As part of your income and expenditure when setting up the TD things like children expenditure should have been taken into account and accepted. Check over your paperwork to see what was agreed.

On our PTD's we at the start worked out what a month cost should be allowing for things like clothes, car's servicing etc. But we don't buy clothes ever month or have the car serviced every month which made this more confusing. In effect we worked out what we spend on a monthly basis regularly. We then took years / quarterly cost items multiplying them where appropriate to show what we spend on each a year. This was then divided by 12 to work out what the monthly allocation for these should be. Using these figures and our monthly costs we could then work out what our expenses are which was agreed in the TD. It also lets us see what we need to put aside monthly.

That said, your general expenses will be modest as it's all about budgeting and cutting back Living within your means really. You will need to be prepared to cut back on gifts etc. My wife and myself have accepted this and have agreed that only the kids get presents while we are in the PTD and not us.

With what you have agreed regarding expenses it is still your decision as to how to allocate theseÔǪ For example we spend on average £400 a month on food and shopping for a family . If we manage to save £50 of this towards Xmas / Birthday's etc this is fine as we have chosen to restrict our spend on one item for another but keep it all within our agreed means as outlined in the TD. It's not that we have an excess of money but Instead simply that we are using what was agreed effectively for our reasonable monthly / yearly costs.

I'm sure one of the experts can clarify this in more detail shortly for you.

Hello Indebt999.

If you agreed to the trust deed without allowances for these types of spending it will be difficult to introduce them at a later point due to the negative effect that it will have on the returns to creditors.

I don't want to downplay the challenge of living on a restricted budget however, we've heard from so many people over the years here about the problems and frustrations that it can cause.

Is there any prospect of being able to set something aside each month in the manner that colski has suggested?

Perhaps just basing the income and expenditure on the original figures included in the proposal would be a good starter for 10? There may have been a contingency built in to this for this type of expenditure. The Trustee must stick to the rigid guideline set by the creditors. Although birthdays/Christmas can not be allowed contingencies may.

I was basically told I could not give presents! This really annoyed me. I managed to significantly decrease my outgoings (food, utilities, travel) but because I was honest with trustee that these expenses had decreased, this money cannot be used for other things like family birthdays and Christmas

How about a money box! Just keep drawing the same amount out and any surplus can be put in the tin for whatever.

Before the trust deed never went out socially, drank or smoked although we could have had an allowance for it. Maybe you could use this for christmas by cutting back. We did live on a very tight budget. We just made do. The children got clothes for christmas, it actually helps to make children understand that not everyone has lots of money. We are still struggling now, even though the trust deed has finished, as my partner earns less than half before the recession. Best wishes.

You were allowed a budget for socialising???????

I was given an allowance for socialising too, It wasn't something that I asked for, but I didn't ask for allowances for haircuts/cigarettes/newspapers, and was told they were included

It seems some companies have different allowances than others - I was told cannot give gifts, cannot have haircuts, cannot socialise and I had to fight to be allowed an allowance for pet care. To be able to do any of these I have to use my groceries budget.

A budget has to be carefully worked out to ensure that the client can sustain the payment. Allowances for haircuts, pets, activities etc all need to be taken into consideration when working the budget out or else it's unrealistic and may be unaffordable. These allowances are also included in Step Change debt charity budget guidelines.

Sometimes it can come down to someone cutting back on their spending to be able to afford to enter into an arrangement and for the creditors to accept this.