Help Please

[Rutland10]

Hi everyone, I wondered if you could help, Im 7 months pregnant and it looks like I'll be a single parent, sometimes these things just dont work out do they. This is my first child so its going to be tough I know that, however I wondered if there is anyone out there that could offer me some advise, I will be on SMP Mat Pay, I have a mortgage, car and loans etc, My total monthly income with be about £600 in total, my outgoings will be over double this without paying for any baby things.

The mortgage is help to buy so I cant rent a room out, my car is on finance and I owe more on it than its worth. Im not entitled to any child care or at least nothing thats going to help pay my bills. Does anyone have any advise? Ie can I just pay my loan back £1 a month, can I just drop the car back without any penalties, where can I live if i sell my house?

I don't want to not pay what I owe but I physically wont have the money available to do so for a while.

Thank you.

I think that the best advice I can give is that you swot up on what payments you can expect from your child's father and what benefits you're entitled to.

In a similar position (no children, but surprise end of relationship) I did the following and found them very useful:
Started a budget and record. I used a spreadsheet and for each month I recorded what I spent in each category.
On a separate sheet I recorded monthly bills. Use moneysavingexpert.com to research cheaper deals and switch.
On a third sheet I recorded annual or less frequent 'bills', such as MOT, dentistry etc and worked out how much I had to save each month towards these.

I found a Girl Called Jack's blog good for food tips but really MoneySavingExpert was great for both cutting costs and finding sources of extra income (e.g. switching bank accounts can bring in 3 or 4 hundred pounds a year).

Another thought is what help can you get from friends and family (yours and the father's).