Hi Stephanie

Good positive post, that's what we like to see.

The vast majority of Trust Deeds I have dealt with have come about as a result of a change in income, either through loss of employment or as you say a drop in income. In an ideal world creditors would allow a 3 or 4 month period to see how things level out, but unfortunately they dont and it is extremely difficult to recover once payments etc are missed over that period.

Mark

So glad I was helpful stephaniex, it really was the making of us during the TD. When our income went down we struggled on until it was impossible.
My parents are very well off they don't know anything about our finances and would have helped us had we asked. We took charge it was our problem and our pride, changed our outlook towards spending and got through it. Now it's all behind us we have learned so much about ourselves & brought us contentment.

Good luck to you stephainex and all those going through this, there will be an end.

Hi Stephaniex

I have now made my 13th payment but it took me a few months to get used to budgeting, that was the main reason for my debt - overspending
Twizzle has already mentioned most of the things I do to help me keep in budget
My main ones are:
1. Writing everything down to keep track of bills coming out etc
2. Using cash instead in debit card, it's too easy to just switch it and forget
3. Shopping around has been a big factor, I get 1 big Tesco delivery a month and I've switched to value range for as much as i can then go to Aldi for fruit & veg mostly and also Farmfoods has some good prices especially on branded products
4. When it come to birthdays and Christmas my kids are almost 5 and they really don't notice how much is spent on them, and my family now only buy for kids and not adults

After learning to be strict I even managed to take the kids to a caravan for a few days last month
It is hard at the beginning but I know I've managed to do one year and two left so once the TD ends I'm going to feel well off! But I'm only going to relax my budget a bit and start saving which I've never managed before, then treat us to a nice holiday in a few years time 🙂

Use a post office budget card to save up for road tax. Just ask at the post office. You can then account an amount per month to pay onto the card then when its road tax time you have it all covered.

A few quid of savings stamps at the supermarket each week really can add up and make xmas easier.

Paul

Thank you x

Hi Stephaniex and everyone else,

Reading through all of the posts has been good to understand how different families budget and manage their money throughout the course of a month. I think everyone regardless of what their circumstances are can struggle with budgeting and planning.

I find that as others have said, I buy the expensive products at the start of the month i.e. washing up powder, cleaning products, pet food etc and then each week I will buy some fresh food and plan our meals for that week. We do the shopping for the week on a Sunday and plan for that week what out meals are going to be. We found that way we don't over buy or things go out of date before using them up. Never do the food shop on an empty stomach as you tend to over buy and also never on a full stomach either as I found if we did it after Sunday dinner I didn't want to buy any food. Also Looking in the reduce section of supermarkets can have some really good offers as well.

In relation to holidays, we collect the £9.50 holiday vouchers in the Sun newspaper which come out twice a year. You can then organise a week or weekend away in a static caravan/lodge etc. Nowadays the static caravans are very modern along with the holiday parks. As part of your deal you get free entry into the swimming and other activities if you choose a park with those facilities. Even if it's just an hour or two down the road from where you live it still feels like your getting a break. Our son loves it and we can also take our pets along too. There are lots of good places and things to see in Glasgow and surrounding areas for free.

Shop around for utility supplies, speak to your phone company and advise your thinking of changing, they may reduce your deal for a couple of months. Look at the cashback sites and voucher websites that can give you discounts on voucher/promotional codes too.

I think everyone that enters into a Trust Deed at the start feels the same as you do but after time you do learn to budget and live within your means.

Good luck and I'm sure things will start to get better.

Thank you David, I appreciate your response. We were both paid our monthly salaries this week and the budgeting started in earnest. Following some members advice I withdrew our budget for the week. I did my first shop in Aldi and spent £70, I'm sure the equivalent in Morrisons would have been at least £30 more expensive. I still need some frozen items which I'll go to Iceland for, but for the first time in my life I actually feel like I have some control back.

We're not having any wine at the weekends, unless we save for it and there are no more nights out or take aways, not that we really had any anyway, but all in all it's a small sacrifice to make for us to be debt free in 3 years.

I'll definitely look into the holiday vouchers you're talking about, I've never heard of that and a caravan holiday with the kids & dogs would be perfect, perhaps next year.

A change was needed I guess and a change there will be, whether I like it or not lol x

Good luck stephaniex and please let us know how you get on this month.

Hopefully all of the suggestions that have been made in this thread, and your willingness to make some changes, will make everything a little more manageable for you.

I know it is all very hard to start with. I had to buy my kids clothes/shoes second hand from ebay for a while as the wee one's grow so fast! Christmas again was really well thought out meaningful present for people that were either kind of home made (like framed photo's of the kids for relatives) or again second hand. I has a private chat with relatives that had lots of children and we agreed not to buy for each others children individually, just give a gift for the whole family. I made up a basket of all their favourite sweeties and cakes!. I have done the sun holidays for £9.50 most years but to be honest if you book a last minute weekend with most of the holiday providers listed once you buy the entertainment passes it is roughly the same cost and you get to pick exactly when and where you go then. I am lucky and had my parent come stay with us at the caravan weekends ( a great help with the kids spending money!)I really hope it all becomes a bit more manageable and that you manage a wee bottle of wine more than once a month because you clearly deserve it x.

It's good to see the change in your outlook for the future stephaniex regarding budgeting compared with your first post on this which I could sense you were very stressed about.

Making some lifestyle changes can help with budgeting. One of the hardest things for people who enter into Trust Deed is that for years they have relied on credit to live without really thinking about properly budgeting. Now that this ÔÇ£credit safety netÔÇØ has been removed it can be difficult to adjust and manage the finances based on what you can afford.