I am 5 months into my IVA and struggling to make ends meet, i realise that I need to get used to this new budget but I am not buying any luxuries and keeping food shop to a minimum. I frequently have no money to feed my kids and I dread to think about their birthdays and christmas! Any tips please? [:)]
It can be very difficult to budget once you have started an IVA, best advice is to pay all bills as soon as you are paid and then split the money left over into four so that you have a set amount each week to live on.
1 year ago I was in your position. Its tough at the beginning. But it does get easier. Learning to budget with what you have was the hardest but I can now say we're managing. Many times I said to my hubby "how are we gonna get through this & we can't do it"
Im so pleased now we entered into an iva & we've learned to manage our money without the use of credit and its a relief not to have the letters & phone calls demanding money.
Keep plodding on & keep your chin up. It will get easier.
Good luck on your journey.[:)]
I am wondering if your income & expenditure has been set correctly because you really shouldn't be struggling to that degree. Like you, we are 5 months into our IVA's and although we have had to budget very carefully and my husband is self-employed so cash flow can be very tricky at some points through the month, we certainly do not struggle to manage and have even managed to save a small amount from our allowances. This is very much down to our IP, Melanie Giles, and the excellent way she prepared our proposals taking our actual costs into account and not expecting us to live like it sounds you are having to. I think you really need to speak to your IP urgently to try to get this sorted out because if you are struggling 5 months in, how on earth are you going to get through the rest of your IVA?
Thankyou for your replies. All good advice. I like the idea of paying everything and then dividing by 4 to see what you have left to spend each month, unfortunately because I get some benefits and some wages, I get paid all different times of the month which I think makes it harder to budget. It all works out on paper but not in reality, i will battle on for now and see if I can make this work better for me and my little people!
Hi, hope things get easier for you. Can you sell anything on Ebay or similar to fund some birthday treats? do make sure you income and expenditure is set correctly with your IP.
IVA final payment left the bank on the 26th January 2013...looking forward to a debt free future.
We always paid our bills on the day we were paid and then withdrew the remaining money, split it into four envelopes and we knew then what we had each week ...anything left was put in a saving pot and we would have a treat once a month or so such as a Chinese or a meal out at the local pub ....
it does get easier after the first year - the first year is all about adjusting to the budget and learning to live on less and live on different ways of entertaining you and your family....
Sharing from experiences of dealing with debt
There is a solution for everyone .... Just need to stay positive !
Don't forget that there are 4.33 weeks in each month and not just four. So 13 weeks in a quarter and not 12 - don't want to see you left with no money one week each quarter!
It depends on if its going to affect your iva payment, unfortunately if you haven't had a pay rise to offset some of the increase in expenditure it's difficult to do anything to your budget as your iva payment will reduce, having said that if your disposable income has gone down to the degree you can't take the hit, then your IP can sanctions. Reduction of up to 15%without going back to creditors, more than that and they would have to call a new meeting to ask creditors for a bigger reduction
