.

Depending on when in June it has to be paid by it works out at £50/week until 1st of June. And £41/week until end of June. I worked it out that way because weekly figures help me when I need to save to pay something.

So what can you do to make £40/50 a week? Can you take in ironing? Do catalogue distribution? Do cleaning? Dog walking? Phone sales from home? Is your husband's disability physical only? Is he able to use the phone and Internet? If so he could try phone sales too.

Hi everyone thanks for all the advice loads of ideas to look into there you are all so well informed. Without going into too much detail my husbands disability is physical he is unable to move the bottom half of body (waist down). I do claim carers allowance but we have 3 small children 4,3,1 (my husband sustained his injury leading to his disability on the day of my 12 week scan with my youngest)so money is very strained. We are new to the benefits system so trying to work everything out is a challenge. The money is due on the 28th of june so i think i will look into all of these ideas. Once again thankyou everyone for you help.

That must be incredibly hard OP! I'm assuming then that you can't really leave him to look after DC so that ruels out you going out to do cleaning or dog walking etc. Definitely look into doing telephone sales for both/either of you or something like bringing in ironing for you.

onewiththeforce i have never ever admitted this to anyone but yes it is hard! I do find comfort in the fact that i have 3 beautiful children and he may be physically disabled however he is still the same man as in mentally. If you spoke to him without seeing him you wouldnt know he was disabled he is so optimistic. Yeah unfortunately me leaving him alone isnt really an option but when my mum isnt at work she comes over to help me out and she can look after my dh if i need to leave but there are loads of other ideas to try so i think it just means a little bit of effort on my part.

Of course it's hard and you absolutely don't have to hide that fact from anyone! Please don't feel you can't say that. Are you on any of the MN boards for carers? You'LL get a wealth of support there.

It will involve a bit of effort and thinking outside the box but I am a firm believer in there being something for everyone and I really hope you can find what works for you. And utilise all the support that Is offered to you too!

No i am not part of any of those boards i have only recently started to talk about my husband as actually being disabled (other than to close friends and family) i think it has taken a while for me to think like that and to be comfortable to talk openly about it.

Have you contacted the finance company to check if the final payment could be spread over another year, paying it in instalments perhaps, maybe under the circumstances they might be able to help. Or is there anyway to get a 0% credit card to pay it off? Hope you can get things sorted out.

Could you switch bank accounts? Some pay up to £200

If you join a credit union immediately and save a small amount (£20ish?) with them weekly, you should qualify for a large enough loan from them by the time you need it.

Their rates are very fair and they don't credit score for loans in the normal way.

Check out www.turn2us.org.uk to see if you are getting all your entitlements.

So that could buy you more time and let you spread it out a bit more.

www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk

I'm assuming the loan is for a car or something you really can't take chances renegotiating on?

Have you checked if you had a payment protection plan included in it? If so you may be able to claim.